Boss Micro BR

The BR Micro exceeds my expectations. It is one of the most important musical tools I have. It is right up there with the metronome. My primary uses are for maintaining an audio diary of my playing and slowing down MP3s to help me learn tunes. If it were to break or be lost, I would replace the Micro as soon as possible.

My recording includes both 4 track and MP3. I originally did not think I would use the 4 track much, but it has become an important favorite because I have learned that I can use the Micro to record a jam track to one track, a rhythm track to another track, and a melody track to a third track. It took a bit of fiddling to learn to use the 4-track recording, but once learned it was quite intuitive. These 4-track recordings, as with other recordings can be copied to your computer via USB, but you have to really look for the instructions to do it in the manual.

The results of the 4-track recordings are surprisingly excellent.

The whole thing is like magic.

This is adequately described in other reviews. I will note although the built in microphone is surprisingly good, I actually record with the Micro most of the time by using the Ext input source with an external microphone. The mic is a Shure SM57, with a low-to-high impedence transformer between the mic and the Micro. I wish I didn't need the transformer to do this, but at least it's possible to hook up a good external mic.

It sounds good to me. The results I get with 4-track recording are very good.

Battery power is standard. I strongly recommend getting the optional AC adapter because it consumes a lot of power. Boss recommends this too for the same reason.

The manual is pretty well written as a reference manual. The things you need to know are in there. Plan on reading the entire manual twice to get the most out of the Micro. It's worth the time.

I'd buy another one. Since I bought mine, Tascam has introduced some competing products. My recommendation if you are interested in this type of device is to search for the competing products and carefully check the features to see which one offers the features you want. The Micro fits my needs and wants very well, but your needs and wants may be different. Take the time to study the options.

Digital 4-track recorder about as big as if an alarm clock and an Ipod had a baby. It's right in the middle. This is my first 4-track and it took me about 2 days of messing with it to have about 80% of functions down, for the rest it's stuff that I don't need to use yet such as the mp3 practice tool. DOnt' care about it so why know about it? Anyway, the built in effects are pretty decent and the gutiar tones are useable. If you want a portable practice tool with pretty good tones, get a pocketPOD if you want a portable 4-track with usable tones, get this. Seems sturdy enough, I will probably put a screen protector on it though to be safe.

USB 2.0 - drag and drop...pretty standard

Pretty solid preamp, as stated previously, it has decent tones and decent effects. I would NEVER run line out into a PA to play out with but it's good for sketch pad ideas. I run a flextone III XLR to 1/4" and bypass onboard effects and it sounds pretty darn good that way but if I don't feel like running 10 cables, the onboard stuff is good enough. The drum tracks are pretty decent too. Doesn't sound real natural but then again THIS IS FOR DEMOS!! Anyone mad that it doesn't sound like the new Coheed album is an idiot. DEMOS people...good demos though.

AA batteries or the boss psa adaptor. I've been using the adaptor because I haven't left home with this little guy yet but I've read that you get about 6 hours battery life...I plan on buying rechargeable batteries for it. I hven't messed with the phantom power microphone business either. I've read and heard clips online and it seems to have good sound or whatever. Again, I bought it for guitar and bass with the vocals in the back of my mind...I know the onboard mic is actually pretty impressive. I had the input sensitivity pretty low and I had headphones on and it picked up my gf sneezing in the other room haha

I'm not sure of technical specs. Don't care to be honest.

No software, it's ALL built in. Mixing is easy as heck. hit record and the track you want to record and hit play. If you don't like the take...repeat process. When you're happy press rhythm button and find tempo and start adding drums that change on whatever measure you assign them. When you have all 4 tracks full but need more, bounce the tracks down to one V track and open up 3 more tracks. Master it all and convert it to MP3 all on this little guy. Very impressive.

I would recommend this to others for sure. It's not the BEST thing in the world but it is very cool for me and others like me who want to start recording demos and writing but don't want to HAVE to use the cpu to do so. I have reaching over my les paul for me mouse and having to sit too far back from the desk to reach but not too close or I'll hit my guitar on everything around it. Sucks, I wanted something I could place anywhere and have freedom. What's neat is you can take the tracks without mastering them and copy them on your cpu and put them into a program if you w ant to...at least I think you can...I haven't tried yet but it makes sense eh?

As easy as it is to use, I wish that it were just a little bit easier, like not such a learning curve...it took me 2-3 days to be able to make a half decent recording without the SAME drum loop over and over. haha needless to say that first day's recording sucked.

The Boss Micro BR is a portable 4track recorder. It has input meters, onboard guitar effects, plastic casing, a little bit bigger than an ipod.

USB 2.0

1/4 inch guitar input
1/8 inch mic input
1/8 inch headphone output

AC or 2xAA battery
phantom power for some mics, not true 48v.

All internal processing.

Stand alone. Not able to be used as computer interface.

The Micro BR is a cool little box. It's most usful as a portable guitar practice tool with headphones. A great little schetch pad for musical ideas and a cure for boredom in places where you can have your guitar with you but not much else. I bought it for traveling so i could play guitar in my hotel room and be able to record any cool ideas without any hassle. The BR does all of that and more. I would buy another one for sure. The only other unit that is similar is the Zoom H4 but it does have drum beats like the BR does. I wish the USB port could be used a direct recording computer interface. It only functions as a data port for backups. Hey, at least it does that. The dudes at Boss put alot of amazing stuff in that little package. They did a great job!

Well, it this is a 4 track (with 8 virtual tracks each) recorder that also plays MP3 files, has a full compliment of effects, a fairly complete rhythm section and a mastering toolkit -- all accessed via a total of 20 buttons. That's bound to mean a learning curve but it isn't as brutal as it could be.

The recording section of this little jewel is indeed pristine. It is MUCH better than my prior 4 track recorder (PXR4) made by Korg. The effects were also a pleasant surprise in that they sound pretty darn good. The rhythm section is limited, but usable for demos or new ideas and such. COSM seems to have actually improved over the years, or at least that is my impression so far.

So far, so good...seems solid for what it is.

Never had to deal with Boss/Roland. As I now own several of their products, none with even so much as a hiccup, that in itself is a good sign of quality.

Well, for $229 you get one hell of a portable recorder that will also function as a field recorder in a pinch AND it is an MP3 player and phrase trainer to boot. Dang, what else could you want for that price? SERIOUS bang for the buck in a very crowded market

You need to read the manual on this one, but once you get used to it, you can get around the difficult menus.

Mostly bought it to play MP3 in slow mode, but was surprised how good the sound quality was when recording my guitar. Pretty cool. On slow play back though, anything below 50% is really distorted, so go with a PC package if you have to go slower.

Not very reliable. Half the time it boots the software indicates i have an unformated card. I have to turn it off and back on until it recognizes the card. The software crashes when playing back songs (the power button doesn't work when the software crashes - i have to take the battery out to turn the machine off). The software locks up most of the time when connecting a USB cable. The software has crashed in other situations also. Not very robust.

For me, i should have bought the TASCAM GTMP3 player. I just thought (and someone recomended it) that the MicroBR would be just as good and you would have the added bonus of being able to record stuff. If you mostly want a trainer, don't buy this one. Having said that, when it is not crashing, it is fun and very portable.

I have had my Micro BR for 2 years, I loved it from the day I first used it. The operating system is not hard to use at all, its very simple. Most guys and ladies will need to go through speed tutorial section and anytime you don't know how to do something its easily looked up. It comes with a very well written manual that is mostly pictures and extras anyway so its not as much information as it looks. Turn off the TV for about 20 minutes and skip through the manual reading the parts you need to learn and you will have this thing mastered, or just keep being aggrivated because you've never used a stand alone multitrack and refuse to read a few pages.
I realize if it weren't for the problem of customers not reading manuals and not comprehending simple operating systems, Roland/Boss could have easily made this unit a full 16,24 or 32 tracks, not just 32 tracks virtual (which you can use 32) by changing the code very little in the OS and also the allowed size of the SD Flash card media. If this thing could take a 32GB card and had 32 tracks I would throw out my laptop, I like it that much. Speaking of laptop there is a free editor available online by a third party (not boss/roland) that is a little more complicated than the Boss BR OS so more advanced users may want to get it. Search G**gle for 'Boss Micro BR editor' or '....sound editor' and you should find it. ss

This multitracker really does have pristine sound without harsh digital high end. The converter is what raised the cost on this and its well worth it. I can't ever tell any difference even when I copy, export, import, bounce and master (commands/functions) on this unit. It is really great that they included the drum tracks. They are 4 beat rock mostly but they are a starting point or good enough if doing a AC/DC or Cars style track. There is even a house beat 4 on the floor. Yes you could use this all day long with a 303, 808 kick, a mic and a synth for those techno, goa, drum and bass fans. If you are into hardcore metal, get some double bass drum tracks and go wild like I do. Multitracks guitar easily and sounds excellent, separation of tracks (sound) at mixdown is a 8.5 of 10 which is great. I don't give 10's to much equipment, ever.

I have had mine for 2 years and use it literally every day. I am using the MP3 player on the weekends and the multracker all week. One OTHER thing this unit does which is like having a whole different machine entirely from the 4 track is allow you to not only play MP3 but record them. You can record your favorite radio programs (metal?) as MP3 and then using this MP3 players functions, isolate the guitar track, it removes part of the channel/frequencies so that the vocal,drums and bass don't stand out the guitar does, or anyone of those stands out and the other don't depending on how you adjust it (a simple slider function on screen). After isolating the guitar track you can then slow it down (or speed up) the part without any pitch change. Theres no mummy talk. It is the same pitch, just slower and learn your favorite new gutiar leads. After you finish learning the lick go to another spot and do the same or dump your entire 5 -10 hours of metal (you recorded as a mp3 file) onto your computer via USB cable and then burn it to CD as MP3 or convert to Wav. You can even dump it to your iPOD or other MP3 player. You can do the same with your multitracked projects and put them in MP3 format (for those who haven't read the manual) you use the export funtion in the multitracker, then press MP3 button, go to the MP3 section and import the track as MP3. Plug into the computer via USB cable and burn a cd or dump to your iPOD. Its reliable man. I do use it everyday. Its been on for over 2 years plugged in at home or running on two AA batt. when out and away from AC power. By the way, batterys- I use rechargable batteries that you can now get at any grocery store, the charger and batterys combined cost about 20 bucks and will last you 2 years if you use a lot. I got about 300 charges out of each battery, the charger is still working and I just got new AA's. Recharged (not new duracell disposables) last about
3 1/2 to 4 hours with the screen brightness (contrast) turned down to about half as bright. This will save battery power big time!

I have never had to deal with Customer Support for any Boss/Roland product and I have guitar pedals, multitracks, synths and other gadgets. Roland is famous for a reason. They make good stuff. Put some of those pads you put on the glass of coffee tables on the bottom corners and side/top corners of your Boss Micro BR if you use it away from home a lot. You can even get clear round ones the size/diameter of a No.2 pencil. If you drop it (and you will sooner or later) the pads will keep it from cracking up the display or worse. I have dropped mine on cement 2 times with pads already on it. No problems except the back is scratched up pretty bad. Mine has a lot of wear and tear. Why have it if I am going to put it in a display case. I use my equipment hard. This thing is a lot tougher than it looks.

This is a first for making a multitrack in micro size. When I got it sight unseen I was thinking it was going to record the tracks and that would be about it. The Boss Micro BR COMES WITH THE ROLAND DIGITAL EFFECTS LIBRARY called CSOM effects. These are amp modeled, amp and speaker cabinets modeled, microphones modeled, digital effects like reverb, delay chorus flanger tremolos, etc...All these effects are available whether you are playing a guitar track to the built in drums or doing a bass line and need a compressor, or a vocal line/ backing vocal lines and need reverb or delays. I can't beleive roland didn't make this more know in their advertising. The CSOM effects are phenomenal and truly give the unit CD quality multitracking right in this little box. You don't need to copy everything over to a computer to polish it off and edit it, you can, but won't need to. It has excellent effects and editing and all the effects have tweakable parameters to some extent. Also, the maximum size SD card it is supposed to recognize is a 1 GB. I have actually formatted a 2 GB on my laptop and then put it in the Micro BR and it did not require reformatting(initialize is the command on the M-BR). When I checked the recording time by having 'remaining' set to on in the main menu under 'utilities' and recorded a track, it showed the remaining time left on the card. It was over 16 hours. More than that was availble in the MP3 mode of recording (2 track stereo only). That is over 4 hours available if you had four tracks running constantly!. Think about that on a box that fits in your hand. Its the size of a cigg pack. You get CD quality mutlitracking, 32 tracks/takes to choose from, you can bounce tracks 1,2,3 to track 4 and then re-record over 1,2 and bounce to 3 and re-record over 1 and 2 and you will have 7 to 10 tracks final master! In digital quality with digital effects that sound excellent. And 4 hours of it, multitracked in a box this small. Its one of those reverse engineered things found on a UFO back at roswell. When you use it, and realize what is in it, and how small it is, its freaky man.

Like all good little electronic toys, this baby does have a learning curve. Within an hour though, you can be laying down your ideas. I still havn't figured out virual tracks and I don't plan to. Used as a scratch pad to remember that groove on guitar or some half-baked lyrics (usually using the mic)I find it easy, compact, and just plain fun.

I like to use this with my micro cube. The added effects are great, or I can plug in a mic to the cube at the same time, using the Micro's effects for guitar and the micro cubes for the vocal/harmonica. Hi Fi? No, that's not the point. Just ideas and watching people smile. I power the cube from a nine volt solar panal for trips out in nature with friends. I download the daily ideas from the Micro, but have rarely used the tracks for recording. It did shine in the aspect of recording a party. The built-in microphone worked great, and I did use those tracks as background for some songs.

A few "busy" messages that locked it up. But just reset, or R and R the batteries. I use the leather case and have been very glad I did when it was dropped a couple of times. No problems.

No opinion

This is a great recorder for my style. I like to go out and practice/create or play in the great outdoors, and then bring the ideas back to the studio. IMO it is perfect for this. In a pinch, I might try to use the four tracks, but I have no use for the virtual tracks. I been playing for 40 years, classical, jazz, Rock, techno, and even written some country, for my needs this has been a perfect fit. Easy to bring along, set-up and record. If I forget this on a drive-about or hike (works well with the Martin Backpacker),I really miss it. I would have to get another if it was lost or stolen.

Basic 4-track recording and meteranome use is very easy, I figureed it out without consulting the manuel. Where I think it becomes more dificult to use is editing the effects and deeper editing of the tracks. The main reason it becomes difficult is the fact that the thing is so small and protable that you can not see alot of information on the screen at once, but in my opinion, the device is eas to use for everything you get with it.

The recording quality is great once again the size of the unit makes up for lack of xlr's with phantom power. The cost also excuses the lack of xlr's. I am not a huge fan of the amp modeler I prefer Line 6 Pocket Pod (to maintain portability). I also have a Line 6 Pod 2.0 and Pod xt Live. The mastering efects on the unit are nice. For the price and portabilty, the condenser micon it workes great. I use a guild GAD-25 and it sounds great through that little mic. I am wanting to try a drum set on it(I know it will not be great but it would be good for rought demo's).

One word BOSS.

I have no clue, BOSS.

I have been playing for about 15 years now but that soesn't mean I am any good at it. I live in a small apartment and I son;t have the room anymore to have my mixer and mic stands out to record everything the best way possible. This has been a great tool for me to demo new songs while my family and I look for a bigger place to live. I can fit the boss micro br, a pocket pod, two short guitar cords, a strap, ear bud head phones and my e-bow all in my guitar case with my Les Paul studio and I can fully demo songs where ever I go. It would be hard to go back to not haveing one now that I have gotten used to being able to quickly record my ideas.

Fairly easy to use. If you're use to electronic gadgetry, then playing around with this thing should take you minutes to figure out. If not, RTFM...read the freaking manual!

Pretty easy to use. Plug your guitar in, plug it into your amp using a 1/4" cable adapter ($5.00 at most audio stores or music stores), turn it on, select your desired effect. Start jamming.

If you prefer to jam to your favorite song, the easiest way to do this is hook up your Micro BR to your computer. The memory card will come up as a "drive" on your computer. Copy your MP3's to the MP3 folder (very critical). A 1GB card will hold over 3 hrs of music so that should be plenty. Or just go buy more 1GB memory cards. By the way, a 1GB SD memory card is the maximum size the Micro BR will take. Next, select the song using the MP3 player, press play...and jam along. Pretty damn cool! If you want to practice figuring out a song, you can use the "time stretch" feature by slowing the song down to say 80% WITHOUT changing the pitch. Pretty damn cool!

Now the main reason I bought the Micro BR was the recording features. It has 4-tracks along with 8 "virtual tracks" for a total of 32 tracks. You can then select the best of tracks and "Master" or "Bounce" it down to the final cut. Pretty damn cool! Now as for the "Rhythm" feature, it comes with quite a few drum tracks that are nice, but need some work or modifying. The Micro Br allows you to edit them and create your own tracks. Again, pretty damn cool!

So after playing around with the Micro BR for a couple of days, its a guitarist dream come true. Its marketed as such so don't expect a full recording studio or guitar modeling system. ITS NOT! For ~$200 bucks, its intended to give you portability with the main features you need to record or compose a song on the fly. The 80 built-in effects should cover pretty anything you need to record a song. If you looking for a recorder with modeling effects ranging over 200, the Micro BR isn't for you. Go buy another device. Seriously, 80 effects and you're still not satisfied? Get real! Plus, you can modify the built-in effects. Pretty damn cool!

So is this for the novice guitarist? Yes...and no. You hate that, don't you? But seriously, if you have an ounce of how to work this sort of stuff, you'll be okay. Again guys, for $200 bucks, you get more than you could ever need for such a small device. The size alone is easy to transport. Its about the size of a HP calculator and weighs less than 1 pound. Pretty damn cool!

Give it time. Learn it. Take it with you to jam or check out guitars at your favorite music store. It comes with a built-in tuner (I wasn't too happy with it as it only allows you to tune down to 435Mhz or up to 445Mhz...what's up with that?). Plug in and jam!

I rated this an 8 due to the limits on the tuner as I tune down quite a bit especially on 12-strings. Plus, the first time you power this thing up, its a bit intimidating but you get used to it after a few hours of playing with it. I would have given it a 9 (nothing gets a 10 in my book) if the tuner were nicer and if getting from feature to feature were a bit easier or more intuitive.

Gee...for $200 bucks, I can't complain. Its quite, sounds better alone than my crappy Fender modeling amp (I over-paid for my Cyber Champ). I play a Strat, unmodified, and it sounds great. No complaints.

Is this something I'd put up against higher-end, higher priced models? No. But for on-the-fly recording, jamming, practicing, portability, and ease of setup and use, its worth it.

This is my third BOSS device. The other 2 are still working and are as tough as tanks. No problems with those so I hope this bad boy works out just as well.

I bought the higher-end AA batteries for it but will eventually pony up the money for the PSA electrical adapter from BOSS. Word of caution, BOSS included a "warning" flyer inside the box that highly recommends using their PSA adapter and not a generic power adapter. You may risk damage to the unit if you use the wrong power adapter. Is it just a marketing ploy to get you to buy their product? I don't know, but I'll buy one anyway. To me, it lease doubt out of it.

Never used them. Don't know.

I gave it a 9 just due to the features and true marketing of "a guitarist dream come true". I love it! Makes perfect sense to me. A truly portable recording unit the size of calculator. Easy to use and allows you jam on the fly. I read on another review where he was disappointed with the output volume. Huh? If you're using an amp...turn up the volume! If you're using headphones...are you freaking deaf? Good god man! Either that, or you got a bum unit. Oh...one thing I forgot to mention is you can control the input volume and output volume as well. Pretty damn cool!

Look, if you want a great recording device with all the features you need on the fly, get a BOSS Micro BR. Seriously, how anybody could give this device a low rating is beyond me. Some people just aren't happy with anything. Ignore their rating. If they got a bum unit, then that's a different story. But the Micro BR is a fantastic value!

I love how simple it is to work with it, and how fast you can record. Those who say it??s complicated never worked with a analogic portastudio. The manual is a bit complicated to understand, but after a few tries you,ll get the hang of it.

I use it to record ideas and jam sessions with my band (the built in mic is great for that).The guitar efects aren??t great, the reverb is awful, but for recording an idea fast, it??s more than enough. You can always use an external pre amp, i use a line 6 POD and it works very well.

Well, it??s a boss so i expect it to last.

Never dealt with them,never had to.

I play guitar for ten years now, from folk to metal, from acoustic to eletronic and i found a great way to record your ideas fast and with excelent audio quality. If lost or stole i would buy another one imediately. I like specialy the portability and the easy of use, i only wish it came with a power suply and a powerfull memory card.