Boss Micro BR

Love it. This is the coolest toy I've bought in a while. I also own a Roland VS2000 so I was already very familiar with the menu style of Roland, so I did not find it difficult to use. I recorded a few minutes of a guitar track and then spent about 4 hours going through the manual as if it was a tutorial and tried the different recording, editing, copying, looping, bouncing functions and I found it very easy to use. It was easy to follow along the instructions and figure out all the main functions. Moving files back and forth between the unit and my computer is a breeze. Excellent for backing up recordings.
Some things I don't like. When I save a song, it doesn't remember what tempo I set the metronome to. Very frustrating if I didn't write it down ahead of time. I have not figured out how to dynamically control the input level during a live recording. You should plan to buy an SD card with it. I think it's pretty lame that it comes with a 128 MB card with a 1 gig is not that expensive. I would have paid the extra money up front to save a seperate trip to the store.

I think the sound quality is great for how I use it. I am not planning on releasing a CD from it, so to use it as a portable song writing, lick learning tool is great. The internal effects are fairly basic and I think they are there mostly to be used when you are just trying to get ideas out without having to plug in a bunch of external units for the "perfect" sound. For the price, I think it is excellent.

I have not had any issues with the unit so far but I have only owned about a month now. I do like the fact that if the power goes out from the AC adaptor that the batteries will take over until the power comes back up.

NA

Again, I think the Micro BR is an excellent song writing, lick learning tool. It is better than I expected.

You'll hear a lot of people whine about various features of this product. Try it for yourself before you rush to judgement. I toyed around with my Micro-BR for about an hour after skimming the basics in the manual and it's actually very easy to use. With some patience, on a creative day you'll be laying down cool sounding tracks in a few hours. Once you've mastered the basics of using effects and laying down individual tracks, it pays to study the manual more in-depth. Granted the manual is not 100% perfect, but it will generally point you in the right direction. I like to just mess around and record 4 track songs in one take to sketch out ideas. Some suck, so I erase them, others have usable parts or provide me with inspiration to go a different route. The Micro is a great sketch pad type tool. I don't think anybody expects to rock totally pro sounding songs on it for under $350 (USD). You can however create some really cool layers with it and the built in mic is pretty neat too. It does a surprising number of things considering the sparse button count, that's what may confuce some users is having to hold certain buttons and tap others to scroll through features. In the long run though it's just like learning a new cel phone. It'll all become second nature in time.

This device is fantastic for quiet settings. Throw on some studio quality headphones and you can record till dawn without waking the neighbors. The vocal effects can be slightly over the top but they can be adjusted to sound cool and be of use. The guitar/bass effects patches are pretty nice too. If you're turned off totally by built in effects, plug in your favorite stompboxes or play around with Line 6's modeling pedals like I did, lots of fun. With patience and practice you can lay down tracks easier and with overall better quality than a traditional tape machine. I bought a Yamaha 4 track about 10 years ago and it's in mint condition because I never used it. For some reason the Micro is much easier to use and mor inviting to play with than an old machine with 4 dozen sliders and knobs.

I trust Boss stuff. Just in case though, I bought the guitar center extended warranty AND a second Micro-BR because I love it so much. It's lightweight but seems pretty rugged for a plastic device.

No experience, though Boss stompboxes are built like brick ovens.

If you want a fun, easy 4 track sketchbook that plays Mp3s in a portable package, look no further. Try it before you buy it, that's what sold me on purchasing two of them in the same week. This is an awesome gift for musicians at a fair price. Just stock up on AA batteries, this thing devours them, or spring the $25 for an AC adaptor. You'll also need to buy a bigger SD card, lika a 1 gig since the included one is like, 128 MB and only holds one or two songs in addition to the lame pop punk demo song. Any major brand regular dimension sd card will work. Take the Micro with you when shopping for a USB/Mini b cable. I mistakenly bought the 4 pin, should have been the 5 pin shaped more like a trapezoid. Damn. Overall though lots of function, small portable package. Much fun.

UPDATE FROM EARLIER REVIEW

I've given the Micro BR a little more time, and as I mentioned earlier, it takes a while to become familiar with the menu--- so now I do okay on the thing.

One fun thing I'm using it for is my weekly Beatles jam session-- i.e. a friend and I have been getting together for years and simply go through the Beatles catalog (big thick japanese complete scores)--- The Micro BR allows me to import the original recordings in excellent MP3 files, and then we play along with the record-- AND, this is the cool part, I can modify my guitar that is going into the micro BR simultaneously as a guitar effects, and tweak my guitar to match the sound of the Beatles guitar part I am playing-- i.e. I listen to the original recording, and get pretty much the exact sound of George, John, or even Paul. Nice fun.

Yes, the guitar effects are limited to basic effects, but extremely good quality except for the reverb, which sucks. Just use a little bit of this effect, cause it is pretty lame. Surprising, because otherwise excellent sound quality. The Korg Pandora snuffs the BR completely on the reverb.

I got mine for DIRT cheap on Craigs list, $125. You should be so lucky.

Neil Slade
The Amazing Brain Music Adventure
www.BrainRadar.com

If you ignore some of the advanced features of this unit, it's relatively easy to record a 4 track song. If you stick to the basic guitar and/or mic inputs and add a few effects, and ignore the rhythm section and bouncing, you'll be up to speed within a day.

My biggest gripe with the Micro BR is that it won't record two inputs to two separate tracks, in other words you can't record a guitar and mic at the same time to two separate tracks unless you jump through some hoops to use a splitter on the line input and forfeit the abilty to add separate guitar and mic effects.

The sound quality is actually pretty good. Using the external mic to lay down a track on guitar with vocals is surprisingly good. I've used external mics with it but I find the built in mic does a reasonably good job of capturing a live performance of guitar and vocals.

The effects are ok, most of the guitar inputs are suited to electric guitar and being an acoustic player, I was still able to find a few that enhanced my sound. Vocals effects are respectable e.g. there is a compressor and the reverbs are ok.

So far so good. I've use it with batteries and I bought the optional power supply. Both work as expected. Overall the unit is well constructed, I don't expect any problems with it.

Haven't need Boss support.

I like the portability of this device which is why I bought it. It allows me to record wherever I am without being tethered to a PC or a bulky digital recording workstation.

It does a respectable job of capturing a live performance of acoustic guitar and vocals on a single track without anything "plugged in".

I'd give the BR Micro a 10 if I could plug in the guitar and sing into the on-board mic and have them go to separate tracks. This is the one disappointment I have with the BR Micro. There are many times that I'd like to record guitar and vocals with separate effects, and keep the one of the tracks and re-record the other, alas that isn't possible.

if you are familiar with roland gear you can expect more of the same here. tedious non user friendly interface. somewhat cryptic manual, but if you pay attention to it you will get the job done eventually and it makes sense eventually in a rolandesque fashion. i have allot of roland/boss gear because it is rugged professional gear for the most part. so i understand roland/boss thinking a little more perhaps. if they get some real users and musicians to collaborate on their manuals and prototype evaluation they could be awesome. the manual assumes allot and under explains allot too.

for a basic sketch pad and recording features it is adequate, but as someone else mentions it stifles creativity by smothering it with cumbersome technology. the guy who designed windows vista must have helped design the micro br. get a mac guy next time senor boss.

after owning it for about a month i have resigned myself to using it's basic recording features as a practice tool and to capture ideas but will go to my studio and mac/digital performer interface for anything else. the micro br is just too mentally cumbersome for anything else without snuffing the creative spark.

no firmware updates available (or possible) to my knowledge. i'd sure like to swap some of the drum and guitar patches for something more useful. i have been a rock blues folk musician for 43 years and build electric guitars and tube amps so i know useful tone and rhythm. this doesn't blow my hair back. the usb seems to be only for dumping and loading files you create. it would have been wise to include a programming interface to allow use of the computer instead of multiple tiny button sequences to personalize your unit.

why does roland wait for users groups to come up with the programming interfaces like for the vg-88. wake up roland!! you build quality gear--put it together so the creative non geek musicians who are your customers can make you look good with it. that said i have over a dozen pieces of roland/ boss gear because it is so reliable.

the sd card format is great. eventually after being at my mountain cabin with this for a few uninterrupted weeks without other options i will probably find it better tool. i bought it to replace an old zoom recorder.

roland sounds are very good for the money and this is no exception. if you can and will use them. there are few i will use however. there are few at all right out of the box like i use live or in my studio but as a composing or practice tool it will do. i'll have to spend allot of time tweaking the stock patches. the rhythm sounds good but the arrangement use is confusing and lacking in variety for practical usefulness unless you like 3/4 metronome as an inspiring rhythm to compose slow dance tunes to. i don't at all get how the stock rhythm arrangements are set up to do anything right out of the box.

i have over 50 guitars but almost always play guitars i build. they are several configurations of pickups but my specialty is hexaphonic output blended with custom wound magnetic pickups. i especially like custom dual humbuckers (like k.a. motherbucker in a way) with my proprietary wiring to tap specific coils and change phase for a variety of sounds. i have been using a h-s-h guitar mostly with this recorder as i am recording ideas and not complete layered songs. ideally i would like to turn on a suitable rhythm track, lay down a rhythm guitar track, and solo over it. it works for that but so far all i use is a rhythm verse pattern like a metronome.

i use sony studio headphones with it at home and some smaller headphones on the road that also work with my laptop. it would be good if the mic on those headphones worked with this unit without a preamp for recording rough vocal ideas and verbal notes.

to early to tell most of my roland and boss gear is very reliable and it had been stepped on, doused in beer from dancing drunks and even rained on and it seems to handle it well. once a well lubed patron came up to greet me, stepped right on my vg88 and stood there weaving until a told him at which point he quickly stepped back and spilled half a glass of beer on the unit. i turned it over and shook and wiped what i could off. i was ready to play set 2 and 3 without synth and darned if it isn't still working almost 2 years later. i have had roland gear for 20 years that never missed a lick. you just give em to a student WITH THE MANUAL.

the micro br isn't as rugged feeling as other roland gear but it was designed to be small and light. time will tell.

i attend namm in aneheim every year and spend allot of time at the roland booth. since i am a custom builder and comparitively really sell very few of their units for them i don't think they listen to me hard enough. but some of what they have is on the cutting edge of technology. (like the elusive vg99) so far the micro br is only on the cutting edge of size in my book. listen to the guys in the trenches roland!!! we damn sure know what works and what we want.

so far i would say i haven't needed anything in the way of service with years of roland and boss gear but roland has been non responsive to my suggestions. i even offered to proof read and test their gear for them to help them AND my buyers get more from their products.

i play rock and blues mostly. started playing 43 years ago when there was a guitar a cable and a tube amp to keep up with.

i play in 2 bands and teach guitar. i build custom guitars and tube amps.

i have a studio full of gear and have so much "stuff" i would never even begin to cover it all here. i have a small collection of ovation electric, a few great hamers and allot of good vanilla and chocolate. musicians make music on anything playable.

overall i think roland gave us a handful of dairy queen without even a cone here. you might only get a few licks into it before you hand it off and wash your hands. except for capacity (with a 1 gig sd card i installed)it isn't up to what i hoped for and as a sketch pad my 5 year old zoom is easier to use.

IF YOU BOTHER TO READ THIS ROLAND/BOSS---YOU ARE CLOSE TO GREATNESS WITH YOUR TECHNOLOGY. MANY MUSICIANS DONT WANT TO BE TECHIES. LET US USERS HELP YOU MAKE YOUR GENIOUS USEABLE. LISTEN!!!!WATCH!!!

I mainly use the MicroBR for guitar practice. These are the features I use every day:

MP3 playback
- A-B looping
- slow down playback
Tuner
Simple recording of 2-3 tracks for practice.
Metronome Beat
Amp Modeling and Delay effect.
Built-in Mic, Guitar input, Aux output.

It is very easy to use the above features. You will probably need to use the manual to figure it all out but you can get an understanding of it very quickly.

If you need to do multitrack recording and editing its is a bit clunky to do that through the user interface.

Here is a page with reviews that has become sort of a Micro-BR forum:
http://colartz.com/blog1/boss-micro-br-review/

It has some "issues"

- Doesn't support long filenames or filename scrolling (this is pretty lame).
*You won't be tempted to use this as a replacement for an iPod
- Doesn't support VBR MP3 formats, (I use Audacity to convert the ones I'm practicing to 192kbps MP3).
- Battery Power doesn't last long (uses a standard Boss pedal power converter)
- The built-in rhythm machine doesn't have any patterns in 3/4-ish time. There are metronome patterns at that support it but not the nicer drum patterns. This a also lame as there are 50 pattern presets, couldn't they provide one in 3/4 time?

MP3 playback, and all the recording inputs have very good quality. The built-in mic is actually very good. If I don't have to be too quiet around the houes I use the built-in to record my own tube amp during practice rather than use built-in amp models.

I'm not a big fan of the built-in amp models, I think they are a bit noisy, but they work well enough for practicing. I also have a POD XT-Live and I very much prefer the POD models, I like my tube amp much more than either.

I really haven't had any problems over the last 5 months. I drop it from couch height about once a week.

For my purposes this is the best solution. I really need to record myself in practice to understand how songs are sounding.

I got it because I didn't like lugging my laptop over to my practice area, I was using it and Amazing Slow Downer and Audacity for these features. I've taken the Micro-BR and my guitar on vacations and its great, its pretty small, does all the functions I need for practice (mp3 player w/loop&slowdown, recorder, tuner, metronome)

COMPARING THE MICRO BR against the older PANDORA PXR4--

Don't trade or throw away your PXR4 yet--- there are things about the Korg you will definitely miss or would like. The PXR4 has a charm all its own, that I have thus far not been able to duplicate on the Micro BR, although the Boss recorder has its good points too.

Okay, first the Micro BR points:
Oh god--- NOT EASY TO USE AT FIRST-- jeez.
I am usually great at figuring out stuff without the manual, going by
intuition and common sense. Not this thing. Must use the manual to get
around on it, then after a while you get it. But you will scratch your head a lot at the start.

The menu layout is just bizarre, not like anything else I've used. No dials or knobs, except for input level and headphones.

The manual is FAIR, not great. You will read something and then go "what??".
Eventually you'll get it after a couple hours. Micro BR 4 out of 10

The Pandora also presents challenges, but in many ways is more easy to get around, even though it seems quite a bit deeper in terms of what it offers. The Pandora has MANY buttons an knobs-- this is definitely good, and allows more rapid non-menu scrolling to do jobs. 6 out of 10

Micro BR sound is quite good, the guitar effects are quite good, although not like a full fledged multi-effects pedal. Good for generic
modern sounds with Chorus/flange,phaser/tremelo/pan/delay. You can add reverb to anything, but the quality of the reverb is nothing great at all, and not particularly good except at low levels of ambience. It has a higher 44.1 sampling rate, so, very nice recording in general. I've heard people bitch about external mic noise, yeah, I can see this. Cheap mic preamps.

The Pandora has a lower sampling rate of 32K, but we have done some KILLER recordings with it, that sound wonderful. We also did a comparison with a CD recording, and blindfolded tried to tell if we were listening to the CD wav file, or the Pandora card--- we could never tell. Plugging in a guitar and running the effects-- yes, the Micro is more pristine, more high tech--- but the Pandora has a charm all its own, its own personality. I like it, and I would not say the Micro BR is "better". Its different.

The drum kit on the Micro is definitely a much higher quality, no doubt about it. But the drum patters DO NOT inspire me at all. They just leave me flat despite the wonderful quality. Its like great sounding generic drums. Bleech. On the other hand, the Pandora has these really cheap sounding somewhat dated drums, that kick ass. The Korg programers made some wonderfully interesting patterns that work immediately. The Micro BR, I haven't gotten anything to work yet. Perhaps I will.

The Korg has more effects, more tweakabiltiy, more flexibility.
The Micro BR has less effects, harder to navigate, but higher quality sound.
I can't say one is better than the other, sorry.

I suppose they are both great. No problems with either yet.

Never needed either yet.

Well, currently, the Pandora offers MUCH more bang for the buck. You can get them on ebay for roughly 1/2 to 2/3 the price of a Micro BR. It has lots of buttons, knobs, slides, friendlier LCD, more effects, better battery life. It is thicker than the Micro BR, and will not slide into your shirt pocket. It has a real retro 90's early 2000 look to it. Cool. But the Smart media cards are a more money at about $60 for 128MB. Record bunch of songs, then export into your computer.

The Micro BR offers pristine sound quality, but less effects, a confusing operating system at first, a more compact size, short battery life (get some new Nickle Hydride batteries 2700 hour or an 9Vold AC with a NEGATIVE center pole.)and it looks thoroughly cool and modern. It uses the more economical and sturdier SD cards (1GB limit).

There you go. Each has advantages-- neither is a substitute for a real recorder or PC workstation software, no way. The best way to use these things is to lay down basic tracks and use the drum machine for reference or inspiration and FORGET ABOUT EDITING and MIXING ON THESE THINGS. That is just stupid and insane. Come on, get real.

Export into your computer, and process and edit there.


Hope this helps-- have fun
Neil Slade
www.BrainRadar.com
The AMAZING Brain Adventure

If you love intuitive interface, this is not for you. The manual is a must and the instructions are easy to follow. So the score reflects both extremes.

Again, polarised opinion, I have a Fender american Standard, sounds thin through every patch. Tweeking helps a lot here and can be. bothersome if you're low on patience. I mainly use a Godin LGHmb with the Micro BR. That little plactic box loves humbucker and good sound clean or effects loaded are easier to get. I fitted a SD hotrail in the bridge on my strat and guess what..it sound a lot better with the BR. the scrore reflects that again..crapy with single coils (unless patiently tweeked) and great with humbuckers

no problem other than it's a powermonger for batteries. Power supply recommended. Casing is in plastic and the mirroir finish gets dirty quickly. droped it a few time by accident, not a scratch work great..

didn't deal with them so far

I play anything that comes to mind, from heavy rock to sweet-nothings melodies. I,ve recorded accoustics with the built-in microphone, voice, clean,dirty and heavy electric guitar with it and it does the job for what it was meant for: On the go recording. I love the fact that you can be playing and recording a song sitting under a tree in a parc have a DYNAMIC drum track and full range of effects. It's a band in a box and mini studio so you can make a decent recordings of complete songs anywhere you can imagine. Strictly for recording purposes, it beats the crap out of everything out there in for the price. feature packed. the only down side to it is that for anyone who swears by Fender's single coil sound...it's crap. to get a good sound out of it with singles coils you have to do heavy tuning on the presets. The score reflect my personnel apreciation of the little marvel and is not objective.

It is not intuitive!Read the manual. You can plan (not relize: attention at mistake...editing is not easy...) a demo in 1/2 hour....

I'm using a Fender Stratocaster with a valve amp.
This very little box is not friend of my guitar because the digital tonal character of micro boss is naked with the strat. I mean every patch has a thinny sound, i can hear the square sampling at its worst.
Not suitable for real situation, only use it for scratch demo.
I try editing patch in every way but the preset are the max; the only human sound is .....jc120, the others seems a highly compressed mp3. Not put in your head the idea to use it as multifx device for live or studio situation.
The effects sound are killed by the overall low quality sound of the box.
I have also a Art sgx 2000 Express: another world, make every amp great.

I can live surely without it. I never will gig with it, rather i prefer guitar and amp only. Make sure you carry an ac adapter...it eat batteries. However i not hear scratch or noise from input/output or the pot, seems good quality.

No upgrade at now; no new patches;

I play rock, blues jazz etc. I play guitar form 35 years. I love in it the new feature (usb, mp3 etc) but i hate the sound.....also my hi-fi sound miles away better with guitar.....
Suggestion: buy a valve multifx with the same money and send out at your notebook you can make better and easier.

I agree with the comment below. This is anything but easy to use (I am fairly technically adept). I bought it to quickly capture ideas, but all I did was spend hours wading through the manual to even do the simplest of things. By the time you figure out how to do something you've long since forgotten what you wanted to record. My Fostex 16 track is so much easier to use and gives me far better results.

I wouldn't call the sound inspiring, but for $200.00 its about what you would expect.

No idea returned after a week.

The concept is excellent but unfortunately the engineers who designed it missed the point. Its should be an ends to a means to capture ideas when they are still fresh in your head, not a technical maze.

I buy every new gismo and gadget and pedal (Gear Aquisition Syndrome) and usually can figure stuff out very quickly.
The Micro BR looks great and is jam packed with tricks but is not user friendly!
I am an experienced ProTools user and own many Roland synths, so I can safely say that I am very technologically experienced.
I bought this thing to quickly capture those song ideas that pop into your head when you are on the subway or something. There's nothing quick about it.
Technology that makes you a slave to the MANUAL for the first few weeks is not very well designed technology!

It probably sounds good for what it is.
I wish that manufacturers would focus on making products that just work really well instead of having every bell and whistle under the sun!
The Gibson Les Paul doesn't also make toast and do your taxes, it just sounds like a Les Paul really well. The Urei LA 2A Compressor has like 2 knobs and is a wonderful thing . . . it does not do Amp and microphone modeling, drums and multi effects.
Brian Eno once said that he would really prefer if they would just make a synthesizer with 4 or 5 good sounds rather than 256 shite sounds and 2 or 3 good ones.
Listen up Boss/Roland

Reliable yes. It sits reliably on the shelf I left it on one week after buying it.

This is a baffling little device that I'm sure in the right hands can yield satisfactory results. I felt obligated to post this on Harmony-central because I read peoples reviews myself when considering buying gear. You can't rely on magazine reviews when the very same magazine receives it's advertising revenue from the manufacturers it's reviewing. Not everything is wonderful. When I read these user reviews I am more interested in the bad ones for insight.
I am not saying that the Micro BR is no good. But if you are looking for a cool little recorder that you can start capturing stuff out of the box with a minimum of study . . . this isn't it.
You will be reading the manual for a while.
Great tech design doesn't depend heavily on the user reading the manual this much.
Good Luck

It can all seem baffling if you want to fiddle around with it straight from the box, so reading the manual is a must. Luckily I had already had experience with using a Boss BR 864 and this uses a similar menu system so it all didn't seem that daunting. The only annoyance I have is that there is no way of finding out if a drum rhythm is actually 8 or 4 beats long without actually listening to it. Overall it is very easy to use ONCE YOU HAVE READ THE MANUAL COMPLETELY!

As I have said I have already used a Boss BR 864, and you may or may not know that the Boss BR 864 is atleast twice the price as the Boss Micro BR. The sounds you get out of both are identical though, it's amazing how Boss actually crammed all these quality sounds into a device this size. The different drum sounds compliment a wide range of styles of music from hip-hop to reggae and they do a great job. As for the guitar sounds you will get a great recording sound just by using the ones that Boss have preset for you already, although you can make your own ofcourse. The amp simiulations aren't going to make you sell your Marshall stack but they do a fantastic job for getting ideas down and even for serious recording too. The effects, such as chorus and flanger, can be tweaked as much as you like to get the speed and depth you want. For device this small I don't think you will get anything better.

It's made from a solid plastic that feels completely sturdy and I'm sure if you dropped it on the carpet it would still work fine, just don't drop it on the concrete.

For the price I paid I got a fantastic piece of kit. It is highly portable especially with 2 AA batteries as an optional source of power. The quality of everything is fantastic and you aren't going to be dissapointed with such a small device that offers many big things. The MP3 mode option allows you to listen to MP3 files at just as good quality as an IPOD, though there are less menu options than you would find on an IPOD.
With loads of sounds on offer and 293 different drum rhythms available you have everything you need to record 5 platinum selling albums! Boss have made a fantastic piece of equipment AS LONG AS YOU READ THE MANUAL!

This is one cool piece of gear as long as the purpose is clear. I have tweaked gear like this since' 85 and the smaller the unit and more power, then the learning curve is tougher..that's perfectly normal. If you are spending this much spend 350 to 450 for one of the used and totaly awsome Yamaha 16 breeds to trully get 16 tracks 8 at once. I have the aw4416 which has motorized flying faders etc. 16 tracks at a time for 750 on ebay. This is NOT made for that. I bought it as a guitar practice and idea sketch pad and it's near perfect. I just recorded some rythm'& lead riffs with drum machine without cracking the manual. I'm sure it's deep if one is trying to get 4 high quality tracks out of it. As far as an acoustic one man show it would be great for demos. You know a metronome is boring for those who haven't realized how much it improves one's playing. How many times do we sit around and noodle without a click track or drum machine for timing?? Most of the time a guitarist is playing rythm on stage and near perfect meter makes ALL the difference. The sounds are just great for the $... especially the cleans.

Very quiet when input gain is set..very imp. as it will change from one guitar to another..that's normal of course. I think the effects for the $ are fantastic.No it doesn't sound like my Lexicon G-System but it wasn't $1500 either. I can clone most tones. It sounds better than my Pandora and it sounds better then my digitech floor looper and boomerang actually which suprised me. The delays are my style in terms of being echoplexi and soft...(highs roled off)

VERY IMPORTANT..input sensitivety is critical with all gear...making sure hot humbuckers are not overpowering the input...the difference is TONE or NOT.

Look tough enough. buy the Boss PSA120 for $20..forget batteries except when traveling...I have used a ton of their gear since the KILLER Roland GP8..old but still killer for recording..i BOUGHT IT NEW FOR $1200 IN '85 AND IT SITLL KICKS BUT..Steve Lukather helped develop it..BATTERY STILl WORKS FOR HOLDING PRESETS..GO FIGURE.. I have hundreds of hours in studio recording on that thing. It's either the pod pro or the roland gp-8 if not an amp..

Well a company this big..Roland/boss is probably fine with support

I have played for 40 years...13 in same vintage rock R&B band so we cover a lot of ground. This piece is to keep my chops sharp...especially when I come across something cool...then forget it 2 weeks later...I really like laying down licks and funk to listen back..and critique. At this price I'll have to go with 10 for value.
What is the value of hearing yourself especially if you are striving to be an accurate and clean..string muting..slide work...so many players are actually sloppy on playback in the studio. I have seen many guitarists come unglued because their playing didn't sound like they "thought" it did. a recording never lies. This is a great confidence builder!!!

Shirt pocket size digital recorder with four tracks, additional MP3 playback and recording capabilities, plus guitar multi effect processor/amp modeler, chromatic tuner, simple drum computer. Connections: 1/8" rec/phone output and mic/line input, 1/4" guitar input, USB for backup on your Computer. Works with SD cards (comes with 128 MB, max supports 1 GB) and runs on 2AA batteries.
All in all a very nice Jack-Of-All-Trades for practice, travel and musical note-taking.

Given the size there need be compromises concerning the UI. 21 knobs plus analog input and output volume wheels. But cleverly designed, the only thing that can be annoying is when you have to step through 1000ms of delay time, 300+ rhythm patterns or 80 preset sounds. A +10 and/or +50 knob would be welcome here. Else, if you manage to get some functionality out of you mobile phone or digital camera you should have no problems with this one.

Preset sounds can be edited and saved universally ("user presets", internal memory) or for the song (on the SD card).

You can easily bounce or master tracks and convert to MP3, you can also record directly in MP3 (mono or stereo, using whatever input you like) or jam to your fav MP3 using the effects and amp mods (but not the rhythm).

Rhythm patterns can't be changed but combined to arrangements (which you should do to make sure the machine saves the tempo of your song, a very simple arrangement will do. 5 different arrangements can be stored per song.) Miraculously all rhythm patterns are 4/4 with the exception of the metronome, which is a sin. There are some triolic ones, though.

All this editing stuff works very straightforward once you got the hang of it. I didn't imagine I'd be able to come along with this machine without extensive manual lecture, but I did. The manual is fine and very usable, though.

Boss writes nowhere that they intend to update the firmware. If they do, it would be a good idea to add some 3/4 and 5/4 rhythm patterns, but I doubt they will. Probably there will be a follow-up model next year and that's it.

This device eats batteries. Nonetheless I did not buy the optional mains adapter as it compromises portability and run the BR on NiMH rechargeables which is the best option IMHO. A set of 2000+ mAh batteries lasts about 4 to 6 hours, I'd say.

They also seperately sell a mock-leather case. Get that one, it makes a lot of a difference in usability, as you can hang ut around your neck or velcro it to the guitar strap. Great. Since I have it, I keep walking around the house with guitar and headphones and jamming :)

Effects are generally excellent. There are compressor, chorus, flanger and phaser plus delay. There are also two reverb flavours that can be added also to the mix.
I'm not after the sound of anybody in particular but you can get pretty much any sound you want with a little tweaking. The factory presets (80) can't be perfect for everybody, but I'm pretty sure anybody will find some to work with out of the box.
To my taste, delay times are much too long on a number of presets (500 ms seem to be some kind of standard) but this is easily changed.
There are three bass patches (and two for acoustic guitar), you can find some more when you play around a little bit. Works quite well for bass too, IMHO.

I'm using this box with my Gretsch hollowbody an Telecaster and with my newest acquisition, a Yamaha passive PJ Bass. Have not tried it with a guitar amp, I use headphones mostly. You also can show off in a non-musician household by running it through the Hifi system.

This is not a device for gig use. For that, the UI _is_ too finicky. Else I suspect it'll last long enough if you don't throw it or spill beverages on it (I again recommend the play case here).
Case is plastic and the batteries seem to make up half of the weight, but if something breaks in distant times, it might as well be the electronics.
I give it an 8 for what it's worth.

Never dealt with them and maybe never will (see: firmware updates, see: reliability). Websites are very good to excellent IMHO.

I play guitar for over 25 years now (huh, scary) but have just recently restartzed to take it more seriously after a quasi-break of several years. While I was at it, I've also begun playing bass.
I'd say the Micro BR is a heck of a useful tool for learning and practice, in my case I do find it multiplies my possibilities, gives me a decent self-check and even is inspiring. It helps me making music. I am very glad I bought it.
I love the portability and it being an all-in-one device, with all of the components being more than decent. Stay away from me with all those Nintendos and PSPs, just give me the Micro BR.

So if it was lost or stolen I'd have another one as soon as it can be delivered.

takes a bit of a read through the manual, but it's well written and easy to locate what you're looking for. anyone who's used a multi-fx pedal or digital recorder of other sorts could figure it out for sure.

it's what i expected. it's not the warmest sounding unit, but it's a small digital recorder and it's better than pretty much anything else in it's class and more affordable.

i've only had it a few weeks, but i've known people to have them for a few months now and no problems. 3 year warrany i think, so you can't beat that for the price.

they're usually helpful, never used them for this product yet.

kick ass! and YES YOU CAN BURN THE SONGS ON YOUR COMPUTER, RTFM (read the fucking manual) you have to master the song or track and then convert it to an .mp3 or .wav when it's done. you don't have to really master the song, just let it go through the process and don't add any FX or use any of the mastering tools, leave it flat and then alter the .Wav or mp3 files on your computer if that's what you want. otherwise, fully master it on the little unit then dump the song as a .wav or .mp3 and then burn away. easy!

Quite easy to use, but there are many functions and quite a small screen to navigate through them

Great for electric guitar plugged straight in.

Very poor for external mic plugged in - much much more hiss than I get through a minidisc recorder. In built mic also produces hiss.

I play acoustic guitar 80% of time and electric guitar 20% of time. This unit covers recording the electric guitar very well, but not the acoustic (hiss even when using a good quality mic)

I have owned my Micro BR for about three months now. I have found that if I have a specific task to do and read the manual for that task, it is pretty easy to figure out. Once you figure out a process and the menu system, the Micro BR becomes rather intuitive.

This is an impressive little piece of work, especially considering the low cost. I do recording thru both a full-blown ProTools home studio and thru an Apple Garage Band setup. I bought this to do demos at home so I could present ideas to my bands. I have been most impressed at the sophistication and quality of the demos that I have produced. The sound quality is top notch. I am especially impressed with the rhythm generator. The built-in microphone is better than expected. Of course, being this small the unit has it's limitations but it is amazing what it can do for the money. SO COMPACT! It is an ideal choice for making home demos.

So far so good! It would probably not withstand abuse and I wouldn't want to spill adrink on it. I would by another in a heartbeat if I broke this one.

I would expect Boss to have decent customer service

Boss has hit a home run with this one. My friend with the ProTools system is slightly snobbish about his home studio (as he should be) but even he was impressed with what I was able to wring out of this
little machine. A good ProTools system can set you back several thousand, an MBox or Lexicon Omega will cost more than this and you have to have a decent computer. You can keep this complete portable studio in your guitar case with your picks if you want to. There is really nothing else quite like it. It started out being a cool toy, but I find it to be much more than a toy.

The unit has suprisingly great sound,through my amp and with the headphones.It has features over and above what I require. It's function editing is to be applauded. The user manual requires
a lot more thought as far as organization and instruction is concerned. It requires the user to look all over for some simple
procedures. I'm assuming it was translated which never works.

I'm using the Micro BR with a Fender HotRod Deluxe and a 1973 Traynor
Custom Reverb. My guitars are a Hamer Monaco,Fender American Deluxe Strat and a Gibson Les Paul. The affects and rythym patches are amazingly exact with loads of tweaking. Each guitar changes the BR's
character and requires added adjustments. I'm just a basement dweller
guitar player and my needs are simple I've been waiting for a unit like this for a long time. I intend to buy a Traveller guitar and use the BR with headphones and power supply/batteries when I'm away.

I bought it in Dec/2006 it worked fine until Feb/2007 when one afternoon while using it my living room filled with the tell tale odor of a failed component. An output coupling capacitor blew and the unit got hot. Took it to Roland Canada the people who market Boss here and they fixed it within 24hrs of me dropping it off to them. Kudos!

Excellent!

For the price and quality you can't go wrong. If it were stolen I would buy another. Also I own other Boss equipment and am very satisfied with the reliability of their products

Following the instructionsin the manual (which sometimes get a bit complex), the unit is easy enough to operate. The onboard patches are good to excellent and there is enough room to experiment with creating your own. One problem, however, this is a quick noodling, impluse unit (albeit, a dynamic near studio grade mini-unit) which really could use a real-time monitoring of adjustments to the effects and rhythms. Within most DAW apps. and the hand held Pandora (as well as in others) you can audition the changes to the effects, tempo, etc. in the guitar effects and the drum kits/patterns. This is important to a vast range of players who set a beat, or experiment with an effect to drive a new idea on the guitar. With the Micro BR, the parameters have to be guessed at, set, and then they are audible. It is dead air during the creative process; hope that Boss takes this into consideration for the Micro BR 2. Otherwise, this is a wonderful and fun tool to carry around in your pocket or gear bag to explore your creative abilities.

The sounds range from Very Good to Excellent. Yes, indeed, we are definitely into the 21st Century here. I use it with earphones in a Manhattan apartment. It is beyond perfect at 3 a.m.
with the neighbors fast asleep. The demo video on the Boss website has a dude playing with it through an amp. Sounds impressive there too.

Time will tell. It appears to be extemely well made.

Boss (a.k.a. "Roland") is one of the biggies; no sweat with support here.

For the clean multi-tracking abilities of creation through a neat, beautiful hand held elegant and powerful recording device, anywhere, anytime-this is the one to have now.

Wow I love this thing. You've got to remember this is about the size of a nintendo DS. You cant expect abbey road studios here. It is what it is and that is a scratch pad. and an exceptional one at that.

its very easy to use as long as you contain your exciement for half an hour and read a bit of the manual to get started.

Functionality is great there is not too much and not too little. there are enough fx etc to get your ideas down. thats what its for. its a song writters tool and it doesnt stiffle creativity by giving four million options. your not going to cut a record with it. your just getting some ideas down while the inspiration hits. top class.

Good sound quality for what it is. I especially love the mic sound. it is very clear. i expected that to be rubbish but it is very good. again for what this machine is. the only thing is that there is no pop shield. how could there be?? I think ill stick a bit of cloth or something over it next time.

i wont give it a 10 even though im tempted to. maybe it could be better but its hard to see how.

i guess if it would shoot out wav files to burn to cd that we be awesome.

well it doesnt look as rugged as a boss pedal. its made of plastic. put it this way. i woulnt toss it around but if you look after it it should be fine. i wont be lending it to anybody either. you know how people are with things that arent theirs. hammer hands abound.

who knows how long it will last. im not going to rate it.

well i sent a mail asking about SD cards. i bought 2 seprate 2GB cards and neither work.

Im trying to find out what the story is there. maybe you can only go as high as 1 GB. but who can tell me?????

I love it. a dream come true. ive heard that you cant burn songs to cd and if that is true then im going to be a bit peed off with it.

that to me is ESSENTIAL.

When i got it i had a song thats been in brewing in my head for weeks recording within an hour of openning the box. not bad at all.

one realy cool feature i should mention is to do with the drum track. as you build a drum track you can preview all the patterns as you go. so if you are say up to verse 2. the machine automatically jumps back to that spot as you press play to preview the drums. a f----g awesome idea. and very very useful.


Im giving it a 10 because for what it is it is fantastic. i love it. you wont make a hit record out of it but you might just find it lights the spark.

It is what it is. Do you expect superb functionality from a product designed to be a portable stratch pad device? If you have ever owned anything which uses "multi-function" buttons, e.g. from a scientific calculator - through a digital watch - to any multi-fx unit, you should have no problem, as it is Easy-Peasy, lemon squeesy to use. very user friendly. If you haven't, then it may be a little frustrating to use at the start. This unit does however remind you to press stop when accessing features that need the player to be on stop, so it doesn't leave you guessing. Nice touch.

Sound is ok. I am used to the quality of the BR-1600CD, (which I sold to buy a house) and so this is a little FX are much better than the early Zoom stuff, and a whole lot quieter.

I am using headphones, my hi-fi and I am yet to use it in my valve amp (ONLY BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND MY ADAPTOR!)

The stereo effect on an chorus is not "get at-able" as far as I can see.

VERY dependable, as all Boss stuff is, but as for quote "road tough", the buttons don't appear to be as solid as their compact pedals.

3 year guarantee.

Can you get better? You'll get bored of it by then (or have bought the next latest gizmo!)

For my music, I enjoy like a woman tone This device is less felexible than the BR-1600CD v2, but how can you compare ??140 with ??840?

Easy to use. Don't really need the manual to get it up and running the first time. But if we want to access certain features, the manual is necessary. Plugging it to computer for data transfer is also very easy. No need for specific drivers to be installed.

The effects with simplistic setup are surprisingly good for a small unit. It can produce various type of sound including spacey-out-of-this-world sound, so it is quite versatile for any kind of music. The MP3 playback quality is also better than IPOD in my opinion. I recorded a song from external player and the quality is amazing. I have the BR-1180CD and the sound quality is no different or even better with the 24 bit quantization (BR-1180 has 16 bit). I had a Tascam PS-5 before, it has a MIDI tone generator, but the effects sound awfully bad. Never tried the Zoom or Korg portable recorder, but I think the Korg PXR is overpriced.

Seems reliable but I won't drop it. An aluminium casing will make the design more sleek. I wonder if BOSS sell a wrap case for this so I can carry it and still can play. The pouch is nice but I can use the button while the unit is in the pouch.

Never dealt with them. But they have too many web sites, the international, the US, etc and all contains almost the same information but not standardized. I think they should have one but contain all that we need. Just like Line6 Websites, it's awesome.

I Play many kind of music. For travel purpose, this is what I need. I'm gonna get myself a travel guitar to go with this one. If it were stolen, I would wait for the new series, I think BOSS will come up with something that is even better than this. I think it's the best affordable portable recorder yet.

The MicroBR is pretty easy to use right out of the box. I played with it in the store for about 10 minutes before I bought it, and had already figured out how to create a loop (press the A<>B button where you want to begin and end the loop), and slow the loop down (cursor over to the speed % and press + or -). Recording is just as simple.

The buttons on this recorder are well marked, and appropriately named.

I also give it high marks for the input and output volume being controlled by thumb wheels instead of by buttons. I always prefer volume knobs over volume buttons because then I can go from full volume to 50% volume to 0, or anywhere in between, with the flick of a thumb instead of by pressing a button numerous times.

The manual is pretty well done. It is fairly thick, but seems to be complete. The information is laid out logically, and the manual explains each function of the unit and how to control that function step by step, button by button, and with numerous visual aids to make using the unit easier.

The unit has many preset effects patches for use with guitar, and they sound pretty good when the guitar is plugged straight into the input. There are also 80 user editable effects patches, which is far more than I'll ever use.

Each patch is pretty easy to edit. You can choose from many different amplifier, speaker, and effects types to dial in a usable sound, and then save it to a user patch with the touch of only a few buttons.

For me, this recorder is very easy to use, but I'm also a computer/electronics guy, so sometimes using electronics comes easier for me than for others. However, spending 20 minutes with the manual in one hand and the MicroBR in the other should get anybody using it without any problems.

First, I generally use the MicroBR by plugging the guitar straight into it, selecting an effects patch, and playing through headphones.

The sound quality on this unit is good, if you consider its intended purpose. This is not a studio multi-effects unit. This is not a guitar processor intended for playing live shows with a band.

The effects sound good, but they're not going to compare to playing through dedicated effects into a tube amp with a 4x12 speaker cabinet in front of you. However, for using the unit late at night through headphones, and being able to record those sounds as musical ideas, or to work out parts of a song, it sounds great.

The patches are not noisy at all either. There is a built in noise suppressor that is part of the effects chain of each patch, and it does its job. Even with the high-gain "metal" style patches, there is no excessive background hiss/noise.

The recording works very well, and is not noisy at all. The sound you hear in the headphones when you are playing is the sound that you'll hear when playing back the recording.

I have also used the unit to record some old tapes of a now-deceased family member telling stories so I could put the tape on CD. I hooked the headphone out of the tape player to the line input of the MicroBR, set the recording input to line, with a flat EQ, and recorded directly to MP3 format (very easy to do using this recorder). It worked beautifully, and introduced no noise to the recording. The CD sounds almost exactly like the tape.

The thing to remember is this is basically a home-level four track for scratching down musical ideas, or personal recording, which is much more powerful and easier to use than tape.

I have not used internal/external microphones with this unit, so I cannot comment on the sound quality with a microphone.

About the phrase trainer/slowing down the music: This unit works 100% as advertised when used as a phrase trainer. One reviewer mentioned the sound quality was poor when slowing down an MP3 - this is the nature of the beast. It is impossible to slow down a song (or speed it up) without degrading the sound quality (It's like playing a 33 rpm record at the wrong speed). The important thing is the pitch of the notes stay the same, which is what you really need when trying to learn music by ear. No matter how much the MP3 is slowed down or sped up, the notes of the guitar are the same as at normal speed, which is really important.

I've only had one very minor problem with this unit. I primarily use the MicroBR as a phrase trainer to play along with MP3's. I have noticed that occasionally when skipping through an MP3 song to get to a specific section, the unit will display "Unsupported Format". It has only happened a few times, and has been easily overcome by turning the unit off and back on again.

As for gigging/etc... this unit is not intended for gigging, so that is N/A.

I have no experience with Boss telephone/email customer support as I have not had reason to contact them yet. I have used numerous Boss products for years without problems though.

However, when I opened the box to the MicroBR and took out the manual, I also noticed a separate "Owner's Manual Corrections" addendum, which shows the incorrect wording of the manual and the corrected version (there were only a few errors - nothing major). This could have been done through the world wide web, but Boss chose to print up this correction sheet and include it with the recorder, so I'll give them some customer service points for that.

Overall, I enjoy this unit quite a bit and use it frequently. I've been playing guitar for right around 10 years now (Mostly clean/bluesy styles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton/etc..), and I wish I had something like this when I was first starting out because I'd be a much better guitar player now if I had.

I first saw this unit in a guitar magazine several weeks ago, and knew I had to go buy it. I primarily use the unit as a song/phrase trainer, a musical scratch pad, and a headphone amp for late night playing without waking up the neighborhood.

I've used software in the past to do this, but found the interface to be a little clunky, not to mention having to sit in front of the computer while playing guitar. I've also used a few different software packages to record musical ideas and some guitar songs I wrote, but I like the ease of use of a four track recorder instead of the really complex computer software.

The MicroBR is exactly what I've been wanting for years - a four track that I can use to quickly record some guitar ideas or songs, and a phrase trainer to learn new songs with.

If it were lost or stolen, I would most certainly buy another one.

I'm giving a 10 in this category because for what I wanted it for, and what I use it for, it really is a "Fantastic value." A highly portable four track, with decent guitar amp modelling/effects built in, a phrase trainer, and a tuner, at an outstanding price point? What's not to like?

Once I had been through the Quick Guide, it all became apparent how the device operates. The manual is needed though in order to get the best out of the unit, because it can do so much. Like it is possible to record dry guitar even though you can opt to hear the effected sound when recording. You can also use MP3's and inport them into your four track recordings and vice versa. Manual is helpful/essential for those indepth features.
Basic stuff like editing patches is soon easy to do.

The sound quality is great for the price. I used it through a Roland KC550 and there was no noticeable hiss as with some portable effects units. The clean sounds are clean and the dirty sounds are dirty. I have not yet edited to alot so sound could be better. There is an effect noise suppressor on board.

OK up to now, but I had it for three weeks.

Never had a problem in the three weeks I have had it.

This unit is phenomenal. I can use on a live, but best of all it can be used for practice to great effect. You can use the drum machine which has metronome sounds to practice to. You can drag and drop MP3 files and practice along with those. You can slow it down to 25% to study lead licks. One can centre cancel the lead instrument that is in the centre or off centre. Four rack recorder with full editing features and the drum machine has parts like start, variation and ending which can be chained.
If you are at a rehearsal you can record with it at different qualities through the built-in mic and then rehearse with it later or drag the file on to your pc. Loads more...
Only two problems found so far:
1. The battery life is not so great only about three hours if that. Just turned the contrast down on the screen so that might help.
2. When playing MP3's to practice with it is difficult to get the incoming guitar sound at the same level as the MP3 because when you turn the MP3 down this also affects the guitar input.
Otherwise fantastic. This unit can be used live, but I will not totally store my VG88. I think Boss have overdone it this time. Great product. Email me for more info.

No faders for the mixer, but yes, it's this tiny !
It's very easy to handle (even without the faders).
All the menus are logical, most features can be used without the manual.
Editing patches, songs, effects all easy - the drum patterns can't be edited - that's bad - at least an PC editor would be fine.
There is no bass in the rhythm computer - only drums.

Drums and even the guitar effects are fine - guitar effects sound better than in all other small recorders - and even better that a lot of big modellers.

All the effects are fine - but one - the reverb is VERY bad - come on - we need an update for the reverb.

The inbuild mic is fine and almost noisless, to bad the mic preamp (for the external mic) is very noisy.

The overall recording quality is fine (Did I mention that the reverb sounds poor).

With a better reverb would it be a 10 for guitar use.
For recording with an external mic is it a 5 (to noisy).

For my business trips and holidays is this box perfect. I used to take my Zoom PS02/PS04 with me but now will the MicroBR travel with me.

It's fun to play with this one. Even the AB loop works seamless - so I can record some background parts and play along with the box.

Ther is a mp3 player included - nice for music stuff - e.g. background loops or phrase training. Not so nice as a replacement for an ipod - since the unit can't handle longer filenames (max 8 characters) and can't handle subfolder, no playlist ...

The mp3's can be played back with 25%..200% of the original speed - with poor sound quality - but nice to learn a lick from a recording.

The box is not perfect - Updates ? - but there is no other small recorder on the marked with this much features, easy of use and sound quality - and it locks cool