Boss BR-1180CD

Very easy. I only refer to the manual to go deeper into utilizing the thing, all basic recording and mixing functions can be mastered in the first 10 minutes after plugging it in. Very well written manual with plenty of big pictures and step by step instructions for everything. More advanced usage requires more time in the manual but what doesn't?

The best on the market, Boss is a Roland subcompany. The br-1180 features C.O.S.M. technology. Same rooms, mic modeling, amps, and effects as the acclaimed and innovative VS- series Roland 's top digital recorders. CD 's can be wriiten at 2x up to 8x speed and sound great, and the line level outputs are very clean and powerful, especially if you use a GOLD SERIES RCA cable.

Never failed my once. Never freezez and provides plenty of storage space I record demos for clients who need help arranging teir music and it never warned me once about running out of disk space. I record rough drafts of songs at the lowest but still very clean digital quality which saves disk space and then I do the final tracking and mastering of a song at the highest quality. Never freezes, burps or wines. Quiet as a mouse.

Never needed them for any of my Boss gear and I had the br-532 digital 4-track recorded before I bought this br-1180. That is why I bought this one. Can't wait for the 40gigabyte 16-track Boss model. (You listening Boss Inc.?? LOL.)Heard they are pretty good over the phone with answers though.

Now the dirt; it could use the ability to record more than 2 tracks at a time. The new Korg dr-1600 can record 8 tracks at a time and has a 40 gig hard drive, both the br-1180 and the Korg dr-1600 are uncompressed 24-bit, 44k. But the Korg has a SCSI port to run your computer sequences into the dr-1600 br-1180 has no SCSI. It could also use more than one level of undo. The dr-1600 allows you 99 levels of undo. But that's all that I can think of that the br-1180 doesn't do! It imports wav. files and it has easy panning, and eq, and easy effects modification. The Mastering tool kit is really cool too. Add compression, reverbs, limiters and overall eq to the mixdown before printing your CD. Very happy to own my Boss br-1180, but for $300.00 more I may soon get the new Korg dr-1600.

Concerning ease of use, although this is an easy machine to learn ( in comparison to other digital multitrackers) still there are some areas that I was not quite comfortable with and is why I am adding this hopefully helpfull hint for some of you BR1180 owners. The manual covers a lot but sometimes it is eaiser to watch someone else walk you through all the features of the machine. What I am talking about is the (Roland video onwers manual) for the BR1180cd. Maybe some of you already know it is available. I just recieved mine a couple of weeks ago, (ordered it through one of the big music mail order places) but I am sure it is available through Roland as well. Does it sound as though I am trying to sell you somthing?, well I am not I just know how frustrating it is to have purchased a new piece of gear and not be able use it to its full potential or be confused about how to operate it. The video will walk you through every feature on the 1180, very informative. I no longer need a users group to learn the more in depth features of the machine. My review for this product was the first one and I still cant wait for more of you to rate this product. Since I have had mine and since my first review I have more respect for the machine than ever. I have been running my Boss GT6 into the line ins of the BR1180 and then running it through an edited mic-modeling preset,(awesome!) I am finding out that the possibilities are almost endless with just whats inside the 1180. Great stuff, I hope this helps some of you out there.

The preset sounds are growing on me, after I edit them ofcourse. I am finding out that they seem to set well and cut through in a mix even though sometimes I dont think an individual sound really sounds good. It all depends on your whole mix and how that sound sets with the others. I have always heard that mixing is an art, well now I am starting to realize it and I know I have a long road ahead of me.

I have had mine a few months now and while it is not a real long time it has worked flawlessly, I turn it on ond off several times a day and I also took it on a week long vacation. Mine works PERFECT.

Roland/Boss has a technical assistance number. I have called them a couple of times (before I got the video) and they answered my questions in detail. They actually knew what I was talking about.

Even after seeing the new Korg D1200, Yamaha`s AW16G and Zooms MRS1266 I am still happy with the BR1180cd. Its just a tool for making music and I think it does it quite well. I have not read a negitive review yet. Check out the August edition of (GUITARIST) if you need to reassure yourself.

I have done a bit of recording before and I found this machine very easy to use. The hardest part was setting up the drum patterns, which I attribute to me not being much of a drummer. The manual is very helpful and I skimmed through it in about 1/2 hr.

I have a Fender Strat and Samick Bass and some crappy microphone and a Yahama keyboard. The vocal effects really helped improve my mike sound. I love what I have done already with it, and with more practise and a better mike I could get a better quality sound.

I think it's durable. I have had no problems so far and I owned mine for a cople of months now.

Never had to.

I mostly play gospel, and I would catergorize my own compositions as Blues-Rock. I have been playing for over 10 years now and I have Fender Deluxe 112 Amp. Fender Acoustic. If my unit was stolen I would definitely get another one. I love everything about it and plan on owning for a few years.

I was specifically looking for something easy to use as I'm not too techy and don't like things too virtual. This really is as easy to use as something like this can be. I've already banged down a load of tracks fairly easily.

I have had some noise using guitar and keyboards, but I think it
may be coming from the instruments themselves or from leads I'm using
as vocal are crystal clear. I'm pretty pleased with my first (hurriedly put-together) batch of tunes. I think with due care and attention the sound should be excellent.

The first one i got was faulty(hard disk)but Boss replaced it straight away. Remember that it is as delicate as a pc and you should be ok. With the new one I've had no problems whatsoever.

Company replaced a damaged one straight away. Tech support ran through a few things with me just to check that it was faulty and not
just user error which is fair enough.

I am very very pleased with it. I wish I'd had one years ago.
It is very easy to use. I'm not sure that you could quite produce finished professional product on it but it's damn close. I'll not be near a pro studio again unless some record company is throwing millions at me (unlikely)

This unit is extremely easy to use stright out of the box. I was recording things within the hour! The Manual contains a quick start guide as well as details for advanced use of the unit. Editing effects and rhythm patterns is fairly easy if you've had a bit of experience wih this type of thing before, ie. Subscreens, Menus and the like. The only beef I had initially was that you can't just pull it out of the box and jam over some basic drum pattern. You have to set up a Rhythm Arrangement which will require a tiny bit of reading to figure out how to do. Otherwise things are pretty simple.

I play a modified Strat which I usually plug direct into the unit because it has a dedicated Guitar/Bass input. I actually haven't tried micing my amp(Marshall VS100R)yet so I can't comment on how it might sound. If you go direct you will have to use either an external pre-amp or the units effect section to get a decent tone and sound level. I haven't tried copying any artists sound as I think it's a waste of time but I will say the effects are definately useable and some are great if you tweak a little. I only wish there were more options where the Bass Simulator is concerned. Personaly I think they all sound like an Upright Acoustic Bass not an Electric Bass. As far as noise is concerned, I have mine placed right next to the TV, Stereo Receiver, DVD player, VCR, & Cable box and I very rarely get any noise or interference. I use the same speakers I use for my dvd player as monitors (Polk Tower Speakers) and they work great. Obviously you can also use headphones which are probably the best way to go when using the mixer section. Also note that since the internal hard drive has so much memory I've never had to use anything but the Linear (uncompressed) recording mode. Using this mode gives you just over 64 hrs. of recording time after you erase the demo songs stored in the unit. I suppose I should note that you can get up to 250 hrs. if you use one of the space saving modes, but then you sacrifice sound quality. I would just stick with the top quality Linear mode and then save your songs to disk when you run out of recording time. Then, with your stuff backed up on disc you can erase the hard drive and free up all that recording space.

I've only had the unit for a couple of months so I can't really say. So far I've had no problems with anything and it all seems pretty well built, ie. no flimsy knobs or buttons. I would not however say it is built like a tank like most Boss products, so take the proper precautions when transporting the unit, ie. don't just throw it in your gig bag and go!

I've never had to deal with Boss directly so I can't comment.

Overall this unit is great! Especially if your a guitar/bass player looking for a quick way to get ideas down or to practice your soloing. I've been playing for 7 years now and I wish I would have gotten something like this sooner. I should probably mention some of the other features which I haven't really used yet. It has a CD burner and a mixing/mastering section so you can create superb quality demos if you know what your doing. You can also pop in your favorite CD, load the song you want onto the unit's tracks and then make use of the phrase trainer to slow a fast solo down so you can transcribe it. Or you can simply manipulate the tracks so if you want to here your favorite song without the lead guitar, vocals, solo or whatever, you can! Also note you have the "illegal without permission" option of then burning those songs minus the guitars or vocals back to a disc so you can use the disc for solo practice or vocal practice or whatever. The unit also allows for you to set up loops which are always usefull especially when writing songs. Say you have a 2 bar phrase which is repeated continuously throughout the song, you can play it through once and then loop it as many times as you want. I should also mention that this unit has something called virtual tracks or V-tracks. How this works is as follows: Each of the 8 Primary recording tracks has 10 Virtual tracks on which info can be recorded. To best demonstrate this idea, consider the following: Say you have a song in which all 8 tracks have something recorded on them, bass, drums, vocals or whatever. On track 3 you have recorded a guitar solo which you think is pretty hot but you want to record another try at it because you think you can probably get it a little better. Normally in this situation on an 8 track you would have to either sacrifice another track or record over your first solo attempt. Now obviously in this situation you risk losing that first almost perfect take in place of another take which might not be anywhere near as good. So this is where the virtual tracks come in. Instead of recording over your first solo attempt on track 3 record to one of track 3's v-tracks. Then you can play either one back with the rest of your recorded data. It's like having the option to compare up to 10 different passes at the same solo and then decide which you like best.

This unit seems very user friendly, even for a complete recording novice like myself. I found myself getting some decent stuff out of it actually just hours after I unpacked it. Editing patches and similar things is really just as easy as hitting the ENTER button to store a patch, etc. I did skim over the manual before I started really digging into into it. I have no problems with the manual, it really explains things in sequence as you would record a project. I do wish the manual had plastic covered pages as I find myself taking this manual to work to study it and the pages are getting dirty. This I cannot fault Boss for though, I guess I need to be a little more carefull.

I am basicially a guitar player and may be why this unit in particular stood out to me, it seems geared twards guitarists with its COSM amp modelling and such. I also have a BOSS GT6 but for now I am trying to just use the BR1180 for everything. I am one of those people of the opinion that if I tinker with somthing long enough great sounds will follow. I think the sounds (so far) are ok, I can get better sounds out of the GT6 but some of the BR1180 presets that I have edited sound very close. I have a huge range of styles that interest me, Steve Vai, Danny Gatton, Allan Holdsworth Y. Malmsteen, etc. If I could change anything on this unit at this time I would like more choices of reverb, not that the reverb it has is bad but I know that the technology for really great reverb is available to all the companys that produce items like this. I am talking high end Lexicon, TC Electronics, etc. Maybe Boss will make a revision upgrade on this unit with better and more reverb choices. This is just a personal thing, I am a reverbaholic. Its great that the unit has the built in drum machine and it does a good job for getting your ideas down but I am looking for more drum sounds than the unit offers. The BR1180 does although allow you to import wav files and the unit came with a cd of drum tracks. I loaded them up and they sound KILLER! I have tried using the bass guitar simulator but I feel it is a little too quirky and maybe a little latency prone. I want to use a real bass for my final recordings anyway. I think the actual effects in the unit are good, not noisy and come through the mix well.

I cant say a whole lot about its reliability having been using it for a couple of months now. Everything on the unit works just like it should and for having so much stuff inside it, amp and speeker modelling, mic modelling tons of effects and a whole finalizing section for your finished tracks before burning a cd it all works together as a complete unit, seems great.

Never had to deal with them for any problems with any of my Boss gear.

I had been looking at all the digital recorders out there before I bought this. I thought it would be a good place to start having never owned anything like this before, it is easy to use and in that reguard I think it does help you get down to the business of making music,everything is really just a buttons push away. Digital recorders are very difficult to try out in the store as there is a learning curve with every one of them. All I could really do was compare the brochures from the recorders I was interested in as to witch offered the features I was needing. I was looking at the new 16 track Yamaha as well as the Tascam 788 and the Korg D1200 and the Zoom MRS1044cd. I cant say much about these other recorders as I never got to try any. I think the price was good for the features that the BR1180cd offers. Everything is all about more and more and better and better but, you have to start somewhere. I would like to see a users forum for the BR1180 like the Tascam 788 has. I think the the only thing Boss could have done better with the unit would have been to make it record at 24bit instead of 16bit, even though the recording quality is great. The sound quality going out will be only as good as the sound quality going in. I do hope this review helps to get some other users of the BR1180 to respond with a review also... I am not the only one out here am I?