Boss BR-532

how was it out of the box you ask... i think it was about a week before i started getting comfortable with it.... getting really grovy sounds out of it and began to understand the whole thing....and remeber some of the things you discount at first come forward latter and surprise you as to how deep this thing really is ..

good sound system in this thing lots of options very tweekable
i went through a grey period a blue period a redhot period a star spangled molly period even a good golly period.. and it was all fueled with the presets and tweeks in this box a whole lotta scope..

its a tough old buzzard of a thing a little big and akward for my tastes but i have gigged with it in the open air on batties and it does all right packs up okay too..

never had any trouble with the unit

i use the BR-532 to travel to other planets [on keysboards]
with guitar and voice ..i also vist new orleans and the mississippi... new england coffee houses and the big areanas of the 60's and 70's with it.. .its a time machine sure..
its a looper in a way...but its not so much an instrument in it's self you need to be always feeding it signals and sounds...
sound that can be cut and moved arround.. til your memory runs out....its a memory box where you grab hold of time and shine your attentions on various parts of it.
..its like a box where you can touch and manipulate things that could never be touched or molded before..its like this big old studio building shrunk into the size of a laptop....full of rooms and corridors full of amps and mics and effects.and magical gizmos.

.and you are its owner. its god...it gives you a funny feeling when you look at it...

The 532's sound is great. Its my other equipment I worry about. The editing is the fun part. I love using the A/B to coppy measures that are extreamly long but exactly the same. I took a couple peaks at the manual but there is no greater mentor then yourself. If you take time to familierize yourself with the buttons and knobs (which wont take long at all), you will be creating great music and having fun doing it in no time.

Even though the 532 was designed for guitarist, I us my multitrack recorder with my keyboard and laptop. As long as you record with a low input level, the playback will sound LIVE. The line effects are wonderfull. The effects add qualities which my keyboard n'or my laptop never produced. When I am producing and recording, I dont try to sound like no one but myself. Plus, the BR532-doesnt creat the sound-brings the sound together. Some of the mic effects are only usefull for MCs and performers who like to produce skits.

This is my first (and only for the moment) digital recorder. It's the only recorder I can depend on. But if you want me to be literal, I must say it beets using my stereo's taperecorder. If I were on a gig, the 532 would BE my backup.

I never needed their assistance.

I use my BR532 to record my hiphop and RnB tracks. My friends who (thinks they) are focussed rappers comes by the house, all the time, to lay tracks. I love their sound when it is played back. However, their lines are wack. I own a YAMAHA DJX-IIB, a HP notebook with XP professional, and a Sony bookshelf stereo. Although though my setup isn't professionally in tact, my recorded results always have a radio sound when it is on CD. If my recorder was to be stollen, I probably would have to choose between replacing it or keeping my cable on. It will be hard to choose. I love all the feature that my BR532 have to offer. I have the 32MB card that comes with it. What I hate even more about it is eventually I will force myself to purchase a 125MB Smart Media card. I did compare rge BR532 to other BOSS products. This won me over because of its low price and size. I really wish it had a usb port in addition to the card slot and I wish it had a MIDI in so I can controle it with my keyboard. When recording, it's metronome always keeps me in check. The .wav to BR format would be a lot more usefill if ALL .wav formats could be formatted into BR.

There are a few oddly placed buttons that can frustrate you but I like the clunky old-school box mentality and after a while you begin to work quite quickly. If you've used any boss/roland drum machines, you'll be familiar with the overall approach to functionality.

There's nothing wrong with the sound quality considering the cost and size of the unit. Don't expect too much and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I've recorded tracks that could only be improved in a professional studio and depending on how clean you can get the sound, you may be able to walk into a studio with most of your track pre-recorded on the br-532.

It's not an ideal world and there is a frustrating fault with the BR-532. A 'card read error' has occurred twice and I've completely lost a couple of major productions. Just get a card reader that talks to your computer and keep a file of tracks; a back-up. It's essential. Don't be lazy: you must back-up continuously. I am living breathing (weeping) proof that back-ups are required. I've given the machine a low rating because I don't believe any fault is acceptable and after two incidences of the same problem, I'm a little scared every time I start a new project. We all have the right to believe our intellectual property and time are worth more than any piece of equipment, so losing a track with 60 parts is pretty heartbreaking. Back-up!

I've never used the customer support because the only problem I've had is with memory cards; the rest of the functions work beautifully.

If you play electric instruments and don't feel like joining the herd of electro-sheep, this thing will suit you perfectly. I played with Cubase for ages, then got the BR-532 and never looked back. The internal effects are very nice. I produced something that sounded like Slayer V Deicide with an acoustic bass through the boss effects. Use a 128 smart card. Don't muck around with the 32 unless you're a learner. I've been playing in bands and producing music for 20 years and I must admit that this is one of the best things I've bought. It's a real shame about the 'card read error' problem (which Boss/Roland take no responsibilty for, of course). Just back it up and you'll be fine. When choosing between software or hard-disc, remember that you can potentially record 32 tracks on this little baby, so don't think of it as the old school 4-track; it's much better than that.

Easy to use, but includes some limitations.

Not bad, but not great either. Even in the highest quality recording mode (which is compressed at about 2.3:1), the recorded sound lacks the crispness of the original. Specifically, I found that the high end is compromised. I only owned this unit for 2 hours. I recorded directly from an XV-88 and was disappointed at the sound quality. I was monitoring through a high quality system.

Overall the contruction appears solid. The card slot cover, however; is plastic and hinged and undoubtably someone will end up breaking it with no problem. I own a lot of Roland gear, and their reputation for products with longevity is well-deserved.

Good, once you get them.

I purchased this unit to have a portable recorder to take on the road in order to obtain remote content for studio projects. I believe I made a poor choice based on my needs...for guitarists this may be an amazing unit, but for me it was disappointing. I returned this item and ordered a Yamaha AW16G. The yamaha was twice the price, so it's not a fair comparison, so I'll hold judgement.

Bottom Line:
Sound quality that is good but not great.
A lot of features for the price.
Not for the serious recording dude.

Specs are available at roland.co.uk

Obviously with any new kit some time should be taken to get to grips with it [the Boss SD-1 is the only exception =0) ]. I have had some previous with 4-tracks which benefiited me in that I was able to start recording in a few button presses. Should you be a compete novice to recording then you will need to read the manual and experiment.

To their credit, Boss have made this unit as painless as possible though. Its well laid out and the manual is very clear. Once you're clued up, there's no stopping you. Naturally, editing fx patches, using the Rhythm Machine. and getting the most out of the virtual tracks are a little more complicated, but the tutorials in the manual will get you started.

My only concern is the memory capacity. If you expecting to do some serious creative layering, then get a 128mb card. Even with a 128mb card, Ive ran out of memory everytime and so a card reader is also useful. That way you can back up the data from the card to free up tracks. You can also convert it to a .wav file for CD burning. The best solution would be a built in Hard Disk, but for the price and sound of this unit you cant really complain.

I am most impressed with this unit. Its very near CD quality. Producing your tracks does take practice - you wont get it first time. But after several attempts at recording my creations, Im beginning to produce some very credible results.

The onboard effects are usable with the exception of the distorion [crap]. For distortion I mike my amp. Reverb, compressor, trem, delay and chorus [and other mod effects] are very good and can be used for all mike as well as guitar. Thumbs up for the bass simlator - not all of us own a bass or have access to one. The rhythm track is also a bonus even if it does sound a little too electronic.

The unit produces an extremely clear recording. However, you will need some other equipment so that the quality carries across to the final mix.

A GOOD MICROPHONE - use a crap mike and you'll get a crap recording. Its doesnt have to be expensive. A Shure SM57 or Beyer TGX48 or TGX58. Shure also dot he PG series, which Ive heard good things about. Unfortunately the Boss unit can only record 1 mic at a time, so its not "drum friendly". However, a mike mixer is inexpensive and very useful.

The built-in mike is ok, but does pick up the clicking of the buttons.

HEADPHONES / MONITORS - Again dont need to expensive. I DO NOT recommend monitoring through headphones. Everything seems to sound good through headphones, but can sound radically different [EMPTY!] through a stereo after mix down. Use the headphones to perform takes, but monitor the mix [after every take] through the line out to a stereo [AUX] or purpose built monitors. That way you get no surprises, and youre hearing how your finished song will sound on your CD player.

A GOOD EAR - LISTEN AFTER EVERY TAKE. As some point you WILL need to bounce, and whilst this can be re-done you need to have the right tracks to bounce in the first place. So you will need to be patient and not settle for the slightest error as it will stick out.

IMAGINATION - As you do need to bounce to layer track after track, you'll need to work out all the parts of the song to begin with. This takes experience and imagination. I always listen to finished mix and remark on where it can be improved. However, with every song I record I find less and less to remark on.

Made out of "keyboard plastic" and well built. All trimmers and pots feel nice and sturdy. No problems as yet.

Roland posted me a manual so that I could have the full info about the unit before I bought it. I also lost the 2 thumb screws that hold the memory card cover. They sent me replacements for free !!!

Love it. Its not just a "notepad". Because its digital its quick to edit and you dont have to worry about tape quality or noise. If youre just starting out this is a great buy.

Top 3 good points.
Sound quality
Bass sim and Drum machine included.
Ability to tranfer files to PC and burn CD.

Top 3 bad points.
1. Limited Memory
2. Only 1 mic input - cant record more than one mic in one take.
3. No effects send/return

Basically, Iv never really got the sound I wanted out of this unit, guitarwise I mean, editing patches was fairly easy, the manual is quite complex, but you really need to know the basics like using the rhythm guide and putting up patterns etc and makin use of all the tracks etc and your on your way for recording, I dont own it anymore, I owned it for 2 years and sold it to a friend wasnt really my bag I guess,

I used a gibson Les paul ephiphone, the noise was fairly low, some effects are pretty useless in means of quality but u can still get decent sounds out of it overall, I think the chorus was ok, delay was ok, not bad, decent sounds overall, didnt get the steve vai tone though :o?

absolutly dependable, hey it's Boss!! know what I mean

Im a full time musician, recording artist, play mostly intrumental rock/blues, this unit did the job, like I said, not a xtradinaire unit but good! it did the job for me while I had it, iv been playin for about 8 years, the unit can be a little tricky at times but be sure to always have the manual close and you should be ok, you will get used to workin with it with the time, the only thing I disliked about it was the drum patterns which i found uhm a little bit too cheesy for me, but doesent mean you wont like it, but defenitly worth getting if you want to lay some ideas down! no better way, trust me, I give this unit a 8, it does the job

I bought mine used and, apparently, someone spilled chocolate milk on it and I didn't know until it finally died one day. My friend fixed it, and was able to get the schematics for this machine. IF YOU NEED A COPY OF THE SCHEMATICS, EMAIL ME AND I WILL SEND YOU JPEGS:

chrisjonesblue@hotmail.com

It depends on your knowledge of recording to define how easy this unit is to use really. I had a smidgeon of past experience with analogue recording, and I found that immeasurably useful to me. However, without the instruction manual, I'd be lost completely. I've had the unit for about two weeks now, and it really has opened up my eyes to new things. Once you know how to record basic tracks with the on-board effects, use the rhythm guide and (this is the killer) bounce tracks in both stereo and mono, then you've mastered it all basically.

Before buying the machine (it was my first recording kit), I have had ideas for songs, but been unable to make them anything more than ideas. Now I can just lay it down quickly, add to it and enhance everything.

I mainly play guitar and keyboards through the unit, with a variety of weird effects, like the Line 6 FM-4 etc... I find that it records guitar superbly, keyboard less so (the keyboard I have has to go into the guitar/bass input, which messes up the input volumes) and the onboard mic is surprisingly good. I didn't think it would be as receptive or as clear quality, but it saves money on buying a mic I will rarely use.

The rhythm track SOUNDS quite decent, but I find it a bit on the cruddy side, cos I'm not into cheesy drumbeats. However, if standard beats are "your bag baby" then you'll be pleased with it.

A few of the voice transformers produce weird and horrible background noises, which wind me up, but I'm not a singer by day, so I'll live with it. The bass sim also suffers from this kind of digital frippery (lol, what does THAT mean?) and it tracks badly in places. When you are playing it through the input port, it sounds a lot worse than it does on a track though, so I usually just either get a REAL bass or play whatever and go over the bits that sound shoddy.

Plus, the digital output has been really useful, cos I can record straight to minidisc. Also, the Smartmedia card is a really good way to store music. Although the 32-MB standard one isn't really enough to create a full song, you can get a smartmedia card reader for about 15 quid and waz all your stuff on the computer. From here, download the Boss 532 Wav convertor software from the boss website, then run the file through some program like Soundforge, Cubase, Cakewalk etc...you can put your own songs on the internet or CD!!! and the machine only cost three hundred quid! The digitalness may be scorned by some traditionalists, but it's easy and sounds as good as whatever you put in, so I like it a lot.

I'd never use it at a gig (I'm in a band, so I don't need backing tracks), but apparently 6 normal AA batteries last 7 hours, so it seems dependable to be. It's made of plastic, but so what? I can't see any problems with the construction, although it appears to have far too many lights and LED's on the unit! It's not a problem, but it's probly a big power-sucker, so I tend to use an adapter anyway.

never dealt with boss, but I can't see why I'd have to. At a guess, I'd say the bigger the corporation, the less customer support you'll get, and Boss is a huge company...

The kit has allowed me to start becoming more electronic in my music, which I haven't been able to do, not being a drum player, and not being able to play effects with a normal melody and so on (I only have the two hands, so creating a WHOLE piece of music is difficult). Now, I can basically record drums off my keyboard (synthy type electro ones) and THEN carry on to finish the song, so I like it. The fact that you can change the parameters on EVERY effect and guitar sim also does it for me.

I compared this to other similar priced digital recorders, and reviews of this product have been good, so I got it. It's not let me down.

Couple of problems though. The drumbeats provided are mostly absolute poo. So far, out of all the songs I've done on it, I've used them for only one. The song was a comedy cover of Craig David's appallingly arrogant "Seven Days", which I deemed the appalingly standard/cheesy beats worthy of. There should be a sort of "recording in" for the rhythm guide, so you can record your own rhythm samples. Failing that, updates on the internet for new rhythm tracks.

Also, I find that memory is just oblitereated when using the amount of V-Tracks I do (I record a drumkit entirely seperately i.e. bass drum: track 1
snare drum: track 2
hi-hat: track 3
then bounce it all down)

Hopefully, a 128MB card will have enough to make up, but they are fifty quid.

On the whole, I love this machine, and find it easy to create a wide variety of songs on it. I have done the aforementioned comedy cover of a Craig David song, an alternative indie track, a radiohead electronic style song, a mellow Turin Brakes/Nick Drake/Pink Floyd pastiche etc...Whatever style you want to record, you will be able to and then make hard copies of it too, if you have a PC and all the gubbins. If you haven't got a recorder and want one for about this price, honestly, get one of these. This will keep you happy for the time being for recording full songs, and when you're big and famous, you can then use it for recording demo tracks. I suspect I'll never grow out of this

This thing is so easy to use. I keep finding new, cool features and stuff that really help. Familiarity through use...
The rhythm programming is quite easy (hey, BOSS, where's the 3/4, 6/8 rhythms? Can you do an upgrade that'll make these work?). Recording, bouncing, mixing etc. all very easy.

Ok, step one: shell out for a 128MB smartmedia card. Working in anything but the HiFi is just for "notepad" work. There's too much background hiss on the normal memory "resolution" and to work in HiFi you need more memory than the little 32MB will afford. The effects are somewhat useable, but I have found that using a SansAmp Tri_AC (for guitar) before the effects gets a more organic sound. Some of the pre-sets are a little too "wasp in a jar" for my tastes. The fretless preset is FANTASTIC when used with a real fretless bass. The bass presets are too fuzzy. The bass simulator is fun, but not really usable. Good for a reference when writing, but it's better to put a real bass in through a tube/tube simulator pre-amp. Vocal presets - the "real" ones are relatively good (the chipmunk thing is a waste of everyone's time). Go get a condenser mic (they're less than $150). You won't regret it. Rythm sounds are actually quite useable (don't forget to add a little reverb). The STD1 and ROOM are the most used.

Good as gold.

Who?

I use it for songwriting. Rock/folk/pop/blues. I can finally get the sound in my head to come alive (my wife thanks me for this - having put up with the endless acoustic guitar noodling without having the benefit of the finished product). It's a cool little tool. I think I will be getting some PC software for mixing, but, in the meantime I'll keep pushing with this little beast. I wish there were a better interface for sharing files with a PC.

THe BR-532 is pretty easy to use, especially if you're familiar with Portastudio style layouts. The fact that you're not rewinding tape over and over again really streamlines things, and the controls basically work the same as a casette deck. It's even fairly easy to navigate through the various utility menus, though I'm still learning how to edit effects patches. The manual is actually pretty good, and mine came with a Turbo Start video, but I have yet to view it.

The onboard effects and presets are actually pretty decent. They're not great, but their tweakability is a big plus, and I've been able to conjure some great sounds adjusting gain levels, picking new speaker simulators, EQing, etc. The clean settings seem really great right off the bat, and don't need much tweaking. The bass simulator is ok. It doesn't sound great on its own, but when you put it in context with drums and guitars it really sits well in the mix and sounds pretty realistic. I use a regular bass (the BR-532 has presets for bass to, which are good), but in a pinch it works great.

The drum sounds aren't bad, but I haven't gone through using them too much....I have an outboard drum machine.

Overall, home studios are very much "garbage in, garbage out". If you record sucktastic tones, you get...are you ready....sucktastic tones. If you take your time, tweak things right, you'll have the tones you're looking for. I have no qualms recording my guitar straight into this thing, tweaking one of the presets, and getting a great sounding guitar tone. I have a Rick 12 string however that doesn't seem to like any of the presets. So I mic it up...problem solved (adding a little on board mic compression to my already dynacomped Ric sounds fantastic by the way). The capabilities of this thing are enormous for the price and package...if you spend some time with it, you'll have fantastic results.

Seesm pretty solid. It's very portable, but I imagine it'll stay at home.

I had looked at this and some other, larger digital studios. I'm a cassette deck Tascam vet, so I have a little background. First off, I'm incredibly late to the party. V-tracks, and the capability to bounce to them, have completely changed the way I record and arrange. I never thought I would want to try multiple takes of a part (which is why V-tracks were never really a selling point for me), but I actually find that using them to draft guitar or bass parts has helped greatly. And I never realized the capability to bounce to them. It helps me stay much more organized (keeping rhythm parts on tracks 1 and 2, lead parts on 3 and 4, etc) and this helps things lock together much tighter. Plus since its digital, there's no sound quality loss. I try to limit my bouncing as much as possible, and this has made my recordings sound even better.

I mostly like stripped down stuff, and decided that it would be better for me financially to forgo bigger, expensive stuff. I originally feared out growing this unit, and I'm sure I will one day, but for now it is exactly what I was looking for. My recordings have sounded much better than they ever did on tape, and I can work much faster and more efficiently.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
- Very Easy. This was my first recorder, and i was getting great guitar tones right out of the box. When i screwed with the pre-sets to customize my tone, i was amazed at how diverse my possibilities were.

How about Editing patches?
- I found the editing of the effects patches to be easy as well. Everything is labeled clearly on the screen so it's almost foolproof.

How is the manual for it?
- The manual was very easy to read. It was almost like they were trying to guide me through it, rather than spout it off in a confusing manner. It took me no time to learn how to utilize all of it's features.

What setup are you using with this?
- I play a Squire Double Fat Strat through a Fender Princeton 1x12. I don't use the amp modeler for too much, but i do emulate the speaker cabinets. What i do is run a line out of my amps "Pre-amp Out" into the input of my Br-532. I turn off the amp modeler, but leave on the speaker emulation. With that setup, it's easy to get a full bodied stack sound out of a small 1x12 amp. The added bonus of going direct is a plus, considering that i live in an apartment complex.

Are the effects weak?
- Hell no. Although i rarely use effects (i stick with my stomp boxes), i've been able to count on the built in effects whenever i need them.

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they?
- With my direct setup that i described above, i've been able to get a sound reminiscent of STP's first record. "Wicked Garden" sounds great, as well as "Sex Type Thing" and "Plush".

The Boss BR-532 is very dependable. I've never had a problem with it.

My overall rating of the BR-532 on a 1-10 scale is an 8. It's excellent for recording anything you can dream up. My only problem is the cost of upgrading the memory.

This is the easiest machine to record with that I have used (Compared to tape 4-tracks and computer programs). It is set up like all Boss equipment, so if you own any other Boss stuff and like it, then using this thing is going to be very intuitive to you.

Made especially for guitar players, the COSM preamp takes about 5 minutes to master. You can edit all of your patches. The recording process is simple, too, once you get the hang of it. I know it with my eyes closed now.

The manual is alright. I read it once, just to get started, and with a little time I knew how to do everything that this machine can possibly do (I mean that).

The sound quality is what it is. First I will tell you that there is no substitute for a professionally-miced amp with a good preamp fed into a Neve board, but that is obvious. Consider getting a cheap preamp (I use an Art with the V-3 Technology), and filtering your guitar through that to fatten the sound. The COSM is alright if you have nothing else. For the first year I owned this thing, I didn't use any preamps, and people tell me the sounds are good.

Be careful not to get distorted signals when recording mics and basses. I find that recording at lower levels will get you a better signal without distortion, even though it sounds like shit when you are recording.

I definitely have outgrown the effects on this thing. They don't respond like a real guitar (you won't be getting any feedback). There are record emulators and some of cool vocal effects that still come in handy. Basically, I feel that having the effects right there really help you when you get inspired, so they aren't useless to me.

I bought a tech 21 10 amp, which works like a SansAmp. This gives me a real amp tone, without having to mic the amp. So I go out of the amp, into a preamp, into the board with no effects. This sounds ten times better than the COSM.

My friend has one of these things, too, and he has taken it to Denmark and Africa, and I just did some songs on it this weekend. I used to carry mine in my car and record at my friend's house, but now I have it in a studio setting. It is tough if you are gentle.

NA

This is where I get to say my peace. The only reason I am submitting a review is to let people know that this machine is, singlehandedly, improved my life. Fuck the CD-Burning digital recorders, Smartcard is sooo much better, and I'll tell you why. For $40 you can buy a Smartcard reader for your computer, download the BR-532 software off the internet that turns your tracks into wav files, and dump it into Soundforge or Cool Edit Pro. Now you can add effects, visually edit your mixes, save all the wav files, and really work on a mix for a long time.

Bottom line - The BR-532 is best used as a recording device for guitarists who don't have bandmates and have visions of songs that they need to get down on CD. I am selling CD's right now that I used my BR-532 to create. They don't sound bad, because I have all the time in the world to tweak these songs at my own pace.

This thing is so cheap and easy to use, I can be stoned at 4 in the morning and still operate it. Basically, I have been able to compose music that I never would have thought possible to create without this baby. If I ever record these songs in a studio with professionals, I already know how I want everything to be.

You CANNOT record drums through this - don't even try. Does it say, "records drums" anywhere on the package? So don't complain and get a mixing board.

I must have one of these things as long as I live. I will be a millionaire and still have on of these - why? Because they are so easy to use. It helps me make music better than any drug, and it is probably the best $350 I have ever spent.

A majority of music products and gear are either cheap and useless or overpriced and pretentious. Very few are in the category of tools that enable talented musicicans to express themselves, and those are the ones that last (ie, the Leslie Speaker, Wah-Wahs, Moogs, and MPC's). Something tells me that this specific machine, while not on par with the others mentioned, will reach a level of respect among musicians over the years because it is so fuckin' cheap, yet still a real instrument. Who knows, suckers 40 years from now may be paying a thousand bucks for these things on eBay. I don't really care. I just know that it is products like these that help me achieve my musical visions and goals, while allowing my poor ass to still eat.

Good sound is the only kind I have gotten from it.
Most of it is pretty easy to use. I think the instruction book could make it easier to understand the editing features. It isn't written in a way that makes it easy to understand or find information. Editing with multiple versions of tracks, inserts, loops, rythm patterns is confusing from the manual.
It provides a nice array of features and functionality for the money but once I have figured it out, I found only a few things I dislike about it: It is an energy hog. The batteries go quickly.
It is a data storage hog. The 32mb Smartcard holds about one song if you are using several versions of each of the 4 tracks. Then there is the challenge of how to move it somewhere else in its digital format. The only digital outputs for direct connection to a computer/cd burner is a fiber optic connection (no way to receive that on my pc), or the MIDI out (me and my pc don't know how to connect through this). It seems this leaves me with the need to transfer it through the Smartcard. So now I find myself ordering a SmartCard reader for my PC and I am on the hunt for the software I need on my PC to read this file. Any ideas how I get this software?

I am mostly miking things through a Shure m57 mic. It sounds great. There are 2 mic connectors but it can only receive from one or the other of them on one track per record operation. (It can record 2 tracks simultaneously, but one is necessarily guitar/bass and the other a mic. When recording guitar and mic simultaneously, the options for effects is greatly limited. Some of the transforming effets are a little flakey, for example the bass simulator when playing a lower note shifts to a higher octave.

Yes, with plenty of smartcard space and batteries. Only after significant experience with it. It can be easy to make an operator until having learned from mistakes.

I cannot find a website for Boss to tell me how to download software to my pc to read their Smartcard file.

folk rock,good match (except rythm patterns), 4 yrs guitar,
It is light and compact. I chose it over Tascom
I am learning from it. The rythm features are helping me to learn how much work I need to do with holding a tempo.

I purchased my unit at about 11:30 a.m. and by 8:00 p.m. I had a complete 4 minute song that included 2 guitar tracks, a bass track, a vocal track, and programmed a drum pattern. I did this without having any prior experience with any recorder. You have to read the manual and play with it, that is how you learn. The manual would be 100 pages long if they spelled every little detail out to you, and who wants that? Not me. The Br-532 looks like a 4 track, but there is a total of 32 tracks if you use the V-Track option. Very cool.

The best sound is obtained by using the highest recording quality setting. They give you 3 options, with each using more or less memory on your card. You will need a 128mb card in order to have enough room, at the highest quality setting. The lower quality sound options produced hiss, but the highest setting was as clear as a bell. The internal effects are o.k. I wasn't real happy with the distorted guitar sounds. I was able to get a better quality guitar sound by plugging in my V-Amp2. You can edit all of the effects to your own taste. The vocal effects are very good. I also use separate drum machine. The internal drums are good for producing the basic tracks, but they are not very flexable.You can string different patterns together to make a complete song, but the patterns are not programmable, so you cannot add cymbal crashes and accents.

I haven't had any problems with my unit in the 9 months that I've had it.

I have not had to use the customer support for a problem. Boss does offer a free software download from there website, that allows you to covert the Br tracks over to wav. files that you can transfer to your computer.

I read some reviews that really slammed the BR-532. I can only assume that these people really didn't give it a try. This is just like an instrument, you shouldn't expect to pick it up and play it instantly. It is not that complicated however, and you should be making good music in a matter of a couple hours. I would buy this again. As I said before you will need to get a 128MB card. I am able to use the highest recording setting and record 16 tracks with room to spare. I transfer my tracks to my computer where I have mix them to a CD. If you don't do this, you will have to bounce the V-Tracks down to hear everything at the same time. That would be my only complaint. I would like to have an option where you can hear all of the tracks at the same time, without bouncing, but you can only listen to 4 tracks at a time.

Fairly easy to record just a basic recording and once you've checked the manual it's easy to start programming the drums and using the auto-punch function etc.

The manual is ok.

I've been using my Encore Strat and Gibson LP directly in to the input and there's a few dodgy effects like the bass simulator and one or two distortions but apart from that the sound is very good.

Seems sturdy.

Never delt with them

I've been playing for just over 2 years and decided I needed something to help me improve my playing and this thing fits the bill. What you get for the money is amazing! It can simulate bass, acoustic and even a 7 string! It also includes dedicated effects for guitar, bass, acoustic and vocals. Amazing! If it was stolen I'd definately replace it.

So am I the only one that thinks the COSM effects on this unit are great? I only hear everyone bitch about them. ALL of the effects are great I think, even if you can't really put them to good use. There are many parameters you can program for each so you can really get that exact flanger "swoosh" or that perfect "arena" reverb. Very easy to program and save these patches, But more on that later.

The manual is completley bogus. Only read it when you are stuck on something. It is very confusing! Mine came with the Video Manual as well and it is only good for a laugh. It shows some old-timer happily recording and doing basic crap that is not very helpful or informative.

The tuner is OK.

Make sure you press the buttons for tracks 1&2 or 3&4 at the same time and their respective lights will blink for the tracks engaged. You are now in Stereo mode. It takes up a hell of a lot of memory on the Smart Media card but it makes The COSM sound that much better! And for the kid that plugs his drum machine with the ping-pong cymbals and beats (drummers....) into the dual Stereo RCA make sure you have 2 lights blinking to achieve your True Stereo sound. To my ears, after recording anything mono and then going to this Stereo mode, the recorder breathes new life into the effects and you get the true delays, reverbs, shifter, flanger, and phaser, etc. the way they are meant to sound. Give it a try in Stereo with headphones, too!

The effects are so good I haven't even miked my cab up yet. Did try my drummers kit once and that sucked because I had 2 tracks active and recording but I think the Mics phased each other out or something and the end result was ~poop~. Anyone have any ideas for recording live drums with this thing?

The Bass simulators (Tight and Loose) aren't spectacular. They tend to mess up if you hit 2 strings together-you get this wierd wobbly sound that throws the pitch. The best results I've had using the Bass sims are rolling back the volume knob on my guitar(be sure to compensate by adjusting the input knob on the recorder).

Sweet Lead in stereo is a favorite of mine as well as tweaking the phaser on a clean sound for great swirly tone when fingerpicking.

Wide Acoustic is great and a handful of the distortions.

TW Clean is cool if you change the amp sim to Vox and up the gain a bit for a soulful blues overdrive.

For anyone who cares-I have been playing for almost 6 years and have pretty good structural knowledge of home recording. I play blues, metal, progressive rock, and everything in between. The digital BR-8 is my 2nd recorder and is really a great buy. A huge step up from my old analog Tascam Portastudio.

The drum tracks are great to set the mood and tempo of the song. I wouldn't record my first album on this. The drums are fairly easy to use and even if they all sound the same who cares? I like to speed the tempo to 300 just to see if he can play along..hehe

Too many other features to go through here. Um, real quick-
Mic effects, Line in effects, internal mic, loop effects, lit LCD screen, and a bunch of other stuff. (YOU'RE WELCOME, BOSS)

Had this for about 5 months and dropped it once on the living room floor from about 4 feet in the air. WHOOPS. Put a little scratch on the surface but all the gears still turn..I own some Boss stompboxes and they are tough! I bet my friend he couldn't break mine by slamming it on his basement floor....you know who won 20 bucks, baby!!

Haven't dealt with Boss Support ever.

Great for my needs. An aspiring guitar player with too many ideas in my head, the BR-8 helps me compose, arrange, re-compose and re-arrange all of my hit-songs.

Some tips from Josh:

Buy a 128 mb Smart Media card, the stock 32 MB records about 10 or 15 minutes on 4 tracks EVEN on crappy quality recordings (you can adjust recording quality). Look up these cards on the web. I found a 128 mb for 45 bucks!

Buy an Ac adaptor from Radio shack for 10 bucks. My Energizer batteries lasted for about 2 or 3 hours.

After you erase a track or song always "Optimize" and it cleans your card comlpetley of the things you erased.

Thanks for listening!

as a singer songwriter of some 30 years standing i've used many recording mediums from 2 track reel to reels, portastudios etc. I've had the BR532 out on demo from my local store and it's driving me crazy. For a start the manual is like every other manual I've ever read. It reads like it has been translated from japanese. Little things like an "in2 instaed of "it" can cause untold confusion. as to the unit itself. big problems with the drum section. Having sat until 4.30a.m. I still cannot figure how to put together a decent drum programme for a song. Over and over, step by step with the manual produced nothing that was supposed to happen.Pressing the ON/OFF Auto to hear what had been programmed produced only sounds that didn't figure at all. In fact several times I got different kits and patterns playing back from those that I had programmed in.n the whole I am not overly impressed and will be returning the unit t6o the store. No sale. Derek, Belfast.

this unit is very easy to use. manual is good clear and answered any questions that arose during use.

this unit has recorded everything I have recorded with it perfectly. it is a forgiving piece of gear.

absolutely dependable.

it's a boss product. I have never had a roland /boss product fail.

30 years of playing. blues , rock, punk (melvins ,flipper) noise, abstract sound design, I use a roland vg8, nord modular, kurzweil 2vx, alesis QRS, nano bass, boss DR770, line 6 stomp boxes, drum kat dk10 pads evolution mk245c keyboards peavey 1600x controller
mac and pc computers sound forge, acid, reason, recycle, cubase 5.1 , lots of boss stomp boxes, e-bow, roland cube30 amp(mostly for generating beautiful feed back)
this unit as a replacement, as I accidently plugged a peavey power adaptor into to the last unit I owned, when I was very tired ( smoke came out of the midi port! whoops....) yes I would replace it again.
this is a very helpful tool for creating audio projects, for the money its a great deal.

Very easy to use-- on night on a caffeine and cigarette high and I was set. A good idea is to just jump in with both feet, manual in hand, and start laying tracks as sitting around reading the manual itself will only put you to sleep. Bouncing definitely takes a little faith and sometime actually doing it-- and I'm still not sure where those "V-Tracks" traipse off to...I just pray they show back up when I'm ready to put another track down...

Sound quality is only as good as the effort you're willing to put into it...a reliance on the onboard effects will get you, tada, mediocre guitar tones. The same is true for the drums which are passable, at best...however, set up your tweed in the bathroom with good mic placement and you're set...a lot of it has to do with the onboard effects, which I would stay away from using and lean more towards being creative in your own space (moving the unit around, getting good room sounds, etc...)...although I record everything myself...I think a drum machine or sampler is a must however.

Seems to be very reliable...not unlike all those BOSS pedals I've trampled at shows for the last 15 years...

Haven't tried to contact them...so I'll reserve judgment.

This is a solid unit that makes very good recordings...ultimately it's also very flexible, which is kind of the point. Again, the drum/guitar patches are good for sketching demos, not so good if you're planning on recording your major-label debut, although I doubt anyone has that misconception about this unit. The SMART cards the thing uses are a pain in the ass...with the "bohemian rhapsody" amount of guitar overdubs I do, the thing maxes out almost at one song with the 64bit card and, apparently, would only hold about two full songs with the 120 bit upgrade. Another guy on this site had a very good idea about backing up every cluster of tracks onto a CD burner and then sending them back into the line input (i.e. dump down and premix drums/bass/rhythm guitar on one CD and send it back to one track, obviating the need for more smartcards...I'm doing this now, to lesser quality with a tape deck, but plan on buying a stand alone CD burner, which can be used a bunch of different ways and, at musicians friend, is only going for about 2 franklins. Not bad for a versatile unit...doing it directly to your computer is a better option. So, that said, a solid B+ on the unit...but you can get A+ sounds if you're willing to be either creative or spend some more $$$.

I'm writing this review as a WARNING to people who assume that this is a flexible tool for multi-track recording.
though it's designed and usable as a personal studio...this thing is made for guitar players, and leaves some SERIOUS problems/oversights for people who are looking to use it for more general/flexible construction... this thing was meant to leat guitar players sit on their bed and plug right in with no amp (internal amp models) and play along to patterns (internal drum tracking) and lay down tracks without any ourboard production equipment (...come on the thing has a mic ON IT...).
this is all well and good, but as such, it has SERIOUS SHORTCOMINGS and logic problems for people who actually want to exercise some production skill and/or use it to lay down dracks from outboard gear (drum machines, turntables, etc...ANYTHING Stero). that already has things sounding the way you want 'em.

this thing is easy to use,...and is definitely programmed to make sense to guitarists... anything that uses the names "crunch" and "lead" programmed in as effect patches is meant for guitarists.
the virtual tracking and UNDO feature are very handy, and the battery power is a nice idea....c'mon...this caters to people who will be satisfied with internal drum patterns/programmability.
(...I'm a drummer...with appropriate bias: they may sound good, but that's about all...)

1 give it a 1 because of ONE problem that completely ruins my ability to make anything sound good on this machine: STEREO DISCRETE LINE-IN.

as mentioned before...the effects can sound good, and the unit has several different fidelity/bitrate modes of recording.
the guit/bass and mic MONO ins work jus fine...minimal noise...

the REAL PROBLEM in sound is that the LINE IN is a stereo RCA IN jack...which when used, automatically records to tracks,
but the 2 line-in tracks DO NOT seperate the stereo in.
it seems to automatically collapse everything coming in thru the stereo ins to just another MONO...and the "PAN IN" parameter that you can set for each of the 2 tracks only lets you set how far left or right the MONO LINE IN is panned, and the two component tracks of the stereo line in cannot even be set to seperate pan.

...so all the awesome stereo-rich texutre coming out of my drum machines and samplers (different cymbals set to different sides, ping-ponging percussion, and samples sweeping from one side to another) is turned into MONO GARBAGE...

Oh SURE, this box has stereo effect in it, and the manual even advises you to pan tracks around to that things won't get "too buried in the (center of) the mix"...

maybe I'm overlooking something, but if I'm right.

WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING BOSS?...
do you expect guitar players (and anyone else in your target market) to only hear or think in MONO...
GOD DAMMIT...
I really hope that this just a(nother) case of boss writing crappy manuals and doing NO help to convey the conceptual nature of their products. I could not find any solution in the manual, so if there is something I'm overlooking, please SOMEONE HELP.

EVEN if this machine can record stereo ins as stereo discrete tracks, then the machne AND the manual should make it a LOT more obvious.

small, compact, black
(I'm SO glad boss got over thier orange fetish...).

It's stury and well built. so it would take quite a few throws at the wall before my frustrations would be fully satisfied.

neither boss nor roland (their parent company) has manuals availble for online download (...yay KORG), and it is futile to try to get help via email.

I would rather

again I'm rating this a "1" in terms of
'what a hunk of junk' ACCORDING TO MY NEEDS.

god dammit, god dammit. I don't know about the rest of you, but I hear the world in stereo.

for guitarists sitting in their bedroom, this thing is a godsend. sure, there is a great virtue in havine "scratch work templates" for recording that can do so much, allowing you to (as mentioned before) to 'lay something down before you forget it'...

however, just like like CD-burners-built-into-synths/sequences/grooveboxes, computer programs like acid loops, and the over-powered "backing/accompaniment" grooveboxes that roland builds, this is just one more piece of marketing filth that will have WAY too many people thinking they can "make a record...maaaaan" from within the confines of their bedroom and a set of joggers headphones.

Depending on what you are doing, somethings are easy, and some-well I still haven't figured them out. The manual again, some of it well written ,some I cannot figure out. First off, I couldn't get the demo songs to play. And bouncing tracks - the manual is usless in my opinion for this. If you have ever used any effects before, then editing these are no different. Easy to perform the actual editing, but a pain in the ass trying to get the right sound.It takes a while to learn how to use the rythm guide, and I still don't know if you can actually program an entire song exactly the way you want it.

Ok here we go, this thing in my opinion has some really good clean sounds. The distorted, and amp modeling things are ONLY good for plugging in quickly and laying down an idea before you forget it. I am a guitar player, and as any , I am very picky about my sound, which is why I spent a million dollars in effects and amps. SO I use them . I turn of the amp modeling and use the delays, and such on the Boss. I think the drum sounds are very cool. You have 9 differnt kits, and I haven't listened to them all yet, so some of them may suck. I like the ROOM kit myself.

Don't know yet, haven't had it that long.

See above.

This thing is great for what I wanted it for. To make my original music as easily as possible. I can write without anyone (like drummers ) wasting my time. I write it, then give the drummer a copy without the drums on it, let him do his thing, then AFTER he has learned the song, I'll take the boss and record a real drum track, and record over that. It saves me a lot of time, as i can get the song to him to learn, and not wast time on recording him messing up every five minutes. It inspires me to write and to play. It is much more fun playing and writing to a full band rather than just my guitar. Again it is great for what I wanted it for. I still don't know how to use a lot of the features like the cut and paste and how to bounce tracks, because the manual is a little confusing, but within half an hour, I wrote a song that was something I would never have dreamed I could write.It needs to come with an adapter though!

I can't really imagine a unit being much easier to use than this one. The manual is written in a typically dry and indifferent style, but the info is in there. Maneuvering around the menu screens is very simple and fairly self-explanatory. And the "undo" feature is a godsend for those times you accidentally press the wrong button. Hopefully in the future there will be multiple undos available (currently, there is just one).

I'm a bit mystified at the complaints I've read about the quality of the drums. Maybe they're referring to the house/hip-hop/techno styles (which I have no use for), but the rock/pop/jazz drums are excellent-sounding. I've played my tunes for lots of people who remarked "I didn't know you played drums." If you program tastefully, with fills and variations (rather than just playing one loop all the way through), your rhythm tracks will sound great. The one glaring ommission is the complete lack of drum beats in 3/4 or 6/8 time. What were they thinking with that? Still, you can get around it. Some of the 4/4 beats, when slowed down have a distinctly 3/4 feel. But really, it's not as if 3/4 is some obscure, barely-used time sig. Hopefully, they'll get on that.

As far as the effects go, my only complaint might be a lack of variety as far as ungarnished "clean" tones. But the various types of distorted guitar sounds are awesome, and there's a good selection of vocal mikes to choose from. The buzzing that some people have mentioned is pretty much cured by the software update (more on that below).

Totally reliable. I haven't even found the need to use a larger card than the one that comes with the unit. But then, I do my mixing with Cool Edit Pro, so I don't have the need to fit every track on the BR.

Here's the weakest area in my opinion. The Boss website is pretty much useless for BR532 support. And neither the website nor the manual mentions the software update, which is incredible to me. I learned about it in the BR532 Yahoo users group and just downloaded it. Makes a big difference.

I do a wide variety of pop/rock/blues/jazz/folk, etc, and have yet to be disappointed. But I do think that if you're interested in that "studio" sound, you're going to have to invest in some kind of audio editing software. The BR532 is an excellent *recorder*, but it simply doesn't have the equipment for high-quality mixing/mastering. But for the price, there's nothing that touches it IMO. You've got a world of effects, amp sounds and a drum machine, plus digital sound quality and smart media storage/transfer, all for under $400.

Frankly, I don't see the point in shelling out more $ for the BR8. With this one, you've got 32 virtual tracks, plus unlimited track bouncing. You'd have to have some seriously complicated tunes to require more than that. Plus, for some reason I can't fathom, the BR8 doesn't have a high-impedence mike jack, whereas this one does. If (like me) you were previously using an analog 4-track, you're going to be thrilled with the jump to digital. Within a month, you'll be looking back at your old recordings and shuddering at the dismal sound quality you settled for before.

Very easy to use for recording,straightforward,recording by itself couldn't be easier.
Now about the COSM,it's a pain in the ass to go through the menus and submenus,I miss knobs!Same for the fx.
The 'song making' is a good thing,it takes time to make a good drum track but it's worth it.
You'll need to update for a 128kb smart media card as the 32kb supplied doesn't give enough recording time,the card is quickly full after 2 songs with the 4 tracks recorded.One shouldn't be bothered with checking the room available while recording and composing.
You'll need to get the AC adaptor too because the batteries run low very quickly.It's another problem.
So,it's just usable out of the box but nothing more.

About the COSM:
The distortion are very poor,they sound very shitty,no difference between them apart from eq,very cheap and thin sounding,buzzy,fuzzy,.They are usable if you tweak a lot but you won't get a good sound anyway.So my advice is to switch the COSM off and get your guitar sound from a POD or similar,these digital modelers aren't perfect but far better than the awful guitar sounds you get from the BOSS recorder.
Same for the fx (apart maybe from the delays),very,very cheap sounding(the reverbs sound like a very fast echo!!)
The drums are ok but all the patterns sound the same,so it's tiring after a while.They are usable though,but better use a zoom drum machine for example.
Now the recording themselves sound very good,much,much better than the 4 tracks on tape.Digital editing makes life so easy and it's so clean!
I record onto MD and it sounds great,not like a professional recording of course,but not like an amateur one either!
So,my advice is to get your guitar,bass,drums sounds from other boxes and record onto the boss,you won't be disappointed!
(the bass similutor is absolutely awful!).
So I'll give it a 6 because the on board sounds are crap but the recorder itself is good.

No problems so far after nearly one year

It's very good as a first digital recorder,very easy to use,sounds good even with the crappy COSM,must sound fantastic with better amps emulator and good fx.I'm gonna get a V-amp or a J-station and it should improve the overall sound quality dramatically!
If it were stolen I would get an 8 track digital recorder without any fx nor COSM,just a high quality recorder with hard disk,and I would get all my sounds from other devices

I like the majority of the guitar sounds, and with a little tweaking I can pretty much get what I need. The Delay options are great, similar to my Boss Stereo Delay pedal so I was right at home. Editing patches is pretty easy once you figure out the algorhythms for each. I thought the manual was pretty anorexic, and the video that came with it was pretty lame as well - too fast, poor explanations.

There's a lot of discussion around this product about the quality of the drum patches. Just a side note to that. I have a Roland PMA-5 which I connect from Midi out on the BR-532 and then Line in from the PMA to the BR-532. I pull the Rhythm track down to zero, adjust the line in accordingly and I get the drum patches that I select on the PMA with their own effects and mix. It doesn't rememdy the the 80's Rock sound of most of the units drum kits, but it's a pretty easy work around if you've got a MIDI unit with good drum sounds sitting around.

Like I said above, I like many of the guitar sounds, and the cabinet simulators are a nice feature.

Just got it, I'll let you know in 6 months.

Haven't tried yet.

Get a SmartMedia card with 64mb or more fairly quickly, if you store duplicate tracks or solo versions on virtuals, you'll use up the stock 32 quickly.

Would be interested in anyone's experiences in getting a nice "spatial / produced" sound from this rather than just 4 tracks in the center of my forehead.

The only difficult thing when you first get it is the Rhythm guide, which does a horrible "into," instead of getting you started with a decent "metronome," with basic "V1" drum sounds. Otherwise after customizing through the manual, I immediately saved that idea, and it was off to the races. Is this ever easy, just plug in whether for the COSM or simply straight guitar. It is not a problem to program the drums after doing a song, and one trick is to set up a virtual track for it, with all other sliders down. On to the card, into the computer with Cakewalk does the final mix.
I like to keep the levels a little low so each track gets normalized later, otherwise you have less control over possible distortion. It is simple just to mix down into the computer with Cool Edit, analogue to digital, but with a little extra effort you can get all digital without resorting to the optical output. I don't have that type of optical input for my computer, so the BR532 conversion software sure comes in handy.

The effects deserve a makeover, since they are a bit ridiculous outside of number 01, 30 for bass and possibly 07. There are two different ways to save your files, either as "U" or "S," experiment, while you always retain the fixed "P files." This is an adventure most people might reserve for a later time, since the overall sound quality is fabulous even with the onboard microphone. I have found my voice with this thing and as the song goes ?it?s getting better all the time.?

Very dependable, but don't withdraw the card without turning the unit off, you will lose all your data if my experience is an indicator. I am not sure about the question, but if you are doing a gig you might want an extra clear smart media card if you don't have quick access to dump into a laptop or whatever.

I like the software they supply on their web site. It makes things simpler, especially for people who don't have an optical cable for digital output to computer input.

I play some classical guitar, not much, but the drums come in handy as a metronome more interesting then a "clack-clack." Afterwards mixing down you just drop the drum slider down. This is a good match for that, but I have a feeling the drums for rock and other electric styles are somewhat marginal, but appropriate for the unit.
I have been playing a long time, more than 35 years, taking up the guitar when I was about 15 after years of tinkering with the piano in boogie woogie style. My LP Studio works great and the studio has inspired more attention to it. Also I have a Yamaha DX7 that still gives "killer bass," when you care to do it on a track. I probably wouldn't lose this thing, but sell it sometime later if the price is good, and get the new BR1180. I still don't like the idea of units without multiple separate inputs, so maybe I would option for a separate drum machine, and any unit with those separate inputs. Boss seems to make things for individual musicians who do one track at a time or two including voice. I like it very much for that purpose, but I would still want to record a voice track separately without the sound of my guitar unamped in the background. If you want a live band recorded, it is always wise to put each amp in a separate channel, so you can work with the sounds later as an option. Boss doesn't let you do that, in fact I was hesitating to buy this unit because of this limitation of two possible channels only for recording. I bought it because I like the effects and drums, otherwise I would have saved my nickels to get a digital studio and drum machine.
It does help my music however, and I am impressed that after years of not really doing voice, I am more comfortable with it and like the patching possibilities to make everything just right. If you can't even sing, you can probably do 8 bar punch ins to make it so you can just about stand your own voice.

very easy this is my first digtal recordin and in 10 minuts i playd a 4 tracks of guitars great tool

prety good i dont think i will use the onboardeffcts for my master pice i will use the pod but for what you pay the sound is very very good to just lay down the baisk idea for the song than come with your extrnal effect and you will be amazed ehat this machine can do

great tool great first digtal recorder i just bought this and i also got a free quik start video great no doudt i will but this again a must have for anbody that just whant to jam a write songs

Very easy to use, I demo'd in the store with little help from the manual (and no help from the sales staff - they didn't have a clue). It was easy, I was sold! After reading the manual and highlighting key points, I quickly became proficient, EXCEPT for using and editing the drum machine, thats ok.

The Amp modeling stinks, Fuzzy - distorted even on the "Clean" settings. Turn off COSM effects.

I come out of my Amp to any one of the inputs -or- Amp to Mixer (for multiple players and vocals) to BR-532.
I then monitor with good "flat field response" headphones. This way YOU can hear exactly what the BR-532 hears.

Very clean, no hums, no buzzes unless your equipment induces them.
What you hear is what you get.

Even though I think the COSM effects stink, I still give it a 10 because COSM is a bonus feature, not a nesessity. It sounds sooo. much better than any 4 track tape units I've used.

I've had it 3-4 months, absolutly NO problems. Nice quality feel to sliders and knobs, etc...

Great unit for the money!
However if I had it to do over I would upgrade to the BR-8 (more tracks) and for the Zip drive, (zip disc are cheaper than Smart Media) By the time I bought a PSA adapter and 3-128SM cards I could have bought the BR-8 and gained 4 more tracks and additional inputs.

This unit is so easy to use,it's shameful! The manual is OK, but the video manual is a good idea. Editing is easy, too. This unit is noise-free and the noise reduction will take all tape hiis out of cassettes, if you want to use it for transfer.Upgrade your cassette demo's!

I'm using this unit with a Korg X3 workstation, a Zoom PS-02 and assorted guitars. I mix down to a Philips CD burner. I use the rythm guide as a metronome only;I hate the drum sounds. The line in effects are prime time and highly usable. I use the Zoom for a lot of vocal and guitar sounds and even drum tracks, because Zoom has a website to upgrade new pre-sets. I wish Boss would do the same. I'm not too fond of the preset amps and stuff, but if you tweak a while, you can get close to ANYTHING. This thing is a true all in one box. It's noiseless by itself. Any noise is your own doing!

The battery life is ..FOREVER, compared to anything else. Getting a dang voltage adapter is a hafta, though. More $.I would use this unit in any and all situations, and I do. I have a back up for everything I use on stage or in the studio, but this thing is so reliable, I swear by it.

Never had to ask. They do have a web-site with a .wav file editor available.

I've recorded country,heavy metal,pop,dance, synth stuff...it all sounded clean and keepable. I'd replace it in a heartbeat if something happened to it. Zoom has more options, regarding the PS-o2;I don't know if the 1044 has the card manager. For the $, nothing comes close. Recording ideas and whole songs is a breeze and the XLR,dedicated guitar in, the line in and all the effects make this thing almost perfect. A 128 mb card is a must, although I just burn each layer of tracks to a CD, then send it back into the line input.
This thing is my best friend and keeps me up 20 hours a day, recording anything imaginable within minutes. BUY IT!!

When I first got my hand on this product, I was convinced that I will never learn how to use it. Just looking at the 117 pages in the manual got me fearful for my life! As I got into reading the user manual, I was on my way to making a recording by the end of the night. The manual is well written but can still be a bit confusing at times. In order to carry out some procedures like bouncing tracks or editing drum tracks can take about four or five steps. All these steps are not something you can figure out on your own, without the manual you are dead in the water. It was very easy to get the hang of using it, and the more time I spent making recordings with it the more simplistic I found the design to be. The unit is well laid out and fairy easy to use.

The BR-532 sounds great! It blows away the tascam porta track I was using ( well I would hope it is better, the Br-532 is $300 more expensive) When I record tracks with no effects there is very little fuzz if there is any in the first place. But as you get to using the effects processor, you wil get a sizzle in the background of some of the patches. There are 50 patches in the processor, I only like about 30 of them. Some effects are just unusable. There are a few patches like the 'acousty' acoustic simulator and the 7 string simulator that totally suck! I would never even think of using them. But the quality of the recording you will hear well makes up for the few patches in the effects processor that are less than wonderful. The effects are usable, some are much better than others but im sure with all the effects you are bound to like a few of them. You will get a cd quality recording every time, however, it will not make your $50 electric guitar that your friend found in his closet sound like a
Les Paul. All in all, most of the effects are great and the quality of the recording is outstanding.

I have not yet had any problems with it. It is very reliable. I used the batteries that came with the unit for the first day or so untill I could get my hands on an adaptor. The batteries lasted for hours, its great! I could bring this to a coffee house and record the entire thing without worring about the batteries dieing on me. However weather you like it or not you will need to upgrade the media card. The one it comes with is only good for recording 12 minuets of music.

I never had to use customer support only because I have not had a single problem with it over the three months that I had it so far

Its great! This is way better than any analog recording unit at twice the price. It is well worth every penny that I spent on it. It really dosent matter what kind of music you play, if you make music, you can record it. And there is no better way to record your music than with a boss BR-532. I love how easy it is to use and how you dont have to deal with any tape. It has dramaticly improved the way I write and record music.

Easy to use, manual not bad.

I don't have any experience with COSM effects, but I found the amp models to be AWFUL. Someone else said they heard a faint buzz behind even clean sounds, and I heard that too. Weird. I am a devoted POD user, and these COSM sounds are downright terrible by comparison.

Reverbs and delays, choruses are all ok.

I found the drum sounds also to be extremely mid-80's drum machine-like. Inexplicable. I've not liked Boss drum machines I've used in the past. Just cheesy. Unusable for anything but a rough demo.

I've been looking for an under-$600 digital recorder. I first tried out a PS-02 by Zoom. Very, very nice little unit for $300. Drum sounds waaaay better than this, and amp models probably a bit better. I returned the Zoom to Mars to try this Boss unit, and after about 30 minutes, I'm taking it back (worked with the Zoom for a whole month...I may still go back to that.)

I thought that for $100 more the 4th track (Zoom only has 3 to start out, but of course infinite bouncing capabilities), Boss quality, slightly bigger packaged Smartmedia card, it might be worth it. No way. Very disappointed. Maybe if you used an external drum machine and external amp models, this unit might be fine (it is, after all, a digital RECORDER). My point is only that the Zoom, for $100 less, is a better unit overall. I had thought about trying the higher end Boss BR-8, but after this one, nope.

I may try the new Zoom MRS-1044, with 15 GB hard drive and built in actual drum machine, but it's $700.

Be sure and audition this before you actually buy!

I've read a lot of opinions that say you can start recording on this thing without looking at the manual. Well, that is true to a point. To make full use of the unit, some heavy manual time is in order. I recommend that you don't start working on your "masterpiece" right out of the box. Try some simple things and get used to bouncing things around and playing with all of the bells and whistles. You may lose a track or two... don't panic. It gets easier.

It's digital, so 99% of the noise you hear in your recordings is coming from your guitar, effects, amp, etc. and not the unit.

I have only had the unit for about a month.

Have not dealt with them.

This is an awesome unit. It's the logical step up from analog cassette multi-tracks without having to gut you PC to do digital recording. Highly recommended.

I'm a gear-head and IMO a box can't have too many *real* buttons and knobs. In that sense I wasn't disappointed. The controls have a great feel, buttons snappy and knobs thick, and everything is arranged smartly. I prefer minimalist LCD displays and for me the 532's is near perfect. The display has very nice contrast at a working angle with big bold characters, exactly the way I like it. Menu system is ok, about as good as it can be, but nothing to brag about. Same general feel as the 8. One continual annoyance though is the use of an underscore to highlight selected items, which is often difficult to see with the box sitting on my keyboard. Reverse characters would be better. Also I don't like the way the selected tracks switch automatically after you bounce making the bounce tracks current (I heard it at mixdown don't need to hear it again!!). That has tripped me up a couple of times. Finally the use of screws to fasten the SmartMedia card protector was a BAD idea. My card gets swapped a lot so guess what, the screws are sitting on a shelf and will get lost eventually. Manual is decent but is arranged strangely. The answer was always in there somewhere. All in all with the exception of a few to be expected menu system annoyances it's well designed and a joy to use when you get the hang of it.

Oddly enough I use the 532 for recording keyboard not guitar. I have run line-in through the COSM processor for some interesting effects (you first have to reconfigure input routing in an obscure menu), but they don't contribute much to me other than mindless amusement. Dry playback quality is excellent, as good when not better than any magnetic media I've used. Loop effects are ok with a nice chorus but the reverb being less than desirable. Bah. Sound Quality is what you'd expect from digital media no real complaints.

Other than the annoying auto track switch thing that could potentially cause you to lose tracks it has been rock solid for me so far. Just don't drop it. (a metal chassis would be excellent Mr. BOSS dudes...)

Heh give me a break why would you need customer support for this thing??

The 532 has met all of my expectations for a 4 track digital recorder from Roland. A fun little box, well thought out and packed with stuff to tinker with. If I was a guitarist I think I'd be in love with it. It'll be a classic unit someday.

Plain and simple - Cakewalk takes me 6-8 hours to lay down a decent song...the BR-532 takes 1.5 to 2 hours and sounds better. Cakewalk has more options but if your looking for that "WOW" factor, get a BR-532.

I use a $150 Mars Music Washburn (it sounds better for metal than my Les Paul Studio) into a J-Station because it gives me great harmonics. The effects sound excellent if you've never used a J-Station (kinda like black and white TV being great until you see a color TV). I just like a wall of sound.

As long as you don't use it as a jack stand while changing a tire it should hold up.

Never dealt with the company but I've heard their good to deal with.

This thing is truely incredible but can be complicated. The manual is pretty good at smoothing out the rough spots and just watching the video included with it saved me a lot of time learning how to use it. I've been playing for about 30 years (Dinosaur Rock - AC/DC, Montrose, Cinderella ect.) Bottom Line - We live in an incredible point in time and if you want to embrace technology instead of fight it then pick up one of these units. Those voices in your head may be ideas for your first or next album!

Relatively easy to use if you have ever used an analog multitrak machine. Manual is not the greatest....have to do a lot of trial and error on more complicated editing.

Great sound !!! Of course my background is an old analog cassette deck. Some of the effects are not very clean but overall with some
tweaking I can lay down some really pleasing sounds.

I have only had it for two weeks.

Have not used yet.

This machine is a great match for me...I am a recreational guitar/banjo player. I am not professional and like to play for a hobby. This machine sounds great and does not require a bank loan to own. I give it a nine because: 1) It doesn't come with a power supply...you have to order separately...how cheesy can you get. 2) Boss supplies you with a 32mb smart card....after you record hello on it you cannot really do any serious editing...you need at least a 64mb card. Once more can you say cheesy (cheap). 3) The manual really does not explain all of the features.

It is easy to get a good sound for a simple demo if you are not too picky. However, I found the "clean" sound is not really clean in the first few preset guitar patches. Need some editing to get good clean sound. The acoustic simulator is good for single coil pickup on my Ibenze RG550EX. The manual is simple and straight forward. The bass simulator is also very convincing. I don't need to plug in my bass guitar for demo purpose unless I need snap and pop.

I have a Yamaha MD4S now and have 2 Fortex multi-track recorder before therefore I found this unit is really simple to use. The bouncing of tracks is a piece of cake and the setup of rhythm track is also very easy.

I have several guitars (E.Guitar:Ibenze RG550EX, Charvel CXM-DLX / Acoustic Guitar: Yamaha APX6A, Yamaha APX6NA / Bass Guitar: ESP B104). The internal COSM effect in BR532 is already adequate for E. Guitar sounds for quick recordings. However, when I have time, I will process my E guitar thru my Zoom GFX-8 or Boss ME-33 because I have some good patches there.

For bass guitar, I use the Zoom BFX-708 or Korg Pandora PBX-3 for effect. Direct plug in is also acceptable because the insert / loop effect in BR-532 is good enough for normal recordings. (I am not a good bass guitarist and not very demanding on bass sound. I am looking for a good balanced and smooth bass sound as the backbone of the song.)

For acoustic guitar, I will (in fact a must) to process through the Zoom 504 II in order to get thick and warm sound. The COSM effect is not for acoustic guitar, sadly.

About Mic in, I am using a AKG D3800S and process vocal by the Zoom RFX-2000. The RFX-2000 is excellent to process vocal for semi-pro home studio setup. I found the insert effect in BR532 is not so useful unless you want some robot sounds or heavily effected sounds. This is quite disappointing.

For line in, I don't see the need to add effect as my keyboard and sound module have internal effect unit. If they are still insufficient, I will add the Zoom RFX-2000 or Yamaha REV100 for mastering. (I own Korg Triton, Roland XP-30, Roland JV-880, E-mu Proteus FX, Boss DR770, Zoom RT323 and other gears. I am using a Roland M12E mixer and a Mackie MZL1202 mixer).

The unit is not noisy at all at reasonable input level. If there are any noises, they are induced by me instead of BR532. Certainly, for analog input, you can expect hiss and hum if you boost the sensitivity and input level to maximum. I can tell the unit is very quiet because for line input, it is still silent when I turn the input level to maximum.

About the loop effect, it is very useful to do the final mix-down especially if you are using the internal drum machine. By apply different effect level on individual tracks, you can creat the desired dimension of the final mix-down.

I have try the out put in my open air headphone, mini-speaker, and Hi-Fi. All sound good.

I cannot give a 10 for sound quality because the sound quality is depending on the source of recording. As the unit can capture my original sound without any noticable distortion or deterioration, I will give in a 8. The 2 point deduction is due to the not so good insert effect for mic input.

Boss products haven't turned me down in the past 10 years. Also, the battery life for this unit is good. I can depend on it for rehearsal or demo recording. For serious projects, I will use my MD4S. Smart Media card's capacity is limited. Even using a 128M card, you can save only 3 or 4 songs if you use all four tracks, do some bouncing, not mention if you keep several virtual tracks..

N/A

I am not attaching to specific style of music. I don't like hip hop, dance, rap, ... one word, loop-based music. I know it requires a lot of skills and creativity to do good loop-based music, but I just don't like it. Other than that, I play heavy rock, pop rock, blues, jazz, fusion, and even classical (I also play piano and violin). I started playing guitar 17 years ago.

If I lost this unit, I will buy it again for the portability and user-friendlyness, also for the value-for-the-money. Or, I will upgrade to BR8 for the Zip drive and 8x8 tracks flexibility.

This unit is a great design that integrated COSM effect, digital multi-track recorder, flexible drum machine, and portability into one unit. I wish that Boss can supply with this unit a PSU and a bundle software to download song data to my PC for easy arrangement. Of course, if this unit have a USB port will be excellent. But, for less than $400, what could I expect?

I have compared this unit with Korg's new PXR4. The weak point in PXR4 is the poor implementation of rhythm guide. BR-532 really gives you a drum machine (although limited patterns) with intro, verse 1,2, fill-in 1,2 and ending, and break. Really useful for making demo or casual production. In PXR4, you only provided a rhythm guide like other Pandora PX? products. For songwriting, a good drum track really helps a lot. For Zoom PS-02, if you have go to Zoom homepage and listen to the demo, you won't buy it unless you love its small size. For the price of PS-02, I don't accept the sound quality. For below $400, I don't see other competitor for BR532.

This unit really helps me make music. I completed my first song (I re-arrange an old song) on it within the first 2 hours after I started using it. With this unit, my productivity will increase dramatically. The only problem is after I confirm the setting of final mix, I need to dub the record to my MD and erase the song for valuable memory on the SM card. As I said before, for serious production or for projects I need to keep or process some period of time, I will use the Yamaha MD4S. This unit is excellent for quick demo or capturing musical ideas.

One salesman in the shop don't know this product. He is a new guy in the guitar section. After I demonstrate how easy to make songs with this unit, he decide to buy one too. I open the box in the shop and within 10 minutes, I finished a 16 bars record with drum, rhythm guitar and lead guitar. All I have is the BR-532, with the 6 supplied 2A battery, a guitar in the shop and a cable. I was so impressed by the built-in effect and drum machine. So was the salesman and people around.

Try it out yourself.

Well, quite easy to use even without reading the manual .
Everything is in the boss tradition. I used to have a GX700 and it had the same "logic" in the menus . So yes, I guess we can say it's easy to use .

I have it only for 5 days and recorded one only song for the moment, so I didn't check every "sound quality" that are available . Still the "std" one is already very good, and I don't think I will use the Hi-Fi or the Lo-Fi ones . I really use it to record ideas and demo songs, so I don't need a Studio quality but what this machine offers is very very convincing . Even when I bounced many tracks together I didn't hear any difference .
The only bad thing I could say concerns some drum sounds (heavy : horrible), but I found some that please me, so overall I'm happy .

I have many other boss products and never had any problem with them .
Another good rate !

No problems, so no support needed .

I play rock songs in the Grandaddy, Beatles style and the BR532 fits perfectly to what i wanted : Rapid recorded things, with vocals, keyboards, guitar and drum machine . I also own an 8 tracks direct to disk (fostex D 108), with a mixing desk (Spirit SX), etc ... But since I've been playing (10 years) I've always wanted my musical things to be done fast and in this way the BR532 is right made for me . I use the "real" studio for my band and more complete things .
Boss could have put a bigger memory card in the bundle (because you won't record more than one song on the original card), but Smart-Media are not that expensive ...
In the end I can say I'm very happy with this little thing :
- It's not expensive
- It's light and small
- It does what I want .
What could I want more ?

Been away for one year and havn`t used a multi track since analogue, I have always wanted my own. Considered buying a really good analogue for the price of a cheap digital. BELIEVE ME NOW GO DIGITAL! you will be able to do the things you only dreamed of doing a few years ago. No more worrying about running out of tracks or poor quality sound. No fuzz, no limitations and thats with a four track machine. Don`t need a bigger machine for better recording (theres 32 tracks, go on mix it down with no quality loss) just a bigger card -cheap as dirt 64mb, 42 bucks smartmedia, camera shops! This puppy has a good effects box, good rythym guide and is brilliant to use. Its not supposed to be a toy for those ignorant people out there. Just use your common sense and the manual is just fine. You will learn very very quickly and be pleasently surprised every step of the way. Beguinner? Take it slow then, learn a little more each time you use it.

To make great sounding songs is so easy. It is unbelievable to think what one can do with just this unit anywere -in the bog, up a mountain, on the train. If you can`t make a good sounding song on this and claim you need a bigger, more expensive machine with even more effects then you simply are not very creative. Ask yourself, why use ad hoc excuses for your flops? its not the unit its you! your friends will ulitimately define whats good or not. Just plug in someones` minidisc, record it (identical sound-its digital), pass it to your mates or play it at dinner and pretend its not you for true feedback.

Pefect quality, perfect recording studio. 270 pounds, yup 270 pounds look around. You get a digital studio, effects box, drum machine, 4*8 tracks with loads of icing on top.

Get a grip, get into digital, get this beast.

In theory, I`m a beguinner too. It Doeasn`t mean your stupid though- use you head.

Perfect. Its digital. You can`t get better sound and you shoudln`t or wouldn`t want better to be honest.

Effects are fine, Your ear defines whats good or not. Bluntly there not bad and you can muck about with them. Effects don`t make great songs but these are great effects.

Just plug in your guitar, I use my cheap electric acoustic Washburn (which I picked up in Asia, 55 bucks) and the Shure mike I got when I bought it as a deal for 300 total!-yup. sweet and easy to use anyware. Don`t need an amp. Headphones or plug it into your stereo. Easy mate. Great sound, ohh yeh.

Plug in your CD player to record bits of stuff for throwing in your songs at the end. Your mates will never believe it you, trust me.

Get yourself a power supply and save the batteries for moving around the house or recording a cheeky part on a friends piano etc.

I would use it for the backing tracks at gigs yeh!

Take care of it though, and don`t throw the smartcards around like CDS and it will be just fine. It your new baby, be good to it.

Customer support. Not yet, got a good three year warrenty by Roland though. Nice. There are loads of web pages and people out there to help if you look.

I have said enough. Its fine and it all you need. You want to make prefect sounding songs whether they be covers or original? good. Be creative, have a laugh, learn tricks, impress.....

Its digital and musically you can do anything from now on with the BOSS BR 532.

Ultimately you make a song good, the unit will deliver. If it doesn`t, stop wasting your time pretending your musically talented, music is just not for you really. Sorry, its true. Get a Playstation instead!

Ok, I'm new to the world of digital recording and have to admit that the last time I used a four track recorder was back in the eighties. The BR 532, was a shock to the system. It might have been designed for Space Shuttle pilots as far as I am concerned. The sounds that I found for guitar were mostly good, but some of the 'accoustic' sounds were just turned-down, electric guitar sounds. The bass simulation is mostly unstable and it is not recommended that you try and play more than one note at the same time. It freaks out otherwise and sounds like people throwing tea trays around in a cafeteria. I liked the sounds in the Rythmn Guide and found them to be clean and energetic. I imagined that I would be able to intuit learning to use the BR 532, and through sheer luck, I manged to cobble together about 16 bars of music on three tracks. But I couldn't get the darn rythmn guide to play continiously beyond that point. Here, I am sorry to say I am clueless. I turned to the manual, but I have to say the manual was pretty hopeless too. I suspect that for the seasoned digital recordist, the manual would make perfect sense but, hey wait a minute, what about us beginners? I would have thought that Boss would have put a bit more effort into their user manual, and gave some consideration to beginners here. For example, if they created a scenario whereby the user can see, step by step, how to get beyond putting in the batteries, plugging in the guitar/mic and recording a simple track. I would liked the manual to have described putting a basic song together - including using the V track, and saving the finished product. There seems to be no apparent 'save the whole song' function, and there is nothing in the manual that I can see that describes accurately or with any detail how to get a finished song onto one's computer. I bought a new cat-door for my pet recently. It came complete with a video describing how to assemble it. I think Boss could be a little more caring about their end-users and supply a better means of explaining how the BR 532 operates. Why not supply a CD with their product that us amatuers can put into our computers and watch a Quicktime movie or something?
I almost feel that Boss put more effort into designing the box the thing came in, than into their manual.
As regards a firmware revision number, I claim total ignorance of any such thing

Although I have not arrived at the point where I have worked out how to put a song together, save it, or get it onto my computer via the 'Smart'card, I am very impressed with most of the settings and richness of the soundscape one can conjure up by using, 'Pan and 'Doubl'n etc. I think some of the guitar sounds are hot and really help one to almost become a different guitarist, especially on lead guitar work. I like about half of the factory distortions, the rest sound like a tractor with a blown gasket. Still, I am very impressed overall.

I would love to use the BR 532 at a gig but would be a little too nervous of losing settings, or worse still standing on the thing.

Boss, had little apparent online support and searches for the BR 532 on their sites often proved fruitless. I have not yet been reduced to calling them one on one for answers to my questions. I hope it will not be like trying to get through to the DMV or some similar deliberately clunky institution. Still, in all fairness to Boss, I will reserve jugdgement about their live customer service until I actually have to call them.

On the wish list part of all this, I would love Boss to think about the beginner and supply a fuller, more comprehensible manual, CD rom or video. Oh! And it's about time they threw in a PSA adaptor for those of us are forced to buy non-mains based appliances from them.

Coming from a cassette-based multritracking background, recording, editing, and bouncing tracks on this unit is a cinch. Editing the COSM presets is easy, but navigating the menus can be a little cumbersome at times because the display is so small. If you're new to multitrack recording, I don't think the manual is very helpful; doesn't seem to be written for beginners, but it is thorough. (Except I can't find where it says if it's okay to use the wall wart power supply with batteries installed.) Editing the COSM presets can be as simple (using presets) or as complex as you want (creating numerous user presets).

The bundled 32MB SmartMedia card was usefull for about the first day. My V-tracks used up all the memory while recording my first song, so I had to delete the "Crank It Up" demo song. I STRONGLY suggest using only 64MB and larger cards.

I record electric guitar and bass with my Ibanez RG470, using the COSM amp modeling and bass guitar simulator. I love the COSM modeling, except I hear a faint buzzing sound when using the JC120 model; not a problem because I usually record overdriven guitar tones. The phaser, chorus, and reverbs sounds great, and the doubler (DOUBL'N) is a time-saver when recording thick rhythm tracks. For recording vocals and acoustic guitar, I use Shure SM58 and SM57 dynamic mics, respectively. Maybe I need to tweak the EQ a little, but vocals tracks sound somewhat "tinny." Of course, the mic isn't a studio mic, and I've heard that large-diaphragm condenser mics can improve the tone immensely, especially when run through an affordable vacuum tube preamp like the ART MP1. Because I record mainly as a hobby, I can do without those expenses right now. I love the drum samples!!!

I'm concerned that a few of the most-used little buttons will eventually stick or pop out. I suspect, however, that it will last as long as any other delicate digital device in a plastic housing. It's not meant to be thrown or stomped on, so, having used many durable Boss products, I'm sure this unit will always meet my needs.

I haven't needed human support yet, but I like the web site and manual. Both include many phone numbers, so I'm assuming that people acutually answer those phones.

RE: the price, I got a discount from a friend who owns a music store. Even with a $400 street price, the BR-532 is an amazing value and a powerful songwriting tool. I suspect that recording through a good condenser mic and tube preamp could yield professional-quality results, which is an amazing feat for such a compact, portable device.

The jog control is fantastic and it is larger than its competitors the PS-02 from Zoom and PXR4 from Korg. Since it has extra realestate you get some extra control buttons which are handy. The display is kinda dinky though.

No matter what I did, I couldn't overcome a tiny little sizzel on any guitar setting where the built-in amp simulation was engaged. Turning down input sensitivity and level, rolling back the guitar volume or changing to clean presets didn't help. I could never get into the unit because of this defect. Turn off the amp sim (leaving the other effects) and it goes away. Built-in drums sound like crap and the preset effects for guitar are uninteresting beyond belief. The Zoom PS-02 clobbers it in terms of guitar tone.
It also has a bass simulator that is terrible. If you play two notes at one time, one of them is dead wrong, completely different from what you played. Stop the second note and the other one snaps into place. Its not like a simple octave effect, but it sounds like its trying to do pitch detection and failing miserably.

This is a competitor to the Zoom PS-02, which I also own or the Korg PXR4 which I owned briefly. If all you wanted was a little smartmedia recorder and you had some other effects unit for guitar, this might be great. I don't believe my unit was defective because the sizzle was very consistent and quite low in volume, but you know its there. If it had better tone (and decent drum sounds) it might really be a gem, but if you want an all-in-one sketchpad go with the Zoom PS-02. It clobbers this thing. I sold my PS-02 to get either a PXR4 or BR532 and man was I sorry. I rebought another PS02 off ebay. I'm really disappointed with Boss for letting this thing out the door with such an uniteresting guitar effects unit, let alone the sizzle issue.

In a football (US) analogy, Boss has moved the ball way downfield with the BR-532, but, IMO, they are still one fumble and a few yards short of the goal line.

First, the progress. Like the BR-8, the BR-532 is very simply laid out and very easy to use. It's got almost everything one would want in a digital porta-studio:

Small size, onboard FX, onboard drum machine, good sound quality, digital outs, Inst, Line, and XLR ins, virtual tracks, ability to run on batteries, low price. In fact, if you don't care about what's below, this might be your dream box. Read on...

The fumble, which makes the BR-532 unusable for me, is that the AB loop function does not loop correctly. It stutters when it returns from point B to point A.

The folks at Boss apparently considered only the case where A < In < Out < B and the user was interested merely in getting some amount of lead-in before a punch. In other words, A and B are slop points and it's In and Out that matter. Well, that's sufficient for setting up punch-ins, but, depending on your preferences, it's not necessarily good for practicing your solo before you record it. Say if you set up 16 bars to loop for awhile so you can get down the wailing you want to do over it. Unfortunately, every time it loops around, instead of giving you a rock-solid 16 bar loop, it hiccups. Audio, drums, everything hiccups. For me, this was a deal-breaker, YMMV.

Just short of the goal: the BR-532 <always> exits record at the end of a punch or AB loop. Why is this a problem? I suppose it depends on how you want to work. Personally, I want to play, play, play (x8 or more) (making mental notes on good takes), and then audition at the end. Unfortunately, the only sequence permitted is play, audition, play, audition, play, audition, ad infinitum. IOW, given the 8 virtual tracks, I'd like to be able to set up a loop and fill those 8 virtual tracks without ever leaving Record or removing my hands from the guitar. To round out that wish, I'd like the unit to offer me the option of either kicking out of Record after the 8 virtual tracks are full, or simply recycling back to V-track 1 automatically and letting me record 8 more takes, stomping on the old tracks one-by-one as long as I keep recording.

Also short of the goal: Menus don't wrap around. Come on Boss, this is the third millenium already. All menus should wrap, on all gear, all the time, without exception. Please take note.

Finally, where I'd really like this product to go: fix the above, keep the same size and add 4 more tracks (with a track flip button), and add 8-ch ADAT I/O (or at least ADAT out). Do I hear an AMEN?

Good. IMO, the guitar FX are very usable for practice and composition. The Drums sound very good too.

It's lightweight. It's plastic. It's what I would expect for a unit not made to be stepped on - but a padded transport case in every box would be nice!

Will there be a software upgrade? Is that even possible. I don't know...

Pretty astounding, price/performance wise, but with serious caveats depending on how you like to work.

This box could be made perfect. I hope that in the future it is.