Boss BR-600

I found this ok to use and had lots of effects, but needed to have to book at hand. I did think it looked a bit 90's and to be honest it didnt look like it was built to last..

I used this to mic up my own amp , I had no intetion of using the amp sim or the on board effects, were not up to the job. There was no noisy whils using this..

again I think the effect were ok but nothing special.

I played my 52 Nos tele and wasusing my hot rod delux with jj tube and a jensen p12n.

I was rather impressed with how good the on board mic's were they were top class, and play back was good.

This looked like it belongs in the 90's, it dont look hard wearing and I would be carefull with it.

I called up roland to find out where I can get the flash cards from, they told me they colud have one to me with in as little as two months.. lol.

I was dissapointed with this as I was unable to get the flash cards for this unit. I tryed maplins, comet, currys, pc world, jessops.. all with no luck. . I am sure I could prob get one off the net but , I would have a lot of trouble if I needed to replace this latter on..

So with out the flash cards this unit is next to useless.

I returned it to the shop within a few days for a refund..

So the unit it self is ok and worked fine but due to poor planing from boss/roland I have to give this a low mark.

Its basic functions are very easy to use; you can be up and running in a matter of minutes. But in order to be able to do some track- or effects-editing, the small screen will prove to be a nuisance, and you'll need the manual nearby.

The manual wasn't written that well IMO; very 'all over the place'.

I rate this a 7, since for ME the 'ease of use' factor (or lack thereof) was my main reason to sell it and get a used Korg D1200 instead.

Sound quality is o.k., but not up to par with the Yamaha AW-series, Korg and Akai recorders. But you have to see it what it is; a quick sketch pad for demo-recordings or quick location-ideas.
Yes, it will sound way better than a 4-track portastudio on tape, but to me there was a little room for improvement, as it does record in a lossless format, and not uncompressed.

Drumcomputer: only a few kits and those sound very produced/static. Not much nuance there.

Guitar effects: nice to have them, but don't sell your Pod/V-Amp/J-Station just yet.

It's Boss, so it's pretty dureable. Yes, the case is plastic and I wouldn't want to drop it 5 feet from a bar or something, but it will take some road-abuse.

Yes, I've dealt with them. It did take me 2 attempts mailing them, before I got an answer, but when I did, I was helped very well

It's useful for any style of music, but the main limitation will be the fact that you can only record 2 tracks simultaneously.

It was my 3rd DAW (after a Korg D16 and Yamaha AW2400) and I sold the BR-600 to get a Korg D1200 (for roughly the same price).
If you REALLY want the most portable, flat type of recorder and you're aware of its limitations (1GB cards max., small screen, etc.) then it's a decent buy. If you just want a good small home-studio, I'd look to recorders with a bigger screen and better pre-amps and options. I've hooked an Art Voice Channel (preamp) to one of the mic/line inputs, and it would quickly clip on the BR-600, even with the gain and recording level minimised.

I wish it had:
-a (way) bigger screen
-uncompressed recording quality
-support for 4, 8 and maybe 16GB CF-cards.
-pan pots per channel.
-an aux send, to connect an external effect.

Well, all those wishes were granted when I got the Korg D1200. Sure, the Korg is bigger than the BR-600, but given the current used-prices, it's a no-brainer, at least for me.

This not an easy product to use. I bought it primarily for taking some simple recordings of band rehearsals.
You really need to know what you're doing and take time to read the 200+ page manual. It does have quite a wide selection of features (which is good) and its not really intuitively designed so its really easy to get lost.
Its also pretty unforgiving - I found myself accidentally deleting tracks or missing a button and finding that it hadn't recorded. I'm far from a technophobe having worked in IT for many years and I certainly wouldn't recommend this to people who like things nice and simple.

Its pretty faithful when it comes to sound. Your recordings will only be as good as the mics and other equipment you use obviously.
It does come with a whole host of different effects and equipment models. I tried recording a bass and was pleased see that I could do most things. For instance not only did it have flanger, but you could vastly alter the various properites of the effect. The same was true of delay, distortion, chorus and the other kind of effects you'd expect.

I have serious gripes abouts its reliability. Structurally it seemed Ok - no bits falling off or anything like that but the USB connection was a different matter.
Twice I found the recorder wiped the whole memory card! It will not tolerate any kind of connectivity issue with a PC. If anything goes wrong, you're likely to lose EVERYTHING!
On one occaision after spendong a good few hours recording a session with my band, I tried to upload to PC and it froze accessing a file - next thing I knew everything had gone!! I wouldn't rely on this to hold on to your recordings at all!
Add to this an overly complicated and unforgiving interface and you may find it upsetting you quite a bit!

Never used

The only positive for the product was a good sound and decent range of FX.
On the negative there's plenty wrong.
Easy of use and reliability both very bad as I have said.

Default memory card is 128MB which is hardly worth having - you'll get just a few minutes recording time if you're using a few tracks. You can upgrade but you better be sure the recorder likes your memory card - it's fussy!
It has no phantom power or XLR ports. Basically you'll need to get a mixer too if you're wanting to use decent mics.
You'll get just 2 tracks recording simultaneously.

I wouldn't recommend anybody buy this!
Maybe a few years ago it would have had appeal but it's well past it's best before date now. The price of c??250 is a bit of a giggle unless you're one of the poor people who actually bought one.

I can't wait to get rid of mine. I found a Fostex MR8 HD CD for just over ??300 with a CD writer built in, 4*phantom power, 40 GB hard drive and 4 tracks simultaneus recording. Shop around, there's better stuff out there for sure.

AVOID THIS PRODUCT!!

Very easy to use. I hadn't recorded with a multi-track recorder since the mid 80s, and I was up and running within minutes.

Good sound quality for the price: crystal clear, and the drums sound fantastic. Only about half of the guitar effects seem useful; the rest seem like gimmicks. Record without the effects---i.e., mic your amp---if you want a fuller, livelier sound. The built-in mics are good, but they are way too sensitive, and will record everything in the room, including the shape of the room. Use low impedance, uni-directional, dynamic mics (e.g., SM58, SM57) for superior results.

Dependable, but not rugged enough for a gig situation.

Never dealt with BOSS customer support.

Been playing rock for 30 years: mostly Gibson guitars and Fender amps.

This little machine blows away the old analog multi-track recorders I used in the mid 80s. I'd definitely get another one if it were stolen.

The punch-in edit feature is great and, with a little practice, it's "seamless."

The only real problems I have with it are that it only uses a 1 gig card, and the drums are very difficult to program/arrange.

yeah this thing takes about a week to really get the hang of but you should expect that with all the cool things you can do with it. i watched a lot of youtube tutorials of the br600 before i received my unit and then i used the manual to put it all together and i have no problem putting songs down now. very fun when you get the hang of it.

the songs ive put together sound like cd quality. the effects that you can add into each track are great. after you record a guitar track and add reverb to it and it sounds amazing! the pan option can really make songs stand out and give them character. i always use the jazz drum kit thats biult in but i think the snare could sound a little better....but it still decent. putting songs onto your computer and burning them to cd is very easy. once a song is recorded you can pretty much have it burned to a cd within 5 or 10 minutes. the first time i burned a song to a cd and listened to it in my car i was blown away at how great it sounded.

ive had mine now for about 6 months. i use it about 10-15 hours a week. never had a problem with it. i would use it at a gig, very confident in its performance and reliability

havent had to deal with them. havent had any problems.

i play music that is kind of a mix of alkaline trio, smiths, m83, deathcab for cutie. i play out of a line 6 spider 100watt tube head, mesa rectocab, goldtop les paul. i also have a yamaha 223 keyboard with tons of different sounds that i can add into songs. the keyboard can directly be hooked up to the unit with a quarter inch cable which makes it sounds perfectly clear in recorded songs. i can get my equipment to sound great being mic'd to the br600. but the amp models that are built in sound great if you dont feel like having a lot of equipment set up. all you really need is a guitar, headphones, and the br600 and you can make a song with bass, guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, and drums. i think this one is just as good as the 900cd. the 900cd just has the cd burner built in. im just so happy i can write songs exactly how i want them and no one else has the power to screw them up.

This is a fairly straight forward product, the biggest problem I had with the manual is that it didn't explain the Drum machine in a way that made sense. I found help online and now have no problems using it.

The sound quality is decent no extra noise, I like a lot of the built in effects especially for Acoustic guitar and Bass and the vocal effects are nice.

Mine has always worked flawlessly that is all I can say.

Now we are getting to why I'm really writing this reveiw. I have found that Boss and Carvin have the rudest Customer service around. Carvin being first and Boss a close second. The main issue with the BR-600 is that they take an old style CF Card which can be difficult to find because of the speed and size of the card. I emailed Customer Support about getting cards and they give you links to CF Card Manufacturers the only problem is digital cameras moved forward and started using faster, larger cards so even the manufacturers don't have them. I did find an SD to CF adapter once and emailed Boss support to see if that would work I also asked the question if it was possible to offer some kind of upgrade to the machine to allow it to run with more current cards. The first question was answered no pretty short and sweet the second question wasn't answered.

This was a good buy 4 years ago for 400.00 dollars, mine was a floor model and so was cheaper than that plus it came with power cords and all of the other stuff that people are complaing about it not having. Now, this machine shouldn't even be on the market without some upgrades to make it compatible with newer cards. My recomendation is save up for something better or go with something cheaper such as a tascam hand held recorder or something of that nature.

I've used my BR-600 for close to a year now. Paid $330 CAD new. I am actually very pleased with it overall. I purchased 1 gig Compact Flash Cards ($20 CAD each) for it right away. You get approx 40 full songs storage capacity when using the 1 gig card, however, 1 gig cards are discontinued at most computer suppliers now. I was disappointed to know the unit did not come with a DC adapter (Boss DC Adapter, approx $25 CAD extra). Manual is okay but a bit confusing. Wish it came with a DVD manual or better yet, an online instructional video/manual. Still figuring out all of in's & out's of bouncing & mastering tracks.

I am exceptionally pleased at the sound quality. No hiss, no pops, nothing, near CD quality. Finished songs sound amazing when bounced & exported to an iPod. Haven't played with the Mastering Tools & EQ so I'm sure with a little more experimenting, final cuts could even be better. I run cables out from the BR-600 to a 200w Ampeg bass amp combo & it sounds amazing during playback, lots of low, mid & high ends. The built in drums have a great low kick & snare. Wish there were more drum sounds (sticks, rim shot, more cymbols, etc...). The built-in condenser mics work very well for vocal tracks but a high quality mic works even better. Lots of built-in vocal effects to choose from.

Portability (fits in a guitar case) & reliability are what I'm most impressed with. I have had a couple of instances where the unit displays a message "Disk Error" (or something to that effect). Turn the unit off then on seems to reset it without losing tracks. I like that it takes 6 AA batteries, so when you want to play back a tune after a practice or gig, you don't HAVE to connect the DC adapter. That's cool.

Haven't had the need to deal with Roland/Boss customer service, thus I don't have an opinion.

I've been playing guitar & bass for over 20 years. I've owned a low-end Tascam analog 4 track in the past (remember cassettes?, lol). The BOSS BR-600 digital recorded blows it away, especially for the same cost. My, how technology has changed... for the better.

Instruments/gear: 4 string ESP LTD Bass guitar thru an Ampeg BA210SP Bass Amp (210W) Combo, Ibanez electric guitar w/ 2 double humbucker pick-ups thru a 65W Marshall amp. 6 string Ovation electric/acoustic guitar. 4 string Wasburn fretless bass.

PA gear: an 8 channel Peavey Powered Mixer/Amp XR(R) 8600, a pair of Peavey PV(R)215 Loudspeakers (700W @ 8 ohms/1400W @ 4 ohms). Shure mics.

If my BR-600 were ever lost or stolen, I'd probably upgraded to BR-1200 or BR-1600 simply because they have an 80 gig hard drive built-in, that's even cooler.

I really wish BOSS/ROLAND would have thought through the whole max 1 gig Flash Card thing. It should be able to accept 16 or 32 gig Compact Flash Cards from day one. Kinda limiting that way. It should also come with a DC adapter, that was a little sneaky, but for $330 CAD I consider it one of the best musical equipment purchases I've ever made.

Laying down & editing tracks has been easy from day one. Play back sound is killer, especially through an iPod.

If someone out there knows of any instructional videos or tip/tricks for the BOSS BR-600, please post them on YouTube. Thanks for reading my review, now get back to playing music, you slacker!

This unit is incredible for the price. I am using it live as a combination guitar processor/drum machine. Editing patches is a breeze, once you read the manual once and play with it for a couple of minutes. (This is not rocket science, people)

Sound quality is excellent; no noise at all. I am using a nylon string Takamine TH-5C with the CoolTube preamp, into an FRFR amp...
The effects are excellent; I only wish there were a spring reverb...
(but I have one in my LR Baggs amp)... I usually use from clean through blues/light crunch sounds, but the metals compare favorably with other units I've tried...

But a MAJOR feature for me is the Toneload, which allows me to import my own .wav percussion samples, and edit drum tracks on the computer using the downloadable editor. AFAIK the Zoom HD series is the only other Multi-track that allows this, and it is 'way bigger....:-)

I can get the BR-600 into the outside pocket of my guitar case, sling it over my shoulder, put a Roland Mobile Cube in the sportpack of my motorcycle, and I have a complete portable solution that can be battery powered and sounds great for small venues.

It is small, but if you take care of it, it seems substantial enough...

I've always have excellent response from Roland/Boss technical support via email or telephone.

I think the complaints about the old-style flash cards not being available are somewhat justified, but you can find them pretty easily on Amazon, EBay. Ritz camera also carries them...

The lack of storage may be a problem (its bigger brother, the BR-900CD lets you record to computer via the s/pdif). I would like to see an upgrade to version 2 of the BR-900, but I am very, very happy with the sounds and amp models as they are....

I can't buy the flashcards that are compatible with this machine. It renders this thing useless, because you can barely fit one song on it. Terrible planning from Roland, terrible.

Great, but storage capacity ruins the usefulness of the machine. When you run out of storage space, you cannot record anymore! Talk about Roland dangling a carrot! Upgrade the machine to use 4 and 8 gig compactflash cards!!!!

Rating reliability is moot if it is incapable of doing its job in the first place. The BR-600 is a waste of time and money.

Roland are terrible for customer service. What's worse is that Long and McQuade in Canada, where I bought this thing, doesn't even carry flashcards!...how stupid is that?

Lame...I was excited about this product until I tried to record one bloody song. Looking for these stupid flashcards should not be what I'm doing...I should be recording!!!!

No previous experience of recording but wanted something that I could use to record live gigs, a bit backing work and to help with a sound FX drama class.

Despite nearly going for Fostex due to other critiques, I found it very easy to use (decent recording to tracks within half an hour of reading the manual).

The manual is very helpful for those first time queries and once you understand the menu abbreviations you are away and running.

Easy and intuitive editing of effects fields such as reverb, chorus etc.

REALLY impressed with the two built-in mics. Used it on batteries to record a live gig and was really impressed by the sound quality. With no effects it really recreated the atmosphere and picked up fine detail that was lost on the night.

The built-in FX are very effective. I only really use the vocal effects although the guitar and line in effects are expansive. Vocal FX in real-time are amongst the best I've heard and are all editable.

I wouldn't recommend throwing it about but it comes with a bag to stop scratches etc. I carry it in an aluminium case so have no worries about that. I have no experience of the value wheel failing and hope that it doesn't turn out to have been "value quality"

No experience

Glad I didn't buy the Fostex. I went for this as it came wit hdrums on board and decent effects. Despite the view that the menu system is complex I think you'll find it intuitive and easy to understand first time as long as you have the manual to hand.

My 5 year old now knows how to record to a track - what more can I say.

Headphone output is good quality and volume - I also use this as a line out for a PA when listening back...

Really useful bit of kit for recording live or in the home studio - really helps with creativity.

Shame it doesn't ship with a PSU. Upgrade to a 1GB card was easy - stocked at Maplin - Type 1 CF Card - easy.

This is not the easiest thing for beginners however the guide is pretty good and you can be familiar with the thing after a week or so.
Would be much better if just more buttons installed, just to make easy to go through menus or adjust EQ or effects. Installed "value" rotary switch is not bad but if works, mine actually gave up after a month or so :-(
LED also could be twice bigger to display levels and time at the same time.

I thing record quality is very good , some effects are also cool and there are lot of them. Including voice effects and lo fi. Guitars various lead effects , acoustics simulation and few bass , with my favorite tube simulation. for sure in comparison to real amp sound rather can't compare but rel. to $that's OK.
Drum souds very good and there some good options too , what is very practical is software for patterns editing where you can much easily do the job. Also you can make you special drum sound if you want.

Here unfortunately I must complain, so after a month or so "value" rotary swittch gave up. Or actually it doesn;t fuction well so skip values down, this makes me really mad , I din't send it back casue I need it all the time , but here is big shame for "boss" to sell such a crap

I don't have much experience with recording both on PC and HW mixer, however I've been looking for simple&small thing in one piece to record demo's or ideas. The thing is very small so I used to program drum in a bed.
There are plenty of effects for GT or bass, mic are also nice maybe except when you want play at the same time GT and mic, than choices are very limited. B
Built in mic. are good enough to sing and record nice sound, however not for lound or live performance.
I wonder why it is not supply with AC/DC power (40$ plus) Don;t think you can survive on batteries it eats up in a 2 hours.
Memory cards are still avaliable and inexpencive I didn't have issue with that (remember to do a backup to PC)
Overall it is cool thing, especially for guy like me who play with a friend without drummer and want to record ideas or pre paths to jam along with it.

The main reason I'd recommend this product is if you're one of those guys who shaves his head and you're tired of spending money on razors. One week of trying to find, initialize and use the virtually obsolete memory cards that these things use will have you pulling out your hair. This is a great piece of equipment. The versatility and possibilities with it are amazing and almost limitless. However, it only takes 1 GB cards, which almost NO ONE carries. You can order them on line but, one wonders how long these things will be available. The Lexar flash cards (which the instructions say are compatible) that we bought didn't work. Not only that, it doesn't come with an AC adaptor so, that $400.00 or whatever you spend on the machine is just the beginning. Top it all off with the fact that Roland's customer service people are about as condescending as they come and it just make me wish I'd spent another $65 on something with Pro-Tools. Verdict: While I love Boss pedals, avoid this thing like a beating.

HOPE YOU LIKE MENUS AS THERE ARE ALOTTTTTTTTTTTT TO GO THRU BUT IT IS QUITE INTUITIVE (SORT OF) GETTING IT TO WORK FIRST TIME WAS EASY AND IT IS VERY QUICK TO SET UP AND PUT DOWN IDEAS WHICH IT EXCELS AT.WISH THE DISPLAY WAS BIGGER BUT FOR 300+ EUROS WHAT DO YOU EXPECT. YOU WILL USE THE MANUAL(ALL 226PAGES)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVEN MORE THAN THIS AS THE OINION THAT IS THE BR600 HAS MANY LAYERS TO PEEL. THE MANUAL IS EXACTLY THE SIZE OF THE UNIT AND ALMOST AS THICK.

TAKES A LOT OF WORK TO GET A DECENT SOUND HAVEN'T GOT THERE YET AFTER A MONTH WITH IT BUT I AM CONFIDENT IT WILL DO THE BUSINESS YOU JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT A LITTLE(WHOLE LOT OF TWEAKING GOIN ON)IT SEEMS TO BE LACKING IN THE MIDDLE TO HIGH FREQUENCY RANGE.WHY COULDN'T THE 8 FADERS DOUBLE AS AN EQUALIZER AS WELL (ONE FOR THE TECH HEADS IN BOSS) THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT SOUNDS TO TWEAK IT TAKES TIME TO GET TO WHAT YOU WANT.THE COSM GUITAR AND DRUMS SOUNDS ARE GREAT. THE STEREO MIKES ON-BOARD ARE REALLY GOOD AND VERY USABLE AND SOUND REMARKABLY GOOD GREAT FOR RECORDING ACOUSTIC AND VOCALS.I THINK THE COMPRESSION OF THE SOUND IS QUITE HIGH AND THIS AFFECTS THE DYNAMICS AND HENCE THE LACK OF PUNCH IN THE SOUND.

I WOULN'T SAY "HERE CATCH" IF I WERE YOU
TREAT IT LIKE A LAPTOP DON'T DROP
HOPEFULLY THE SELECTOR WHEEL ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE UNIT WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME AS YOU USE THIS A LOT.

WEBSITE IS GOOD YOU CAN DOWNLOAD DEMO'S AND THE MANUAL AND WORK SHOPS ETC BUT I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH REPAIRS ETC AND HOPEFULLY WONT , MOST OF BOSS'S STUFF USUALLY LASTS.

I PLAY INDIE TO BLUES TO JAZZ WITH AN OCCASIONAL EXCURSION TO METAL
THE KEY THING ABOUT THIS LITTLE GEM IS ITS ACCESSIBILITY.YOU COULD WRITE THE GUTS OF A SONG IN AN HOUR WITH THIS MACHINE AND THATS IT MAIN PURPOSE FOR ME ITS GREAT AND I HAVE WROTE MORE IN A MONTH THAN IN THE LAST 6 WORKING WITH COMPUTER SOFTWARE (IT JUST TAKES TO LONG TO SET UP)SO I LOVE THIS MACHINE A LOT. THE ONLY BUMMER IS THE AVAILABILITY OF TYPE ONE COMPACT FLASH CARDS. WE'VE MOVED ON FROM THIS TYPE OF CARD FOR A YEAR OR TWO AS MOST CARDS ARE TYPE 2 WHICH ARE ABOVE THE 1GB MARK.LUCKILY I GOT 5 1GB CARDS ON http://www.expansys.ie/ FOR ABOUT 40 EURO SO THAT WAS GREAT BUT I THINK BOSS NEEDS TO POST (HELLO IS ANYBODY LISTENING) AN UPDATE SO HIGHER CAPACITY CARDS CAN BE USED AS THE OLD CARDS ARE HARD TO COME BY.I TRIED MOST SHOPS IN DUBLIN AND NO GO.

its fairly self explanatory. you just have to sit and **** with it for alittle bit. i bought a boss drum machine and the digital effects are kindof setup the same way so it made it alittle bit easier. as far as ease of use goes.... you can really spend alot of time tweeking effects and other fine details that you like. though i just like to plug in and record. theres a bit of learning curve which isn't always a bad thing. but i did have to look at the manual a bit. 9.0

bottom line --> you get what you pay for. the sound quality is decent, but unless your running through a bunch of pedals and already have an awesome tone before you plug in....the tone may be different. the sound quality from the unit itself Okay. You can make the sound quality alittle better by tweeking settings. its nothing too fabulous...but its good enough to use when you want to just get the rough version of whatever your doing. for sound quality overall i give it a 8 because for the most part the noise is fairly minimal. though its not "10 pristine" perfect...

I would say all Boss products are reliable based on my experience with them. the pedals being the toughest. but as long you don't drop the unit or spill anything on it, or do anything else to **** it up it should last you. i don't travel or take my recorder anywhere so that eliminates most of the wear and tear. i bought mine new and it came with a cool carrying pouch. but if i ever did take it anywhere i would definitely find a box with some kind of padding for it.

i've never dealt with them.

i still have some to learn with the BR-600 so it will take a little more time to know it inside and out. Overall, I'm really satisfied with buying it because its easy to use and I see my song writing skills getting better before i should need to buy something a little nicer.

My only real complaint about the product is the compact flash card. I bought a 1 gig card separately. I also bought the psa adapter separately too. so be prepared to shelf out some extra dollars if you want more recording space for the unit and a consistent power supply. The last recorder i had was a Fostex 4 track. the br-600 was about maybe $280 more but god it was so much ******* better.

if your looking for a top notch recorder look elsewhere and plan on spending more money. you have to consider all the extra gear you might need also like a mixer, compressor, equalizers and all kinds of expensive **** if you want to mix your sound as well as record it. you can't really do a whole lot of mixing with the br-600 settings. If your more of a minimalist like I am, then this unit might be it for you. my main thing is just plug in and record.

also i think if your resourceful enough you can push alot more worth out the br-600 than you might think. you just have to sit on it and think for a while to figure it out.

the boss 600 manual is difficult to understand for the novice recorder. its hard enough to understand for someone who has experience with recording. However, once one learns to use all the features , it's pretty neat.

I've had a bit of DAW experience and once owned a TASCAM 4-track cassette recorder. I was able to boot this thing up and almost immediately have an understanding of how everything worked. The interface is intuitive and well laid out. I haven't worked with the drum kit options yet- so I may change my mind on "ease of use" later...

One quick note... I did lose my mind for a minute and bounce some harmony vocals over the top of my guitar track. Luckily- the BR-600 has an undo feature... and it WORKED. Saved me a lot of time.

Right now I'm working on making simple songwriter demos. Drums (imported loops from Drums on Demand), Acoustic Guitar, Bass (used built in Bass effect with my guitar), and Vocals (used built in microphone).

Blown away by the internal mic. Better than the phantom powered mic I use with my DAW (Sound Forge and Line 6 UX). Got a bit of a crackle with my guitar plugged in at first, but I managed to dial it in clean. The built in effects (Bass simulation, Vocal effects) that I used were fantastic.

So far so good... no crashes or errors.

don't know

I play Alt-Country, Traditional Country, Roots type music. The BR-600 is a good match for just about anything I'm going to throw at it.

If it were lost or stolen I'd probably buy another one.

I compared it mainly with field recorders because I wanted something portable. I also wanted multi-track. The main competition was the Zoom H4 because it has phantom power (which I really wanted). After hearing the very good quality of the internal mic though, I'm fine without using an external mic for vocals.

I wish it had phantom power, and the ability to use larger memory cards. I wish it had come with a wall wart. For the next generation of this machine, I'd hope they'd switch to cheaper SD cards, or even just have an 8GB internal drive (and wifi support). Still, this is unbeatable for the price and quality.

You definitely want to read the manual before using this recorder, but once you start using it, it is very intuitive.

The built-in mics are great for recording both voice and acoustic guitar.
The variety of effects for electric guitar (and voice) and astounding from such a small unit.

Has been reliable so far. No hard-drive to fail gives this recorder a big plus over similarly-priced recorders.

Have not dealt with CS.

For a home recordist/small band wanting demos, a better recorder can't be found for this money. For a few hundred dollars more, you might got wiht the BR900CD which has a buiilt-in CD burner.

Got this BR-600 a month ago and I'm using it to tape jams with several friends. Guitar, bass, clarinet ... and friend metal band.

It is easy of use if you have appropriate wiring and hardware to do dual playback ! Seriously, its easy to tape something but to sync yourself and friends with drums is tricky ! The fact that there is just a single headphone output is a lack ! Considering buying a headphone splitter to simplify things !

There are no firmware update known.

The manual is redundant and thicker than the device ... this always surprise friends unpacking the device for the first time !

I've made some trys but this doesnt sound as I want, yet. This isn't Br-600 fault, I'm new at recording ... and mastering. A lot of possibility means a lot of liberty and the device let you record crap ... if you do so !

I still have a lot to learn ...

The quality of built-in mics is amazing in my sennheiser hd437 headphones.

About clarinet taping :
I've read a lot on the internet and found out that its very difficult to catch every vibration of that wood instrument. I've taped a little jam session yesterday(clarinet-class. guitar) with my girlfriend and she was very pleased with what she heared. Stereo is cool !

Effects processor : Some presets are strange ... I wont use 90% of them. But the quality is there anyhow. BTW, effects cant be better than your instrument. Electro-Cutaway-Classical Takamine, Bolt-on epiphone Les Paul ... Delay on the clarinet make me feels like I'm on acid !

I really love to put effects on drums to sim double-kick.

Final word, this device lack one thing, 24 bit recording ... this means that you cannot pretend to tape DVD or HD sound like pro stuff like tascam. If you don't matter, sound is A1 !

Compared to a laptop recording solution, the Br-600 is very reliable !

Consider 2 things before going field-gig recording :
ENERGY AND MEMORY

If you plan these two parameters accordingly, the BR-600 will meet your needs !

BUT !!!! 1GB memory is a little short for someone going away from a desktop computer... like, for a week festival...

1GB memory is "back order" in most mainstream stores and there is no word from ROLAND engineers about using recent 2GB, 4GB and 8GB memory.
Rush onto EBAY !

Compact flash compatibility list should have been updated !
PLEASE BOSS, ROLAND, someone, HELP !
128MB included card is great but isn't enough !

I*Net forums are great to get some clues.
I've read somewhere that some people we're having troubles with 2GB card and some others getting it to work with 4GB.

Which brand of compact flash work NOW ?
UPDATE br-600 FAQ PLEASE !

I play several style of music since 1998. (10 years now)
Techno-Indy, duets, folk, metal, punk, blues and jazz.

Br-600 is a good match if you have appropriate wiring and microphones to meet your needs. Consider following components to be versatile : 2x 1/8 to 1/4 jack, RCA to 1/8, 2M. RCA cable, a second xlr to 1/4, 2 good headphones, a monitoring stereo(RCA Input) and a USB cable !

Considering USB, if your record with a computer by the side, I strongly recommand you download the WAV importer software !!!!!!
MUSIC IS RECORDED IN BOSS PROPRIETARY FORMAT !

To export it in wav, BR-600 uses your compact flash memory to dump converted proprietary before upload to PC... IF YOUR CARD IS FULL, YOU CAN'T EXPORT YOUR RECORDING ! Using the software solves that problem, use "backup" function instead and use the software to get all track download to your pc. This could be very usefull if your want to do hybrid recording, mixing and mastering with a DAW.

here are some details:
http://www.derangedcoder.net/notes/music/software/brtowav/index.html

Thanks for your attention and please, forgive my english as I'm a french speaking.

I got great sound out of it right away but not for recording! That took me the better part of a day to figure out. I still have more learning to go. It's got to be way easier than some of the bigger units though.
I hadn't recorded in years so it took me a bit more time than say someone who records all the time.
The manual is the bible for this thing. You'll spend some time in it.
Many of the functions require scrolling through a tiny menu. It's all straight forward but it will still take time to set things up. Setting the pan for a channel for instance has to be accessed this way. Hey, can't have everything up front in something so tiny.

The effects are wonderful!!! I have a slew of vintage pedals. With this thing they're not needed really. It even has a built noise gate, compressor. I have those pedals but now I don't need them.
Strange but while going through the amp models I hit one that instantly sounded like one of the amps I've been using a lot lately. I thought, hmmm, it sounds really close. What's it called? I looked down at the display and it was titled "tube amp stack" I believe. The amp I've been using is just that - and here's the sound comming out of a tiny battery powered box. Not perfect - but not bad at all.
I'm a tube amp fanatic! The amp I've been using is one that I modded myself from an old 60's PA. To have a simulation sound so close is amazing to me. I still love and use my tube amp collection but I plan to use this as well.
Can't give the unit a 10 as it still doesn't record uncompressed - no biggie.

Don't know. It seems ok I quess based on the stuff made nowadays.

Never dealt with them.

I play classic metal. This little thing blows me away. Been playing guitar about 35 years. I'd have given anything for something like this a few years back. Yup.
If it were lost or stolen I'd get another in a heartbeat.
Wow!
Here's the thing; I got this unit to help me put down some new ideas. What I got was that and a thousand times more.
You ever buy something and wind up using it differently than you'd planned? That's what's happened to me with this purchase.
If I think about, now I have an amp backup. I've never owned a pod or likewise device but had been thinking of getting one. It can most certainly be used as one. I now practice more at reasonable volume levels or with headphones on. In fact, this thing blows a pod away for that use.
I got a really nice first rate drum machine - complete with trigger pads. As I mentioned above - I also picked up a compressor, noise gate, and instrument tuner. Didn't really need the last item.

My son will most certainly be using this to learn guitar on. There's another feature I failed to mention this has. It's a training mode which slows parts down. Just one more goody. So, I've also picked a guitar training device.

I also picked up two nice mikes in the deal - the built-in ones. The little on board mikes work unbelievably well.
All the above would total hundreds of dollars if sold separately.
Add all the above to a multitrack recorder that's tiny, portable, and it's like the deal of the century.

had this unit for about a month now,after reading the manual(which is very good imho)read at the shop ..i just dived in when i got home.recorded multi guitar and drums song straight away ..connected to comp via a small mixer and hi fi amp (and headphones low end price) to monitor playback and the sound was good.any body that as any recording experiance (tape comp )should not have any difficulty getting first good results .guitar .mic and line effects are exceptable for a small unit.menu scrolling will become second nature with a bit of time spent, very portable rechargeable batteries are a must as with a power supply ..sold seperatly ..condenser mics built in very good ,default setting when recording is guitar .you have to make sure your in the mic setting or line in or you loose everything before you start only prob ive found

sound from the int mics are very clear.. recorded practice sessions and a little re mixing gives surprisingly good results.guitar ext mic and keyboards record very well,songs recorded from computer to line in works well to..like any gear a little practice will improove quality the on board effects to master down needs a little work but
..i just use the computer as master recorder with sound forge ok i cheat ..but you do get flexible results if you do mix down..you can use either way .its a simple unit but can go as deep as you want with good results..a good multi track for sketch pad or getting demo results .like anything you need to read the manual and experiment a little but the learning curve is a lot shorter than the 16 track daws and a lot more portable and takes batteries

i would gig with it although its plastic, be more worried some one walking off with it because of size..

bought new under warrently.. watch this space boss products seem to last the course

use for demo ing in practice sessions.. general recording using key boards guitars etc..i was going to buy a 16track but after reading there manuals i havnt got 12 months to verify a learning curve ,this does what it says on the tin and the built in mics are good and you dont get mics with the 16 tracks..costwise money well spent .use a 1 gig card along with a comp hard drive.cant say about the usb my comp isnt picking usb for anything lol. overall, compact usefull machine i would buy again

For me was not very simple to start. But, this is because of lack of experience in recording, than Boss studio itself. BR-600 is my first device. I've made the first rec very fast, but using drum-machine, effects, tuning of them, were not so obvious.

Manual is very undestandable. Although it as thick as 200 pages, there a lot of illustration, and i 'd read them during 3-5 days. After that using of a studio has become very simple. So, I think, that BR-600 is easy enough to use.

I like to play jazz, fusion and funk. So this effects - chorus, compressor, reverb are greate. I also try others, but did not tune them. Neveretheless, sound are respective, I like it. Concerning Distortion - Boss is a master in it.
Using of effect is very comfortable, very wide possibilities for tuning and application. I was impressed.
Amount of effects and combinations also impressing - for guitar, acoustic, mic, loop, mastering, bass.
I've tried them in line, and when played through combo (Vox amp Cambrige-15Watt, with Celection bulldog) and take sound by mic and insert it in studio - both ways get a good result, but different tuning is necessary. Noise is very low, even with the single pickups.

Don't try yet.

I like funk jazz and fusion. For this styles effects are perfect, as a drum sound - very realistic. I play for a long time already - about 10 years, but did not concern recording very close, so for beginning this device is perfect. Shurely will re-purchase it if it will be stolen.
Sound is good, portable and not expensive - respect to Boss.
With BR-600 i will record demos and my own music at home. All possible effects are there, drums are there, editing of record very comfortable. So, i very impressed and happy with this small box.

When i think about studio purchasing, i have to decide between Zoom MRS-8, BR-600 and Korg-D4. D4 was out first - because of price/features combinations (but it has a phantom power for mic). Zoom MRS - better opposition - also effects, drums, 44.1 kHz. But I have a Zoom G2.1U guitar processor, so BOSS COSM effects i like more, besides, BOSS is more respective firm for me rather than Zoom. But Zoom is 1.5 times cheaper. So the choise is yours. But Zoom is a best oppositioneer for Boss. If you need a choise - choose between Zoom and Boss.

Also such studio is quite usfull for beginning. MAy be later i'll understand that BR-600 is not enough for me already. But now - price/sound quality/features combination is perfect.

This unit is relatively easy to use. Most features are accessed through the utility function. I am slightly annoyed that the menu options don't scroll in a loop as I cursor from right to left. It would have been easy for the software designers to make this happen.

I also hate how the unit defaults the inputs to the guitar insert. If you are recording using an external mic and forget to change it to mic, you'll lose your recording. I think they could have designed the insert to automatically turn on depending upon what is plugged in.

The internal effects are great!

My only beef with this thing regarding sound quality is that it only supports 16 bit files. 24 bit is ideal for many recording situations, especially when you need to capture a more dynamic source.

Fortunately, my main purpose for the BR-600 is to record my cranked tube amp in a church sanctuary.

I then export the tracks to my home studio and record the rest of the instruments at 24 bit in the comfort of my bedroom.

Roland/Boss knows how to build things sturdily

Some of the previous reviewers are writing strange things about e-mailing files for exporting and converting the BR files. I say that these things are strange because the BR-600's export DOES automatically convert the audios from Roland's native format to .wav upon export to my PC.

This reviewer is probably thinking that the backup feature is this unit's only means of transferring files to his PC. This feature does NOT convert the BR files to .wav so use the Export feature instead!

I did find one quirk with the export function. My BR-600 initially would not export files when the USB cable was connected to directly to my USB hub. If I bypassed the hub going straight to another USB input, everything works fine. I'm sure its not the USB port because its being used for other devices.

A few design complaints:

The BR-600 does NOT support MP3 import/exports. I'd love to be able to record something with the BR-600 and export an MP3 to my computer.

I can get around this by converting the .wav to an MP3 on my computer but this is extra work.

The BR-600 does NOT have phantom power! The best mics for capturing a live performance are going to be condensors. To get around this, I'll have to use my Mackie mixer for phantom power before the BR-600's inserts.

Everything featured in this product is great. 99 preset sounds with guitar, bass, and acoustics are very powerful. Editing and basic functions are very easy to understand. If you read the manuals you can pretty much handle everything as far as recording, importing, exporting, and even saving it as a back up. Only thing I had problem was exporting WAV tracks to my p.c. Because the size was gigantic to send through email, I had to follow this plan. I inserted a blank CDR(or CDRW) to my pc. Opened my file (Roland/Boss) while USB still connected from BR-600 to my pc. I hit play from the original demo song and click "Burn a song that is being played" in the Windows Music Media player. Under Rip,right click and find "Format." Right click again, and find MP3. Go ahead and burn this one demo song that you just made to a cdr. If you encounter messages such as cannot burn for whatever reason, click around Rip and Burn few times. Once completed, eject the cdr, then insert it back again. Guess what? Your song in this cdr is now compressed to a smaller size. I know this is pain, but if you plan on burning several tracks of your original demo songs, then you have to follow this plan unless you can purchase a compresser software or transfer it to MIDI Software(Cakewalk, Pro Tools, etc.). Also, every time I export my song to my pc, I save the demo song to my hard drive. Then I go back to br-600, EDT(Edit), and ERS (Erase) because the Flash card that came in is too small. I highly suggest like others to purchase 1GB Flash card. Becareful with handling this, read the manuals carefully because not all flash cards will work on BR-600. Also, keep in mind that USB cable and AC Adapter are not included in the package. However, the overall BR-600 features alot of functions. My next goal is to purchase a BR-1200 because it has more powerful features to include EZ Compose (simply insert Chord names and loop it with drum machines to create backing rhythm tracks instantly). Also, built in CDRW are outstanding. My band member owns one and he also mentioned there is a Tutorial DVD sold at any music stores for BR-900, 1200, and 1600. However, I haven't heard or found about BR-600 tutorial dvd.

Sound qualities are very unique. I especially liked the Wahs (3 patterns), delays, and 80s/90s Metal. You can always modify it to fit your styles. Impressive sounds. I don't use any amps anymore. Headphone will do everything and all sounds are digital.

I keep this br-600 in a heavy-duty laptop bag for extra protection. Studio work, gigs, and everwhere I go it is very dependable. I use a SONY headphone with it.

I haven't used the customer support from BOSS product. But manual was very easy to understand.

I'm a guitarist and played for the last 12 years or so. I purchased this product to simply lay out ideal tracks for demo work. Once I complete them I distribute to my band members. It's a very time-consuming and expensive if you are renting rehearsal studios without having some sort of plan made prior. Each members can listen to a cdr, and then kind of image the flow of the demo and come out to jam for further improvisation. I own a fender guitar and 100W Tube amp with Boss foot pedal effects. But I learned very quickly that this br-600 came in with a COSM Pre-amps to save my time setting up all my gears in a studio. I compared with Zoom products and decided to go with BOSS after reading other comments.

Sounds great and alot of useful functions such as import, export, back up of demo music. I had one problem with the size of the song...because it's WAV file(multiple tracks recorded) I had to rip it to MP3 (go to format under Rip and right click, then right click again to MP3). I had to burn a CDR first to ensure it was compressed. Then I ejected the CDR (only one song) and then insert back so to rip it to PC, Music Media Player again. That way you can burn our originally made demos to final CDR for a production purpose or simply sending emails with an attachment to friends, or posted it to your webpage. I wished the manual or even the company explained this procedure. I mean alot of softwares (compressed)on websites are not FREE! Everything besides this it's a very remarkable tools for all time musicians.

99 presets of effects (including bass/acoustics) are outstanding! I especially like the three Patch model WAH effects. Plus you can modify it very easily with the way you want it to sound. I don't use any amps or normal set up. Simply headphone and an AC adapter (not included) will do. USB and Flash card I had to buy one. Same comments as others.

Yes. Definitely for a demo work, practice, and studio projects. Very portable for gigs, parks, schools, anywhere... tons of reliability.

I went to BOSS website but didn't really get enough help. They need some work... seriously... with customer supports/technical matters, etc.

BOSS BR-600 are high quality digital recorder where you can simply lay out your creative ideas to a cdr, pc, and other MIDI projects.

For 199 of your english pounds the BR600 provides 4 mono plus 4 stereo tracks of compressed but good sounding digital audio recording; built in stereo mics, insert, main and mastering effects, ability to record alternate takes or "virtual" tracks behind each main track, plus a cryptic drum arranger. The unit is supplied with batteries, an XLR to balanced jack lead and a cloth carry case. A 128 Meg Compact Flash card is supplied with a "demo song" - 1 Gig cards are now around 10 pounds or less and give 500 plus track/minutes of recording time in HiFi mode. Tip - keep clear of electrical interference when recording, especially mobile phones - I had a great take ruined by someone calling me even though the phone was on silent.

Operation is fairly straightforward, I survived without the instructions until the drums kept stopping 8 bars into a song - I then had to read the drum arranging bit of the manual.

Sound quality is excellent for the price, the built in mics default to a very flattering reverb with fat EQ patch which I found ideal for acoustic guitar and vocals. Guitar effects are metal heavy but sit well in a mix - acoustic simulations are fine. Arrangements using all 8 tracks can distort if you are not careful with levels but as noise is not a problem, it is quite possible to record at lower levels on each track and retain a good sound quality.

Lightweight plastic so I will take care but seems fine so far.

Web site looks fine, there are no specific upgrades / down loads for the BR 600 but I am told you can use software supplied for other BR series machines to convert WAV files etc.

I reckon any player would be inspired by this unit, It's so easy to lay down ideas and with memory prices coming down, you can almost afford to archive on flash card. A load more features than the pocket sized BR that Boss produce, although I might be tempted by one of those if they drop to 99 pounds.

I laid down my first tracks right off the bat. The user manual isn't bad but keep it close as a reference. Some features I will probably not use as I am going to use this as musical schetch book. I'll use Sonar for production work.

I was really suprised with the sound I got out of the external mics. The amp modeling is ok, typical of what you expect from Boss. Still the effect are very fun to play with.

While I don't anticipate any problems with it, it does not appear to be road ready and would hesitate using it for such purposes.

na

This really free up the creative process for me and really is quite the bang for the buck. The preset effects really are fun to play with.

I just got my BOSS BR-600 yesterday, and so far I was doing pretty good. COSM PReAmp is amazing! Guitars/Bass/Acoustic... all styles no problem. I haven't tried much of the rhythm section, but will get into details shortly. I recorded each track and was able to Bounce/Master my demo. I did have one question with my exported original demo with WAV. to my PC with USB(not included). Because the size is 26,012KB, I can't send it to my band member through hotmail/yahoo. If anyone can send me a response I would greatly appreciate it. I wonder if I need to surf the net to compress this file. I've tried all HIFi, STD, and LONG mode. It all came with Gigantic sizes. Also, BOSS BR-900, 1200, and 1600 all comes with an instructional DVD. In Japan, you can actually get a free Demo instruction but in Japanese language. They actually take you step by step instruction along with demonstrations. Total time is at least 30 minutes or longer. I wonder if there is anything similar in Stateside. Needless to say, BOSS should make an instructional DVD for BR-600 if they haven't. But other than my slight problem with WAV sizes, the quality and functions are very impressive. Manual is lengthy, but very easy to understand. I gave rate of 10 for this regardless of some area I need to work on... gotta stay positive right? METAL!!!

You can get the U2/Police style sound like delay/reverb sound. I liked the 3 different styles of Wah effects. For solos you can really hit the note with more feel and tonality without additional footswitch. Needless to say... with at least 80 variety of effects I won't complain. Bass effects and Acoustic effects are very useful too. Some settings are not really necessary like Bell sound/Ringer.. overall great! I use headphone all the time for recording/composing so next time I will try it with my Behringer 450W Amp for dynamic tone.

Definitely. I am very careful with it though. You don't want to drop it. I would highly suggest keeping it in the carrying bag (included) and try not to keep it in your car (temperature/humidity). My goal is to use this for creating demo(ideas) and distribute demo cdr to my band members so that every rehearsal will be very productive and time effective. You also want to keep this for individual practice rehearsal (trainer mode that can cancel the vocal/guitar and change the rate of speed from your favorite cd).

I play METAL! Yes, it is a good match. I dealt with SOFTWARE stuff for years and end up investing $$$ such as CakeWALK, Pro-Tools, etc. I changed my mind to purchase this one (BR-600) because it's affordable, and my friend who has BR-1200 highly recommended this for a starter. Eventually I will be getting a BR-1200. I've been playing electric guitar, bass, and some piano for 15+ I own Behringer 450W Amp and Cabinet, yamaha mixer, bass subwoofer amp, and pretty much everything to go on stage any time. I take care of my equipment very well. If for any situation it gets stolen or lost, I would probably upgrade to BR-1200. EZ compose feature along with built in CDRW is far more advance. I like the product already, but I know you can do more stuff with upgraded Boss product. Yes. I spent nearly month to compare/contrast with Zoom, Tascam, and other multi-track recorders, but I believe BOSS is something I decided to purchase. Again, my friend had BR-1200 and introduced me with alot of stuffs he can do. And his demo song was high Studio quality! I wish it had DVD Instruction just like the other BR 900, 1200, and 1600 series. I was able to record my demo track to track, bounce, and master it to complete it no problem. I think BOSS product from my personal experience (foot switch effectors) features good sound and quality. Keep up the good work.

I purchased this device, in part, due to advice from this forum. I was very frustrated with my ProTools rig that I had spent a significant amount getting up and running. It would error after I put several tracks in place, and it was becoming an impediment to my creative process. A user on this forum stated, in effect, 'do yourself a favor and buy a digital multi-track recorder.' The Boss BR-600 has been an amazing device for my writing and recording.

I was able to record a song I was composing quickly and easily the night I bought the device. I've since become quite proficient at mixing and using effects and rhythm tracks.

I found the manual to be quite comprehensive, and refer to it often, but only when learning new features.

This device is a perfect scratch pad for getting down a basic idea, then taking it to a group of musicians to reinterpret. I have each musician record their part on subsequently.

OK - I'm giving a 10 based that is relative to the cost of the unit. Sure, I've recorded in multi-million dollar studios with sound quality that would blow this unit away, but for a relatively low price, you get a highly functional sound.

The onboard compression mics are outstanding! I've even recorded drum kits with them.

I find the effects to be amazing. You get a full gamut of guitar, microphone, and line effects. There's even a bass simulator that drops the octave of a six string to help lay down basic tracks.

This device is not the sturdiest piece of gear I own. One volume button popped off rather easily (and snapped back on once I found it). I would be very careful not to drop this device, as I don't think it would survive a fall on hard surface from distance.

Never needed it.

However, the Boss BR-600 user forum at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/BossBr/ is an outstanding user community and provides helpful pointers to those who subscribe and inquire.

I highly recommend this device to any songwriter seeking a pre-production scratchpad. It is an outstanding value, and I will look forward to future releases in this outstanding line!

This is my first experience with the BOSS BR series of digital recorders (I have owned this unit for about a month now) and while the manual and user interface can sometimes be cryptic (most reviews I read did mention a somewhat steep learning curve for people new to digital recording) I was able to record a couple of guitar tracks and learn how to bounce and master them within a day. For the most part figuring out the basics for how to get a recording done are fairly intuitive though you will probably need the manual and some patience to figure out some of the more advanced things that this digital studio has to offer.

As far as physical ease of use, it is very small and easy to carry around, and the fact that it can run off of batteries makes it even more portable. It has a pair of built-in mics so if you just want to record yourself in an acoustic setting you do not even need any more equipment aside from the BR-600. Just turn it on, set the record levels, hit the record button and go.

The sound quality I get out of it is quite good, even with the built-in microphones. The built-in COSM effects cover a wide variety of effects, simulators, etc. While I have yet to try editing any of the built-in effects, the ones that already come preset sound great to me. The acoustic simulator does a fairly good job in my opinion. I can use my electric guitar to record some "acoustic" tracks late at night without bothering the other denizens of the house.

BOSS gear in general seems to be built to last but the fact that this recorder uses plastic construction makes me want to baby it a bit. Also, the case that comes with it is not much more than a cloth bag with a velcro flap. It can keep the dust out of the unit but it does not afford much protection against falls, bangs, dents, dings, etc. I have no reason to thing the product will prematurely fail but at the same time I would not just toss this into a gig bag with a bunch of other equipment that might squash it.

Never had to deal with customer support.

I believe this thing provides great value for someone looking to get into digital recording for the first time and wants something portable enough that it can be carried around fairly easily and unobstrusively. I have found that the more I use it the more useful features I uncover. The manual could use a bit of work to make it more intuitive but otherwise once you get past that initial steep part of the learning curve figuring out other things get much easier.

About the only real annoyance I had with this product is that it does not have support for exporting to a WAV or MP3 file built-in (for burning a CD the manual suggests using the line out connected to a CD recorder or tape deck). However, after a bit of searching I learned that you can download from the Roland website a BR WAV Converter tool that will allow you to read the music files created by the recorder using their proprietary BR format and exporting them to WAV files so they can be further processed, converted or burned to CD from your computer. I wrote a short write-up on how to download and use the utility and posted it on my website in the hope that other users of the BR-600 can benefit from the knowledge.

If this were stolen or lost I would definitely want to get a replacement unit. I would have to save up for it again but I definitely think this unit is a great tool that every musician of every level can benefit from. The fact that it is so portable is a great plus since one can carry it around and record musical ideas whenever and wherever the inspiration may strike. I think BOSS did a great job in creating this recorder. While it may take a bit of a while to figure it out, once you start to learn to work with it it becomes well worth the money spent.

i would have rated it higher if the quick start quide was a bit more specific buy it isnt so there you go. it took me about 20 mins of muckng around until i got a recording and then another 20 mins to use the effects, with out using the manual, i didn't use the manual; because the thing is huge its probably 20mm thick but once you get the hang of it the rest in similar. the rythem is not at all hard to use once you read the manual and is easy to make your own beats and songe but there is a maximum of 50 "steps" to a song ,which is the change of beat, and thats not enough the first song i tried to do the drums for had over 70 steps in and it was only 4 mins long! but other than that its quite good.

let me just say that you will never get the best "amp" sound out of a modeler or unit because obviousily it isnt an amp but for any but metal (which is wat i play) the onboard effects will do. after heps of tweaking i got a reasonable scooped tone from it.
i am using emg's---->pedal---->50w valve which sounds sweet but with the boss unit i cant use the effects send without the unit distorting or go strait in from the guitar unless i turn the input on the br600 way down which cuts into the tone. in the past i have actually used it in the effects loop (returning through the line out on the unit) which worked as a looper but still cut into my tone. hopefuly when my mike arrives (sm57) in a few days it will all work out but untill then i just sit down and make sick drum beats which is my favourite feature cos its so easy to do. basicly the onboard effects will work great for st anger tones and anything less hardcore but just doesnt make the cut for metal tone wise. but the recording interface is sic!! tip: use the panning function to make a seriously fat sound.

i dont see how i could gig with it. but the unit is made of plastic and i am not one the trash my gear so it seem good enough to me

haven't tried

i have been playing for 4 years anc can play most metallica solos and any L.O.G. riffs and my own style is pretty muck a mix of the 4 bands listed below. for traveling or low volume jamming with myself then it works good but the effect arent up to my standards but the drums/recording parts a great and it is aboos so buy this cos its the shit.
i play metal (pantera, metallica, slipknot, lamb of god) and the effects arent to my liking but when i mike my amp i should be sic!

While I am an experienced engineer, I found the learning curve on this to be quite minimal -- very easy to use. I tend to just dive in to things and check the manual when I get stuck. So far the only thing I really looked for in the manual was how to initialize the flash card.

Piece of cake!

Well, I'm not sure you're going to producing albums on one of these -- it's more of a sketch-pad. The built-in mics are actually surprisingly good. The guitar tones will take some tweaking, but they have potential. The bass simulator is kind of cool -- I play bass as well, but it's convenient for my intended use. For what it is, it sounds great -- really.

I own so much Roland and Boss gear and so little of it has failed. And the stuff that had failed did so after years of intense use.

Never dealt with them...

I've been playing professionally for a long time and have done albums and tours. My gear list is way to extensive to air here, but it does include a fully equipped recording studio and mastering suite in my home.

If lost or stolen, I'd definitely get another.

What I love about it: My intened use for the BR 600 is to have a songwriting sketch-pad in my gig bag. It's small, light, even can run on batteries if need be. It's all inclusive -- If I want a drum machine, amp modeler, or bass simulator, I don't need to bring anything else. Just a guitar, a cable, headphones, and the BR-600 and you can lay down pretty much any idea quickly.

I had thought about putting ProTools in a laptop, but there's all the outboard gear you need to bring along -- it's just a hassle. I wanted something that was more 'plug in and play' and this is definitely it.

I did consider the Micro BR and the Zoom equivalent, but the BR 600 is so much more powerful and ultimately just as portable.

So far I haven't found anything to hate. It's perfect for what I am using it for.

The BR600 is my first ever recording unit. I play guitar and always wanted something to put my ideas down. I've read a lot of reviews where people complain about the manuel or say steps are missing in manuels so I was concerned I would be lost. However I found the BR600 manuel to be excellent. So my recommendation is to READ THE MANUEL. Yea it's as big as my bible but it has to be since the BR600 does sooooooooo much. The small screen is not a problem as everything is logically set up. I've used it about 30 hours the last 3 days and already am doing things without the manuel. I will admit the amount of stuff this thing does is daunting and it will probably take me a month to actually get to know every aspect of this recorder but that's why I bought it. It's simple enough to lay down a few tracks but complex enough to really get a quality recording done. Bouncing is easy if you make sure and read the manuel completely on how to do it. I had a heck of a time figuring out how to bounce from 7/8 to the other tracks but once I read the manuel it was easy so in reality you have unlimited tracks available. The drum patters look extreemly complex to cut and paste into a song and I have not done it yet but the manuel shows how to do it step for step so when I'm ready for that I'm sure it will be fine. Lastly I wish they would have put a pop-up screen on this thing just for ease of viewing the info.

As mentioned by others the stereo mic's are absolutely awesome. You will have no problem recording an acoustic with other noises in the room. I was flipping around the vocal patches tonight and was completely floored at what sounds can be made just by saying testing 1..2..3..
I was wayyy leary that the COSM guitar effects, and wondered if they would be sad but to my amazement they are quality effects and every aspect is tweakable. To me it's like having 50 Boss pedals that will record in perfect stereo. The Bass simulator is a GOD send. My only problem is I have to pick the guitar like a bass to make it sound right which is fine, I just have to remember. I believe again it will take me months to really mess with all the guitar effects and get my sound down. The acoustic simulator is ok. A few sounds are outstanding and a few not so much. I recommend using your own and adding the effects in post recording. I have a feeling I will be constantly suprised by what sounds I can generate.
I've not yet used the mastering toolkit but looking through the options there are ways to master the sounds I've never heard of so there is a learning curve on my part. One note of concern is make sure you do what the manuel says and boost the master volume as loud as it can go without distortion in the music. I recorded a song without doing that and it was way to low volume.. However I boosted it the next time and it was inline with the other MP3's on my computer. Also make sure your headphones have a volume control built in because you have to turn the master way up which makes the sound in the headphones really really loud.

To me it seems a little easy to break?? The sliders are really light feeling. The recorder seems feather light. I think you will really have to take care of this and not bang it around. The carrying case is really plush so I recommend putting it in there when not in use.

Purchased from American Music Supply on the payment plan. I can say they shipped it same day and were very helpfull with the online chat they have on their website. As for Boss/Rolland who knows

Maybe I'm excited easliy but for me this thing is a steal at $349. I am now a one man band which is cool. I purchased the Boss PSA power adapter and recommend to everyone the get one also. You will just burn batteries if you don't. Also the Compact Flash card only holds about 3 songs in HiFi mode so get the 1GB card as well. I ran out of space in the first day. The USB transfer to computer is way easy.. Again read the manuel it's in there. If you've never had a digital recorder you will not be disapointed with this unit.

It took me about 2 hours before I was able to record some guitar and add some drums to it ... pretty good hein ? !!!

Very good sound ! The drums patern and arrangements are good and you can choose from 9 drums kits ... heavy , 808, dance, hip hop, standard .... and more ! I hooked it up into my line input of my laptop and I use me computer speaker to play it ... souds great !

With the internal compact flash card , you easily transfer it into your computer or you can use the usb cable (not include) to transfer your song ... so you can easily keep them "safely" into your computer ...

I like add guitar on some electro beat ... exactly what i needed ! Its also pretty good to practice some tough riffs, it can slow it down for you ... With almost all of the Boss guitar effects , you can play the way you want it to sounds . It's my first digital recorder but , for sure , it a great gear ! You can easily capture the moment of inspiration with the press of one button ! ( sorry for the quality of my english ... I use to speak fench ... ! )

My rating in this category might be a little predjudiced since I have been using Boss BR recorders for several years now, and I can run them with my eyes closed. This recorder is set up exactly like the other BR series recorders, so it was a snap for me to get up and running right out of the box. However, BR recorders are very well known for having perhaps the most intuitive user interfaces of ANY digital recorders on the market, so even without the extensive knowledge of BR recorders that I have, anyone with any sort of experience running a multi-track recorder (either digital or analog) should have very little difficulty getting off the ground with this unit. I have tried all sorts of recording options, both stand alone DAWs like this one and computer based recording set ups. I keep coming back to the stand alone DAWs for several reasons. First and foremost, the stand alone recorders still have old fashioned knobs and faders which I find absolutely critical to the recording experience. I know that full size desk interfaces are available these days for the computer recording software, but they certainly aren't cheap, and any of the boards that are truly helpful are almost as much as a stand alone DAW. If you are operating without one of these boards, trying to push virtual faders and turn virtual knobs all with a mouse is enough to drive anyone up a wall. Second, the DAWs are portable and truly have nearly all of the editing and processing functions that are available in their software counterparts...at least on the basic end of things, which is where I tend to hang out. Hauling around a computer to band practices in order to record performances isn't the most practical thing to do...whereas a stand alone DAW (especially this one) packs up and travels very easily. Third, and this is my biggest reason for preferring stand alone DAWs to computer software, is that the tendency to go overboard with the number of tracks and the amount of processing on any given song is just way too much with the computer based recording programs out there. For me, unless I am recording in a full blown studio with a COMPETENT engineer that knows his way around Pro Tools and won't waste my time (and more importantly, my money) fumbling through hundreds of menus and submenus to find the plug in that will allow him to do what I can do with the simple turn of a knob or movement of a fader...well, you get the point. I know that computer based recording has changed the whole face of the industry, but I prefer to save that stuff for someone else. DAWs can and will produce mastered tunes that are every bit as good as the best home recording programs out there, and this little Boss unit is amazing when you consider that it packs the best stuff from its bigger brother in the BR series into a small, ultra portable, ultra convenient package. My last CD was produced from top to bottom on a Boss BR-1180CD, and without exception, everyone who has listened to it has thought that it was prodouced in a multi-million dollar recording studio. Although I have a TON of experience producing multi-track recordings, a lot of the credit for the sound of my last CD has to go to the machine. It is amazing how quickly and easily you can track and master an amazing recording, and it blows my mind how Boss was able to take all of that capability and stuff it into this tiny little eight track studio.

Sound quality...that's a bit of a different story. Let me start off by saying that if you are using outboard gear (like my PODXT Live or my Digitech GNX3000) for your guitar sounds, you will be just fine. This recorder is VERY transparent. I track directly to the hard disc with my effects as part of the recorded signal, and I spend more time up front developing my sounds for a song rather than recording dry and filling in the colors later. For me, this unit works wonders because of the way I record. However, if you were to rely on the guitar effects that are actually present in the Boss BR600, I think you would be disappointed. First off, I have a pretty substantial guitar collection (three Strats, two Les Pauls, a Tele, two PRSs, a Parker P36, a Variax, four acoustics, and a Fender P-Bass), and I have noticed that if you dial in a decent sound on the BR600 for one guitar, it will almost always sound like garbage for any of the other guitars. I don't know what causes this. Obvioulsy, when I dial in sound on my Digitech or Line 6 gear for one particular guitar, the patch may or may not have some relevance when you plug another axe into it, but it doesn't normally sound absolutely terrible. Not so with the Boss guitar effects in this unit. They aren't great to begin with, but you literally have to stick with whatever guitar you used to create the patch you are using. Even if I go from one Les Paul to the other, the patch just doesn't hold water. I don't imagine that I will ever use the internal guitar effects on this until for ANYTHING other than practicing (and the unit does come in handy for late night sessions where you want to play without waking up the rest of the family...and since it is first and foremost a multi-track recorder, once you are plugged in and jamming, you never have to lose another musical idea). Like I said, if you are running outboard effects in front of this recorder, you will be very happy with the sound...it captures every nuance perfectly. I don't mic amps all that much anymore since I started using Line 6 gear, but even when I did mic up my amp and try it out just to see what it sounded like, I was VERY impressed...not only when I used my own mics, but when I used the mics that are built into this unit. I didn't expect much from a couple tiny condenser mics built into a recording unit that is less than an inch thick (and I have mics that cost more than this entire recorder, so I really wasn't expecting these built in jobs to be anything worth using), but I was absolutely SHOCKED by how good they sound. I would never choose them over any of the mics in my collection, but for convenience, they can't be beat. In fact, I have captured some absolutely amazing acoustic performances using only the condensers built into this deck. One thing that would have been nice would have been a phantom powered XLR input, but considering the size and the dimensions of this recorder, it would have been impossible. Boss was cool enough to include a cable to convert from XLR to 1/4" so you don't have to go out and buy one in order to use your own mics.

As for other effects, the bass simulator isn't too bad, the acoustic simulator seems decent, and the chorus, delay, and reverb insert effects are awesome. My only complaint if that the chorus, delay, and doubler effect are on one knob...in other words, you have to pick just ONE of those effects and stick with it...you can't have chorus if you are running delay, and vice versa. That can be a real pain at times.

It seems dependable enough, but I haven't subjected it to anything rough yet.

I've never dealt with them.

If you are looking for a portable recording solution, I can't imagine anything more suited than this. I have been using it not only to record live performances using the built in condenser mics (and I have produced very musical, very listenable CDs from these recordings), but I have also been using it for preproduction for my new album. Although I will be recording the new album on a Boss BR1600, I don't see any reason why you couldn't record a whole album on this unit. It has the EXACT same recording and mastering algorithms that you will find in the bigger Boss units. The only limitation for me with regard to the BR600 is the lack of phantom power...I wouldn't be able to use any of my high-end studio mics with this recorder unless I had outboard power. So, although I could produce the guitar, bass, and drum tracks on this unit, I would have to transfer the music mix to the bigger unit in order to lay down the vocals and master the recording for the CD. The USB port on this unit, however, makes transferring songs very easy. You can go right from the BR600 to a .wav file on your PC or a .aiff file on your Mac, and burn a CD from there, so this thing really is flexible. I have developed a tendency of taking this thing with me everywhere I go. You never know when inspiration will strike, and since this thing runs on batteries and has two great built in mics, I can literally come up with a new riff, fire up the unit and have it recorded in about two minutes. This thing is invaluable for laying down riffs so you don't forget them. Since buying this thing, I have a library of about 200 riffs that I can sift through at my leisure when its time for the next album. I never realized how many riffs I wrote and then subsequently forgot until I bought this thing. Like I said, I've got 200 riffs and counting, and that's just in the few months since I picked this up.

This thing is the most perfect "notebook" studio I can imagine. Using it just for capturing ideas and live performances like I'm doing, I just can't imagine it getting any better than this. Like I said, I am convinced that you could use this unit to create a full blown CD if you had outboard power for your mics...again, it contains the EXACT same recording and mastering capabilities of the bigger Boss units. This is easliy the most valuable piece of songwriting technology that I own.

good sound quality so far. (only had the unit 2 days). actually using the unit for all its features lookes pretty complicated but once learnt it should be easy to use. as for the manual. its pretty darned big. everything covered in it though but seems a bit wordy. about 150 pages.

been using mics infront of the amp to get the sound so far but will try the onboard mics next as they are apparently very good. as for effects it has alot including a kinda amp moddeling function. havnt really tried the effects yet but the ones that i have used are very good with changable paramaters.

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only real concerns with the unit as with other boss equipment is the lack of required accessories that come with the kit.usb cable to connect with computer, not provided. powerpack neccesary for actually turning the unit on, not provided, however they do give you batteries which apparently last for 10-12 hours. other than that pretty good.

I have only had this a few days . did a minimul scan of the manual to
figure out how to record over "Lydia" The supplied demo (Nice)
and recorded one of my songs using the two onboard condensor mikes.
These mikes are pretty good .I was impressed with th e quality
of the audio . So i tried to upload the song to my desktop and found
I needed a different type of usb cable ..also the manuel says
one must have windows me 2000 or xp to use this.
i have win98..F__@k ..always somthing. I was able to dump the song
using the stereo phono outs on the unit into cakewalk and than made a wav out of it. sounded actually really good.
so overall i am impressed with this unit all i need is a usb cable
and win2000. But until than i can use like this so it is versatile.

i used a taylor acoustic and my own vocal .I was about 18 inches to 2 feet from the onboard condensors ..Sound quality was excellent

too soon to tell

doubt they would be any better or worse than any other big corp.

mostly acoustic blues bluegrass folky sort of stuff.bass guitar mando.
400 is pretty steep ..if it was stolen a'd replace it if covered by ins.
Helps me make music. but there is a big learning curve if you havn't done this digital recording thing before.Manual is a novel.
but it tends to jump around alot. there should be a better
quick start section.

I've used other Boss BR-series recorders, and this one is as easy (or difficult) to use as any of them. It's fairly intuitive, but you'll need the manual--which is thorough enough and typical for Boss products.

So far I have only done a few "live" recordings at band practice, which is the main purpose for which I bought this particular recorder. The onboard stereo mics are quite good, and it was easy enough to set up and record.

The only real issue I have with it is the display. I wish it were a little bigger and could display more than two lines and 15 characters of information. Due to these limitations, you tend to do a lot of scrolling and some rather cryptic abbreviations are used. For someone who is new to recording with a digital multitrack, the learning curve is pretty high and this display won't help lessen it much. For this reason, and the fact that many of the buttons are multi-function, I'm giving this category a 7.

I've only had the unit a few days, so my experience is limited to some live recording as mentioned above, and auditioning some of the onboard guitar patches into a pair of inexpensive Sony headphones. The patches sound pretty good and are typical of what you would expect from Boss. I also tried my iPod through the aux input so that I could play along with it. Sound through the headphones was fine. I have not had a chance to run the unit through a set of monitors yet.

The recording quality with the onboard mics was excellent with no added noise that I could detect. Even in a crowded rehearsal studio with the unit not placed in an optimal location, it managed to pick up all instruments and vocals with exceptional clarity and full dynamic range. No distortion if you set the mic input and recording levels properly. I have not tried connecting external mics yet.

Too soon to tell how it will hold up, but I've owned many Boss products over the years and their reliability in general is excellent. I will baby this unit, though, because it is rather small and light and almost entirely made of plastic. All of the knobs are recessed, so the likelihood of breaking one off is pretty small.

It does come with a case, which is really more like a slipcover with a velcro flap. This should be fine to keep the dust and dirt out of the unit, but you will want to find a heavy-duty bag or hard case to carry it around in. I am witholding my rating for this category until I've owned it for a year or so.

I have never had to deal with Roland/Boss for technical or service issues, so I cannot comment on this area. I have contacted them once or twice for general questions and to order extra parts for a BCB-60 pedal case I used to own. I found them to be quick and courteous.

Overall, I'm impressed with the array of features that the BR-600 has packed into a slim, lightweight form factor. I plan to use this unit both as a late-night practice tool as well as for recording (I sold my Korg Pandora when I bought the BR-600). I like the fact that you can submix the auxiliary input with the line out, and monitor this mix at the headphone jack. This allows me to connect my iPod, plug in my guitar, select a patch and play along with whatever song I'm trying to learn--whether or not I want to record it.

I've been playing guitar for over 25 years. I'm mainly a rock and blues player who grew up listening to Clapton, The Beatles, Who, Zeppelin, Skynyrd, Santana, etc. I could list my gear, but really, who gives a rat's ass? I considered similar units by Korg, Fostex and other Boss models, but I wanted something relatively inexpensive and portable. And I've owned many Boss products over the years with no issues. I also like the simple, intuitive layout of the BR-600.

One gripe I have--Boss got cheap on us and did not include a power supply (even though the manual at one point implies that one was included). You will need to purchase a 9V regulated power supply like the PSA-120, so add about $15 to your purchase price (uless you want to keep feeding six AA batteries into it once the included ones are spent, and then the sky's the limit). I happened to have a Visual Sound OneSpot adapter lying around and I have been using that with the unit. Works fine, lasts a long time.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better unit for the price, one that offers the same features, sound quality and ease of use. If I had to replace it, I'd buy another one if there wasn't something else out newer and better out there.