Boss BR-8

Incredibly easy. Even makes the old TASCAM tape units i used to mess around with seem difficult. It really is as simple as plugging in your guitar and pressing record. Editing and storing patches is aslo very simple, although it would be nicer to have some more real knobs for EQ etc.
The manual is also pretty good, although the unit is so intuitive that you really shouldn't need it.

The sound quality is generally very good for a unit of this price - with a couple of exceptions. Firstly, the zip drive seems very noisy. This may just be the single coils on my strat, but the noises the drive makes are audible from over a metre away if you're facing the unit! A footswtich is a good idea.
Secondly, some of the distortions do seem a bit noisy, although this can usually be worked around with some editing of the preset patches.
One other criticism - I wish it had an XLR input (or preferably 2). I usually record by micing up my amp (a fender blues deville 410), but even with the normal jack input the sound quality is good.
I have sounded a bit too critical of the unit here, but it really does sound good.

VERY reliable. The thing seems to be built like a tank, and the lack of knobs and dials make it seem virtually indestructible. Mine has had beer spilt all over it (twice), been dropped from the back of the van (once) and been gigged with and used to record jam sessions (many times).
I would not hesitate to gig without a backup, even though i usually insist on having a backup for most of my gear.

Never had to deal with them.

I play a lot of acoustic / folk rock, blues etc, and this suits that style perfectly. I also have a friend who plays a lot of metal and punk, and, again, this suits him perfectly.
If it were stolen, I would probably get another, but may consider saving up to get something that allows more tweaking. This unit is a great intorduction to digital recording, but after a while you may want something a little more powerful.

Could hardly be simpler.
1)Turn it on
2)Pop in a disk
3)Plug in a guitar
4)Press record.

Editing patches, selecting effects, performing menu operations are pretty easy too. The display is surprisingly effective (and backlit!).

Mixer section is smooth, and very well sized.

Excellent. Only problem: hum near the zip drive. You MUST stand away from this unit when recording guitar. Buy the foot switch!

Very rugged, solid feel to its construction. So far, however, I haven't moved it from my desk, so... no opinion given here.

The US Web Site = not so good. The Japanese-English site is far better.

This is built for guitarists, true, but it also shines as a digital recorder in conjunction with a computer based system such as Cakewalk/ SONAR.

If you are a songwriter looking for a lightweight, fast, easy and great-sounding tool to sketch ideas out and polish them a bit, this unit is for you. Think also of live recordings off the board (take the stereo tape out...) this unit sports a "Live" mode that extends the recording time considerably, and you'll get a *FAR* better recording than a cassette'll give you.

If you have a decent Computer Audio setup, you'll find this unit very handy (try hauling your computer into the bathroom for a weird sound). Its effects are super and it gives you more input flexibility than a typical sound card. You will definitely want the BR-8 Wave Converter available from the Roland site.

This thing is built for a solo user though. If you're looking to record your band on a budget, move along. If you need more advanced MIDI automation, move along: it's only got a MIDI out port, you can't control it from any other unit. Damn, I wish they had a MIDI IN!

The faders are not motorized/ "remembered" automatically. There are "scenes" but I prefer a visualization of what's going on with my mix. I think this unit would not serve well for serious mix chores.

I love the effects, ease of use, and the sound, all about equally.

If I had to do this over again, and had the same budget, I would most definitely buy this again. If I had MORE MONEY to spend -- and by MORE, I mean $1000 more -- I would probably opt up to a VS with SCSI. If I had $3000 more, I'd start looking at the Yamaha AW4416...

But you get the idea: you get MORE than what you paid for out of this unit. If you have a way around (or don't mind) the limited recording time, and don't mind the limited number of inputs, you'll love this thing.

If you need more -- or want more -- you must SPEND MORE.

This thing has some great sounds and as far as the Hiss that everyone bitches about I have heard a lot worse in major studios. For the price you can't beat it and if you are that serious and worried about the hiss then dump it on a mini-disc or DAT and go get your stuff mastered. It works great recording acoustic with a live Mic and it's really fun to use the 3 main input for recording yourself live at coffee bar shows and such.

I am mainly using two Les Pauls for my electric guitars and man do they sound great. My Fender Precision bass gets a lot of ground noise from the unit but if you use the joint effect patches such as the guitar effects and mic compressors together it works out fine. I also run my Roland V-Drums into this BR-8 and it took a little while to get a good sound from them. Even if you bypass the effects it seems like there are still some enhancers and compressors always on the signal being received. Now I use the same fix as my bass guitar and it works out fine. Just make sure the effects are turned off at the V-Drums Brain also!!! ;o)

This is the area that lets me down. I have had problems with the disk saying it is full after I only have 5 tracks recorded at 5 minutes length of time. Saying it is a 64 track recorder is sketchy at best because I have never managed to use more than 8 without running into storage capacity problems. If anyone knows a fix for this let me know or if you've experimented with the other formats for recording what was the quality like on output???

The help desk should more be called the helpless desk because that's how you are left to feel. I have called on 5 occassions and each time in varied time periods of the day have been kept on hold or not received an answer for approximately 45 mins.

Then there was no solution to my problem after I did get to talk to them. Also can Boss please have their own site because the Roland/Boss Site just sucks for trying to find data or info of any sort.

I play indie rock and some alternative acoustic styles and I have been playing/performing now for approximately 7 years. My unit was stolen from my truck before a session at a full size recording studio and I did buy another one because I liked it so much. I hate that it comes with only a 100mb zip drive when it should really use the 250mb zip and I think ultimately it should have a USB or Firewire connection so that people can capture the sound direct to their computer. I would also like to see some form of support for the Macintosh platform and currently their software only works on PC's.

Just like all the rest of the BR-8 owners... I was also stunned by the ease of use. even if you're a complete nobody at recording (like me) this is easy stuff.. The Manual is also very good, very simple. Not much new info fom me then.

For this kinda money it souds great. Although i do have some problems with finding the right for my guitar. I'm playing a Rickenbacker 360 straight into it. But i'm gonna buy me another unit for the effects. Same thing for the vocals. Not bad but not great sounding either. I guess i'm just lazy not wanting to spend all that time on changin the settings.

No problems yet. And i've had it for about 7 months.

Overall i'd have to say it's great and i wouldn't wanna miss it. Compared to other recorders this is te best in this price range.
Still there are some obvious downsides like the capacity of the ZIP drive and of course the not being able to record more than 2 tracks at a time. But hey... If you're not recording a band but doing stuff for yourself. This is the unit you want!!!

Very easy to use. Manual is not rocket science and should go a little bit more in depth as to what type format it uses for mastering puposes. Had my first song of 8 tracks down in about 1 hour.

I've only used my 87 American Standard Strat and Peavey Foundation bass so far with a Zoom RhythmTrak so far. Ive used the onboard effects and found them easily tweaked to my liking. I've also run a Digitech RP6, Morley wah, Turbo Rat and Rockman distrtions with great results. Yeah ...some of the on board effects are cheesy, but I can tweak them to get some very interesting sounds. Some of the reviews complain about hiss and noise but I have yet to hear anything except the single coil hum that comes from my strat. I am going to work on an accoustic piece with some Telecaster slide tonight and I'm sure that it will come out crystal clear.

No problems in the first 6 months.

I couln't find any online tech support through the Roland web site. Maybe I need to look elsewhere.

I play mostly blues based rock , blues , jazz , and some other wierd shit that just pops out of my head. I'll play around with the COSM effects to come up with new sounds and ideas. I have only scratched the surface on this machines features and hope to spend more time with it. The only real bitch I have is trying to record to CD through my computer. I have tried transfering data through a Zip 100 drive with no luck. I have connected the analog output directly to my sound card and created files of my music which I can play on my computer, but I can't get the fucking songs on disc even though my cd writer indicates succesful recording. This is why Boss should go into more details as far as formats are concerned.Or at least have this kind of info available. If the machine were stolen I would have a new one shipped to the prison that I would be serving time in for killing the son of a bitch.

The unit is very hands-on and user-freindly.
Some of the more advanced editing may take some
reading, but over all
it's fun to work with

Its got a cool feature called "DOUBL'N. look into it

So far so good

Roland has allways been strong on pro help.

My overall rating is a 9 with the exception of one thing,
You can't convert the optic to USB or firewire.
Optic is the only digital out.Unless you perchase
a very expencive Firewire sound card you are S.O.L.

this unit is extreeemly easy to use.anyone with little recording knowladge can turn out a quality sounding composition in about 2 hours of opening the box.as far as the effects patches go they sound great and they have a very tweakable set up so if you spend some time getting a good sound you will prabably surprise yourself on how great this thing can sound whether it is clean,crunch or lead and in just about any style,all from an electric guitar,it can even make it sound like several different basses.the manual is one of if not the best i've seen it is a reflection of the actual unit,simple and very intelligent.

most of the time i use the effects patches(which i have edited for the various guitars,basses and sounds i want to achieve).it can be noisy but if you spend a little time tweaking this is easily dealt with.for the most part the effects that roland have used here are great,i do agree with others that some of the vocal effects are cheezy,but i just edited a more usefull better sounding patch in it's place(no problem there).i've mike my soldano through it wiyh some great results.i would think that just about any popular guitar sound could be achieved with this unit,just getting to know it is the first step,it will ofcourse have it's limits but what do you expect for around 700 bucks.all effects are very good but i believe that the acoustic simulations are amazing for this price range and also the stereo effects (chorus) are awesome.for distortion i like m1+m2 and the soldano sims for the bulk of the work i do.

this,so far has been very reliable,i think that boss/roland have a great track record.i do not use this to gig.

roland again are among the best in this category,however if e-mailing them it may take some time,phoning is better.

i play mainly hard rock and metal but i dabble in fusion and blues and on occasion pop and country,this unit is very accomidating.i've had it for a year and if it were stolen or lost i would replace it right away.i love the simplicity of use the quality of recording the editing funtions.
there is something i would like to add here and that is in another review by tim conway he mentioned that if you make mistakes you loose that recordable time,this is false see SONG OPTIMIZING to take care of that.also the short recording time can be addressed by selecting a different recording type such as LIVE.i use this quite a bit on certain things to save time and it works really well.try recording similar tracks with the optimum and the live recording types to compare,you will be serprised at the quality of the 'lesser' one.
i compared it to other products but really there is no comparison in this price range,it is the best bet for the money(really).it has everthing i need and more than i expected for the money.this is the best thing to come along in years for intermidiate recording.
if you play guitar and need to get your ideas down and record simply great home recordings then what are you waiting for!!!11 out of 10 for value!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's put it this way, I bought a used Roland vs-880 for $699 and two days later I took it back and got the BR-8. I really didn't want to take the next 2 years of my life reading the vs-880's manual and after reading so many positive things about BR-8, I decided to give it a try. This thing is amazing. I have used just about every 4 and 8 track cassette thing made and this is easier than all of them. I actually had an 8 track song recorded within an hour and a half of opening the box. And unlike the Roland, Fostex, Tascam and Korg units I've used, editing is very easy. The Scrub/Preview feature is really cool.
As far as the manual is concerned, whenever I've had to look up something, it's been pretty clear on how to do it. I know Boss is part of Roland so I'm puzzled as to way the manual for the BR-8 is so easy to understand and the manual for the vs-880 was like instructions for building a rocket.

I'm using either my Hamer archtop or my '81 Gibson Flying V. I plug my Line 6 POD v.2 into the guitar/bass input on the Boss and, well, the POD is so sweet that I bypass the Boss' COSM effects altogether. The only time I really use the BR-8's COSM effects for guitar is when I'm playing clean or playing my Alvarez direct into the recorder. For drums and bass I use a ZOOM 123 and go into the stereo line in on the Boss and it sounds fantastic. I also use a Yamaha keyboard when I need strings or piano.
In an earlier review, someone complained about the Boss being noisy. The only noise I have found has been with the acoustic and bass simulators. But since I use my Alvarez and the ZOOM it's not an issue for me. I think the BR-8's sound quality is on par with other units that are far more expensive and, after dealing with tape hiss for years, is incredibly quiet.
Some of the COSM effect are a little cheezy but most can be edited to my liking. The Call 'D Cops patch is cool after you remove the hideous flanger,.....it's very Satriani sounding. The clean Jazz Chorus patch is very nice. I do think the Darth Vader and Chipmunks vocal effects are just plain silly and other than for making my 6 year old laugh, seem to be a waste of space. I have also yet to find a use for the Pedal Arm patch.
Sound quality-wise, I'd have to say the BR-8 is as clean as one can expect.

I had no problems, it's been like a rock.

Again, no problems so, I've never had to contact them.

I am in the process of recording a CD of my original guitar instrumentals. It's everything from metal to flamenco and everything in between. The Boss is exactly what I needed to do this. I've been a musician since I've been 7 years old and today I'm 37. I've had everything from small Marshall combos to six Marshall stacks behind me to my current set up,...a Crate GFX65 and the POD. And what's really cool is that, because of the ease of use and the sound quality, the BR-8 allows me to capture my sound and style without having to beat my head against the wall. No more routing nightmares, no more three inch thick manuals, just time spent on creating. If it were stolen or destroyed somehow I'd go out and buy another the very next day. With the exception of a few cheezy effects, I love it. And as far as features I wish it had, no, it's EXACTLY what I needed. I truly believe that a professional sounding CD can be recorded on the BR-8,.......I plan on taking the unit to a real studio for mixdown and mastering so, I guess I'll find out!

Very easy to use. No problem...

The sound quality depend your style. Generally I can say it's better than expected. The acoustic simulation for instance is very good, but comes with A LOT of high frequency annoying noise, same thing with full gained metal patches or just high trebled sound. The noise reduction tools can do their job for rhythm guitars, but the seriously damage the lead guitar sound.

No problems so far...

I play Blues, Rock n' Roll & that kind of stuff. I have a gibson LP standard, gibson MIII, epiphone acoustic, an old ZOOM multieffect processor, some pedals & a midi keyboard (my computer) & I play for 8 years now.
One of the greatest features of the BR-8 is the bass simulator - the sound is really great (for simple bass chords). the Boss effects are known as good effects & thats no news.
I think it would be a lot better if the zip drive was larger, something like 200Mb.
Generally it's a great tool for a nonprofessional guitarist to record his stuff with, it's easy, & definitely worth it's price.
I did some great recordings with it & I'm pretty pleased with the results.

HC didn't put my e-mail contact address on my previous review so see below

as above

as above

and again

Here's the problem - the total recording time is 49 minutes per 100mb Zip disc. Fine if you're doing a 3 and a half minute pop song and nail everything on the first take.
However, when you record something then delete it, you don't get all the used time back. So if like me, you make mistakes, you can suddenly find yourself running out of recording time.
Fine if you use drum machines/sequencers but for mere mortals with twitchy fingers and tempermental vocal chords, its a real problem.
If anyone's got any solutions to this I'd love to know what they are.