Boss BR-864

I find the BR-864 to be extremely easy to use. Plugging in, configuring effects, it's not that hard to take care of. The drum machine will take a while to get your head around though, definitely see the manual for that one. The manual is not as bad as a lot of Roland/Boss gear; it's not the best but easy to understand and it certainly points you in the right direction. The first day I had this I was able to record a full tune without too much of a problem. The sound quality of mastered tunes is really impressive, I wasn't expecting something so polished.

I've run a few guitars through this so far, most noticely an ESP Horizon II NT and a Les Paul. Both guitars performed well, running direct into the BR. The unit isn't noisy if you keep your input levels at a reasonable level. As for the effects included, they're okay. I have to say the preset distortions in this box are weak (some just terrible), but they can be tweaked to get a good usable sound out of them. Not a great sound mind you, but a good one. I wish the GT-6 engine had been used like the BR-1600 uses, though the engine used here is certainly usable. Aside from the distortions the remaining effects are polished and well done, from compressors to delays, chorus to harmonizers. I'm happy with the results.

One other feature about this that rocks is the USB out. While it takes seemingly forever to dump a track to your PC/MAC (why no USB 2?) you can still do it easily, which is great for importing audio into software if that's your deal. Once you've edited your audio you can dump the edited track back to the unit via USB too, which is great. The USB also works great for getting your audio onto CD, just dump your mastered tune to the computer as an AIF file and let iTunes take care of the rest, providing of course you have a CD burner!

I haven't had a single problem with this unit and would easily depend on it. However you will need a larger memory card, the 128 MB card included is a joke. If they included at least 256 I would never have anything to worry about. Other than that it's good to go.

I can honestly say that I have not had a problem with anything by Boss in my life, and I've been using their gear since the late 80's. As a result I've never had to speak with them.

I wouldn't say this is the best 8 track on the market for everyone, but for guitarists who need something to help take ideas and whip up tunes out of them this can't be beat. It's portable, you can plug direct using the COSM modelling and sound good enough to record some impressive work. The USB out is a great feature too that shouldn't be overlooked, it makes using the audio in multiple ways possible. If you don't want to splurge on the flagship BR-1600 this is the unit to buy.

this unit is easy to record on. i recomend going direct in at this time. (just finished my second recording and it came out great. its got alot of neat stuff for guitar players. a bass simulator that lets you play a bass part on your guitar.(studio quality here people)
for me the manual sucks!! bigtime . its very hard for me to understand. paid 479.00 and its well worth it!

the second time i went into the unit direct with a godin sd guitar
i guess i'll answer the questions their asking first, its not noisy. effect sound top notch, great verb!
amps. direct in . many amps to pick from and their tweekable.
i found a great SRV type tone (sky is cryin)
direct in i have'nt found a bad tone in it. well i did have to tweek a little.

dont know i've only had it a few weeks

never delt with them before. their a monster company so who knows?

blues and classic rock and country is what i play i'm still answering their questions people. been playin for about 31 years , yes if it were stolen i'd be pissed off bigtime and would replace it for sure. what do i love about it? the sound quality! burned a CD and its as good as what you can get in the stores. i chose boss because i've used alot of their stuff in the past and their batting about 90% with me and this unit just made it a 100% anything i wish it had? yeah! a free CD BURNER. and a vhs video to teach me how to use the thing. i gave up on trying to program the drum machine its a real bitch! but there are alot of pre programed stuff that you can speed up or slow down. i've never used a drum maching before and i'm hoping their not all as hard to figure out. burning a cd to your computer? the manual sounds like jiberish to me so i just went out and bought a CD burner and then put what ever on my computer with a CD. man! there's alot of stuff in this little box (smaller than a laptop. but a lot is really hard for me to understand. if they made a video i'd say get one! but just recording is a piece of cake. mono or stereo. if you got a tape unit and still useing it (i'm laughing at you!) man buy this unit. the guitar preamps kill! ( that means their great!)lol hey! straight up! this thing sounds good! if your used to the boss way of doing things, you'll find alot is easy to do. i'm still spending time and i learn somthing new each time. but dam! there's alot to learn!!!!

Easy to use from my limited experience. I wrote a song on it right our of the box and then packaged it up to return it, so I think that makes it pretty easy to use. Didn't look at the manual. But, I also did not try the rhythm feature and many others said it's hard to use.

I purchased this unit thinking that it would be a good portable recorder for recording at other locations and then uploading it into Cubase SX but it didn't pan out. Primarily I wanted to take the unit with me when I travel and get friends, who play instruments I don't, to lay down a few takes on my songs. And, I wanted to take it to my Mom's house so I could use her grand piano on some tracks. (yeh, I've got Steinberg's Grand VST plugin, but it's not the same though I do like the Grand plug).

I didn't realize that the BR uses a compressed signal at about 2.3:1, so I was disappointed (though not suprised) that it did not show any sparkle on playback of high quality source material. I believe it's good for what it is; it's just not what I wanted.

Also, it only has one XLR and no phantom power, so you can forget about easy miking using condensers unless you have ones that take batteries or you bring a small external mixer.

It is very much geared toward guitar players, so if you are one, go for it.

It's Roland, so it probably has a half life of 500 years.
The card slot door looked a little flimsy - I guess you'll just have to be careful.

Like I always say...they're good once you get them...once you get them.

Good for what it is - just not what I needed. I returned it for a Yamaha AW16G, and I returned the AW16G for a Tascam 2488. I'm happy now. I believe the BR is more geared towards guitar players; I'd bet if I could play guitar well I'd probably have had a lot of fun with it and have liked it more, but it still would not have been what I needed. My overall rating is based on what it is - not what I wanted, so it gets a decent grade based on price/features/performance...still, there is a lot of new gear coming out now that is going to make people think "hey, for a hundred or so more I can get a whole lot more." - it's an interesting pricepoint. I liked the portability of it and I liked the clarity of the display - I don't think I'll be pulling the 2488 out of my pocket on the plane like I could have with the BR.

BOTTOM LINE: Good for you - not for me.

I picked up this unit on ebay for $385 U.S. almost new. I have never had any kind of recording device other than a cassette tape player. This thing is very easy to use. In just a few hours I had recorded three songs. I found the Manual a little wordy and hard to folow the first time through. After i played with the machine for awhile it began to make sense.

I got great sound out of this unit. I am not a strong vocalist so I found the patches very useful. There are 40 of them. The drum patches sound like drum patches but are more than usable for practice and getting down ideas. I think there is 99 drum patches. I hooked this unit up through my stereo. I can't afford studio monitors right now. and it sounded GREAT. Very little noise. And the noise I had i was able to get rid of.

So Far so good.

Don't know. I've been able to get a pretty good handle on the unit by reading the manual so far.

I really like this the BR-864. I am already recording and learning about the other functions. Well worth the $385 i paid for it. I am very satisfied. If you can't get yours to work right try reading the manual. I think this is the best unit for the money. i spent a good deal of time researching on the web reading reviews, features, etc.

Learning how to switch through stuff like the effects and etc. is cake. Recording is easy too. What's not easy? The rythm guide...which magically deletes your patterns and songs. Prgramming it is also very difficult and a pain in the ass. Don't buy this thing to use the rythm guide. Its terrible.

The effects are not great sounding at all. The only thing that doesn't sound processed is a clean tone guitar and maybe some chorus on it. The distortions are terrible. It does have a good amount and versatility of effects though.

After I turned it on one day to record all my drum files were gone. Reliable? Not for me.

I've dealt with boss before. They aren't the greatest but there are worse customer services out there.

I planned on recording about 15 songs then selling this thing. The drum machine ruined that for me and I need it to go on. Now I'm going to record only a couple songs without it. What a waste of time and adrenalin. I wish it had: an easier progammable drum machine, more realistic sounding effects. It got in the way of making music. If you're impatient like me and don't like having drum files that took you several hours(just for one goddamn song) magically deleted, then don't buy this thing. Go for something beteter. Boss should stick to making delay and tremolo pedals cause thats all they seem to be good at.

I imagine that this unit is nowhere as easy to use as the 1180 or new boss units, but, what the heck, for anyone willing to spend a little time investigating and experimenting, minimal manual reference is needed. If a computer clod like me can figure it out, anyone can. Editing the guitar and bass patches is a breeze...and they sound pretty fantastic.

I mainly use a Peavey Wolfgang guitar and Ibanez bass with this unit. When I use acoustic guitars I use Takamines only...classical and steel string. I do have trouble getting a lead guitar sound that I like, but all the rest is great. I have no complaints at all about the other sounds that I get. As good as a Line 6 POD? No. Good enough to sound professional? Most of the time, yes. As for the finished product when all the mastering is done, color me happy. For $370 I am simply floored by what this thing can do.

The guy who shipped this to me (2nd hand) put it in a 8 by 8 by 12 box with only a few pieces of magazine paper for packaging (ARGH!!!) But even a trip though the US postal service did not seem to hurt this baby. It seems to be built like a tank.

I have had only one discussion of any length with the customer support at Boss. Good folks. They spend plenty of time working through problems I raised.

I play mostly hard rock and classical music although I am recording classic rock with some buddies of mine. This unit works perfectly in every context.
How happy am I? I have been playing guitar now for about 16 years religiously and I think this is the best piece of musical equiptment I have ever invested in. I would recommend it to anyone. If it were stolen, I would definitely buy another. If anyone is interested in recording on a budget or simply getting their feet in the water when it comes to recording, this is the way to go.

This is the first "home studio" I've ever purchased, but it seems pretty easy to use. The Manual explains everything you'll need to know about it...or you can just fuck around with it like I did.

First, I always record everything direct. The unit has a built in mic but I've never used it, so I can't tell you how that sounds. The sound seems quite good. The effects are useful, and if you don't like 'em, you can always use your own. The only problem I'm having with it is mastering, the mastering tool kit tends to make everything sound a bit fuzzy.

I've had it now for about 6 or 7 months, no problems yet.

I actually emailed roland with a question I had about exporting .wav files. They responded within a couple of days.

I'm no expert, but this seems to be a good unit. It's especially easy to use because of the onboard USB port. I think if I broke this, I would probably buy another one.

I am a 40 year old with screaming kids & no time to waste learning how to program an electronic device. This was a breeze. I am educated in home recording, first through tascam recorders (644 midistudio when I was a bit younger) and them the Sony MDM X whatever 4-trak digital recorder (cool piece for its time) and then Sonar for the computer. Except for the Sonar, which has a much higher learning curve as far as getting the MOST out of the recorder, patches, drums etc... this is the best sounding and coolest unit of them all.

For what it is for, and even a bit more, this is a great sounding unit. I'm rating it based on its category and not "best in the world" sound. Are you going to get a finished product as good as expensive home based software or a big expensive studio? No. I'm pretty sure this was designed so you could record a whole song with drums (built in, fully programmable drum machine!!!), guitars, vocals and more instead of just hitting record on an old tape deck and recording guitar and vocals at two in the morning (I do miss that though).

You gotta remember, it's digital and not analog. I'm still learning this. Peaking the meters once in awhile on an old analog unit usually doesn't hurt anything. This, like any other digital recorder gives some really horrible buzzing. I love the guitars and bass sounds built in as well as the drums. The effects for vocals are more than adequate. Again, will it sound as good as a miked Marshall or Mesa? Hell no! But mic a Marshall or a Mesa and it will sound great.

I've only recorded two songs but they both sound better than the quality of the 24 track stuff I recorded in the late eighties. The vocals came out punchy and full using an AKG C-1000 S using only the 9v battery. Acoustic guitars? Awesome (at least to my ear)

Only had it a few months--so far so good.

I called them once, just before I bought it to question something I read in these reviews about which operating systems it will work with. I have Windows Millenium, they said it will work fine, and it does. They answered quickly and were pretty friendly also.

I play rock, metal, middle of the road, thrash--whatever I'm feeling at the moment. This unit seems to be able to record anything. I've been playing 25 years and have lots of great stuff like a Les Paul, Epiphone Casino (1968), Strat, etc... I also have a Crate Blue Voodoo BV-60 with the slant cab loaded with Eminence Legend speakers and a 2-12 Avatar cab with a Vintage 30 and a G12H30. If it were lost or stolen I'd get another one that day--I can't live without my portable battery powered recording studio. I'm old enough to remember the days when a simple 4-track with NO features was around $2000 and a crappy drum machine was around $500. To an old, hairy, washed up old rock n roller like me, this is a freakin' bargain and a half!!!!!

I was going to get a digital four track at first but this was only a little bit more and it had more sounds, a drum machine and eight tracks. I thought that was a no brainer. The only other thing I wish it had was a John Bonham clone that could jump out and play along with me so it wouldn't take me a whole day to program the drum machine! (totally on me, not the drum machine).

Get it--you won't be sorry.

As far as "out of the box" sound goes, this unit is superior to all others I have used (with the exception of the 1180 which it is patterned after). Tha manual is relatively easy to follow (although I owned the 532 for some time so I was familiar with the features).

I go directly into the guitar port with my RG and S series Ibanez guitars. I also use a Fender acoustic with an acoustic pickup and get virtually no outside interference or noise. I have been recording for years and have never been able to achieve such a sweet acoustic sound before this unit. The sound seems true although some of the patches need tweaking for better saturation. I played for years through two Boogie full stacks with an unmanagable amount of rack effects. I actually like what I can do with this better (as hard as that may be to believe) as it is obviously much easier (and cleaner). I am able to achieve all the sounds I shoot for or at least get very close. I have not attempted to simulate any artists although I would like to go for a good Van Halen sound (I'll report back)

Never had any problems with it! Period.

Haven't needed any.

I play alot of rock/metal which has been no problem with this unit. I have been playing guitar for 32 years and have played on alot of different equipment over the years. I would absolutely replace this unit if needed. I wish the slider controls were setup a little differently as they all cannot be controlled simultaneously during bounce/mastering/playback modes. I also wish it came with a larger media card although you can back it up directly to your pc so it is only a minor inconvenience. I am able to create entire songs in a matter of hours (and the more I use it the quicker it gets).

Gotta read the manual. Many of the functions record, rewind, etc etc are pretty straight forward. But...the in-depth stuff, copy/paste bounce you need the manual. Hooks up are easy. Guitar/Bass input, mikes and AUX type plug adjust and Go.

The nice thing is that the menus and buttons are user friendly, EQ, PAN easy to figure out. Moving through the menus is a breeze. Clear and bright display. To many options to give it a 10.

I mastered those basic record functions in about 2 hours.
The in-depth stuff well, I'm not ready to Bounce or Master as of yet
but if the other features are any indication. those will fall into place nicely.

Yes this thing sounds great I use a set of Digital powered Philips speakers to monitor until I pick up some real monitors Edirol?
No noise I can detect with my Sennheiser cans.

One or two of the guitar patches are a little on the noisy side (you know the massive distorted/metal ones!) Being a drummer, I'm guessing that they represent the actual amp noise? Alot of the patches are super quiet no hiss at all.
Acoustic sims are pretty cool.
Bass sims work.
Something that I found kinda cool was the SYNTH sims HEY! I didn't expect that ;-)
Bass amp patches sound too boomy to me. I record the bass straight in. comes out the cleanest.

I've had the unit about a month... nothing yet. Roland/Boss products
are pretty reliable so I'm not expecting any failures in the near future.

No need yet.

I'm using a Les Paul Custom, Ibanez Roadstar, Yamaha DTXv2 Electronic drums and Fender Jazz Bass. I don't plan on using the MIDI functionality but it can trigger through MTC.
I was recording with a Yamaha MT50 which has great sound,
but it's tape YUCK!!!
You can't go wrong with the rewind to zero function or repeat function in the digital world. God I hated rewinding that damn tape deck.
Set up your repeat, a section or the whole song and practice to your hearts content. Over and over and over.

Haven't used the phrase trainer. But I have played with the
built in drum machine. It is functional. Not the greatest but hey
its free!
Everything is laid out cleanly. I was recording right out of the box, granted it was basic one track, and it did take the manual to point out that you have to select two tracks to record from the AUX inputs
which is where I placed my DTX. D'OH! again the manual clearly says...

First thing to do if you plan on recording onto the included 128mg card is to erase the Demo song. This will give you a great look at the
menu navigation right off the bat. The Menu navigation makes so much sense I started guessing the other functions without the
manual within hours.

OK I recorded three instruments, guitar/bass/drums. 8 tracks is plenty. 64 V-tracks I'm in trouble.

I recorded two guitar lines, two bass lines and stereo drums played them back, "WOW I suck". Sounded great though.

Mixing tracks that are monitored (it plays back 8 tracks) you set the faders for each track which is done by selecting the appropriate "track" adjust the fader, do the next track then the next switching between using the TRACK BUTTON. No big deal, 8 faders would be nice but one click and your on that track. Even a drummer can figure that one out!

My next item to get it a larger card. 512mg or higher but the manual
recommends a particluar brand. They seem a little pricier than other CompactFlash cards on the market. The documentation doesn't say they won't work but...?
And don't forget the dump/master function to the computer is only
Windows XP compatible. I don't own a MAC but I think it is compatible.

I joined the YAHOO groups that deal with this unit and the BR-532
great place get other user input and experiences.