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sup

I've got a boss br-532. I was considering buying a Roland VS 1680 on ebay because it is a cheap 16 track with a midi in jack and supports MMC and MTC. In addition, Boss is a division of Roland inc. so I would assume that the digital recorders would be more compatable with each other as opposed to another brand.

My Boss supports MMC as a master but not as a slave. It also only has a midi out jack. Most of the new digital recorders that have midi in cost more then I'm willing to pay.

Heres my questions:

1.Is an external MIDI device needed to sync up a Boss BR-532 and a Roland VS-1680 or 1880?

2. If an external MIDI device is needed to sync these machines up what is it called?

3. What problems could I expect to encounter from setting up a studio like this?

4. Would adding a third digital recorder (for example, another Roland VS-1680) create more potential problems?

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Comments

anonymous Fri, 12/02/2005 - 00:54

Because the boss br-532 only has 4 playback tracks. I need More PLAYBACK tracks. Not virtual tracks.

Sure I could sell the boss br 532 on ebay for like 100 dollars. If anyone is dumb enough to buy it. Not that it sucks. It totally rocks, but the br 864 makes resale of it worthless. Non-the-less, I guess I could just throw it away, and get a 16 track for just under 500 dollars. Even though I did already spent $300 on the br-532 plus $200 on the smart media cards, its cool. Shipping, and tax not included respectively.

"Oh shit!" I would then realize after using the 16 track, "16 tracks are not enough. Thats ok though. Ill just get a 24 track to replace it. I'm sure that I could find one for just under a grand," but surely enough, I would not realize that I needed more play back tracks until the resale of my 16 track would be shit on a stick.

Lets end it with this, and forget about the high possiblity that I'll really end up needing at least 32 play back tracks.

In the end Ill be left with only 24 play back tracks, and negative $2000...

OR...

I can get the vs 1680 track for less then two mr-8s (the cheapest 8 tracks on the retail market which do not have midi in.) Sync it with my 4 track. Then in the future if I find that 20 play back tracks simply arent enough I can just get another vs 1680 and add another 16 for probabily even less money then what im about to spend right now. So I colud potentially have 36 tracks for under $1400.

So heres my options:

Daisy chain machines > 36 tracks for less then $1400

Upgrade to a new unit altogether > 24 tracks for at least $2000

In a nutshell...
Right now i need about 20 play back tracks.

I would like to find a way to utilize my 4 track

I may eventually need more then 20 tracks

Theres no way in hell im spending 1k. I dont even want to spend 500 but I am willing to.

So can anyone actually answer my question?

Davedog Fri, 12/02/2005 - 22:26

Take the leap....buying semi professional gear in the first place means there'l come a time when your needs change and you take it in the shorts like the rest of us. Its a good theory you have but the practicality is so complex why bother.

Dont like it? Welcome to equipping your dream 101.

Deal with it.

anonymous Fri, 12/02/2005 - 23:27

its entirely practical if the equipment is capable. Its seems to be. I've shopped, read the manuals, shopped more, and read more manuals. Researched MIDI on yahoo, researched daiy chains, and then asked you guys some questions. Hopeing to get definative answers. I asked more then just one question and yet know one knows the answer to any of them?

anonymous Sun, 12/04/2005 - 13:00

BR-532

What more do you want? If your not able to spend 500-1000 dollars on recording gear I would advise getting another hobby. What your wanting to do don"t make sense AND you will outgrow it. So, take the plunge and get the right equipment and don"t waste your money on trying to piece all these recorders togather,your going to find out after you"ve spent all this money that you should have saved it and got what you really wanted in the first place. A 16 TRACK RECORDER!!!

I"m done with this!!!

anonymous Mon, 12/05/2005 - 16:06

Camel42 wrote: vs-1680 is a 16 track recorder. Honestly your starting to piss me off. Im not asking what I should buy. Im asking if this works. Either answer the question or fuck off. You obviously dont know what your talking about since your using a br 864. Why open your mouth?

What a dildo. Hey, here's an idea. You obviously have a computer, since you're here bothering us. Why don't you drop the cash on a copy of Logic or similar and get all the fuckin tracks you can handle rather than trying to jury-rig some string of jackass boxes with little teeny-tiny faders that only midgets can use without going batty?

Plus, even if that does work, aren't you afraid of MIDI lag when yer mixin yer opuses? I've used MMC in a very limited manner, but it always annoys the holy FUCK out of me when I do.

~S

anonymous Mon, 12/05/2005 - 16:53

First of all your asking if it can be done, sure it can. But after your reply to what other people are are trying to tell you to help you save money and headaches I say go for it!!! ONLY don"t bother coming to this forum asking for help. As for me yes I do use an 864, its what I"m comfortable with.This is a hobby for me.NOT MY LIFE. And yes I"ve been doing this off and on for about 25 years so come back when you"ve grown up and when your vocabulary has increased to words with more than four letters.

Have a nice day!!!

wayout Fri, 12/09/2005 - 01:19

TheRealShotgun wrote: [quote=Camel42]vs-1680 is a 16 track recorder. Honestly your starting to piss me off. Im not asking what I should buy. Im asking if this works. Either answer the question or fuck off. You obviously dont know what your talking about since your using a br 864. Why open your mouth?

What a dildo. Hey, here's an idea. You obviously have a computer, since you're here bothering us. Why don't you drop the cash on a copy of Logic or similar and get all the fuckin tracks you can handle rather than trying to jury-rig some string of jackass boxes with little teeny-tiny faders that only midgets can use without going batty?

Plus, even if that does work, aren't you afraid of MIDI lag when yer mixin yer opuses? I've used MMC in a very limited manner, but it always annoys the holy FUCK out of me when I do.

~S

amazing post! LOL.

-jake

anonymous Sat, 12/10/2005 - 14:27

"Answer the question or f**k off" won't get you a whole lot of help on any forum, bud. You ask a question, people make comments and suggestions, not always what you wanna hear maybe, but be patient...

I'm sure they would sync and playback 20 channels, but as far as whether the they would record while synced or not I can't say. I have found that some machines don't go into record mode when slaving. Grouping or bouncing tracks across both machines would be tricky/require a mixer, and I would wonder how long it would take to get sick of the built in EQ/FX/sample rates offered by these machines? The br 532 is only 16-bit, the vs-1680 has only 16 tracks...

I have to agree with Shotgun - a decent multitrack interface for a PC is inexpensive these days and once in the software realm the options are endless for digital recording, editing and mixing. For $1400 you could probably get more out of turning your current PC into a DAW, and hang onto your portastudio for demos, rehearsals or gigs.

I used a stand alone recorder for a while but the truth is a PC is a more flexible option sonically - I occasionally still use a portable unit to multitrack gigs & rehearsals, but this is only because I later transfer them to Nuendo for mixing...basically ok for field recording, but too limiting to mix properly in the box.

Is there a specific reason you want to be working with multiple portastudios?

anonymous Sun, 12/11/2005 - 11:43

Yeah theres a reason. Im really good at coming up with riffs, but I get tired of hearing the same thing more then one time. So I would like to dissect the riffs into parts and have the faders availble to fade parts of the riff in or out on two instruments for at least 12 bars. Aside from just the riff I would like to have more control over arranging other then doing multiple takes or cut and paste editing. I alread got vegas and sound forge. Ideally I would like to have the multi tracks synced up for editing and then have them synced to a computer, and mix the final product on vegas. Basically Im trying to get more productive control over the music because Im having a hard time getting my ideas out with just 4 tracks.