Roland BR-80 Portable Digital Recorder

• Three modes: MTR (multi-track recorder), eBand, and Live Recorder.Records directly to SD/SDHC memory card (up to 32 GB).High-quality stereo condenser microphone built in for instant audio capture.64 V-Tracks and eight simultaneous playback tracks
• eBand function for phrase training and play-along tracks.Huge library of built-in backing and rhythm patterns
• World-class COSM amps and effects onboard.Use as a USB audio interface with built-in effects.SONAR X1 LE software included

I'm really digging this little recorder. I've had it for about 2 weeks now and once I got past its limitations I'm really starting to use it a lot. I've tried a few portable multitracks over the past year (Micro BR 4, Boss BR800, & Zoom R8 to name a few) and they just didn't click with me. The R8 came awfully close to winning the battle I still have it and may hold onto it, but so far the more time I spend learning to use the BR-80 the more it seems to be the right tool for me.

Long story short: If you're looking for an awesome practice tool and something to quickly jot your ideas down with or simply just create a rough outline of a riff or song before it disappears from your brain completely, definitely check the BR-80 out. If you're looking for professional sounding recordings to share with the world or hoping this will replace your current DAW and plugins, go get your head checked! A $299 device that's slightly larger than an iPod isn't going to make that happen. At least not in 2011.

Pros:

The size. It's a no brainer when comparing to other units. I can keep this in my backpack at all times and have it out and on at a moment's notice.

I'm a long time Boss GT floor board user and have grown to despise the higher gain COSM models, but the amps on the BR80 aren't all that bad. Still very mid-rangey but if you lay off the gain, play with the eq, and dial back your guitar's volume knob about 15-20% the higher gain models can sound really good. Cleans are great.

Battery life seems great. 6 hours with regular batteries, about 3-4 on my rechargables so far.

Less is more. Having used Sonar and ProTools for years now it's nice to just plug into something, hit record, and go to town. Aside from the learning curve nothing really gets in the way of getting drafts of your ideas onto this thing. If you don't like it (I didn't at first) keep at it and READ THE MANUAL. Give it a fighting chance. Burn some calories. You might be pleasantly surprised. I sure am.

For what they are (remember this is a small little $299 rectangle running on 2 AA batteries), the drum sounds aren't all that bad. You have 8 kits to choose from and there should be something that is at least close enough for what most users will have in mind.

The onboard mics are great. I live in NYC and it's fun sometimes to switch them on when I'm walking around and capture random audio in the city. They're very sensitive to wind as well as anything that might be in their way at all (such as fingers near them if you're holding it while recording).

Eband is really cool. I'm not too crazy about the backup band stuff but there's a drum folder full of drum-only loops that are much more realistic sounding and fun to jam to.

Cons:

Scroll scroll scroll... we live in a world of menus and this device is no exception. You can pretty much get all of the essential operations done without too much scrolling, but when it comes to editing tracks or punching in be prepared to get your button pressing and thumb dialing on.

If you like odd meters (which I do) and want to use something other than metronome patterns for rhythms be prepared to invest some time importing your own midi loops to this thing. Also on the odd meter note, you can change up time signatures and tempos in the rhythm track in each song.. this is something I wasn't able to do on other units, at least not with a lot of extra effort bouncing tracks and whatnot.

You need to download software from BOSS (it also comes on the included memory card) to convert tracks to .wav if you plan on importing them to your PC (and vice versa). You can't just plug in via USB and drag-n-drop. Totally lame. Just like the total wankers they use on their painful demo videos, Boss is really behind the times with this aspect. Come on, it's 2011... go with the standard, man! I'm learning to deal with it but overall it's just another pain in the arse step getting in the way of creativity.

The reverbs are horrible. If you use it for anything more than a very subtle enhancement it's very sterile and sounds incredibly "pixilated" (that's the best word I can think of to describe it). This is disappointing but not a complete deal breaker if you're just using this as a sketchpad. If you're looking for lush verbs on your solo acoustic guitar tracks, fugeddabaddit. I wish I could take my Zoom R8 reverb and drop it into the BR80.

No power supply. Not a big deal if you have a lot of rechargeable batteries but be prepared to shell out more cash for that as well as a carrying case of some sort.

The little nubs on the navigation dial aren't the most comfortable on thumbs when you have to scroll through a large amount of data.

The only real issue I've had so far is dropouts while recording and getting a DRIVE BUSY! error message. I'm positive this was due to the crappy memory card I inserted (it comes with a 2G but I wanted more space). I bought a new higher speed card and have had zero problems since.

If you're going to be lugging this around a lot I'd seriously consider buying a case of some sort for it. I bought the BOSS sleeve/pouch kit and although it's a bit spendy it gives a really nice solid feel to the recorder and buttons (and protects the thing, of course). I've been using BOSS products for over 20 years and never had a problem due to their "built like a tank" approach. I'd like to think the BR-80 will live up to that but it's too early to make a fair assessment. Unlike any of my BOSS stompboxes I would be weary of knocking this thing around too much. Protect your investment and BUY A CASE. $40 seems like a rip off and it kind of is, but it's much better than potentially paying $299 for a replacement unit.

This BR80 is definitely a keeper in my opinion. If you're looking for a quick, portable, decent sounding solution to document the music ideas in your head you should definitely consider trying this out. If you're looking to cut professional sounding recordings, be realistic and save up more money for something else.

Buy Roland BR-80 Portable Digital Recorder Now

So I never get around to writing reviews about anything I buy but I'm so impressed with this little machine that I felt I had to get my 2 cents in. I was trying to find something that would meet 2 needs; a) to create live stereo recordings of live band shows etc., and more importantly, b) to allow me to quickly and easily get down ideas for songs, and then work on them adding more tracks, editing, and so on. The BR-80 has three modes, one of which (e-Band mode) is close to useless for me it's kind of a play along mode for practicing, and playing backup tracks for live shows or whatever. But the other 2 modes are EXACTLY what I was looking for. The "live rec" mode is just that, using the built-in stereo condenser mics to make pretty decent stereo recordings. The MTR (multi-track mode) is great for my #2 need, and I'm blown away by how good a job this things does as an idea sketchpad. Once you have the hang of it it's really pretty simple to use, and it gives you plenty of options to mix your tracks after you get them down. If you've ever used a DAW, this device will be completely intuitive and for me at least, I just kept finding more bells and whistles that I could use if I needed.

Here are some highlights of the MTR mode:

-8 simultaneous playback tracks

-64 v-tracks, so you can store multiple alternate takes etc.

-built-in drum machine with selectable drumkits

-COSM modeling for input effects (guitar amp modeling etc.)

-a remarkably useable 'bass emulator' mode for electric guitar (so you only have to carry one guitar around)

-editable parameters for all channels (level, eq (3-band, sweepable mid), pan, reverb, solo/mute)

-editable of input effects (e.g. control of compression, distortion, modulation, delay etc. for all modeled effects, and the ability to save revised effects as user patches)

-much more I'm still finding out all it can do.

Is it perfect? Of course not. There are missing features that would be great to have editable drum patterns (if you want to use other than the built-in patterns, you need to create them on a PC and import them as SMF files), send effects other than just reverb, and so on. And as other users have noted, it's in no way a replacement for a real DAW setup. But it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to meet 2 (or 3) very specific needs, and it does that extremely well.

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It's amazing what this can do especially in such a small package. It's like having a recording studio in your back pocket. I'd get the AC adapter along with this. The batteries will last a few hours but may fail at the most inopportune time.

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The dial stopped working after very little use. This is a major design flaw of this unit since the dial is used to control all functions.

This is an excellent product. Not only is it packed with features drums, effects, stereo high-fidelity condenser mics but the amazing thing is that for a really tiny (it fits in your pocket, for crying out loud!) menu-driven device, it is remarkably simple and straightforward to operate. All the features are easily accessed. What I'm saying is the user-interface for once, in these kinds of products is intelligent and intuitive and accessible. That means that the tons of features are truly usable. What's the point of having a packed unit if it's hard to use? Kind of a suggestive statement, now that I think about it, but I leave it as is to show I don't work for the company. I'm just really pleased with the product, the price, and I want to applaud whomever was the lead designer on it.

And to that person, my only peeve the rotating knob is hard to use, takes two fingers to operate effectively, but it can be done without any problem if you are just a bit more deliberate than you ought to be.