does anyone use the boss br series or other digital recorders?

[Nailpicker]

I've got a Boss Micro BR80. I was originally going to go with the next one up in line, but ultimately went with the BR80 for 3 reasons.

1)I really only record to hear the playback for both my guitar and when I was taking voice lessons so I could evaluate myself.
2)I'm really not a professional so this least expensive model was fine with me. I'd rather spend the money I saved not buying a more expensive model and put it ultimately toward my McPherson which I plan to order end of this year or early 2015.
3)I retired from a tech oriented profession and I really didn't want to deal with a larger learning curve of a larger, more complex model. I'd rather spend that learning time playing guitar.

Final analysis, for my home recording I'm very pleased with the M-BR80. It does everything I want/need and does it well. Glad I didn't spend the money for a higher end model. Only thing I wish it did is on board conversion to MP3 or Wav format rather than having to transfer to my computer to do that.

[tbeltrans]

Hey Nailpicker,

From the McPherson thread, I get the sense that you might live somewhere around the Twin Cities. We seem to have some things in common, so it would be great to cross paths sometime.

I also have a Micro BR. The reason I got it was that it can slow down MP3s to 25% of original speed without changing pitch. It is more fiddly to use than the DR-05 from Tascam, but when that feature is needed, it works well. Also, I can plug my CA Guitars Cargo with K & K pickups directly into the Micro BR and get great sound. It presents the 1 meg ohm input impedance and has EQ control that is perfect for the Cargo, so I can put on headphones and hear both the Cargo and the MP3 slowed down at the same time for learning by ear.

The Micro BR does MP3 directly, which is one reason I did not go with the Micro BR80. I don't know what the battery life is with the Micro BR80, but the Micro BR sucks batteries. I just plug it in with a wall wart if I am intending to use for any length of time. The only thing I use it for is figuring out tunes from time to time because you can set loop points and slow it down greatly without altering pitch. Most dedicated hardware for this purpose goes down to 50%, but the Micro BR goes all the way down to 25% and still sounds pretty clear. I never hear people mention this about the Micro BR for some reason. It does a great job recording too, but I have other gear for that now.

I got mine cheap at GC when they were blowing them out to make room for the Micro BR80.

By the way, when selecting the McPherson, wood choice is everything. These instruments all sound different, so play as many as you can before deciding what to get. Also, depth choice is important. I find my 3.5 to be comfortable to hold and has more clarity than the deeper models (4.0, 4.5, and 5.0). The XP means that the sound hole is bigger, and I prefer that too. As I mentioned in another thread, American Guitar and Band is the dealer now in the Twin Cities:

http://www.americanguitarandband.com/

They are good guys to deal with.

Tony

[musicianvw]

just wondering if anyone still records with stand alone multi track recorders or is it all computers now