It makes me sound good! Amazing variety of sounds can be produced. I can set up Fleetwood Mac for instance and track acoustic guitar and electric guitar to razor sharp vintage Mac sound. Then, flip to say, James Taylor pre-set and be ready to record acoustically.

After 42 years of playing, I find myself reverting back to clean and smooth settings for jams and improvisational sessions so there are more gimmicks than I'll ever need.

Exterior could have been beefed up with heavier impact resistant shell and all buttons, faders and dials should be recessed.

8 inputs make this unit a winner.

Roland/Boss is world class. They are very musician-oriented.

Yeah, it's cool.

42 years guitar, session work, harmony vocals, violin/fiddle, keyboard, bass.

All, Working on new genre: country/jazz. Think "Folsom Prison" with dim. 7ths.

Easy to make a great sounding CD of your music.

Amazing range of features... effects, speaker and mic modeling, and drum/bass/loop phrase programming.

Easy to use right out of the box. Fast learning curve.

Boss has always meant quality. A great product.

You get a LOT for your money with this recorder.

Courteous, knowledgeable customer support. Thankfully, never nneded them for equipment problems... just general operation questions.

It does everything I need... in one, portable package. No need for multiple accessories and add-ons, or extra software.

Part-time "Struggling Musician" for a good, long time

Rock

after a lot of head scratching and trying to find my way around, i managed to record some material on the first day i owned the machine. the sound quality is superb, no discernable noise or distortion and the audio bandwidth is true cd quality. VERY GOOD!!!

i think you would hve to pay an awfull lot more to get even a little more! this machine seems to have been very well thought out and personally so far ive only used the drum/bass and guitar effects which work very well. least usefull feature is the manual, its been written by people who know the machine inside out. maybe they should try teaching a few novices how to use it and then re-write the manual based on all the litle problems that are encountered. hey, i'm getting there if only slowly.

once again, after de-ciphering the manual, the learning curve was quick and easy, some very good sounds availiable. refer to above regarding the manual.

i would not want to take this machine on the road without a very good flight case., and the warng about moving it while it is working is a little worrying. you can now buy laptops that will withstand being dropped so why not incorporate a hard drive like that in this machine, it would definately increase its usefullness.general build quality is pretty good, more than enough for home use.

worth every penny!!!! regarding next box below, it is sensibly priced making it affordable. any dearer, i would probably have bought something cheaper and then regretted doin so

they had an instore demonstrator where i purchased it who was extremely helpfull and has invited me back to the store for more tuition or help whenever i need it

at the price im glad that i now own one, looks good and does what it says on the box. i'm sure we will become the best of freinds once ive got my head around it properly.

45 years as a giging and recording les paul player

rock/blues/ progressive etc

I've got an old Tascam 38 1/2" dinosaur if anyone is interested. Actually the sound quality is great' I'm very satisfied with it.

Drum sounds are decent, but not enough of them. Also I'd like to record drums on the fly with song going but I guess I can't have everything. Guitar sounds are excellent, Mastering toolkit and vocal toolkit are both very good also.I wish it had channel inserts on at least 2 inputs.

The CD tray is a little flimsy, but that's about the only negative I can come up with.

I used to run a 16 trk analog studio years ago, this little box can do almost the same as well with a lot less headaches.

Haven't had to call them yet.

semi-active muscian

rock

This is simply the best sound you can get with a digital recorder in this price range.

For the price, it includes everything you could possibly ask for.

I have used Boss products for 25 years and never had a complaint. This thing is built like a tank.

The price is amazing for what you get.

Never used it.

The built-in rhythm section is very appealing.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist with home studio

Rock and ballads

The sound is qaulity is great. It basicly sounds ready for radio play.

This product allows you to do almost everything a real studio does. I find the Mastering Tool kit most usefull because it allows you to set music to the sound you desire.

The material could have been a little more solid and the cd tray is weakly designed.

The pricing seems a bit exspensive for the common working man to purchase one but it's is well worth the money for it's capabilities.

They are very knowledgeable and patient people.

11 years

hip hop

Sound quality is excellent once you learn the ropes of using compression and EQ. You do need good condensors though. The output is only as good as the input.

I find the vocal tool box and harmony the most useful feature. The mastering tool box is also super helpful. Haven't figured out the drum patches yet.

No problems yet but I will say I am very reluctant to take it on the road (not built like a tank). My main application is project studio recording, so guess I'm safe. You must remember to back-up every 1-2 months and re-initialize the database every 3 months.

Absolutely worth the price!!

Roland support is the best. When I was trying to decide what model and company to go with I called all the support lines, Yamaha, Korg, Roland and Zoom. Roland is the only group that answers consistently and puts you through to really knowledgable tekkies.

I like women better but this is a very classy looking piece of equipment!

Singer Songwriter, live showcases and covers (Solo, Duo)

Adult Contemporary, Folk light acoustic

I use this as a part of my home recording studio. I find it easy to use right out of the box. There are many things to learn as you get used to the interface.

The effects are pretty good if you're into them. It took me a while to find nice clean accoustic guitar settings. Not being a pro in the recording feild I am still learning about the contributions from Compression and other effects. There is a lot of different parameters you can control to learn how to perfect the sound you want to acheive. The Mastering effects are great too.

The machine seems to be built well. I am picking up a tube preamp for recording my accoustic guitar to help get rid of some low-frequency hum when I push the volume on my onboard guitar EQ.

There are chaper models out there, but to get all the inputs and effects I think this is a fairly good deal.

I haven't needed service yet. I have owned my Boss for almost a year now.

This is a must have for those looking to record a couple of peices of a band.

Worship Leader, Wanna-Be-Full-Time-Musician

Contemporary Christian with Jazz Background

sounds great, but the majority of the "amp models" dont impress me much.

studio in a box,and it seems to do well what it is supposed to do..

so far it seems well made,the large screen is great(compared to that on the br1180)

I think it is a bit on the high side price wise,but compares well to the competition.

this thing is addictive, it is fun to use,and becomes more so after you learn the ropes, after reading the manuals..it would be difficult to give it up even though I feel it is a bit pricey.

alternative

I can only compare this to a Tandberg reel-to-reel deck but I listen to it over a high end stereo system. The sound is superb.

More features than I'll ever use. The insert effects are quite good. The vocal tool box is wanting, especially the pitch correction.

I am not technical genius but I made a good recording of our five piece band right out of the box. Of course, the more time I spend with it and the excellent manual the better.

Seems well made but I can see a possible problem in the power jack which is not high quality. This can be trouble down the road especially if it shuts down improperly. This is not appropriate for "on the road" use in my opinion.

It's good value.

No experience here.

No special sex appeal but I'm not that desperate.

Band director; active musician

Rock, jazz, standards

Sound is great - I love the effects, they are very high quality. Pre-amps are pretty good, just keep single coiled pickups away from the unit and watch your gain settings.

Features are great - best platform there is for mobile recording of live audio events. Can't beat 1/4 inch jack/8 XLRs with phantom power all inputs with compression and EQ on every input! USB function is limited (one mono/stereo track at a time), but can be overcome by using WAV-MAKER-1600 software utility which is now available. Bass and drum machines are a definite plus. COSM amp models means you can build a whole gig around this thing and play live without a backing band or extra effects.

Built like a tank - okay just don't drop it and you should be fine.

The price is about right - not as expensive as the VS2000 but with a majority of the important features for recording live bands. You can mix and master and produce a CD all on the unit, although I personally use Cakewalk SONAR for that functionality after getting the WAV files off the BR-1600CD.

I haven't had to call them yet.

Musician and Sound Engineer

Everything

even though im using cheap mics to record my drum set the sound is still good quality.

because of the way i compose the guitar effects are verry useful. i can just plug my guitar and record ideas without having to set up all my pedals. i perfer to use my pedals when i do serious recordings though.

ive heard alot of people complain about the manual not being helpful but i think most of the work you would do is common sense.

worth the price, Great sound

active musician

rock

Once you get over the learning curve, you can really find some nice, high quality effects which improve your live recording upon mixing and mastering.

More features than you'll ever need.

Steep learning curve; manual has all the info you need but its not very well organized. The biggest drawback of this unit is the dinosaur factor; takes a long time to load songs, prepare for a new recording, and moving between songs is also slow. The hard drive mechanism, used for storing and saving tracks, has a speed that reminds me of the old IBM XT's.

Fairly well made machine, but beware--Boss warns you not to move or jostle the unit while the hard drive is operating, and they mean it. Due to my own carelessness in this regard, crashed the hard drive which needed to be replaced.

Probably better than the other choices, though I have little hands-on experience with other models. Even though there's a learning curve with this unit, I've heard its a lot more user friendly than most.

When the hard drive crashed Boss not only repaired the unit promptly, they managed to recover all recorded data. Handled it as a warranty claim. Very good support.

Active amateur musician with 25 years of playing experience

roots rock, folk, country

awesome sound quality - but of course it depends what sound you put into it, ie new strings, studio condensor mic, etc

the only thing i find frustrating is the quantizing, which is only able to be used when you're recording and not once it's done. if you have one kick drum out of beat - too bad, you have to punch in that one part and do it again. but that's no big deal.

umm, it's plastic... so dont drop it and you'll be right. I would be nervous taking it on the road with a touring band, but the box it comes in packs it up nice and snug and safe so you could do it quite safely i'd say... just dont drop it!

this is a digital recording device capable of recording whatever you want, whether it's demo songs or a cd to put on the market, you could do that with this machine at a price that isn't gonna kill you. ps. if you're thing that you only want an 8 track, well dont! i almost bought the fostex 8 track and i would have regretted it, it's amazing how many tracks you will probably end up using, eg tripling the vocals and panning one left, one right, and one centre, and the same for the guitars... that's six already!

don't know - never needed to ask for anything yet.

he he - got it!