Boss BR1180CD Digital Recording Studio with Internal CD-R Drive
10-track. 20GB hard drive. CD-R drive.
Overall User Ratings (based on 201 ratings)
Submitted January 6, 2004 by a customer from aol.com
"BOSS 1180 is the perfect home studio tool"
I feel that this product will last me quite sometime. I was working with a Tascam 424 for about 3 years and it was time to upgrade to digital. I read about Tascams, Boss/Roland, Yamaha, Korg, and Fostex and came to a conclusion. I was only producing rap songs and didn't need 24 or 16 channels and with the 80 virtual tracks and the bouncing effect I could have upto 24 tracks if I wanted. So I went for the best 8 track Digital and it was the Boss. Every review had this product as the best one to purchase. I don't think I'll get any new equipment for awhile. If it were stolen or lose I'd replace with the same product, hands down. It helps alot when it comes to making music and if done right and mastered correctly, you'll never have to pay $25/hour to record music at a studio for a Great Demo or even a Independent Album release.
Sound
The sound on the Bos 1180 is great. Be sure that when you load a beat or play it live that your tunes and the pre-recorded beat is mastered or atleast sounds clean.
Features
There are tons of features, over 300 effects.
Quality
The product is great. No problems with any nobs, controls, nothing, just great.
Value
I think it's worth $1000.00 but make sure you get your full use out of it and learn by reading the instruction manual. A video comes with it and thats helpful.
Manufacturer Support
Nope, never dealt with the company.
The Wow Factor
It looks space like. Nice look to it.
Musical Style:
Hip Hop
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Submitted January 30, 2005 by a customer from yahoo.com
"This Is the Hook-Up"
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This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
This recorder will meet the needs of a wide variety of musicians. Beginners can record quasi-studio quality material. Advanced players can produce solid demos. It stomps out CDs effortlessly and cleanly. It's quiet, functional and practical. A friend with an older version convinced me to kick out the cash for the recorder. I'm glad I did. I was fortunate to have guidance from a buddy, because -- let's face it -- the sheer amount of recorders available can be a tad intimidating. If you can make the leap of faith and get this, I think you'll be pleased.
Sound
The sound reproduction on the recorder is just great. There are plenty of effects available which offer a huge array of sounds. I've had good luck with vocals recordered directly into the unit, but I've found that the bass tracks sound best when the signal runs through my amp first, then into the unit. (I'm sure that's true for plenty of folks.)
Features
The unit is loaded with all the features you'll need and then some. The on-board drums are fun and once you get the hang of editing them, you're off and running. (That takes some time.) The display is simple to read and the dials and buttons give the user the sense that a musician must have had a hand in developing this. It's fairly straight forward.
Quality
I bought a floor model and there's no question it probably took a little knock here or there, but after all that the only thing wrong is that one of the one knob is just slightly loose. That's it. The thing seems solid enough with all the components fitted neatly into the package.
Value
I got my floor model about a year ago for the current retail price, so the price has come down on what I considered to be an affordable unit.
Manufacturer Support
If there were an eleven available to rate support, Roland would get it from me. The personnel were simply great. I called a few different times and each representative was patient and thorough. Ultra high marks from me for customer relations.
The Wow Factor
How can a man get excited about a recorder? It's not easy. It's supposed to be a job doer and this is it. Maybe a bigger screen would convince me to give the unit a '10' but then again, that might make it more expensive.
Musical Background:
Hobbyist
Musical Style:
Funk-Rock Fusion, R&B, some Jazz, some Power Rock
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by a customer from ceauto.com.tw
"A sheep in sheep's clothing"
If I can sort out MIDI recording it should be fine 8/10 if I cannot then 2/10
Sound
I suppose for a "home" unit you can't ask for much more.
Features
I think most people who find themselves in a position to be spending a grand on a recording tool, already has stomp pedals (I own a gt6) coming out their ears, so the huge effects list is a bit redundant. Yet vocal effects are so limited, the one feature guitarists won't have an abundance of.
Value
If you don't own the competition and have only "played" with them as opposed to working with it, then this unit is not the cheapest out there, you can get the same features for a lot less $ elsewhere
Manufacturer Support
Not needed it yet, but contrary to some I think the manual was written by a techno wizard.
The Wow Factor
No different to any other in the class
Musical Style:
Contemporary
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Submitted September 17, 2004 by a customer from hotmail.com
"Roland gets my vote!! I APPROVED this message!"
Other than drum machines,I never sought out Roland products...The 1180 CD has pretty much changed my mind and now I'm constantly looking to see what the company has new coming out.
Sound
I love the sound and the quality of sound of my instruments and vocals. I dig the simplicity of the recording process and the way it retains the quality of recodings that I've transferred froother recorders.
Features
I didn't purchase any accessories...I use the 'vocal enhancing' features the most and they are incredible.
Quality
Nicely made and dependable...Only need to replace powercord.
Value
Nice
Manufacturer Support
Don't know yet...will be using them to get a new powercord...
The Wow Factor
10...need I say more
Musical Background:
Active Musician/Singer/Rapper
Musical Style:
R&B/Hip Hop
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Submitted November 6, 2010 by a customer from yahoo.com
"I would recommend a different brand or a more durable recorder"
I would replace it with a different brand, maybe with a more durable hard Drive and CD burner.
Not to be bias in anyway, this proudct was made in Japan, so I expected less trouble. Once I have enough money, I'll either buy a more expensive Roland or Yamaha.
I think maybe I will look into the Boss 1600CD.
I wish I knew about other brands
Sound
I bought the Boss 1180CD back in 2003. Three years later the HD died and I had to pay 80 dollars to fix it. About a month ageo my CD player had/has some problems of its own. One morning I was bouncing four of the tracks to 9/10 so I could burn the song and finalize, the burner would read diskfull! or CD error!
I never had that problem before and I don't have the cash to fix it or buy a newer one. To remedy the problem I initialized the hard drive and lost all my compositions. Then after creating a new file and song I tried to burn the songs. I could only transfer 2 songs to the cd and the messages wuold come up. Does anyone know how to correct the CD problem?
Thanks
Winston
Features
the most useful features are the linein/out jacks. I usually record songs from my keyboard.
Ease of Use
I rarely import files or songs. I just use the basics record, bounce cosm effects and finalizing a disc.
Quality
my overall opinion is the fear of malfunctioning like it has a few times before. It may only last 2 years before servicing.
I used to have an older Br model w/o a cd burner. That's why I believed The Boss 1180 CD would be just as durable.
Value
It may worth the price when new, but not in 2010. I may donate this to GoodWill.
Manufacturer Support
When repairing the hard drive I had to bring the recorder to an authorized Roland delearship, luckily there is one near where I live. I will have to call roland for the recent problem.
Musical Background:
30 + years of classical piano training, Drumming 6 years guitar 19 years.
Musical Style:
Mostly New Age Piano, Classical Music, Southern Rock and a little Techno
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Submitted June 26, 2004 by a customer from yahoo.com
"Faulty hard drive beware"
If this next hard drive lasts I will be very happy that I have it because everything else on it is great. Just have noticed a lot of people complaning about the drives and that is not ok.
Sound
Produces a nice quality sound for such a small studio. The mastering option is nice especially for brighting up acoustic songs. I noticed however that sometimes the sound I hear from my studio speakers sounds great but once I master it and put in on other speakers then there is a lot more bass then comes out of the machine.
Features
Has a lot of great features. I really like the guitar and mic effects. The drum tracks are very time consuming to organize for a song though and it can take hours just to get it where you want it.
Quality
I've noticed this isn't just me but the hard drive tends to freeze up and now after a year I have a faulty hard drive and will have to pay to put a new one in. After paying a ton for this I'm not happy about it at all or happy about the fact that after very little use I'm having to buy a new hard drive. They should make them much better then this.
Value
If the hard drive didn't take a crap after a year I'd say a 9 but it's useless without the drive.
Manufacturer Support
They are telling me to mail this in but I really feel they probably have some sort of boot disk or something they could send me to try and fix the problem here at home rather then ship it off somewhere to worry that it's going to get broken on the journey. Like we can all afford the shipping charges either.
The Wow Factor
I really wanted this for a year. Now I'm sorry I got it.
Musical Style:
Gospel and Country
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Submitted March 10, 2006 by a customer from aol.com
"Nice product, lots of great effects, could have been so much better"
I've had it for four months. I'm going to try and sell it so I can get something else.
Sound
It sounds great until you try to bounce or master your tracks then you loose a lot of volume. It weird when you master a song it will sound great when your recording but when you play it back it looses the quality. Basically the sound that you hear is not what you get especially when you burn to a cd. I have to record at very high volume levels just to get a suitable cd volume level which make clipping a huge problem.
Features
I'm a big fan of all the effects, especially the vocal effects. I wish other recording studios had half as many.
Ease of Use
This is a very easy to figure out unit. I was recording with it within a couple of days.
Quality
Like i said it's great until you try to burn a cd. All you hard efforts are then spoiled by the low budget cd burner.
Value
It's a great learning tool. I'm now looking for a better recording studio though.
Manufacturer Support
Dont know
The Wow Factor
It looks real cool.
Musical Background:
Hobbyist
Musical Style:
Rock
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Submitted January 8, 2004
"The Boss is the Boss!"
There's more than I'll ever need, except an extra 2 tracks wouldn't hurt either.
Sound
The sound quality is excellent, but I plan to buy a compressor/ limiter to refine the sound quality to 10.
Features
The most useful features I find that are "must haves" are panning, equalization, the COSM effects and especially the CD burner. A great feature to finish off the BR-1180 CD would be a quality Compressor/Gate/limiter to be built in.
Quality
I'll give it an 8, because I have some reservations with the Br-532.So far the Br-1180CD seems to be made well. However my previous Br-532 was dropped once and the guitar input jack became loosened.
Value
I feel it can be dropped by 200.00 dollars
Manufacturer Support
Don't send it back to Roland for repairs! When I called Roland for repairs on my BR532 they were going to charge $70.00/hr! This can become higher than the product itself. If you need repairs send it to a reputable music store.
The Wow Factor
None of the digital recorders on the market appeals to me. I would rather see them in a rack design.
Musical Style:
I make the music as I go along.
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