New Recording Device Day

[phlip]

Not a guitar amp or strictly an effect.
I picked one of these up yesterday for front room noodling and practicing/knocking ideas up. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/articles/bossmicrobr.htm

First impressions are it'll do exactly what I want it's small (Very) the User interface is quite complex, I guess thats to be expected for the size. The COSM Amp sims and effects are great, OK it's no POD X3 or AxeFX but given it's size it's most excellent, The JC120 cleans and Mid gain crunch blues sounds work best from the presets, I'm sure with some tweaking the higher gain sounds could be better, they're just not very defined. Drum presets are certainly usable and sound a lot better than my old Dr Rhythm drum machine did.

For £125 I'm impressed.
Oh battery life is poor but I have loads of rechargeable AA's from photography so thats not an issue.

[AndyR]

That sounds impressive.

One of the reasons I don't actually do much recording/demoing is because with a DAW it takes me so long to get set up etc etc and then I get sucked into a load of techno-cobblers and over-engineering my ideas and then I never actually create or finish anything.

I kinda miss the old "recording walkman" way of capturing ideas - sit it on the sideboard, press record and start playing... quality was such that you didn't get precious, you just wanted to capture the ideas...

I think I'll check this out - quick demos without having to set the bluddy laptop up - thanks for sharing :D

[tomjackson]

I have a BR and find it handy for putting MP3's in to Jam over or rhythm tracks of my own band to practise before a gig.  I can practise quietly while the missus is watching TV and the baby is in bed.

One day I plan to use the drum machine and record a bit more but it gets pretty complicated and I think it could have been implimented a bit better.  I just use it for basic recording for that reason.

The effects are okay if you forget the presets but I do think reverb should have been included as a guitar effect.

Can't complain though, it's going to Spain with me next week and is great on holiday.  I'll load the backing tracks from this months GT and off I go....

[phlip]

I agree the drum patterns are complicated to get into. I tend to record guitar first and then add drums later if I want to. It kind of of defeats the object a bit but there is Drum pattern arranger PC software http://www.tommystoolbox.co.uk/index.html

I do have a big assed DAW with nice HHB Circle 5 monitors and a POD X3 upstairs this also has EzDrummer but as said you spend to much time faffing and not enough time playing. I hope to scratch out ideas and then do it properly when I'm happy, therefore playing more.

[gingataff]

You might be interested in this thread 5F6-A made about the Micro BR, he was pretty impressed too http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5979.0

[AndyR]

Uh-Ohhh....
Methinks I might be spending money sooon!! :roll:

- this is definitely BKP forum induced GAS :lol:

I'm assuming it can take a line-level input? (Not read everything yet, too busy trying to sort out idiots - does anyone else find work can seriously get in the way of everyone else's BKP experience?)

I'd be planning on banging the output of my VOX tonelab straight into the little blighter most of the time...

But the concept of taking just a guitar and this little box on holiday is very attractive - "yeah you go and look at the Jane Austen Museum again darling, I'll just stay here and write our next Number 1, then you can buy me dinner in that nice restaurant afterwards..." :D

[phlip]

I haven't tried it yet but next to the guitar in is a Stereo mini jack makred line in/mic so you should be ok.
The Specs in the Manual are.
Guitar input -20dbu Level, 1Mohm impedence
Line in -10dbu Level, 16Kohm impedence (On line Setting)
Line in -40dbu Level, 18Kohm impedence (On Mic setting)

[AndyR]

Thanks phlip - I've been off in another window finding the specs, and I was coming back to say I'd found out :D

About the only thing that annoys me slightly is the PSA power supply needs to be bought separately.

[phlip]

No probs.
The power supply thing doesn't bother me as I've got so many rechargables for my flash guns on rotation, I've always got some ready to go.

[TwilightOdyssey]

I was thinking about getting one of these for recording rehearsals. I look forward to hearing clips!

[phlip]

I'll have to record something I'm not ashamed of now  :guitar4:

[tomjackson]

Uh-Ohhh....
Methinks I might be spending money sooon!! :roll:

- this is definitely BKP forum induced GAS :lol:

I'm assuming it can take a line-level input? (Not read everything yet, too busy trying to sort out idiots - does anyone else find work can seriously get in the way of everyone else's BKP experience?)

I'd be planning on banging the output of my VOX tonelab straight into the little blighter most of the time...

But the concept of taking just a guitar and this little box on holiday is very attractive - "yeah you go and look at the Jane Austen Museum again darling, I'll just stay here and write our next Number 1, then you can buy me dinner in that nice restaurant afterwards..." :D

I got one of these to put in my suitcase when I go to Spain, thus leaving my hands free to carry babies etc.

http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=EG01452

Now I've loaded the 50 tracks from this months Guitar Techniques onto the BR as mp3's I should come back from holiday a better guitarist than when I went.  Only San Miguel can stop me.....

[pagan7]

I've been using one of these for a year or so now and I'm impressed with the quality of the recordings. They're great as an on the fly notepad for recording those sudden moments of inspiration. I use a Digitech GNX3000 multi fx and feed the output from the stereo headphone socket to the line in socket on the Micro BR. That way I can control the recording volume with both the headphones out volume control on the GNX3000 and the line in volume control on the Micro BR, so nothing gets out of hand and using the headphone out socket lets me play at any volume I want through my amp without worrying about the levels going into the Micro BR. If I want to add drums and bass to an riff, I record them first in stereo to tracks 1 & 2 of the Micro BR by playing the bass through the GNX and either using the (basic) drum machine in the GNX or feeding an external drum machine into the GNX. I then record the guitar in stereo to tracks 3 & 4 on the Micro BR. If I want to add any more tracks it's easy enough to bounce the first 4 tracks down to stereo virtual tracks and add the extra parts to other virtual tracks and them master mix everything down to a final stereo track. You just have to be careful to set the volume balances for all the virtual tracks before you master them and you can do quite a few bounce downs before there's any noticable muddying of the overall mix.
Great little piece of kit and even the built in microphone is capable of capturing some passable vocals - enjoy   8)

p.s. I'm currently GASing for a Zoom HD16CD digital recorder. Never been much of a fan of computer recording and prefer the hands on, knob twiddling approach rather than clicking around with a mouse - but that's another story....and another thread  :D