I've had enough of line 6.....

[AndyR]

Get the MBR. (Edit "Boss Micro BR" - thanks gwem! :lol:)

I got it as a "scratchpad" as a chrimbo pressie, that's all I intended to use it for... and within hours I found out what else it could do (I recorded my first multi-tracked thing at the same time as cooking the chrimbo dinner :lol:)

Every single clip and mastered song I've posted on here was done on the MBR.

Outboard stuff I use is as follows:
- A Rode Condensor mic (and dbx compressor/gate) for any final vocal work. The onboard MBR mic is ok for guide vox and final accoustic guitar takes(!) It's just not worth the hassle of setting up the external mic etc for accoustics.
- Mixing desk (but only to supply my Rode mic with phantom power, or if I want to listen to the MBR output on my studio monitors :lol:)
- Vox Tonelab for guitar amp modelling (but the MBR has decent enough models to get going with)
- POD XT Live for bass amp modelling and providing power to my Variax bass

That's it... I nearly offloaded WAV tracks to use Cakewalk or Audacity for mixing on my last project, but I really couldn't be @rsed in the end - the results out of the MBR are better than my current DAW set up can manage.

Go to my soundclick site (link in my sig below) - I think they've all got details of what they were recorded on, but off the top of my head, the following are MBR only creations:

Sooner or later
If we should sing together
Big dog blues
Muletide

They all sound better in their WAV versions, but Sooner or Later is the only one that's really suffered much from artefacts in the mp3 versions I've posted.

There might be other songs on there that I've done with the MBR, I can't remember (I can't access soundclick from work).

There's another song I haven't posted there because it's a cover, but it's here:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=15809.0

I have learnt an awful lot about recording in the last 6 months or so - all on, and because of, the MBR. I've had a DAW for 5 years at least - didn't manage to learn those lessons.

They're just tools these things, the whole lot of them.

If you're a beginner in engineering/producing - and most of us are, not all, but most of us - then I really recommend that you get a tool that enables you to get some sh1t going...

Then get the nut-cracking-hammer (an up-to-date DAW with all the bells and whistles, expensive souncard, etc, etc) when you feel like you're getting somewhere... otherwise you'll drive yourself bonkers and the DAW will gather dust.

I'm ready to start fighting a DAW again now, but I'd still rather use the MBR, it's FUN making music with it! - that approx £150 my missus spent on me for chrimbo was well spent :D

EDIT: This is all (very) personal opinion, obviously :D - but if you've been fiddling with a DAW like me... and not getting as far as you like, or stuck, or whatever, consider something like the MBR as a "toy" - you can get serious later - it'll teach you loads.

[gwEm]

just worked out MBR stands for Micro BR :)

no one could argue with the audio quality of the songs you posted that you did with it!

[AndyR]

just worked out MBR stands for Micro BR :)

no one could argue with the audio quality of the songs you posted that you did with it!

:lol: - sorry about that, I'm used to typing it on the bossbr.net site - I'll amend it above :D

I think there's two reasons for the upping in levels of quality in my worK:

a) The MBR is restrictive, I have to think and be creative in an "old fashioned" kind of way, but you do end up concentrating on the music rather than the technology
b) I suspect the "soundcard" inside the MBR is far better quality than the Edirol box I use on the laptop - everything's warmer and more natural...

[MDV]

Warmer rather implies that its worse. Good soundcards have extended and transparent high ends. But, whatever sounds good is good.

I just ordered an emu 0202 to attach to the laptop thats near-permanently infront of me in the lounge. I was going to get an MBR at first, but it looked really incapable and rubbish, even for just bashing a guitar on the couch with the TV on silent.

So, since I use my pod XT as my lounge amp (lined into a cube 15, since I hate both of them they dont ruin two rooms this way - besides, I got a tone I dont completely hate out of it. Took me an afternoon to find it, but its there now). I can just as easily send another out from the pod to the 0202, have SX3 on the LT, I already have HD25s sitting next to the LT at all times and its lined out to a decent hifi amp and speakers anyway - bash out guitar parts, work out harmonies and structure and whatnot so I can record them properly (in the studio setup). Failing that I can mic up easily enough.

It seems to me that something similar would suit you rather well, Ian. Maybe replace the pod with a vst amp sim of your choice? Or a line out from your amp?

[_tom_]

I always found those small integrated units such as the MBR to be fiddly and annoying compared to software recording solutions.. I've only used tascams though and cant really argue with Andys recordings which always sound very good :)

[gwEm]

for what its worth:

i mic up my cab, or take my sansamp direct
record this into my zoom mrs-8 digital multitrack
import the tracks on to my computer as WAV or AIFF
use them in my favourite DAW - ableton live

i like this way of working

[_tom_]

See I always find that way too much effort, when you can record straight into the DAW of your choice with no faffing about :)

[AndyR]

I have to agree with you Tom on the "fiddly" aspect of the MBR - eg no faders, and you have to bounce "blind" like they did in the 60s (bounce parts together before you know how the rest of the mix is going to sound), and a number of things that you can do in a DAW "easily" but takes a whole bunch of improvisation to achieve it with the MBR.

It is very much "horses for courses" - as I was writing my earlier essay, I was thinking of you: you seem to find your way effortlessly into creating well produced, arranged, and musical, recordings with the straight into the DAW method (I'm sure it's not as "effortless" as I imagine though :lol:).

With me, on a DAW, I find I start turning into Roy Thomas Baker without the experience/no-how :lol:

The MBR works for me at the moment because it lets me concentrate on performances and arrangements, it makes me think about sounds, and it forces me to consider expediency and efficiency (ie "how can I get the outcome I imagine with the least bluddy effort?" :lol:).

MDV - it's interesting what you say about "warmer implying worse". I can see exactly how that might be... my brain tells me it's so. But at the moment I approach recordings in a slightly less scientific manner - I'm trying to make recordings sound like records I like. I'll be back on the DAW soon to check this out, but my experience with the two methods so far is that to get the warmth into my DAW recordings I end up losing clarity and definition - on the MBR it's just there already, I'm not really doing anything to make it happen, and my recordings are coming out with more clarity and definition.

It's a real "what?!" situation for me - but I can't be bothered to investigate at the moment, for the first time in about 10 years I'm fired up about creating music - I'm getting new ideas, and even better, I'm finishing projects.

(Oh btw, "records I like", this might have some bearing on it - they were mostly recorded in the 60s!!)

[gwEm]

See I always find that way too much effort, when you can record straight into the DAW of your choice with no faffing about :)

you're right... but only IF the daw/interface/computer decides not to f_ck up somehow