• better than expected loops

  

  As reviewed by on 5/30/2007

  price was fair, unit is nice and compact, AC adapter not included but the AA batteries are. Still navigating through the manual, but once I get the hang of it, I'm sure I'll be fine. Almost three hundred drum loops built in that actually sound good, basically you're buying a multitrack digital recorder and getting a drum machine as a bonus. Had a Fostex, this one is way better.

  37 of 37 people found this review helpful.

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• Amazingly compact yet full-featured digital studio

  

  As reviewed by Junby on 4/23/2007

  I have owned this unit for about a month now and the more I use it the more I appreciate the value in this little beast. There is a full slew of built in guitar effects, drum machine, lots of tracks to work with (though you can only record 2 at a time), built-in microphones, USB connection so data can easily be backed up to a computer, etc. This is my first time delving into the world of digital recording and despite my inexperience I was able to figure out how to record several tracks, bounce them and master them without too much effort. Downside is that it does not come with a power supply (so budget on getting a Roland PSA-120 or invest in a lot of AA batteries) and the memory card that comes with it is small (budget on getting a 1 GB memory card separately). Also, I wish it had built-in support for exporting to WAV or MP3 (like its little brother the MICRO BR) but there is a downloadable BR WAVE Converter utility on their website that can do the job (though they do not mention the existence of this utility anywhere in the manual that I could see). Also the manual can be somewhat difficult to navigate at times. Overall though, it is a great value. The downsides I listed above are really more nitpicks than anything else. If you are looking to get started in the world of digital recording I do not think you can go wrong with the BR-600.

  24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

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• Nice bit of kit. Could use MIDI instead of USB.

  

  As reviewed by The Fashion Police on 1/3/2007

  I am happy with how easy it is to use, as I replaced a Roland VS-880 EX with it. The VS unit was fiddly to use and you had to follow procedures just so, or you'd lose your tracks, plus I wanted to get away from hard-disc unit altogether, and needed one I could run on battery power. This unit fit the bill. The only caveat was it is a bit overpriced for what it is, and the 128 meg card is barely adequate for a six or seven minute track recording eight tracks into it, any more, you do not have enough memory to master the recording. To do this, you have to bounce down to two tracks, and that requires enough recording time left to do it...and if you already have over six and a half minutes of eight tracks, you probably don't with the card that comes with. I had to purchase the 1gig card for it...which was hard to find as Roland supplied a list of compatible cards, and I had to order it from Radio Scrap which cost twice as much as Sprawl Mart, but they didn't have it. At the price you pay for this machine, it should have came included! Another issue is the fact that there is no MIDI to sync the drum machine. Most users, like me, do not want to use a computer for music. Having a USB interface instead of MIDI is to me, defeating the purpose of having a stand-alone recorder and MIDI in and out would have been better. I do like the low current draw of the unit, and some good nickel-metal hydride cells (Duracell 2,650 milliamp hour rechargeables) make it very reliable, and although plastic (metal would be better) it is well-made.

  10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

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