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Hi Does any one use  Boss BR-80 portable recorder. I record myself and play duets and my old recorder packed it in. I have a small Zoom but it is too small and only has one battery. Is the Boss any good and can you connect it to speakers. Any other recorders you can suggest. Cheers Max.

Specifications HERE

According to which, yes it can be connected to speakers via the Headphone/line out.

You can plug in your Zoom for power, and you can connect it to an external speaker.

Cheaper than a new recorder!

Thanks I'll try it

I record myself with my Zoom H2 connected to my laptop running Audacity, which is connected to decent speakers. 

This works great.  The USB port powers the Zoom, in fact it comes on without being turned on which seems a bit strange.  The laptop allows me to playback instantly. 

Occasionally I screw up the settings on Audacity and the laptop uses its own microphone.  That distorts the tone something fierce, and I can't afford to sound any worse than I do.  Hee, hee.  But the Zoom seems pretty accurate. 

An inexpensive(but very high quality! )and easy to use digital recorder is the Tascam DR-05.

With the latest firmware update, you can even overdub another track.

For more passable sound quality, try a Tascam TM-ST1 external mic as well. An improvement over the built-ins.

Has external audio jack out.

You're not talking super-quality hiss-free recording here...but as good as any Zoom or Roland product.

Nice and portable! I've used this setup to record live gigs, and then edited the audio file at home with excellent results.

Quote from: cmillar on Jun 14, 2017, 09:18AM
Nice and portable! I've used this setup to record live gigs, and then edited the audio file at home with excellent results.

Is it hard to get the file out?

I made the mistake of buying a minidisc recorder. 

I still have it, and will let it go cheap.

Getting the files out and onto a PC defeated me.  Theoretically it can be done, but I never succeeded.

It did make good recordings. 

Quote from: cmillar on Jun 14, 2017, 09:18AMAn inexpensive(but very high quality! )and easy to use digital recorder is the Tascam DR-05.

With the latest firmware update, you can even overdub another track.
Yay Tascam! I got the Tascam DR-40 because I wanted the XLR/phantom inputs and 4-track capability for around the house scratch demos: play guitar, add piano, go from there.

It works well out of the box for set it/forget it rehearsal recording. I (also) suspect most of these gadgets are comparable in this usage.

The DR-40 mics are unidirectional and give good stereo spread ... the DR-05 mics are omni, and would likely pickup more crowd/room in a live recording (but I haven't used one).

 

Quote from: timothy42b on Jun 14, 2017, 05:16AMI record myself with my Zoom H2 connected to my laptop running Audacity, which is connected to decent speakers. 

The USB port powers the Zoom, in fact it comes on without being turned on which seems a bit strange. 

It's by design.  If you power the Zoom on, it's a handheld recorder.  If you plug it into USB, it allows you to choose whether you want to use it as an audio interface to the computer or as an external drive.

I have a little story about my zoom Q3 recorder. My second daughter 5 years old thought it was a little dirty so she wash it with lot of soap and water. I caught her in the act and it was then full of soap everywhere. Look daddy its now very clean! I had to laugh a little, but thought it was complete destroyed. I told her to rinse it with lot of hot water and in the end I tried to shake the water out of it. Then I put it up in a hot space in the bathroom. I had given it up, but just took it up here the another day. Then it had been 2 months in that hot place. Surprice, it worked nice as ever. Even there is still dry soap inside the display, it works same as before! Strange!

Leif

Some people wash keyboards and other electronic parts in water.

If they're not powered, it does no harm.  If they're under power and electricity gets somewhere it shouldn't bad things happen. 

Leif, you probably wouldn't believe how many times that recorder was washed with water during its manufacture.  Each time, it was completely dried before it was turned on.

Now some soaps are conductive and if there was soap residue left inside, that could be a problem.  Probably not in your case.

Quote from: timothy42b on Jun 14, 2017, 09:26AMIs it hard to get the file out? 

Not at all....it connects through USB flawlessly (at least it does on my Mac's).

I just connect through USB, drag the audio files onto my computer somewhere, and then import into my editing software.

No problems at all.

(...I edit in either Digital Performer or DSP-Quattro.)

Quote from: Max Croot on Jun 12, 2017, 06:08AMHi Does any one use  Boss BR-80 portable recorder. I record myself and play duets and my old recorder packed it in. I have a small Zoom but it is too small and only has one battery. Is the Boss any good and can you connect it to speakers. Any other recorders you can suggest. Cheers Max.

It's not portable, but I use a Presonus Audiobox, running Logic on my Mac. I keep it set up, so I don't have to mess with setting it up every time I use it. I'm running Logic Pro 9. I found it in a pawn shop,sealed, for $50. It's the academic version, so it's not eligible for an upgrade. That's okay, as it does everything I need it to.

Jerry Walker

Quote from: Max Croot on Jun 12, 2017, 06:08AMHi Does any one use  Boss BR-80 portable recorder. I record myself and play duets and my old recorder packed it in. I have a small Zoom but it is too small and only has one battery. Is the Boss any good and can you connect it to speakers. Any other recorders you can suggest. Cheers Max.

It's not portable, but I use a Presonus Audiobox, running Logic on my Mac. I keep it set up, so I don't have to mess with setting it up every time I use it. I'm running Logic Pro 9. I found it in a pawn shop,sealed, for $50. It's the academic version, so it's not eligible for an upgrade. That's okay, as it does everything I need it to.

Jerry Walker