Roland BR-1600CD - Meet the new Mayor of Digital Recording!

Meet the new Mayor of Digital Recording, the Boss BR-1600CD. Talk about a commanding presence - the BR-1600 is capable enough to become the centerpiece of your new digital recording studio. For starters, it records eight tracks at a time, and provides 256 V-Tracks per song. It features a full-blown Drum and Bass machine for a tight rhythm section, plus a Vocal Tool Box for your vocal tracks. Plus it sports hundreds of effects and a super-charged mixer with loop effects and EQ on every track. But all this authority doesn't get to the BR-1600CD's head - this gentle giant is easy to use. So whether you're into Hip Hop and making beats, or simply want to record a full-sized rock band, the BR-1600CD is the perfect choice.

To record a guitar or a keyboard, you only need to record one or two tracks at a time. But to record an acoustic drum kit or a whole band, you'll need more. The BR-1600CD delivers with eight tracks of simultaneous recording and 16 tracks of playback. For alternate takes and plenty of experimenting, you get 256 V-Tracks per song, just pick any 16 for playback. On the back, you'll find eight mic inputs on XLR connectors with phantom power so you can use condenser mics. Or, use eight 1/4" inputs for recording keyboards, drum machines, or sound modules. The dedicated guitar input eliminates the need for a direct box, simply plug your guitar or bass right in. There's even a digital input to record from your keyboard. The USB port on the back lets you import recordings from your computer into your song, and vice-versa. Up front you'll find two headphone jacks, so you and a friend can record together without waking up your neighbors. The BR-1600CD's built-in hard drive provides hours of recording time, and the CD-RW drive provides an easy way to back up your songs.

Recording is a cinch. Pick an input. Pick a track. Press RECORD, then PLAY. When you want to record eight mics at a time, just choose the MULTI-MICS input, and you're ready to go.

It's one thing when the whole band comes over to your house to record on the BR-1600. But what about when you're on your own? Where do you find a good rhythm section? For a solo performer, the Rhythm Guide is priceless. Think of it as simply the rest of your band. You get a full-blown, totally programmable drum machine with nine different drum kits to pick from, plus a programmable Bass Track. The Bass track has hundreds of bass riffs already programmed which you can chain together for your own song. Just give the BR-1600 some information about your song, like what the tempo is, the general style, and what the chord changes are. The Rhythm Guide plays it for you.

Once you've got the general tempo and song structure in place, you can change the style, from Hip Hop to Rock to Country and just about everything in between, with the flick of a dial. Change the drum kit or try a different bass guitar.

The best part is the Drum and Bass Tracks are free - that is, they don't eat up any space on your hard drive, so you still get hours of recording time. Since the Drums and Bass tracks each have its own fader, you're in total control when it comes to the mix.

With a world-class Rhythm Section in place, it's time to spiff up your vocal recordings. The Vocal Tool Box is just the thing. This new tool provides pitch correction for any vocal track. Or, you can use it to generate intelligent harmony parts. Custom tailored for the human voice, the Vocal Tool Box follows and responds to the chord changes you program in the Rhythm Section. It knows that if you sing an E, for example, and the chord is a C Major, it will fill in the rest of the parts. Instant harmonies!

The mixer in the BR-1600 provides all the right tools for sweetening. Start with multi-band EQs on every track. The EQ section lets you change the tone of each track individually, so you can make sure your vocal parts don't get upstaged by the rhythm guitars. Then add eight channel compressors to help smooth out changes in the volume of each track, so when it comes time to mix your song, you don't have to worry about the levels jumping all over the place. There's also a Chorus/Delay and a Reverb on every track, so you get to decide how little or how much you want to use on a track by track basis.

In the Effects department, the BR-1600CD is loaded with tons of COSM guitar and bass models and processors. Use Microphone Modeling, Guitar Amp Models, even a Bass Guitar Simulator, so you can use your regular electric guitar to play bass parts. The guitar effects in the BR-1600CD are comparable to those found in the acclaimed Boss GT-6 Guitar Effects Processor, which is enough to give any guitar player a permanent case of the warm and fuzzies.

Even with it's abundance of features, the BR-1600CD is phenomenally easy to use. Its layout and feel will sooth the fears of even the worst-case technophobe. There are plenty of clearly labeled buttons and four oversized knobs for making settings. Plus the big, easy to read icon-based display. Boss's goal with the entire family of BR Digital Studios was to keep them as musician-friendly as possible. So it's approved for use by even a total beginner.