The Old Roland Digital Recorders,1680,1880,etc..or PT LE

[rallycapmusic]

Do you guys remember the old roland digital recorders. was it me or did they sound real good goin into and comin out vs tracking into PT str8 up and getting a real dull digital sound out of it. I had the 1680 back when they came out. and as i recall i made WAY better recordings than what i have in PT with out running out spending a grip on things to make what u put into it sound good. i would track my MPC and other gear right in and got a real warm sound. anyone else experienced that sound?

[fast-ideas]

I had the smaller one of those - I think the 1280.

I don't know about sound but I couldn't get rid of that thing fast enough. I hated the operating system which had to be the most un-intuitive badly thought out pieces of lame arse design ever. It and the manual were Roland at their absolute worst. I thought it was so bad I actually felt guilty selling it to the guy that bought it off me.

I then bought a Digi 001 and thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

I know the 1680 was obviously the big brother of the range and a different proposition but the OS was pretty much the same. Uuuuuuurghhh - the horror.

I was an MPC man myself and was happy to steer clear of computers and have hardware for recording. Working with my Roland put pay to that. I'm happy with Pro Tools.

[azwun25]

the old ones (vs880, vs840, vs1680 etc) all recorded compressed waves. so you were not even getting the whole waveform as the unit crushed the size for lack of space. i personally think they were terrible to operate and sound terrible as well. YMMV

[rallycapmusic]

well i didnt know that it compressed the waves so maybe that was what i ment when i said it had a"different sound" but for some reason i think back on it,it sounded better than what sound i have now. it mad my MPC and whatever i recorded to it"warm". now all i get is a digital stail sound. ive tracked soft synth's and hardware synth's and my sound sounds so digital.then again im not running it through anything, just goin stra8 in my mbox mini2. come to think of it now,i never ran my gear into anything back then with the 1680. i went str8 in and the sound was"punchier and thick".

[daillman]

try a highend pre i use pacifica and la 610,warmth punch clairity you got it.

[rallycapmusic]

ok but how should i route sounds through the pre if im using internal synth's

[beat you down]

Originally Posted by azwun25

i personally think they were terrible to operate

yep!
don't go there!!!!!

[zaczac]

I've recently switched from a 1680 to a firestudio with Digital Performer. Besides the pain of editing on a screen the size of a blackberry, I'm not a big fan of the 1680 sound. I've been much happier with what I can get out of my inexpensive firestudio. Can't be more specific about Pro Tools though.

[fast-ideas]

It was an 840 or 880 I had.

I remember that routing things to record was a particularly tortuous procedure. The effects were terrible as well.

I hated it so much that I went back to recording on my Tascam four track.

In general, I've been lucky with musical equipment in general that I've bought things like the MPC 3000 which were great buys.

That machine stands out as my one turkey.

I used to LOVE my 880. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

Other than the fact that I paid too much for it (I bought it the week it came out), and I kept frying Jazz Drives, the VS880 was a cool tool at the time.

I could get good sounds from it recording with the compression turned off. I used to sync it to my adats and fly vocals.

Editing wasn't so bad. It was locked to bar/beats and somewhat like editing on a sequencer.

OF course I loved the move to a digi 001 when it came out. But my 880 was portable, it didn't need a compter, and I still have songs today that were originally tracked to it. It was a cool purchase at the time because nothing else was available to do what it did.

NOW, I'll NEVER understand why guys went to 1680's etc... (There were other things available by the time these came out).

[Ace'Lo]

Originally Posted by no ssl yet

I used to LOVE my 880. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

Other than the fact that I paid too much for it (I bought it the week it came out), and I kept frying Jazz Drives, the VS880 was a cool tool at the time.

I could get good sounds from it recording with the compression turned off. I used to sync it to my adats and fly vocals.

Editing wasn't so bad. It was locked to bar/beats and somewhat like editing on a sequencer.

OF course I loved the move to a digi 001 when it came out. But my 880 was portable, it didn't need a compter, and I still have songs today that were originally tracked to it. It was a cool purchase at the time because nothing else was available to do what it did.

NOW, I'll NEVER understand why guys went to 1680's etc... (There were other things available by the time these came out).

Gotta agree.. I went from the 1680 into Protools HD and I love the difference!!