Roland VS 1880

[Thunderdan]

those boxes are awesome...Before everyone had a computer powerful enough to run a DAW if you came into a project studio that had a 1880 it was exciting...I used to do stuff with the bass player from the Commodores and he had two of those chained together back in 99 - 03 and he was able to get fantastic results. I remember they were a really big deal cause they record in 24 bit...My buddy who plays has one, uses it to record live gigs, demo stuff before hitting the big room etc.


If you do get one though get a bigger hard drive for it cause I think the stock one only lets you hold onto 5 or 6 six songs depending on how many tracks and virtual tracks you have recorded.

[bonusbmusic]

Ill be real about these...... if you buy one be prepared to compromise on every song. Last spring I felt that way... I bought a 1824 with the burner and all that thinking its good way to start then move on... well i grew out of it pretty fast. Within 2 months I pawned it for 125 bucks. Not that I needed the money but it was just taking up space, i despised looking at it. I went back to that shop the other week and its still sitting there. Im a hardware diehard but when it comes to recording/tracking/mixing i does not cut the mustard

Its great for multitrack recording like doing a live gig or something, plus very stable. But what it lacks makes it useless. Heres a list of shortcomings....

Only a 3 band eq that alone made it useless unless your tracks are perfect. If you have a track with 3 harsh frequencies you can only remove one cause 2 of those bands are high and low pass. Only 1 midband. I ****ing hated having to compromise sound quality

Only like 2 effects total, forget compressing more than 2 tracks, that would also mean no reverb or anything else. Even with the expansion board it does not do half of what you will need

One wrong button push can **** everything, i dont remember the details but i ruined alot of mixes by pushing one wrong button. Theres just too many buttons to push for one command and windows to scroll thru and shit

And finally with all the limitations i got literally nothing done on it, not one song. Just burning a cd requires so much shit that i just turned it off in frustration. I learned the whole machine but it sucks the inspiration right out of whatever your doing cause there is so much involved

Save yourself the trouble and download audacity for free, believe it or not it might do more. Thats my review from experience. They look cool but other than that a laptop and audacity will give you better mixes and WAAAAY more freedom. And finally before buying it i asked questions on here and did my research and people warned they are limiting but I had to learn for myself. Im using mixcraft now and it feels like stepping into a spaceship in comparison

By the way im a diehard roland fan, these things just cant do shit

[baoboa]

[warwickbermuda]

I've had a vs1680 since shortly after they first came out. They are wonderful machines, and once you get to know your way around them, they are quick to use and are capable of great results. I don't like the sound of the converters, so I used an outboard unit. Also, don't bounce down more than you have to, especially critical tracks, because the compression scheme starts making each subsequent bounce of any given source have a harsher/harder sound. I record ITB now, but I must say, using a roland recorder was faster and easier. By the way, the effects are great, especially the reverbs and the amp sims. The eq was more than adequate. The instrument input sounded better to me than any outboard preamp that I tried for bass. (Chameleon Labs, Focusrite ISA, Peavey VMP-2, Chandler Germanium, etc) Use a decent pre and converter, and you've got a robust and inexpensive setup. If you can't make a good recording on any of the vs series recorders and you're faulting the recorder, you don't know your way around the machine and you're placing blame in the wrong place.

[warwickbermuda]

And, if you're limited to one effects card, that's two effects that are available. Use your head and print the effects so you can free them up for other tracks. A little common sense can go a long way...

[bonusbmusic]

use my head? bro i did print effects but in comparison to a DAW its a dinosaur. Once i have a beat done i just want it mixed and finished, not a whole new staircase to climb. Regarding the converters i actually liked the sound kind of, it did seem to glue things together a little ill admit. The machine and effects actually sounded great to me

i also wanted to mention there is no USB for transfering files. You also cant move or edit anything effectively once its tracked. i remember tracking my first beat with it and getting frustrated with how much i couldnt do so i figured "ill just burn each track to cd and mix them in a DAW." couldnt happen cause i didnt track them in wav format . I remember having a weak snare wanting to paralel compress it but i couldnt. then this time i was bouncing a whole song to wav after like a 2 hour mix and pushed one button and it reset all effects and settings. that was the moment i was like **** this thing

you mentioned the 1880 and being on a tight budget, you would still need an external burner and effects board which is like an extra 200$ ATLEAST. If your set on getting one of these look into the 1824 or 2480. When sequencing a song sometimes limitations can make me more creative but when it comes to post production i dont like boundries. Hearing something in my head and not being able to achive it


i actually dont regret buying it cause it taught me the value of a simple computer and DAW. to sum everything up if your just messing around its fun to play with but if were talking a real mix forget about it, i took a big loss selling it for 125 but everytime i looked at it all i saw was my lost mixes and hated it. Right now im using just a hp laptop, roland tricapture and mixcraft and couldnt be happier good luck

[Goa-Dubs]

Loved mine in full resolution mode (vs1680)Could be a little noisy at times(quiet recordings)Solid,reliable-roland.

[tlennon]

Use my VS2000CD rarely for some of the same reasons as bonusbmusic stated. Use in now as a glorified mixer to my pre then track n mix everything ITB. Was fun using when I first started years ago though; before computers became so much more powerful.

[Goa-Dubs]

Originally Posted by tlennon

Use my VS2000CD rarely for some of the same reasons as bonusbmusic stated. Use in now as a glorified mixer to my pre then track n mix everything ITB. Was fun using when I first started years ago though; before computers became so much more powerful.

Same story around here for most people.BUT-gotta apperciate these things for there strong points.Otherwise we will confine ourselves to the do all practises in computer enviroment.Hardly a hip hop platform imo.i always loved the varied textures of independant creative recording techniques and lifestyle of raw hardware and jamming.Anyway-its just all sums up different in the VS.Raw....at least the 1680 was.

[SHAKAIB]

Kanye West - "The High School Graduate pt.1/2" - YouTube

at 4:03 what is that called? is that just a mixing console too and im assuming it is all connected the asr/mpc/roland 1880/ and this mackie he is using?. Just double checking, and with the mackie console he has or w/e it is called, does that give more effects/options? what can I do with that.

[Thunderdan]

thats just a mixer...Probably has a three band eq, trim, and thats about it...the thing about those hardware boxes is if you want effects you have to either get the roland plug in expansions or actually have hardware reverbs and compressors you like.


Before you buy anything write out your goals, get a clear vision of what you want to accomplish with the gear you purchase and then come back and ask everyone what they think.

[naj]

i can't speak for the 1880, but i can say that the roland 2480 is a beast. Nice if you use the third party plug-ins

[Tommycash]

I still use my 2480, love the results. Can't speak on the 1880 too much but it would be very limited in this day and age. Now the 2400cd and the 2480 are another story