BOSS Micro-BR :: Questions & Answers

Over on our blog there seems to be a lot of question as to exactly what the features of the BOSS Micro BR Digital Recorder are, so I thought I'd start this inaugural thread to help get some of those questions answered.

If you're one of the folks trying to decide whether this is the right piece of equipment for your needs, please leave a question here and I'll try to get some of those lucky Micro BR owners to fill us in on the details.

Hi Cary,
I have a few questions about the really amazing Micro BR.

1. Time-stretch: Can users chose how much? Or is it some preset value?
I like to loop a phrase at a slow speed to be able to "walk through it, then gradually increase speed". I usually do this on my computer sequencer, but would like to be able to do this with a portable unit.

2. Looping: Does the Micro BR have a loop function? If yes, can a time range selection be made or is the MP3 file repeated in its entirety?

3. Drum Tracks: Is there a plain metronome beat available? How about different time signatures such as 3/4, 6/8, etc?

I'm a guitar player who simply wants to rehearse with bass lines and a metronome beat. Sometimes those "killer" drum beats can be a distraction when trying to learn a guitar phrase. The advantage of a MIDI device is the ability to 'loop' and to adjust tempo from a crawl to a fast speed.

Thank you in advance for any input you can offer. The Micro BR looks promising.

1. Time-stretch is based on a percentage, from 25% to 200%. You can adjust the value in real-time (while the MP3 is playing).

2. Yes, you can loop based on a start and end position (A-B) within an MP3 or a recording you make. You can set the positions by punching it in real-time, by time value (eg, 2:03 - 2:33) and by measure #. The loop has to be for one second or longer.

3. Not sure about this one -- I just got the unit and haven't played with the rhythm bits yet.

3. Okay. Yeah, there's a plain metronome and you can set it to pretty much any time signature.

Time stretch does work but sound quality is not fantastic.You can time stretch MP3s but not tracks or songs before they have been converted to MP3.The Micro BR will loop parts of MP3 files for practice purposes but you can't then record over the top.
Looping can also be done by copying measures or parts thereof so if you use the internal drum machine everything should fit.You can't do on-the-hoof looping as with the DD-20 etc.
Yes there are metronome time signatures as rhythm tracks , the ones you mention plus many more (32 in total).

Has anyone tried a 4Gb SD memory card in it yet? If so does it work?

Hi folks,
I appreciate your feeback.
I purchased the Micro BR yesterday.
I put in a Sandisk 1GB SD card without a hitch.

The metronome allows for different time signatures such as 2/4, 3/4, 5/4, 7/4, 3/8, 6/8 which is pretty cool.

The hook-up to my old 533 MHz dual G4 with USB1.1 worked flawlessly. I was able to transfer files either way.

Regarding time-stretch, it's curious that the demo song sounded pretty fair even at 75%. However, a simple high-hat & bassline (using high quality samples) I converted to MP3 with Digital Performer started to sound flakey at 99%, and worse at only 98%.

But here is my primary concern: Looping MP3 causing a momentary glitch, pop, click, pause, whatever. I was hoping to create Bar/Beat phrases within my computer sequencer, convert to MP3, then loop them within the Micro BR to jam along. I then tried using fades in and out on the audio (within my computer sequencer) thinking that it might smooth out the bump. It did eliminate the pop or click, but the disruption to the timing is just enough to make this type of practice unusable.

The best solution I could come up with at this time was to have a 4 beat high hat count-in, then repeat the 4 bar phrase 4 or more times, with 1 bar of silence at the end. This MP3 can be looped without any obvious adverse effect. I'm not really sure if that timing bump is still occuring during the silence. But at least I can follow the high hat count-in for the next go around.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please post them.

I will most likely get a few SD cards, and carefully built up phrases of various lengths and tempos I can practice with. I can always switch to song mode to use the metronome, gradually increasing speed, then switch back to MP3 Trainer to play along with the backing track.

All things, considered, this is an amazing device given it's size and cost.

You guys may find this useful, it lets you extract any of the 32 tracks to wav files straight from the songs on the SD card onto your PC without converting them on the BR itself.
So you can insert them into a sequencer on your pc and mix/edit them there.

Roland U.S. - BR Wave Converter 2.0: Wave Converter Software

Hey,
I bookmarked it so I can look at more closely when I have a chance.
Thanks!!!

Thanks for the link to the conversion sofware! Just what the doctor ordered!