help with Boss BR-900CD

Multitrack recorders, controllers, and other studio equipment
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grimmy
Posts: 3
Joined: 12:42, 28 May 2007

help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by grimmy »

hello fellow guitar players, im totally new to this so bear with me, bout 8 months ago i bought the bad ass boss 900cd, i love it to bits and even though it took me ages to learn how to use it im glad i got one, its good to hear yourself on cd, neway i get to the point ive been using the boss 900 to record my jams etc, and the trouble i have with it is that i cant seem to get the drums to record to cd, i know it sounds stupid but ive been trying to get that to work for ages,here is where i start- i record track1 as my backing track as it where, and then track2 as my solo, then i do the drums on track 3 and everything is going ok, i set the tempo and then when im done i stop it, then i master it and then when i finally burn it i only get track 1 and track 2 , im putting the drums as track 3, before i burn it to cd it states 78v1 and two black boxes, now i know thats my backing track and solo, so should there be 3 black boxes to show the drums?,newho when it goes to cd its just tracks 1 and 2, where am i going wrong, i been reading that bible of a manual and still i havnt got anywhere, i just got hold of the turbo start and i still had the same problem, now i read that i might have to program my own drum sounds? is this true? is there a way i can use the preset drum sounds and change the tempo and record my jams with that to cd, if theres any one who can help me or tell me where i am going wrong then i would be very very thankful,so at this time i have bout 50 jams on my ipod but after a while 2 track jams do get boring, lol, im just missing the drums as its making my music sound empty, also if any one wants to know what gear i have amps etc just let me no and i be happy to reply. again thank you for reading my stoner problem. also how would i be able to let you guys hear my jams, right now i have them on bloody i tunes, i would like to hear what you guys and gals think, any feed back would be helpful,let me know how i would go bout doing this and i would be happy to do this.thanks grimmy
gjackson
Posts: 6
Joined: 14:31, 7 May 2007

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by gjackson »

Grimmy,
I have a BOSS BR-900CD as well. I haven't done much with the drums, but I may know what is going on. Forgive me if I'm telling you something that you already know.

It seems to me that you've left out the "bouncing" step that needs to take place between the recording and the mastering.

Basically, bouncing is taking all three of your tracks (or more if you are working with more than three), and combining them to one track, which is typically one of the 7/8 stereo tracks. To bounce your three tracks, after you are finished recording, you'll hit the "Rec Mode" button until the word "bounce" shows up in small letters on the left side of your display. This will prepare the BR900 to bounce all three of your tracks together. Hit the "zero" button to make sure that you're at the beginning, then hit the record button, and then the play button. Your three tracks will then be mixed to one track (most likely the 7/8 V1 track). After the jam or song is finished, press the stop button. At this point, you should be able to fade the levels of tracks 1, 2, and 3 down to zero (basically turning them off) and fade the level of the 7/8 track up to a normal level, and you should be able to hear all three of your tracks mixed together.

After this is done, to master the tracks, you'll hit the rec mode button again to get to the "mastering mode." It will ask you for the source track, (I think it defaults to the last recorded track on the 7/8 track, which is the one you just bounced to). Hit enter, and you can master the 7/8 V1 track onto a new 7/8 V2 track. After you master this to the 7/8 V2 track, you can then burn the 7/8 V2 track onto a CD.

I hope I didn't get too detailed here. Let me know if this doesn't work or if you have more questions.
grimmy
Posts: 3
Joined: 12:42, 28 May 2007

thanks dude i owe you

Post by grimmy »

cheers for the info i will try it on my next day off,i cant wait to use it and get mine tunes all together, again thanks for helping me out man, by the way you wouldnt know how a guitarist could tell if his emgs need new batterys ? how does one tell if it needs replacing, i mean we can all tell the difference in sound etc but i mean is there any way i can tell by my guitar, i have emgs 85 an 84 and also s p90, apart from the sound going deadish what else can i use or do to test my guitar and see if they need replacing. again any help on this random topic and i would be helpful, it came across to me as many friends of mine run there guitars on emgs and so do i , one night we was chattin and none of knew when they need changing etc, we all discussed the noise factor when the sound becomes crapy but is there any way of testing the emgs?? at the moment im running a jackson pro performer with emgs 84 sp90 and 85 ,it might be a weird combo but its amazing, newho thanks for reading.


grimmy
gjackson
Posts: 6
Joined: 14:31, 7 May 2007

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by gjackson »

Grimmy,
Can't help you with the emg's. To be honest, I'm not sure that I even know what an emg is. Is that some kind of microphone or external pickup for your guitar?
oz_boz
Posts: 2
Joined: 05:11, 5 June 2007

BR-900CD

Post by oz_boz »

Grimmy - man, looks like your having fun with this thing. I've just been bought one, along with a DR-670 drum machine, and I'm having all sorts of fun and games trying to get the stupid thing to record anything. I pretty sure I'm following the instructions and I'm not looking to do anything complicated - I've got some tunes I want to put down and I like some of the preset drum stuff but for the life of me I can't get the bloody thing to record the drums ! I tried doing the 'bouncing trick' but it wouldn't let me record the drums. I'm going bananas with this thing but right now, I'm looking at taking it back and getting another guitar ! HELP !!! Oh, and does anyone know how you can use the drum machine (DR-670) and record the stuff on there ? I've got it connected via midi but it doesn't mention anything about drum machines, just sequencers.
Re your EMG's - pickups I presume ? Are they active ? Speak to David Gilmour (pink floyd) he uses EMG's ......hahahaha.
gjackson
Posts: 6
Joined: 14:31, 7 May 2007

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by gjackson »

OZ,
Have you watched the instructional DVD on how to use the BR900? I believe it had some good instructions on there on how to record the drums. When I bought my BR900, it didn't come with a DVD. I didn't even know there was one until it showed up in the mail two or three weeks later. I'm not sure why it didn't come in the box with the unit.
oz_boz
Posts: 2
Joined: 05:11, 5 June 2007

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by oz_boz »

Mr Jackson.......thanks for advice re the DVD. Mine didn't come with one so I'll go and have a word with the guys at the music shop I got it from. I have sort of got round the problem by using the DR-670 drum machine (although only connected via mono input and not through the MIDI ) and that seems to have worked o.k. - well at least I can put down some drum patterns and it does record them o.k. Appreciate your help. many thanks.
Glassjaw
Posts: 11
Joined: 17:48, 27 December 2007

drum recording??

Post by Glassjaw »

I have a question about recording drums, currently the rythym and the arrangment (heavy 2) just plays along with my four tracks . i want to record this to a track how do i do this? If I do this can i change the arrangment? I want this arrangment for the first forty seconds but then to change it for the verse can this be recorded on the same tracK?

Thanks in advance!
64Guitars
Posts: 39
Joined: 18:09, 1 April 2007
Contact:

re: drum recording??

Post by 64Guitars »

Glassjaw wrote:
I have a question about recording drums, currently the rythym and the arrangment (heavy 2) just plays along with my four tracks . i want to record this to a track how do i do this? If I do this can i change the arrangment? I want this arrangment for the first forty seconds but then to change it for the verse can this be recorded on the same tracK?

You don't need to record the drums to a track (two tracks, actually - they're stereo). The drums are already on their own stereo track (sort of). That's why the Rhythm Guide fader has a "9" under it. It's like a 9th (and 10th) track in the mixer. When you finish recording all your tracks and you bounce everything down to 2 v-tracks (see pages 58-59 of the BR-900CD manual), the drums will be included in this mix. You can adjust the level of the drums within the mix using the Rhythm Guide fader control.

Creating your own drum arrangements is actually quite easy. See these pages on my website:

http://www.geocities.com/sixtyfourguita ... Intro.html

http://www.geocities.com/sixtyfourguita ... ample.html

Hope that helps.

- 64Guitars
http://www.geocities.com/sixtyfourguitars/BossBr/

Glassjaw
Posts: 11
Joined: 17:48, 27 December 2007

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by Glassjaw »

ou don't need to record the drums to a track (two tracks, actually - they're stereo). The drums are already on their own stereo track (sort of). That's why the Rhythm Guide fader has a "9" under it. It's like a 9th (and 10th) track in the mixer. When you finish recording all your tracks and you bounce everything down to 2 v-tracks (see pages 58-59 of the BR-900CD manual), the drums will be included in this mix. You can adjust the level of the drums within the mix using the Rhythm Guide fader control.

Creating your own drum arrangements is actually quite easy. See these pages on my website:

http://www.geocities.com/sixtyfourguita ... Intro.html

http://www.geocities.com/sixtyfourguita ... ample.html

Hope that helps.


So if I put my recording on to a cd the drums will be there? The second guide is for creating your own arrangment though isn't it? I want to use heavy 2 preset. I'm using this preset but it carries on playing. I want it to stop at a certain time and then for a different preset to start playing eg hdrock 3 but if I change it heavy 2 changes to hdrock 3.
64Guitars
Posts: 39
Joined: 18:09, 1 April 2007
Contact:

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by 64Guitars »

So if I put my recording on to a cd the drums will be there?

Before you can put your song on a CD, you have to bounce your tracks down to a stereo pair of v-tracks, then you can write that pair of tracks to a CD. If the Rhythm Guide fader control was turned up during the bounce then, yes, the drums will be there.

The second guide is for creating your own arrangment though isn't it? I want to use heavy 2 preset. I'm using this preset but it carries on playing. I want it to stop at a certain time and then for a different preset to start playing eg hdrock 3 but if I change it heavy 2 changes to hdrock 3.

You can only play one arrangement at a time. However, you can copy the preset arrangement to a song arrangement and edit it, adding whatever patterns you like.

Really, you should read the pages I linked to in my last message and try the example arrangement. Once you've done that, you should have a good idea of how to create an arrangement or edit an existing one, and you'll realize how easy it is.

The preset arrangements included with the BR are not very useful. You need to learn how to create your own. If you like a particular preset arrangement, such as HEAVY2, you can copy it to a song arrangement as I mentioned earlier, or you can simply create a new arrangement using the same patterns as HEAVY2, then edit it to your liking. For example, HEAVY2 consists of the following patterns:

P073: HEVY2-IN
P074: HEVY2-V1
P075: HEVY2-F1
P076: HEVY2-V2
P077: HEVY2-F2
P076: HEVY2-V2
P078: HEVY2-E
P327: BREAK
P074: HEVY2-V1

All of the preset arrangements work the same way. They just play the patterns of the same name for Intro, Verse 1, Fill 1, Verse 2, Fill 2, Verse 2, and Ending. Then there's a 3-measure break, followed by the verse 1 pattern repeating indefinitely. For example, here's HdRck3:

P049: HdRc3-IN
P050: HdRc3-V1
P051: HdRc3-F1
P052: HdRc3-V2
P053: HdRc3-F2
P052: HdRc3-V2
P054: HdRc3-E
P327: BREAK
P050: HdRc3-V1

The preset arrangements aren't very useful because the song part (up to the break) is too short for a song. Then, after the break, it just repeats the verse until you press [STOP]. This is pretty useless for an actual song. So you have to create your own arrangement using whatever patterns suit your song. I think the preset arrangements were included in the BR just to give you an idea of the possibilities and to let you hear how the various parts (Intro, Verse 1, Fill 1, etc.) of a particular set of patterns (HEAVY2, for example) will sound together in an arrangement. Preset arrangements aren't meant to be used as the drum track for your song. For that, you need to create your own arrangement. Luckily, that's very easy to do. I don't know why beginners always seem to be intimidated by arrangements and avoid creating their own like the plague. There's nothing to be afraid of -- it's very easy. Try my example and you'll soon see that I'm right.

- 64Guitars
http://www.geocities.com/sixtyfourguitars/BossBr/

Glassjaw
Posts: 11
Joined: 17:48, 27 December 2007

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by Glassjaw »

Thanks alot 64guitars, yeah I sorted out the song arrangments last night thanks to the brilliant guides on your page! I will be reading the v track and bouncing guide and then putting my recording to cd :) thanks alot.
larryp
Posts: 4
Joined: 04:04, 15 October 2010

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by larryp »

can you help me with inserting effects to seperate tracks before bouncing to 7/8. I am getting the hang og recording and bouncing and just started to rec dry. I bounced my vocal tracks together on to one track and want to insert effects to that track then insert different effects to my acoustic guitar tracks before I bounce it all to 7/8. The instructions with this thing seem to always leave something out or I am to unexperienced to understand. Thanks
IKKIS_DMR
Posts: 1
Joined: 19:25, 9 August 2013

Re: help with Boss BR-900CD

Post by IKKIS_DMR »

i have two tracks i cant seem to get them down to one track to be able to burn it on a cd when i do it plays either track one or two can anyone help
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