Boss BR-900CD 8-Track Recorder with CDR and Effects
The BR-900CD from Boss is one of the most popular portable multi-track recorders and features tons of new COSM guitar-amp models, new drum-editing software app and 500 minutes of recording time via 1GB Compact Flash.
Overall User Ratings (based on 175 ratings)
Submitted March 24, 2017 by Michael Sigman in Ammon, ID
"I have had this unit for over 10 years and it is evrything a musician needs"
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since owning this Br-900 I have recorded countless songs and it has allowed me the flexability to explore and store many creative venues and styles ive created and copied. I highly recomend this product and have had no problems with it whatsoever
Musical Background:
Ive been playing for 56 years and play electric and acoustic guitars as well as Bass
Musical Style:
Classic Rock and Original
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Submitted March 29, 2007 by a customer from hotmail.com
"Impressive and Highly-Portable Recording Studio!"
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I purchased the Boss BR-900CD digital audio workstation after considering the Zoom H4, Boss Micro BR, and Boss BR-600. I chose the Boss BR-900CD for its sturdy and compact design, high-quality recording capabilities, RCA inputs, and the inclusion of an AC power adapter. This digital recorder is loaded with features, and is ready to use right out of the box! The built-in tuner is very convenient; and the multitude of effects combines Boss guitar, bass, and vocal processing units into a single package! The Boss BR-900CD's features produce a studio-quality CD, from recording to mastering; and even records to first-generation Compact Flash memory! Be prepared to study the manual, but know that it's definitely worth it!
Sound
Perfect sound, and awesome built-in effects processing!
Features
Wish it had the ability to simultaneously use an expression pedal and foot switch, like its big brothers.
Ease of Use
Complicated, but the DVD manual was a huge help! The 200 page written manual is also a huge help!
Quality
Built solid!
Value
Lots of goodies packed in this box, making it a great value!
Manufacturer Support
Now that Boss/Roland has email support, receiving support is a breeze!
The Wow Factor
Sleek shape, the layout of the mixer, and the dusky-silver exterior look awesome!
Musical Background:
Active Musician & Recording Engineer
Musical Style:
Classical, Bluegrass, Punk, Weird Stuff
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Submitted June 23, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com
"read the manual!"
i'm looking for a replacement right now, but thats because i'm going to have a studio built onto my house and i dont want this dinky little thing as my main mixer.
Sound
It's great, but you really only have 4 good sounding tracks to work with, so it gets a little hard. also, when you bounce the music to one track, i find it gets a lesser quality to it and sounds a bit muffled. other than that, it has beautiful sound!
Features
holy crap! it has everything! the only thing is i wish i knew how to do the pitch correction....but that's my fault. there are hundreds of effects and tons of drum settings.
Ease of Use
it will take you a few months to get the hang of it, but after that...smooth sailing. make sure you READ THE MANUAL!
oh, and dont even touch the memory card, or open the door to it. the whole machine will be completely screwed up if you do, believe me!!!!
Quality
built like an ox. except there are some stains appearing, almost like rust on a car. i cant figure out what it is...
Value
it good, of course it could be better *more tracks* hint hint.......
Manufacturer Support
i've had to send my machine back 2 times. once it wasnt recording my mic, and this second time, it wont burn CD's. the support staff was excellent, very kind and patient with me. they sent me a shipping label, but i'm going to be moving to DC in a week, so if i send it back, they wont know where to send it back to me at. so they said to send it, and they will hold it until i'm ready. it was cool.
The Wow Factor
its sexy.
Musical Background:
recording/singing/writing i play guitar/paino
Musical Style:
pop/r&b
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Submitted November 28, 2006 by a customer from yahoo.com
"NEED A BETTER TECH-SUPPORT AND WRITTEN OWNERS MANUAL"
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If I could use it better, I would not get rid of it. I think the product is cool, just hard to understand. The directions or user manual is not easy to make sense of. Write it in retard mode for us simpletons and have a lot of pictures. Put a step by step video on line for each option with a click-on link to only that function. For instance, I want to know how to use the pitch correction mode. Click on link for that funtion and it will bring you to that video only.
Sound
I good enough to get a 7. It could be better if I knew what I was doing.
Features
The pitch control is cool if I new how to use it. The staff at Boss are helpful to a point, but they seem to be a bit snobby when you ask them to repeat the process. What they lack is the thought that we are not technical people and thats why we call for help. I would rate this machine a 10 if the staff at Boss were easier to get along with. They blow you off and make you feel unimportant.
Ease of Use
Some of the functions are ok to understand, but for a guy that has no technical background it's not that easy to learn. Terminology is important in order to get a better understanding of what your reading. I think a video that has each option with a better view of each button pushed and why would make it easier to learn. The video with the Austrailian guy was good, the guy knows his stuff, but he blows through it to fast. When you show an example. Demonstrate the entire task 100% and do it for every one of them.
Quality
It appears to be a decent quality product. I think the quality of the staff that works in tech support needs more help than the product. Personality and friendliness is important
Value
Good!
Manufacturer Support
They answered the question, but made me feel as if I was stupid and they were short with me. If I new more than what I know about this product, I would not call them for help. When I talk to people, I always keep a smile on my face and treat them with respect. That goes for any business.
The Wow Factor
I didn't buy it for apperance. I bought it for function. I just wish I could understand it better and I had a tech-support person that was nice and patient with me. If they don't want to be bothered, don't answer the phone. Tell them you are out mushing dogs in Alaska and you aren't available!!
Musical Background:
Guitar player for 35 years and drums five years
Musical Style:
Rock, folk, acoustic, blues etc...
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Submitted November 30, 2011 by a customer from live.com.au
"Manual of DOOM!!"
Buy something else.
Sound
The sound quality is okay, guitar amp sims aren't bad, vocal sounds aren't great, most of the presets are useless.
Features
I feel all round it's not bad, it covers most bases. The modulation effects and the reverb are good. But overall the system lacks warmth in it's sound quality.
Ease of Use
This product is a nightmare for the non techy type, after 5 years of owning the system I now know how to use it! I feel I will get a lot more out of a DAW system.
Quality
after 5 years a few of the buttons are iffy and the output RCA jacks are noisy.
Value
No, I think there are much better options out there.
Musical Background:
since I was 8, (8 years ago)
Musical Style:
rock and blues
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Submitted April 12, 2005 by a customer from paabel.ee
"I"
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
Features
Has nearly all I need - balanced inputs, phantom power, midi out to sync with midi tracker, storagr room up to 1Gig with removable card (thats a good thing - when hard disc gets full, its full, now I just drop by to nearest PC store and buy new 1Gig if i need...). As the card doesnt have any movable physical parts while recording, so I
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
Jazz and Pop-Rock
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Submitted February 3, 2010
"Dont ouch outdated roland products even though they are current models"
Sound
Would like to see 96k 24 bit capability
Features
The compact flash card is no longer available. I purchased one from Roland Australia and whn it was removed to put in the old one, a pin came loose in the compact flash socket. Roland Australia want $500.00 dollars to repair it as they say there are no longer any individual sockets and the main board has to be replaced. Good luck any one who owns one.
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Submitted January 20, 2008
""BR-900CD is GR-EATCD!""
I am excited about owning this. An upgrade is in order as I branch out a bit more, musically/variety-wise.
For the moment, it's great.
Sound
Every recording I've made has had people asking "what studio did you record this in?"
The sound is really crisp and clear. All the effects are amazing. As long as you have a decent mic, the vocal-processing makes your voice sound great.
Features
Everything's great. The only thing that is kind of a shame is that it's marketed as an 8-track recorder, but 7 and 8 are essentially mastering tracks. This means that you can only really have 6 tracks.
The V-Tracks are great, though.
Built-in CD burner works really well, and being able to export the audio files to .wav by USB is also great.
Ease of Use
Simple, professional-sounding recording.
Plug and play, essentially.
Quality
Amazing. Buy this.
Value
Amazing value. Talk about bang-fer-buck!
Manufacturer Support
Had to deal with them once. My memory card messed up. It was not their fault. They were pretty helpful...
The Wow Factor
I went in to look at a KORG system like this. I saw the Boss model and decided "THIS IS MINE."
I was in the next day to buy it.
Musical Style:
Folk/Indie Rock/Acoustic/Punk/Pop-Punk/General Rock
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Submitted July 2, 2006
"you may be to lazy."
this is real cool in that its a compact digital mini studio, no computers, mixers, drum kits needed,so you can start making records rite off the bat. but i would mabye think about going in the pro tools recording interface/software direction, because even though you can create real cool tracks using this, its so time consuming to manualy go through all these functions, and the editing is painful.
Sound
id say sound is this products strength,the drum machine is realistic, the amp models are great. and everything basically gets layed down more clear and crispier than i imagined.
Features
great drum machine,you can create the drum track of your dreams with this playing drums with just your fingers.there are also very handy bass sims that turn your guitar into a virtual bass guitar,the guitar and bass amp models are decent, and theres lots of effects,a superb wah and chorus.the cd burner is obviously a plus, you will find that the memory card that comes with this is good for about 2 or 3 songs so you want to go get a 512 to put a record together
Ease of Use
this is why i wouldnt advise this product to impatient,or short fused folks, there are functions that make you jump through firy hoops, and the manual from hell,good thing for the support line because the manual will lead you to more dead ends then you may be able to stand,definitly not a plug in and start recording type of thing,i guess like anything you have to learn it inside out before you can make it do what you want it to do, it just gets under my skin sometimes how freakin complex it is to edit mix master etc.
Quality
boss, its no joke.
Value
you get your monrys worth, you can record,mix,master, and burn a cd, and all you need is a guitar,and mic,
Manufacturer Support
ive had to call up a few times and they were helpful, but it seamed like i would always get this same girl, or this same dude, and they started to get ticked off like the third time i called up, then this chick was absolutely no help anymore after the 4th time i had got her, she was almost condesending, like i needed to just go figure it out and stop bugging her
The Wow Factor
decent looking
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Submitted May 5, 2006
"Epiphany"
It's awesome, what else can one say. Oh yea, better than fostex or whatever it is.
Sound
Generally, I'm not a stickler for vocals being as sharp as possible, but this gets an A+ from me. I can pump my Fender Twin Reverb up to 10, with an Sm57 mic, and every roaring note in all it's glory is captured. Some machines I've used get a little scratchy at high volumes, little distorted from it's true nature, but not here. Just turn a few knobs and perfection is reached. You have to understand, 700 dollars is far from "professional", but for the money, and being digital, this far exceeded my expectations. Saxophone also comes out very nicely.
Features
I can essentially plug any piece of hardware into it, record, and either master it, or drop the files onto my mac for editing. I've recording guitar, keyboard, bass, turntables, all without a microphone. The guitar simulation on this is outstanding; the highlight of this machine. Every model is tweak-a-ble to your personal preference. Number 2 for features is the drum machine, no doubt. It took me awhile to figure out how to use it, but once I found it, the beats were just flowin'.
Ease of Use
I've owned this for 6 months and I'm yet to crack open the manual. Many recording sessions have gone down on intuition alone.
Quality
Roland is top notch no matter what they make. This thing is a brick and will last longer than I will.
The Wow Factor
It's a recorder, not made to look pretty. But let me tell you, when I saw Roland made DIGITAL RECORDERS, this thing was mine. The 700 dollars ran out of my pocket for this thing.
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