[Nfb-web] Mixer shopping

[Peter Donahue]

Hello everyone,

    We're wanting to purchase a mixer to allow us to connect multiple audio
devices to our computers, and for doing conference recording. After visiting
the ear specialist to have both ears cleaned I went to the Alamo Music
Center in downtown San Antonio to check out mixers and other recording
equipment I'll need for these purposes. The sales rep showed me the BOS
BR-600 Mixer from Roland Corporation. This is an impressive piece of
equipment and goes far beyond what I needed from one of these devices.
Besides containing two microphone inputs,and a line-in jack plus other
connectors for speakers, a head set, and a USB connector for interfacing a
MIDI device or to connect the mixer to a PC it has many other features that
surprised me for a mixer valued at $400.00. In addition to the above the
unit has many buttons most of which activate a single function, (track
selection, track volume, power on and off, channel volume, recording
functions, and numerous controls to activate on-board audio and MIDI
effects, and to access the demo songs which also come as standard equipment
installed in this unit. The unit also contains an on-board  240GB hard
drive, and a slot for a compact flash card. If it had a CD burner I'd have a
way to burn CDS on the fly although the ret told me that some of the other
mixers they sell have additional input channels and a built-in CD burner.
This thing for all practical purposes can function as a stand-alone digital
recorder. Thus if someone wants a convention session or other meeting
recorded, but not streamed to the Web the BOS BR-600 could do the job quite
nicely. Audio stored on the hard drive can be saved to the compact flash
card for later transfer to a PC. I forgot to ask him if the BR-600 would be
recognized as an additional hard drive by Windows if the unit is connected
directly to a PC via the USB Port permitting files to be transferred
directly from the unit to the PC for further editing and eventual burning to
a CD, or for upload to the Internet. I'd be curious to know if anyone has
seen this mixer and if you were able to use it successfully?

    Although I'm impressed with the rich features of the BOS BR-600 I felt
that having more inputs for three or more microphones and an on-board CD
burner would be preferable to the music demos, especially if I can get it
for the same amount or less. The salesman took many notes on the kind of
digital recording set-up I plan to purchase and is going to do more research
to see if he can find a better fit for my needs.

Although Alamo Music Center may be pricy their service is second to none. We
bought our Yamaha PSR-340 Keyboard from them in 2000 and have never had a
problem with it. Now if I could purchase a laptop from them for my digital
recording set-up I'll be in business! Unfortunately they don't wheel and
deal in computers so it's back to Best-Buy for that part of the operation.

    As mentioned above I'll be curious to hear about your experiences with
the BOS BR-600, and would like recommendations for other mixers I should
consider purchasing for these purposes. Your feedback will be very much
appreciated.

Peter Donahue