Transferring recordings from an old Boss BR-8 to MP3 or WAV

[Patriot54]

My question is simple but I'll explain the situation first.

I have a Boss BR-8 that I've had for years but it records on to ZIP disks and I want to transfer to MP3 and/or WAV. I almost bought the newer Boss system, but I wanted to keep it simple and cheap for as long as I can because I've done some decent recording on the BR-8 and I'd rather save that money for more Warmoth guitars. So I looked up what I would need on guitarcenter.com (a little Behringer interface for about $30) and I went to the local GC store but they didn't have that one. So I told the guy what I wanted it for (just transferring audio, software included, nothing fancy). He says that the next best thing is an interface that comes with Cubase for about $60. I smelled some BS there, but I took the time to read the details, system requirements, etc. So I decided to buy it mostly for the inputs but I could also have a little studio on my computer as well. I get it home and set everything up to where I got the audio going through Cubase (just one stereo track). I click on 'export to MP3' and it says there's not enough memory on my hard drive. My computer isn't built for home recording, but it's a decent machine which has tons of free memory on it, so I don't understand that. Then I try to register for the Cubase discussion forums and for some reason that didn't work and I was about ready to start breaking sh*t at that point.

Anyway, that's the long story so you understand the problem. And the question is, what do you guys use if you simply want to move your audio from an old portable recorder to MP3s? I'm willing to spend a few bucks to maintain the audio quality, but I want it to be easy and not have to learn some new program. By the way, the BR-8 is digital, but it just has those useless ZIP disks.

 

[pabloman]

Theres a bunch of free software floatin around the net. Just use the line input on your computer.

 

[Patriot54]

Theres a bunch of free software floatin around the net. Just use the line input on your computer.

Thanks - I'll look around and download something when I'm on my home computer.

I decided to keep the stuff I bought to learn more about computer-based recording, and because it has guitar and mic inputs, but I still don't understand why I need a bunch of memory to create an MP3 from a single track.  ???

 

[AndyG]

The first question I would ask is do you want to transfer the seperate tracks of everything you've recorded, or the mixes of everything you've recorded?  If it is the mixes, the Boss unit has an optical out.  If you have a computer with an optical in, just hit "play and record" to transfer the songs over on whatever software you have/choose.  The optical output is digital, so you will lose nothing in the transfer

If your goal is to transfer everything as seperate tracks into another piece of software on your computer, things get a little trickier.  You'll have to record a click or a beep at the exact same place on every track, then record them into the computer one at a time.  You can then use that click or beep to line everything back up.

Hope that helps a bit      :glasses9:

 

[Updown]

The first question I would ask is do you want to transfer the seperate tracks of everything you've recorded, or the mixes of everything you've recorded? 

Yeah what he said  :icon_thumright:
Also may-be a little more detail / spec's of PC / iMac, Memory etc, Interface used etc.

Anyway ..... NOT sure if this helps at all  :dontknow:
I did something similar to what you are referring to in your opening title.

Bare with me here …  :icon_biggrin:
Before I even had a computer.
I started recording stuff into a Zoom MRS 802, 8 track multi track recorder.
(something similar to yourself)
On my zoom you could burn each complete song / project for 'back up' needs ie; each track onto a CDRom.
Also could burn a normal CD out of some of my songs, so you could here on any system.
That was all ok for backing up on to that CDRom, as again it only had limited HD space on the zoom.
But  …
When I eventually got my 1st computer, iMac and inserted those CDRom's ….. nothing matched up !!
I couldn't  just drag or drop any files in fact it was just gibberish showing up.
There wasn't a program to do that. Well in fact there is.
But I needed to get myself a USB adapter unit, that went into the back of the Zoom.
Well I just couldn't find one anywhere  :sad:

If only my Zoom had USB, all would have been much easier to transfer from that unit to my iMac.
(The newer ones have USB etc)

Now here is how I ended up doing it.  :tard:
Loaded each song into my Zoom Multi Track.
Had the outs from Zoom unit going into my interface into my iMac into Logic / Cubase
Opened a new program in Logic with new tracks, set the tempo to the project I was bouncing from zoom to imac / logic.
Mute all BUT one track in the zoom.
Don't over do the levels !! … NO Clipping !!
Record ONE track at a time into Logic / Cubase …… IN REAL TIME 
Once in the PC / iMac it's easy to line things up in a DAW and anything else you want to do.
My Zoom had midi clock so most lined up OK.

Hours ….. Days ….. Weeks ….. Months …… Bloody ages later …… I was finished.  :doh:

NOW something you have to think seriously about before even doing this is ….

1)  Have your tracks got effects / reverb etc etc etc etc from the Boss unit ?
2)  Is that how you want them once in the DAW ?
3)  How much Memory you got on your PC / imac ?
4)  Are any tracks just easier to re-recorded ?

(I reckon for computer recording music, you need at very least 2GB the more the smoother and better things run)
But I suppose that depends on just how much your using and what ie: effects, tracks, heavy Synth CPU Suckers etc.

I've got 4GB using iMac, Fireface 400, and did a song with 57 tracks with all different things in it .... 
:redflag: My song ... http://soundcloud.com/zummooz/gangsters-on-the-run

Was trying to MAX out my Imac / Logic, to see how much it could handle.  :laughing7:
It was just on the edge of CPU Overload.

Once there in the DAW, of cause you can still add things, But … you can't take any of those Boss effects out.

What I did was dial everything back to straight recording in my Zoom …. NO EFFECTS OF ANY SORT FROM THE ZOOM.
Except guitars / bass recorded though any effects pedal 1st off.

That's all up to you thou, how you want that.  :dontknow:
There's lots more going on in a DAW, than any of those Multi Track units.

SO …. to sum all that up.
If you can't get a file (zip whatever that is) from the Boss showing up in your PC / imac.
Or
If you don't have a USB (don't think that does)

Your going to have to go the old school way like I did ie: IN REAL TIME …..  :sad:

So depending on how much material you want to turn into Wav files.  :dontknow: ...Suppose

We'll see you, when you re-surface in about 6 months time.  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Patriot54]

Thanks for all the info - I'll need some time to read and understand it all.

At least for now, I'm doing all the recording and mixing on the Boss, and just transferring it to the computer in order to convert to MP3 or WAV. I don't need the separate tracks in Cubase or on my computer at all. I'm keeping the computer stuff separate from my main recordings - the Cubase stuff is just for me to use when I have my guitar upstairs in my room and fooling around with new riffs.

I had already done it once about 3 years ago, but since then I've bought a different computer (PC). I used some cheap little unit I got at Staples, but now I have to see if I still have the software somewhere.

I'm not computer illiterate by any means, but I do like to keep it simple and record the old school way. I should have followed my instinct and posted here first, before dealing with the GC sales people.

I'm not at home now, but I'll post more details about my equipment this weekend.

On a related note, my BR-8 is awesome and I've had the thing for probably 15 years. Last year, I used the effects in it to make my short scale 6-string sound like a wah bass and I don't think anyone could tell the difference. This weekend I'm going to try it out with my friend's drum machine because we have no place to set up a full kit right now. I'll post an update as soon as I can about how that sounds, and how the transferring goes. Maybe I'll get to the point soon where I can post an MP3 here, and it hopefully won't take 6 months.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Steve_Karl]

Think of the click or the beep that andyG mentions as a "slate mark" just like the ones used to shoot film.
An easy method is recording 2 drum sticks being hit together at the front of each track.
If you can arm all tracks at the same time and record all at the same time then that's the best option because your
slate mark will then be consistent across all tracks.

Then, you can transfer one track at a time if needed, or stereo pairs, ( what ever ) and when you get those tracks into
some multi track software you can line up your slate marks visually and your sync will be good.

I had to do that way back when transferring 1/2" 8 track into PC and it worked perfectly.

 

[Patriot54]

Think of the click or the beep that andyG mentions as a "slate mark" just like the ones used to shoot film.
An easy method is recording 2 drum sticks being hit together at the front of each track.
If you can arm all tracks at the same time and record all at the same time then that's the best option because your
slate mark will then be consistent across all tracks.

Then, you can transfer one track at a time if needed, or stereo pairs, ( what ever ) and when you get those tracks into
some multi track software you can line up your slate marks visually and your sync will be good.

I had to do that way back when transferring 1/2" 8 track into PC and it worked perfectly.

The way I'm doing it now (if the tempo is the same throughout the song) is to record over a simple drum or click track, then replace it with my own drums and percussion.

 

[Updown]

:doh: ... Sorry Dude .... I thought you were trying to get all your older recorded stuff into the DAW.
Like what I did myself.

Really don't Know what a ZIP is  :dontknow:
I'm NO computer wizard either !!
Only ever used iMac's

Personally, these days your better going to the DAW world of things.
Hey .... I still have and still use that Zoom, it's hooked up to my RME interface via mini cable, for midi clock.
Just used for some Drums and some really nice guitar effects from it. I don't record in that, it goes direct to some inputs on RME & into DAW.
So I do have a fair idea how that Boss is to you.
Great units .... But !!
So much MORE you can do in a DAW  :icon_thumright:
A can assure you it's so much easier when you actually see the audio wave forms etc etc.  :icon_thumright:
You will see what I mean when you use Cubase.

i-Tunes is something else to use may-be  :dontknow:
If somehow you get the Zip file to show audio and can import or drag / drop.

 

[Cagey]

Really don't Know what a ZIP is  :dontknow:
...
Only ever used iMac's

Zip drives were a drive/media type pioneered by IOMega corp. that allowed you to put much more data on a removable disk than you could on a floppy. They started off at 100MB, and ended up at 750MB before they were pretty much ignored entirely by the market. The drives themselves weren't terribly expensive, but the disks were. They pulled a Sony and wouldn't license the technology reasonably, so they were the only suppliers of the disks and kept the price artificially high. The $/MB wasn't even competitive with HDDs back when HDDs were expensive, so they never really caught on. It was basically just a more robust floppy, so there was no reason for them to be so expensive. If they'd have been smarter about licensing media production, they could've made billions.

I've still got one around here somewhere. They used to be great for coding projects because they were large enough to keep ALL your source and libraries as well as the particular environment you were using on a single disk. Made it real easy to back up every night and take off-site.

Apple offered a similar thing I think they called a "superdisk", but they also died off when CDs and lower-priced HDDs came along.

 

[Updown]

Yeah right .... sounds like it's one of those things that should never have been made  :laughing7:

Something like the old 8 Track Cartridges  :icon_jokercolor:
(those that don't know what that is)
Was like a cassette tape BUT ..... Bloody HUGE. 


These's days you can jam pack bucket loads of information into a little USB stick / Memory card.

Now  :icon_scratch:  all I have to do is work out how to insert those it into my brain  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Patriot54]

When I bought the BR-8 with ZIP disks, the guy at the music store told me not to buy it because the media was going to be outdated soon. The reason I didn't take his advice is because it was the only system right in my price range, and I assumed he was just trying to steer me towards something more expensive. Turns out he was right.

However, it's a great system on it's own like I was saying. I still have a stack of ZIP disks with old recordings, and once I transfer those songs, I'll still use them to record new stuff.

 

[Cagey]

It really was a handy format/media. Not the fastest stuff by any stretch of the imagination, but great for archiving, record-keeping and general-purpose storage. CDs, lower-priced HDDs and flash were sure to doom it anyway, but there was a span of about 10 years where it could have done much better than it did.