Members Goominim Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 I just bought a brand new NOS Roland VS-880 from someone's dad for $250. He bought it for more than $4000 (it comes with an anvil case, CD-burner and some extras) but then stored it away for a decade. I thought it would be cool for song-writing purposes. Anyone use one? I'm thinking about buying a cheap preamp for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sam C Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 yep, i did. i liked it enough to move to the 1880 then 2480 before going to software. The pres are O.K. if you are using it as a notepad or songwriting tool it might not be worth the investment for a pre, casue a $100 pre won't make any difference.imho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goominim Posted November 14, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 I have an ADAT and a TASCAM 38 open-reel. The thing I liked about the VS-880 was the transport. That's why I haven't really got in to computer recording...just a bit of GarageBand on my Mac. I like pressing a big red button and not looking at a screen. I probably won't get that pre afterall. Anyone record an album on one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 I bought an 880EX new back in 98 for $2K. It remains my sole DAW. Everything in my sig was done with it. For a few years, I did professional work with it by using it as a recorder/editor only, as oppposed to a workstation. I used Earthworks & Peavey outboard pres, and Lexicon & FMR Audio outboard signal processing. It worked. Despite it's obvious limitations, I've been fairly productive with it. And the greatest lesson it has taught me is that it's simply a tool. How good or bad the production ends up is not the fault of the tool. It's the fault of the engineer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ermghoti II Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 I don't believe the VS 880 ever sold for anywhere near $4k USD, they are certainly not worth $250 USD now, in any condition. I learned to record on a 880EX, they are nice in that they are all-in-ones, the effects are pretty usable. They are radically non-expandible (Roland's software can't recognize an HD over 4G in the EX, and it must be divided into 1G partitions. Very restrictive to me). They are also difficult to get data off of, requiring an increasingly scare standalone scsi burner (doesn't have to be a Roland, but the supply is drying up, regardless). They burn at 4x max, and don't actually work at that speed. You get 2x if you're lucky. The compatible burners don't like current production 700MB Cd's, but the obsolete 650's. Hurray! More unobtainable stuff, asnd consumable to boot! The 880 lacks the digital in/outs, so you can either play two tracks at once in real time to another medium (through the mediochre converters), or deal with the slow and unreliable burners. I gave up on the projects stored on mine, erased the partitions, and use it for scratch recordings that I'll just delete or overwrite. If anybody can get these things to run, they are at VSplanet.comThey are wizards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gtrbass Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 I had VS-880 serial number 0004. They were $2995 MSRP when they came out. I've had 2 880's, a 1680, and I still have a VS1880 and a VS2480CD. They were pretty remarkable machines when they came out. They sound better than the old blackface ADAT's did. They do have S/PDIF, and if you get a converter like an M-audio flying cow, you have a bit more flexibility. They are 16 converters on the little internal preamps. An external converter will let you get to 20 bits internally on those machines (I think). There is probably a software update to let you use the VSCDRIII if you find one. They like 700MB CDR's better than the 1 or 2 does. Hard drives for that unit are getting scarce, but I've heard of guys on VS planet who have found workarounds to use newer HD's on the older units. Good little unit to make decent demos or live recordings with. Also useful as a playback unit for live performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C JoGo Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 We bought 3 for $6400 --when they first entered the market ..we now use all 2480's.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goominim Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 I'll probably do the flash mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Majoria Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 I still have my VS-880EX, very rarely gets used but it's decent for what it is. Got it new around '99 for $1600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 I still have a VS-890. Good system for what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alndln2 Posted November 22, 2007 Members Share Posted November 22, 2007 I have an 840-EX. I never could get used to the small readout LCD and submenu's, so I never really used it much for recording. These days I use it occasionally for the built in guitar modeling and maybe to record rehearsals in the near future. For $1200, it turned out to be a fairly expensive Pod so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 I did some decent recordings on a VS880 about 10 years ago. My bandmate at the time had a VS880 and she used it exclusively for many years. I liked my DAW at the time better (built around an Alesis compact mixer, an Echo PCI interface, and a PC with overclocked Celeron processor). Both rigs were ridiculously pricey by today's standards. It's a wonder anyone was into home recording at all (at least that's what it seemed like to me--I was in my mid-twenties, and poor). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 I just bought a brand new NOS Roland VS-880 from someone's dad for $250. He bought it for more than $4000 (it comes with an anvil case, CD-burner and some extras) but then stored it away for a decade.I thought it would be cool for song-writing purposes.Anyone use one?I'm thinking about buying a cheap preamp for it. Never used one, but you know, for $250, it seems like that would be a good score. I would think that an FMR RNP or something similar might really help it out, or some decent outboard converters, assuming that you can do that. At any rate, you can fire it up and make a bunch of good music with it. Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted November 25, 2007 Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 they can sound great if you front end it with a decent preamps and better A/D, like a MiniMe or JoeMeek TwinQ. and use the best recording mode, not MT2 or live. The 880 is cool for doing easy live recordings. I kept mine for a long time and did many live bands, Choirs, school projects, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fuzzball Posted November 30, 2007 Members Share Posted November 30, 2007 They are a good little tools and like T. Allen Smith mentioned it is a tool bad recordings will be due to the user! By the way the 2480 is still a very relavant and great tool. I make great recordings with mine and my clients love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Charles Posted December 3, 2007 Members Share Posted December 3, 2007 I bought a VS-880 EX when they first came out. Seems like it cost around 16 bills at that time. I bought it from a place that accepted returns and told the salesman that if I couldn't get tracks back and forth with my computer I'd have to send it back and he said cool. I tried to like it. The OS was really un-intuitive and I could not sort out any way to send tracks back and forth to my computer so I sent it back. That said, I really liked the guitar effects in the thing. I've bought Roland and Boss guitar processers that can not duplicate what the VS-880 EX effects would do. Also, the hard drive was so tiny that I filled it up with like three projects and really no virtual tracks. I think 2 and a half bills is a bit steep these days, but if you got a CD burner and some extras and it works for you then go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xtrain Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 I bought a roland vs 880 ex and am going to use it for backing tracks to play live with and need to know how to master to tracks 1&2 to prepare for live play. I have recorded into tracks 1&2 from my sound card and need to know how to master them. I have the latest updates to the 880 ex. The tracks have already been mixed in FL Studio then recorded into the vs 880ex. About 20 minutes worth of songs exported wav. right into the 2 tracks with pauses and such already set up...in other words one continueous set. That's all I want to us this device for.Thanks for helping me out on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I don't own one and have very little experience with the Roland VS 880EX, but basically what you will need to do is bounce that pair of tracks down to a stereo mixdown. Does your version have the optional CD drive? The manual is still available on Roland's site, and I'm sure it walks you through the procedure for mixdown.... http://www.rolandus.com/products/vs-880ex/support/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ermghoti II Posted February 3, 2015 Members Share Posted February 3, 2015 That manual is a legendary disaster. Go visit VSPlanet.com and hunt around for the tutorials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks for the tip ermghoti! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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