Recorders

Have Roland finally outgunned Akai's renowned MPC series in the battle for the hip-hop market?

As Boss introduce their tiniest ever portable studio, we discover just how much can be packed into such a small box...

This recording workstation is the most affordable and portable of the VS series, but it still lets you record, mix, and master all in the one box.

Roland offer a downsized version of their flagship VS2480, providing all of the most important facilities at a much lower price point.

Roland have enhanced the VGA monitor graphical interface of their flagship 24-track recording workstation to make it easier to use, and have also thrown in a few extra features for good measure.

Roland's innovative new audio workstation is the first multitracker to use a CD-RW disc in place of a hard disk, and offers a one-stop production station with multitrack recording, phrase sampling, and CD mastering.

Roland's eagerly awaited new flagship VS workstation builds on the success of the VS1680 and VS1880, offering a massive range of features including 24-track, 24-bit and 96kHz recording, a 64-channel digital mixer, up to eight stereo effects processors, 24-voice phrase sampling, and an enhanced graphical output for a VGA monitor.

Roland's new flagship VS workstation again raises the stakes in the all-in-one hardware market, but has it raised them enough to rival the success of the 1680? Mike Senior finds out.

In the space of just two years, Roland have doubled the power of their hard disk multitrack concept, going from the eight tracks of the VS880 to the 16 of their latest baby. Paul Nagle admires the VS's sparkling new options.

Digital multitrackers are now nothing new, but this one records to a built-in Zip drive using low-cost 100Mb cartridges. Duke Ashton carries on recording.

If you own a VS880, you can already record, edit and produce a stereo mix of your masterworks, all with out leaving the 880's tape-like hard disk recording environment, but now Roland have added the ability to make a CD master in the same way. Paul Nagle goes for the burn.

The price remains the same, but Roland's VS880 is now different in many ways. Original 880 owner Paul Nagle's movin' on up...

Hot on the heels of Fostex's DMT8 Roland's new VS880 offers another take on the affordable digital multitracker concept. But as Paul White discovers, beneath the apparent similarities lie significant differences...

Have Fostex really stolen Roland's thunder with their digital multitrack? Mystic Paul White thinks Roland might have a trick up their sleeve.