The Roland Boss DR-880 is a rhythm-producing powerhouse for the performing guitarist. This hard to classify device is part drum machine, part bass guitar synthesizer, part guitarist effects package, and part backing band. All in all, Roland has packed the DR-880 with realistic sounds and a wide-variety of features, including:
- Clean, realistic drum and bass-guitar sounds
- Direct input connection for guitar
- Audio-out ports for amp, P/A, or headphones (can also be used for analog computer input)
- Built-in COSM Drive/Amp models
- Effects such as chorus, delay, reverb, wah, crunch, and more
- Built-in drum patterns you can edit
- Composition function for drum and bass sounds
- Touch tempo metronome
- Play-pad for real-time drum or bass sounds
- Built-in chromatic tuner
A drum machine is nice, but what can this box do for the average guitarist? Quite a bit, actually. Connection is a breeze. Simply plug any electric or acoustic-electric guitar 1/4-inch cable into the clearly labeled input port on the front of the unit. Multiple outputs allow you to choose between headphones, mono or stereo output through 1/4" or RCA sockets. The output signal from the 1/4" socket is perfect for either a P/A system or an amplifier (the output signal strength is determined with a custom setting), and the RCA socket works great with stereo systems or dedicated monitors.
Backing Band In A Box
The DR-880 provides several ways to create backing percussion and bass sounds:
- Use E-Z Compose to quickly build a pattern with high-hat, snare, percussion, and bass guitar.
- Use the touch-pad to play (or record) drum or bass sounds in real-time.
- Modify and save one of the 500 pre-build patterns.
- Build a pattern from scratch in the Compose Editor.
- Load the machine with MIDI from your keyboard or PC.
I used the DR-880 for several months to act as a bass guitarist and drummer for our small church band. It never missed a practice, and never missed a beat. The ability to mix guitar, bass, and drum through separate volume controls was key to balancing the DR-880 with the rest of the group.
The instruction manual was difficult to follow, but after you've spent enough time with the unit it all begins to make sense. Many users strongly recommend the instructional video to quickly understand how to program the unit and understand some of the built-in shortcuts.
Blemishes
Nothing's perfect, and you may not agree with some of what I classify as blemishes, but it's only fair that I tell you of what I view as weaknesses of the DR-880. You can backup the data on the DR-880 (a plus), but you can only back it up as a bulk file. There's no way to export a set of patterns, for example, edit them on your PC, then reload the updates for playback. By far, the greatest limitation is the lack of expandable memory. Fewer and fewer recordable devices are fixed memory, but the Dr. Rhythm is one of them. Perhaps even worse, there's no way to know if you're about to exhaust available memory. When you hit the max, the machine simply says "Memory Full." Time to clear memory and restart from backup.
Overall Impression
I recommend the Boss DR-880. The drum and bass sounds are great, the built-in features for the guitarist provide a variety of sounds to experiment with, and features such as tap-tempo, recording, and beat-by-beat editing give you complete control over over playback and on-stage accompaniment.
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