1999: The VSR-880

In mid-1999, Roland released the VSR-880 (see Figure 1.4), a rack-mount workstation based upon the VS-880EX. This workstation could be connected to any analog mixer, but the real benefit was for users of the new Roland VM-7000 and VM-3100Pro digital mixers. The VSR-880 was the first Roland VS workstation to feature R-BUS. R-BUS is Roland's proprietary 8-in/8-out 24-bit audio transfer protocol, and it can communicate with the ADAT and T-DIF digital protocols via Roland R-BUS interface boxes. The VSR-880 was also the first Roland workstation to include 24-bit A/D converters.

Figure 1.4. Roland VSR-880 Digital Studio Workstation

Highlights of the VSR-880

Although the physical appearances of the two workstations were very different, the VSR-880 contained practically the same feature set as the VS-880EX. However, since the VSR-880 was a rack-mount unit, it did not have any faders , as it was meant to be the back-end recording device for Roland's front-end digital mixers. Also important to note is that while the VSR-880 could use the VS8F-2 effect boards , none were factory installed. In addition to R-BUS, the VSR-880 also had different analog inputs: 8 RCA inputs and 2 ¼" balanced inputs. The VSR-880 also contained the following features:

• 24-bit recording mode

• Internal 6GB hard drive

• Hard drive usability: 10 partitions, 1GB per partition

• Eight simultaneous recording tracks in linear mode

• Dedicated CD Mastering function

• Faster CD burning format

• 24-bit A/D and D/A converters

Software Upgrades

There were various operating system upgrades available for the VSR-880, but no major functionality was ever added to the VSR-880.