Ian, I can relate to what you're going through. I also have a Roland hard disk recorder (the VS-1880), and am dealing with the learning curve and the lousy manuals. I have done my share of recording before, but always at someone else's studio with someone else at the controls. Doing it all yourself is a challenge, particularly when you're learning the principles as you go. I've had my studio set up for about a year, and to my chagrin I'm still in the experimenting stage.

I think the best approach (not necessarily the most satisfying initially) is to record "dry" with respect to both EQ and effects. In order to get good results from this, you must experiment with microphone positions, finding the positions that will give you a natural sound without either over- or under-emphasizing particular notes. Be careful about trying to make the sound too "full" from the outset, as this sometimes translates into a muddy tone; clarity is the principal objective. And be patient -- this will take time, and mutiple takes (fortunately, with a hard disk-based system you can simply "undo" what you've done if you don't like it; a real advantage). Once you have managed to lay down a good, clear, even and "present" sound, you can make subtle tweaks later on. But it is difficult or impossible to "correct" a bad sound with EQ adjustments.

As for effects, the conventional wisdom is to record "dry" (without effects) and decide later what you want to add. Again, a dry sound can be made "wet" after the fact, but once you have recorded with effects, you can't get rid of them or even change them as much as you might need to. My Roland has a gazillion effects options, and it's easy to get lost in all of it. Start with the basics -- a little reverb (yes, there are plenty of reverb options to choose from), perhaps some delay, maybe some compression to even out the peaks and valleys a little. With experience, you may defy conventional wisdom and apply some effects (particularly compression or limiting) during the recording process. But subtlety is the name of the game, whether adding effects during or after recording.

Good luck, and let us know how it all goes. -- WS