digidesign MBOX recording interface

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RoOkiE85

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is the mbox recording interface good??? i need to know before i buy...
 
do a search. you'll get varying opinions.
you may also look at the M-Audio products that work with Pro Tools M-Powered too.
 
compared to other small interfaces and software the mbox is limited and in some cases severly. First, no midi, not an issue for me, i don't use it. Second, two inputs. As long as you never need more than two inputs its ok. I thought 4 would be fine for me when I started, I'm up to 13 now and its been just over a year. Third, 24/44.1, thats as good as it gets with mbox and while thats not so bad, its what i record in, if you're doing acoustic tracks or something like that you may like what 24/96 could do. Fourth, you're stuck with one interface for Pro Tools LE,well three include the 002 and 002r,but pro tools le isn't bad its what i use, and for what I do its great and easy to use but you never get the option to use another interface. The Mbox and even the Mbox2 aren't really that great. If I were you I'd really consider M-Powered where you can use a variety of interfaces, even somthing like the Saffire by Focusrite might be better than the Mbox actually it is because Mbox uses USB which would be 5th on my list of bad things. You get too many tracks and plugs going you're going to get bogged down real quck. Look for Firewire interfaces, much more reliable.
 
jonnyc said:
Third, 24/44.1, thats as good as it gets with
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Mbox gets up to 48kHz...which is enough IMO.


You get too many tracks and plugs going you're going to get bogged down real quck.
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Pro Tools sums everything to the two main outputs...the number of tracks does not matter when using USB, it all gets summed down to two; L and R.
 
As long as you understand the limitations of the device, it works rather well. I love mine. (I also have a 002, though, so I can get more I/O when I need it.) The pres are good (not fantastic, but good) and its been super reliable for me so far- about 2 years.

There is a new one that just came out, too- The Mbox 2. It has MIDI I/O and offers simultaneous SPDIF I/O. That means you can get 4 channels in and out with some extra hardware. Better pres, supposedly, as well and lower latency. And its the the same price the Mbox was before its price was dropped to allow this one into the market.

So if you need Pro Tools and don't have tons of cash the Mbox works well. I just recorded a band live (for preproduction only) with mine last night. Mastered this morning, posting to a website for them tonight. :D

Take care,
Chris
 
Get it. Not necessarily because of the actual interface, even though the Focusrite pre's are pretty great, but because of the software itself. Yeah yeah, there's a lot of great multitrack software out there, and yes, they essentially will all do the same stuff. I love Pro Tools dearly because the layout is simple and makes since, and there are plugs that are RTAS only that I love too.
 
i like the mbox

i run mine through acid 4.0 and it works great, i barely even use the pro tools disk that came with it. the pro tools le is good, but comes with almost no plug ins..
 
I started w/ the Mbox... but if you get serious about recording you'll out grow it the minute you need to hook more than 2 mics. The Mbox 2 though has MIDI.
 
I shouldn't say "get serious" about recording b/c I know a lot of folks w/ Mbox's are making much better recordings than I do. I just meant that when you have to record a band or something two mic inputs will usually just not cut it.
 
mbox is really good for rap, or low budget recording projects.

if you need lots of mics, its not a good box, but for recording 1 or 2 mics, with quality sound, the mbox is really nice and works well with other programs besides pro tools. you dont have to use pro tools with it
 
hellcat_77 said:
is it possible to use more than 1 mbox at a time?
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No. Only one piece of LE hardware can be used at any one time.

I just bought an MBox 1 for £200, which is outstanding when you consider the software that comes with it. I'm also eligible for the upgrade to PT7 next month (loads more MIDI features) and the new Ignition Pack, which has a great bundle of 'lite' software applications (Reason, Live, BFD, Melodyne, etc; ).

Bear in mind that this is a temporary thing for me; I plan on getting a 002R (or a 003) in the future for the greater I/O, using the MBox on a laptop.

The MBox 2 has MIDI I/O and supposedly better pres but it's more expensive and has unbalanced outputs.

If you don't need many inputs, can handle the 32 track limit (which may or may not change with PT7) and are on a tight budget, it's a pretty great choice.

the tortoise
x
 
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