MBox opinions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JonathanRay
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SonicAlbert said:
I don't personally know anyone using Tracktion professionally...in my opinion Digi's Mbox/ProTools is a great choice.
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SonicAlbert - You are at least twice this guy's age and committed to a type and style of music he has NO interest in. You continue to force feed the myth of 'protools' alleged superiority without ever giving the many, many other audio and midi packages even the smallest chance.

I use Tracktion 'professionally' if three CDs released on indie labels (two LP-length and one EP) qualify as your idea of 'professional'. I work in a genre that you probably have never listened to and probably couldn't stand if it was ever played at you.

My replies make it clear (I hope) that I am stating only my opinion in cases like this. Yours read as though it will be THUS AND NOT OTHERWISE.

JonathanRay- Go with what your gut tells you --- even if it's (ick) 'protools'. I agree that having someone in the biz (like your Dad's friend) can be invaluable. It much better than having to come back here whenever you need help and risking getting in the middle of SonicAlbert and me...
 
Ok guys, its ordered.

It should be here on tuesday along with a Boss Loops Station Pedal. They also threw in an "Audio-Technica AT2020 Larege Diaphragm Cardioid Condenser Microphone." Does anyone have any expierence with with mic?
 
ssscientist said:
SonicAlbert - You are at least twice this guy's age and committed to a type and style of music he has NO interest in. You continue to force feed the myth of 'protools' alleged superiority without ever giving the many, many other audio and midi packages even the smallest chance.

I use Tracktion 'professionally' if three CDs released on indie labels (two LP-length and one EP) qualify as your idea of 'professional'. I work in a genre that you probably have never listened to and probably couldn't stand if it was ever played at you.

My replies make it clear (I hope) that I am stating only my opinion in cases like this. Yours read as though it will be THUS AND NOT OTHERWISE.

JonathanRay- Go with what your gut tells you --- even if it's (ick) 'protools'. I agree that having someone in the biz (like your Dad's friend) can be invaluable. It much better than having to come back here whenever you need help and risking getting in the middle of SonicAlbert and me...
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Dude, lighten up. I have absolutely no beef with you, and I'm thrilled that Tracktion is working out for you. *I really don't care what software you use.* Tracktion is an interesting program that frankly just hasn't done it for me. I have a registered copy and have spent a good deal of time with it. If it works for you that's great, but you are reading negativity into what I'm saying that I don't intend.

I think the Mbox is perfect for this fellow, no matter what his age. *Especially* in light of the fact that he may be able to take his tracks to his friends Dad's PT studio. I've recommend small PT systems to others as well, and they have been thrilled with the software and hardware. So I feel pretty safe about recommending it.

If this fellow was doing heavy midi sequencing or getting into film scoring then I would have recommended Digital Performer, which is my main ax. I don't have any feelings about some sort of mythical PT superiority over other programs, you are putting words into my mouth. In fact, I didn't even own a PT setup until less than a year ago, as I'm a very long time Digital Performer user and still am. I know perfectly well that DP and a few other programs have more advanced midi features than PT. But JonathanRay isn't going to be using those features.

The Mbox seems like a great fit for JonathanRay, and if he doesn't like it for some reason he can probably return it to MF within 30 days and get a "Spike" instead.

And as for stating my opinion, I do have strong opinions, and they are based on years of experience using gear and making a full time living at music. So yes, I do see things a certain way and I state it the way I see it. That's what makes these boards fun, people with strong opinions that have all sorts of different experiences in music and life.

Just for the record, your posts are rather predictable too. Invariably you'll come into a thread like this and bash PT. You posted into this thread before I did, for example. So like I said, maybe lighten up a bit on me, okay? :-)

JonathanRay, I'm not familiar with the AT2020 mic. But if you don't like it you can always eBay for a few bucks and put that toward a different mic. It's always good to have a few different mics anyway.
 
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I started out with the M-box, it's descent, but there's a lot better out there.

Pro Tools LE is not an industry standard. I would say that Pro Tools TDM might possibly be an industry standard for digital commercial studios, but you won't see a Digi 002 in one of those.

After about 2 years with an Mbox one of my mic preamps no longer works on it. It's never been abused so I'm not sure what the deal is.

I switched now to the PreSonus Firepod (x 2). I like the preamps in that bad boy much better than the Mbox pres. I use it running with Tracktion which I also like much better than Pro Tools. I do use the Mbox occasionaly though for portable recording if I want to capture a vocal cut in some environment other than my home studio. And I also keep it around b/c I like to master my tracks in Pro Tools. For some reason my Waves plugins don't work in Tracktion and I like the L2 limiter and the parametric eqs for the final stereo mix of tracks.

Have you checked out the Presonus Firebox? ($399 I believe)
 
SonicAlbert/ said:
Just for the record, your posts are rather predictable too.
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You must be a Republican. You beg me to 'lighten up', then passive-aggressively throw in a zinger with the fairytale that it's 'just for the record'.
 
Does anyone know of any good Pro Tool Forums? I just registered at ProToolsForum.com. Thanks!
 
The biggest and most heavily used ProTools forum I know about is DUC-Digidesign User Conference. It's on the Digidesign web site:

http://digidesign.com/

Go to Digidesign.com and click on "support", then follow the link to "user conference". You'll be very pleased with amount of info you'll find there.
 
JonathanRay said:
I've never used Pro Tools but I've read that it's the standard. I've been using Acid 4.0 Pro and it seems somewhat limited compared to what I've read about Pro Tools. I figured this was the perfect time to learn!

Can I listen to my band in real time as I record through the MBox? If so, can all the applied effects be heard in real time as well? I was just wondering because, could I just run straight from the MBox, to a headphone amplifier, to all our headphones. For playback and editing can I listen through those same headphones? Thanks!
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IMO only use a digidesign interface if you are going to use protools. Digidesign interfaces are a little more expensive to offset the cost of creating and managing protools. Protools software has a high learning curve but it is just totally freaking awesome (gush). It's really the bomb once you now how to use it, for audio recording esp, there is no competition in my book.

If you aren't going to use protools just use some other interface that works with more generc PC applications people here on this board have their favorites picked already. This board is a good resource for figuring out the price performance ratio of computer soundcards for PCs esp so I'll leave that to the big boys.
 
It's a beautiful thing...

http://64.227.37.173/jonathan/mbox.JPG (How do you insert images?)

Anyway, everything seems to be working flawlessly! If I can just get everyting to sound good before it gets to the mbox... That is my acoustics. When I mic my drums, and guitar amp, there is a lot of bleeding over, which sounds awful. For now I'm just going to have to DI the guitar...
 
Congratulations! That's one of the advantages of using gear where the manufacturer designs both the hardware and the software--it tends to work well with itself and be easy to set up.

Have you tried putting some baffling between your drums and guitar?
 
I was thinking of putting the amp in another room, along with the mic.

The drums sound reasonable facing in the corner of my room. (Mic: Shure PE47L as overhead, and SM57 for kick.) I run both those mics into a mixer, and out to the MBox. Then the guitar goes to the other channel.

Also, my old radio shack mixer seems to be giving of like a hiss, which is quite noticable. Does anyone know what might be causing this, or if I can fix it?

Thanks!
 
For the best sound you can get, plug those mics right into the MBox, bud. No use crapping it up with a hissy mixer.

H2H
 
Hard2Hear said:
For the best sound you can get, plug those mics right into the MBox, bud. No use crapping it up with a hissy mixer.

H2H
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This is correct, but if you are trying to get drums and guitar into the Mbox at the same time you need a mixer. JonathanRay, can you record drums first, then overdub the guitar? If not, then you might want to pick up a little mixer that will be quieter. There are some very small and inexpensive mixers made by Yamaha, Alesis, and Behringer that would be better than that Radio Shack mixer you have now.

The other thing is, make sure that the channel trims on the RS mixer are turned up high enough that you get a nice loud signal, but without distortion. In other words, check to make sure your gain staging is correct. Basically, what that means is make sure the source is as loud as possible without distorting, so you don't have to turn it up later. For example, if you have the inputs turned low, you have to turn up the master volume later. That basically just amplifies hiss.
 
Hard2Hear said:
For the best sound you can get, plug those mics right into the MBox, bud. No use crapping it up with a hissy mixer.

H2H
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I'm using 2 mics for the drums, 1 for guitar, theres only 2 Ins on the box. I'll be getting a better mixer later.

SonicAlbert said:
This is correct, but if you are trying to get drums and guitar into the Mbox at the same time you need a mixer. JonathanRay, can you record drums first, then overdub the guitar? If not, then you might want to pick up a little mixer that will be quieter. There are some very small and inexpensive mixers made by Yamaha, Alesis, and Behringer that would be better than that Radio Shack mixer you have now.

The other thing is, make sure that the channel trims on the RS mixer are turned up high enough that you get a nice loud signal, but without distortion. In other words, check to make sure your gain staging is correct. Basically, what that means is make sure the source is as loud as possible without distorting, so you don't have to turn it up later. For example, if you have the inputs turned low, you have to turn up the master volume later. That basically just amplifies hiss.
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I'm thinking of going with a Souncraft M12. I'm just going to bear with the RS mixer for now until I get the $750 for the M12.
 
Good choice. Those have a SPDIF output too, so you'll be able to just lock your Mbox right to the mixer.
 
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