Need a DAW recommendation for my MacMini

[CoolHandLu]

TOTALLY new to DAW recording. Some years back, did quite a bit of home recording on a TASCAM cassette 4 track (which was a BLAST), and so collected the following equipment:
2 Apex 430 Condenser mics
2 MXL 603S Mogami condenser mics
1 Behringer XM8500 "ultravoice" mic (condenser?)
2 ART Tube MP PreAmps
2 Audio Buddy Dual Mic Preamps

Plus my 4 year old MacMini - 1.42 GHz PowerPc GS, 512 MB SDRAM, plus an extra 55 Gig Hard Drive

Budget: say between $200 and $600.

I'm planning on mostly playing by myself, primarily acoustic guitar and cello, so 2 simultaneous input channels will work most of the time. I may want to do 4 simultaneous inputs if I ever start recording trios or quartets.

I was looking at MBox (seems to bundle quite a bit of software, the soundc card is in the interface, so I don't have to open my MacMini), but again - I'm very new to this. Any help (pointing me to good "how to" web sites) on equipment would be great.
Thanks!
Brian

 

[CoolHandLu]

Maybe Firebox? Cubase LE recording software seems decent - thoughts?

From the reviews I've read, the Firebox might just do the trick; Cubase LE seems to have the recording software basics down. Reviews on Musicians Friend indicate the mike preamps are weak for some mike's (SM57, for example - moot, as I don't use that mike, but I have no idea how my mikes compare to the SM57 in this regard). Comments like: "Hiss is tremendous when recording quiter instruments like acoustic guitar and even with vocals I'm swallowing the mic and cranking the gain just to get a visible waveform." make me understandably nervous. I suspect this is more the case with dynamic mics, less so with condenser mikes like the Apex 430 I'll be using (but then again I can't be too sure).
For another 100 bucks I could go with the Firepod, though I don't have a rack to put it in - just my computer table.
For a bit more money I could go with Digidesign's MBox and the basic Pro-Tools software - not sure what I'm getting for the extra dollars though. Better Preamps? Thoughts? Again - I feel like I"m sorta blind, bumping around in the dark here.

 

[dgatwood]

I would not recommend the FireBox for Mac users. The FireBox has a flawed FireWire implementation that causes it to draw more power when it first powers on than is allowed by the (current) FireWire specification. As a result, the Mac shuts off power to the port.

As a workaround, you can use the external power supply, but given the other flaws in its power supply design, I doubt the FireBox was really designed to use the external power supply when bus power is present. At best, it screams kludge....

Oh, and the preamps are low gain in part because of power limitations. You're probably better off buying an interface that was not designed to run off bus power. Those devices tend to badly compromise functionality to gain portability.

I've never used the Mbox 2, but I tend to be wary of USB interfaces in general. They usually have higher latency than FireWire and tend to have much higher frequency of glitches, particularly with slower machines like your G4 Mini.

On your budget, I'd personally recommend the MOTU 8Pre. (I have two of them.) If you need portability, you might consider the MOTU UltraLite MK3. Both interfaces come with MOTU AudioDesk software, which you can upgrade to Digital Performer later if you find that you need a beefier DAW app. Both have really solid Mac drivers.

 

[CoolHandLu]

Motu 8Pre?

Thanks dgatwood! I was looking at the 8Pre earlier today in my on-line search, and overall the reviews seem pretty stellar. Thanks!
Brian

 

[antichef]

For another data point, I've got the MOTU Traveler, and wouldn't recommend it stock due to flaky, edgy sounding preamps. I got mine modified by Black Lion Audio, and now it's a dream come true (it was close, before, except for those issues) - bus powered, with decent converters, tons of I/O, both analog and digital, and much more gain in the clean sounding preamps that I need, etc. The only drawback is that the phantom power is only putting out 40 volts (not 48), which doesn't quite do it for a couple of my condensers (but does seem to be enough for my MXL 603s and an Apex 430 that I have). I have a dedicated plug-in phantom power unit for that, though, and I also haven't measured the voltage when the Traveler is running on wall power, either.

I also recently got an Echo Audiofire 12, which doesn't have any preamps, but is impressive enough for me to recommend checking out their other interfaces.

 

[dgatwood]

For another data point, I've got the MOTU Traveler, and wouldn't recommend it stock due to flaky, edgy sounding preamps. I got mine modified by Black Lion Audio, and now it's a dream come true (it was close, before, except for those issues) - bus powered, with decent converters, tons of I/O, both analog and digital, and much more gain in the clean sounding preamps that I need, etc. The only drawback is that the phantom power is only putting out 40 volts (not 48), which doesn't quite do it for a couple of my condensers (but does seem to be enough for my MXL 603s and an Apex 430 that I have). I have a dedicated plug-in phantom power unit for that, though, and I also haven't measured the voltage when the Traveler is running on wall power, either.

Like I said, bus powered devices tend to be a compromise.

 

[blazingstrings]

I would not recommend the FireBox for Mac users. The FireBox has a flawed FireWire implementation that causes it to draw more power when it first powers on than is allowed by the (current) FireWire specification. As a result, the Mac shuts off power to the port.

I had a firebox and never had that issue once.

 

[dgatwood]

I had a firebox and never had that issue once.

The FireWire spec changed to limit inrush current because the 6-pin FireWire 400 connector is not suficiently robust against torquing stress, which can cause the connector to short out and send voltage down data lines or ground, frying the FireWire card, motherboard, and/or device.

When Apple added short circuit protection to the ports, this suddenly caused the inrush protection part of the specification to be enforced in new models. I believe this changed with the last G4 PowerBook before the Intel transition, give or take. You'll generally only see this on devices with FireWire on the motherboard (e.g. laptops, all models of Mac) because protecting a $20 FireWire card doesn't make much sense.