presonus firebox, mbox2 or emu 1616?

M

malabito

New member
presonus firebox, mbox2, maudio 1814 firewire or emu 1616?

Hi I am new to the forum, just to give you a small background on myself, I live in Caracas, Venezuela, I am an electronic engeneering student, and I have been playing bass guitar for almost 10 years. I was redirected to this forum through talkbass. I will really apreciate all the help that you could give me since I am kind of new to the recording stuff.

I been doing some research and finally narrow my search to the following options

-mbox 2
-e-mu 1616 or 1616M dont know the differance
-presonus firebox, will prefer the firepod couse of the more inputs, but its a little bit over my price range.
-maudio 1814 firewire

My intentations are to create a small recording studio at my house, the 8 simultaneas inputs of the firepod arent that necessary for me right now, since I wont be recording drums. I just need to be able to obtain a high quality sound, and some extras options such as a midi.

What is the diferance between th e-emu 1616 and the 1616M.

Of dose 4 which would you choose, I know it seems more like a usb vs pcmia vs firewire connection type thing. I know that the mbox comes with protools which is a great software, with the other two I wont be able to use pro tools.
it seems to me that emu is the best one in quality and options, but whats getting me hook on the mbox is the software issue, even though its a le version, i wont have any comptability problems if i decide to record the drums, in a pro studio, and then record the rest of the instruments at my house, since almost all studios use pro tools.

I will be using a inspiron 9300 laptop from dell, with 2 gigas of ram and a 2.0 ghz pentium M procesor.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer all my questions.

:)
 
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Welcome to the forums. Here are my thoughts on what you're looking into:

MBox 2 - this is a pretty new product and it looks to not even be available widespread right now (although I see it at a few places). It looks good on paper (meaning the literature that Digidesign created for it), but I personally never jump in without hearing about real world use from others. Also, a word on "Protools" - you're not getting the full-fledge Protools software but rather an LE version with it's limitations. Seems that most people just get hooked on the idea that it's "Protools" and may not really be sure what they are getting. I've never used PTLE as I know that are much better options out there. I know that the original MBox sounded pretty good, so I would imagine that the new one is just as good if not better.

The E-mu stuff has got some favorable reviews in regards to sound quaility. The "M" is the specific model you would want and it has higher grade converters and would provide for the best sonic quality. I'm not sure where they are at with drivers - they haven't been known to have rock solid & stable drivers, but you'll hear different opinions from different users. Some have their stuff working great on their DAW, some have had many issues.

I own a Firepod and have been very pleased with it. It's worked well, but I've had some issues with it in regards to the new driver update I just installed and the multitrack software I'm using. The Firebox should give you similar quality results, just missing six pre-amps.

If you search around here, you'll get plenty of input on the E-mu stuff and the Presonus stuff.

Good luck!
 
Wait a minute...did you say you'd be using Digital Performer and Logic Audio on a Pentium M? DP and Logic Audio are both Mac.

The E-mu stuff is right now the best feature for price stuff out there... the drivers are still a mixed bag. Everyone is waiting for the 1.81 update which E-mu has been talking about in their print advertisements and offers things like multi-channel WDM and 64 bit OS support. As an E-mu user, I'd say wait a while...
 
warble said:
Welcome to the forums. Here are my thoughts on what you're looking into:

MBox 2 - this is a pretty new product and it looks to not even be available widespread right now (although I see it at a few places). It looks good on paper (meaning the literature that Digidesign created for it), but I personally never jump in without hearing about real world use from others. Also, a word on "Protools" - you're not getting the full-fledge Protools software but rather an LE version with it's limitations. Seems that most people just get hooked on the idea that it's "Protools" and may not really be sure what they are getting. I've never used PTLE as I know that are much better options out there. I know that the original MBox sounded pretty good, so I would imagine that the new one is just as good if not better.

The E-mu stuff has got some favorable reviews in regards to sound quaility. The "M" is the specific model you would want and it has higher grade converters and would provide for the best sonic quality. I'm not sure where they are at with drivers - they haven't been known to have rock solid & stable drivers, but you'll hear different opinions from different users. Some have their stuff working great on their DAW, some have had many issues.

I own a Firepod and have been very pleased with it. It's worked well, but I've had some issues with it in regards to the new driver update I just installed and the multitrack software I'm using. The Firebox should give you similar quality results, just missing six pre-amps.

If you search around here, you'll get plenty of input on the E-mu stuff and the Presonus stuff.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, from the options I mention it seems to me that emu is the best one in quality and options, but whats getting me hook on the mbox is the software issue, even though its a le version, i wont have any comptability problems if i decide to record the drums, in a pro studio, and then record the rest of the instruments at my house, since almost all studios use pro tools.
 
Sklathill said:
Wait a minute...did you say you'd be using Digital Performer and Logic Audio on a Pentium M? DP and Logic Audio are both Mac.

The E-mu stuff is right now the best feature for price stuff out there... the drivers are still a mixed bag. Everyone is waiting for the 1.81 update which E-mu has been talking about in their print advertisements and offers things like multi-channel WDM and 64 bit OS support. As an E-mu user, I'd say wait a while...
Click to expand...

Yep my bad, i thought they were also for pc. :( I still dont know much about recording equipment and software.
 
malabito said:
...but whats getting me hook on the mbox is the software issue, even though its a le version, i wont have any comptability problems if i decide to record the drums, in a pro studio, and then record the rest of the instruments at my house, since almost all studios use pro tools.
Click to expand...

While the compatibilty thing is partly true, there are better software options out there. Period. There are ways to export audio from application to application. You shouldn't get hooked on it just because it's Protools...but, it sounds like that's the way your heading so I say - good luck to you.

I would personally explore more options - both hardware and software (which I though you were doing).
 
if i decide to use the 1616M, (comes with cubase limited version) or the m-audio 1814 firewire (comes with ableton), will I be able to export my sessions to a format that protools users may use? And the other way around? the thing is that the emu 1616M and the maudio 1814, which I didnt put in the list, but seems to be really nice and in my price range, look like a much better and complet interfaces. Buying the protools Me for the maudio will not be an option for the time being couse of the short budget.

The thing with the mbox and protools is not that I prefer that software, the only software I have used before is cool edit pro, so if i use cubase, ableton or protools wont make any diferance to me, I will still have to learn how to use them. I just want to be able to record some instruments in a studio and then record the rest at my house, so if there is any way to export my files in cubase or ableton and then open them on protools, i choose the emu or the maudio.

I am going to add to the list the maudio firewire 1814 instead of the presonus.

thanks, for the replies... :)
 
Sure there's a way. It's called OMF. Use that as your inbetween from either Cubase or Sonar to PT.

Of course, the best way is to just use Pro Tools. Remember, M-audio hardware can run its own version of Pro Tools now (thanks to Digidesign grabbing M-Audio a short while back).
 
Sklathill said:
Sure there's a way. It's called OMF. Use that as your inbetween from either Cubase or Sonar to PT.

Of course, the best way is to just use Pro Tools. Remember, M-audio hardware can run its own version of Pro Tools now (thanks to Digidesign grabbing M-Audio a short while back).
Click to expand...

Hey thanks, now i can forget about the mbox.

One more thing regarding the emu, I have read in many forums, that the pcmcia card in laptops will be obsolete in just a few years, that the new format that is coming with the laptops wont be compatible with the old one, is this true?

Also, has any one tried the ediril 101 and how does it compare to the other two interfaces, (1616M and 1814).

Thanks to all for your replies you been very helpful.
 
Sklathill said:
Sure there's a way. It's called OMF. Use that as your inbetween from either Cubase or Sonar to PT.
Click to expand...

Note:
That's only possible if the studio has the OMF option for their Pro Tools version. OMF/AAF compatibility doesn't just come with PT, it's an add on.
 
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