Pro Tools Mbox: Pro's & Con's

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Stocktonian

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has anybody used this?
in your expierience,what was the pro's and con's of using it? how does it differ from traditional Pro Tools? i dont think there could be any pro's aside from its portability.is it worth gettin,i mean will it give you (with propper engineering) a good,quality product? and i heard it doesnt have MIDI.i like recording my music track for track (from the keyboard) to Pro Tools,can i do it with the Mbox?
thanks in advance pimperonies :D ....
 
Pro's:

- you will have Pro Tools LE, great software

Con's

- You only have two inputs
- It is USB

Pro Tools LE is limited to 32 tracks (I belive the Mbox version even to 24) and doesn't support surround.

I would go for the Digi 002rack if you have the extra money to spare.
 
aint the rack like around 15 hun? thanks for the responce pimp....
 
You can get the rack for around $1000 if you shop. Also, the mbox does have 32 tracks not 24.
 
Jburn34 said:
You can get the rack for around $1000 if you shop. Also, the mbox does have 32 tracks not 24.
Click to expand...

sorry, was not sure about that...
over here, rack is around 1300 €
 
Even the Digi002 rack only has 4 simultaneous inputs as opposed to the Mbox. Yes the Digi is big bucks...I'm kinda looking at a Digi 001 myself...She boasts 8 inputs...seems much better deal to me and they go for pretty cheap off of E-bay because I guess Digidesign isn't putting much into the Digi 001 anymore. They're not compatible with the Mac G5s and any other later processor to come (so obviously nobody REALLY serious is going to want the 001 in the future), and also for this reason I think there isn't as many plugins for the 001 as there are for the Mbox and the 002.

As far as I know here is what I gather about the Mbox:
Pros
-Small, if you have a laptop you can take it to live shows and concerts with two omnis and easily record it.
-The mic preamps are Focusrite, so they are higher quality than average
-USB supported so you don't have to buy any additional Firewire drive or anything.
-Now Musicians Friend is selling it with some pretty decent extra plugins for another 100 bucks...the plugins bought separate go well into the hundreds all together.
-Digidesign will continue to make more developments in plugins and accessories for it and for compatibility with new processors and operating systems (as opposed to the 001)

Cons
-Only two inputs...But then again, you don't really ever need much more than two unless your doing drums or a full orchestra (which you wouldn't use a little Mbox for anyway)
-USB powered, but again, with only two inputs that's alright...doesn't need a whole lot more.

-Kevin
 
The Mbox is definitely a good deal. You get to learn the ProTools software, which is a standard, and you get decent hardware with it also. I think you can use SPDIF and at 2 more inputs for a total of 4 at a time. Plus, you can grab it for like 275 on ebay if you want.

The 002r comes stock with 8 simulatneous analog inputs, just like the 001. With both the 001 and 002r/002 you can record with up to 18 simulatneous inputs using the digital inputs.

I think they're all a pretty good deal, depending on your price range. The pre's in the 002's and mbox are focusrite, but they're not anything special. Useable, but that's about it. The AD/DA convertors on the 002 are pretty decent also.
 
but the Mbox doesnt have MIDI right? i guess you dont need that to load beats up,it just makes it easier....

so you can do pretty much do anything home studio wise on the Mbox as you can do with the big interface?


and it has a built in pre-amp huh? so theres no need for an exterior pre-amp or exterior mixing board?

thanks for the input everybody.i sure soaked some knowledge....
 
It doesn't have MIDI but I think you can get an inexpensive USB to MIDI interface or something like that so you can still use MIDI in protools. The software for all the LE systems is the same so you're getting the same protools as the 001, 002r, or 002.

Jeremy
 
Jburn34 said:
The Mbox is definitely a good deal. You get to learn the ProTools software, which is a standard, and you get decent hardware with it also. I think you can use SPDIF and at 2 more inputs for a total of 4 at a time. Plus, you can grab it for like 275 on ebay if you want.
Click to expand...
No, You can use the analogue OR the digital inputs for a total of 2 inputs at a time.


I think they're all a pretty good deal, depending on your price range. The pre's in the 002's and mbox are focusrite, but they're not anything special. Useable, but that's about it. The AD/DA convertors on the 002 are pretty decent also.
Click to expand...
The Mbox pre's and convertors are only decent when you compare them to the 001. On the 002 they are a step up again, but still nothing I'd rave about.
And the pres in the 002 are NOT Focusrite. They are from the same R&D that went into the 8 channel DigiPre, and are a step up from the Focusrite Platinum rubish in the Mbox.
 
Wolfman140 said:
...I'm kinda looking at a Digi 001 myself...
Click to expand...


Be carefull there: Digidesign doesn't sell nor make the Digi 001 any more. The software line for it is discontinued so I think you'd better save up to find a (used) digi 002 rack.
 
Actually, I think the 001 is still very viable, when you consider that for around the cost of the 2 I/O Mbox, (probably less if you look), you can get an 18 I/O Digi001 with the latest version of PTLE.
For people who want to get into multi-track recording, are on a low budget and want more than 2 channels of I/O, then the 001 is ideal.
Yes, 6.4 is the last version of PTLE where the 001 will be supported, but so what? It works great, it's rock solid. I Digi had told me that 5.3.1 was it for the 001 I would have been happy.
 
What about latency issues with USB? Has anyone had a problem with this?
 
The Mbox has a input/playback dial which mixes your input signal directy with the playback before it hits the converters so you can track with zero latency. Works really well actually.
 
The Pro Tools website is a little unclear on this ... what effects come with the M-Box? Any mastering effects?
 
It doesn't come with any dedicated mastering plugins, just the stock standard things like verbs, delays, comps, eqs, gates etc etc.
Simple mastering functions can be performed with these plugs, but it's best to get something like the Waves Mastering Bundle to do anything serious.
 
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