Hi,

So, I've recently purchased a Mac Mini, and I'm trying to put together a budget home studio to make demos of my original songs, which I plan to give out or sell at my solo performances.

Since I'm a singer/songwriter, and I'd be overdubbing any backing instruments myself, I think an Mbox would be an appropriate interface to buy. My question -- I'm trying to decide between the original Mbox, which can now be had for around $350, or the new Mbox 2, which is $100 to $200 more. The selling points of the original Mbox, it seems, are the Focusrite preamps and the lower price, while the Mbox 2 comes with a more extensive package of plug-ins, and also has greater capability for using MIDI.

I'm wondering if anyone's had any experience with the Mbox 2, and if so, if they think it's worth spending the extra money on. My last recording-related purchase was a Tascam cassette four-track nearly a decade ago, so I'm looking at this upcoming purchase as something I'll use for many years to come.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi jonhell.

I would suggest the Firebox from PreSonus for your audio interface. Depending on the OS you're using, you may have trouble with the original Mbox. Besides, it's been my experience that Digidesign's interest in their customer satisfaction has been on a steady decline over the past couple of years. I finally stopped using ProTools for audio and learned how to edit audio in Logic Pro 7, and I don't miss ProTools one whit. I also do a lot of audio in GarageBand, and it's pretty sweet, too. More limited than Logic, but good for ideas. The Firebox also will handle your MIDI concerns. I think you'll find pretty good reviews on it just about anywhere you look. Firebox Rox!

Hope this helps!

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I haven't done much reading about the Firebox, but I will now. My only hesitation is that I'd like to have an interface that incorporates Pro Tools, since it's so widely used. I guess that's how DigiDesign gets you, huh?

Jon

You might think of getting a M-Audio firewire interface that meets your needs like the Firewire Audiophile then pick up Pro Tools M-Powered. I have found that USB interfaces suffer from Latency Issues...

rich...