Pro Tools, Mbox, Ebay And More!, uh-huh. Options

[Astral Cars]

Okay, so I was bored one time and I download Pro Tools 6, I tried opening it up and got that ever so common 1119 error, but that's just because I didn't have any sort of hardware hooked up. It's now a couple months later and I'm going to buy an mBox, I've decided to get one off of eBay, cause that way I save money. My issue is that I'm trying to decide if I should get the ones that are older versions of pro tools and use PT6 which I had already downloaded, I wonder because they are cheaper. I'm just concerned that I'll get it and then the PT6 which I have will not work for some reason and I'll have to spend more to get the new version. I have an 800mhz flat screen iMac with the latest version of X installed. If someone could just tell me what will work and what wont that would be great. Also I plan on getting the Behringer UB2222FX mixer, if anyone cares to comment on that item that would be cool.

This post has been edited by Astral Cars: Tue 15 Jul 2003, 04:51

[xenonaut]

I can't really comment on using a downloaded PT LE 6 with an older MBox (though from a technical perspective, I don't see any obvious problem; I'm not aware of mechanism which links the serial number of the software to a particular box, though I could be wrong; I bought mine new with PT LE 6).

However, regarding eBay: I found that the going prices for the MBox on eBay were *so* close to the new price that it just wasn't worth it. Specifically, they seemed to hover right around 400 USD, and for 450 you can *easily* find a new one via mail order (maybe even cheaper, if you look; I'm not sure). So for about 10 percent more, you get a brand new box, with *warranty* AND the latest version of ProTools.

Maybe if you watch eBay for a while, you can find a really good deal. When I looked, it didn't seem like there were so many great deals (and remember that auction prices often climb fast in the last few minutes -- check out prices under "completed items" for a good indicator). My rule of thumb is that if something used costs more than 75-80 percent of the new price, it's worth it just to buy new.

Good luck, in any event.

This post has been edited by xenonaut: Tue 15 Jul 2003, 09:35

[Synthetic]

be aware.... you had mentioned that you downloaded ProTools 6 and not ProTools LE 6 which is what Mbox uses. Any ProTools without the LE on the name is intended for TDM systems using DSP powered PCI cards for the sound processing. PTLE was meant for the cheaper Digidesign systems that use CPU for sound processing as in the Digi001 & 002 and Mbox. So if you have actual PT 6 and not LE then it will not work with Mbox and should be removed before installing the actual PTLE program with Mbox.

This post has been edited by Synthetic: Tue 15 Jul 2003, 16:05

[Astral Cars]

Sorry about that, it is Pro Tools LE 6. Well, there is an auction ending in an hour that I feel I can get a pretty good deal on, so I'll try that. I let you know if I've got a problem.