Advice About The Mbox, would anybody recommend this Options

[gollumis]

i am a new commer to digital recording, i have a strong mac with plenty of power. i was thinking about purchasing the mbox, is anybody familiar with this device? i am looking for quality vocal recording at a low price. can anybody throw down some 2 cents......

thanks

[arvidtp]

hey

In short, I would say probably no. I own one and I'm not really satisfied. But then again I do a lot of crazy stuff with realtime instruments and sound processing. I think you would be better off with something else unless you already know / really want to use Pro Tools or just need to do what Pro Tools does (which is pretty damn impressive, but not everything there is, especially not in MIDI or realtime stuff). The mbox has serious compatibility issues with other software besides Pro Tools and limits the amount of processing power you can use for realtime stuff because it is USB. It also has a high degree of latency which will come out as a bit annoying if you play software instruments. Pro Tools is a great app for audio and multitracking and recording/editing, but not for composing. I often get frustrated with it for that.

I own an Mbox and a powerbook G4 1.25GHz. It has good sound quality, but I am not happy with its lack of functionality with other software I use. I think Digidesign wants to make it difficult to use with other software besides Pro Tools. Anyway I'm not recommending it. I'm gonna get lOgic express soon and try that out - I think it will be much nicer for composing, but i will still have to use the annoying mbox which includes such great features as only being able to be used by one application at a time and putting your mac to sleep will cause any software accessing the mbox to crash.

Anyway, good luck, sorry for my rant but I think Digidesign should put out better stuff. The mbox is old, and USB is not a great option for audio interfaces. It is cool to be portable and powercordless, but other non-proprietary interfaces can do this too. If you are not demanding with realtime software instruments/lots of effects, and only want to use Pro Tools, the mbox is ok. Otherwise invest elsewhere. I sorta wish I did. But if all you are looking for is quality recording, the mbox can do it.

This post has been edited by arvidtp: Sun 23 May 2004, 01:35