Digidesign M-Box

[Argos]

I'm thinking of getting one of these with ProTools LE, but I'm not sure if I should. I've heard good and bad things. Anyone have any experience with it? I'd be using it for mostly home recording and hashing stuff out for demo's, etc. I'm not sure I want to take the Alsihad route but for the money it seems like a good deal.

[vwall]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Indeed!
I have been pondering the same product. looking forward to some feedback!

I would really like the Echo Layla 24/96 but im so new at pc recording i dont think im worth it yet [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

[ScarredDollFace]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

I would suggest a MOTU 828mkII. Digidesign is rip-off if you ask me considering what you get for the money. The M-box is only 2 channels in at only 24bit/48kHz. With the 828mkII, it is 8 channels in at 24bit/96kHz easily expandible to 18 channels in with ADAT and S/PDIF inputs and it is only $200 more.
Click here and check it out


Nick

[paddok]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Originally posted by Nek:
I would suggest a MOTU 828mkII. Digidesign is rip-off if you ask me considering what you get for the money. The M-box is only 2 channels in at only 24bit/48kHz. With the 828mkII, it is 8 channels in at 24bit/96kHz easily expandible to 18 channels in with ADAT and S/PDIF inputs and it is only $200 more.
Click here and check it out


Nick

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not sure if you realize this, but to those people who the Mbox targets, 200 dollars is a hell of alot more money.

[Black Mariah]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Argos: Unless you're planning on recording a bumload of tracks at once, GO FOR IT. The MBox is a good low-cost unit for home recording. You only get two inputs, but how many do you need?

The problem with going with the MOTU unit is that once you've paid $200 above the cost of an MBox w/Pro Tools LE, you still have to shell out cash for software unless you're on a Macintosh.

[~K~]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Is that compatable with any recording software of is it specifically designed for pro tools?

[Black Mariah]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

AFAIK it's compatible with anything. It's just a preamp, after all. The pluses over most other preamps is that it's USB based and not Firewire, and USB is much more prevalent on average desktop systems.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

i say get the Tascam FW-1884, and a good recording software program such as Sonar 3.0 or Cubase SX. the Tascam comes complete with 8 mic/line I/O's and automated faders! or for a little cheaper there's the ardvark Q-10 which works really well also. www.aardvark-audio.com we recorded our entire album on that with sonar 2.0. (and the pod)

[JJGray]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

If it's any consolation, I own an MBox, and I also did look at the MOTU units as well. When I went to NAMM last month, I spent some time with a demo guy at Digidesign's booth, and asked him about the MBox, and had him give me a demo of it.

What got me interested in the MBox were the Focusrite preamps, and the additional software that comes with it, and what I was looking for was a computer interface that was USB. I didn't want any extra audio cabling going between the mic preamp and the computer.

Before I bought the MBox, I would go from a mic straight into the 1/4" input jack on my Soundblaster Audigy card, which is a nice soundcard on it's own. And with the volume from my cabinet inside my soundproof enclosure, I didn't need to amplify the mic'd signal.

Now with the MBox, I really love the unit, AND the software that comes with it. I now use a Shure57 and a Sennheiser mic in front of a stereo cabinet, and they both run into the MBox. With the MBox, it is now acts as the central hub for my audio equipment. My mixer, studio monitors, mics, computer, etc. all now plug into the MBox, so I monitor the mic signals and prerecorded tracks via the MBox. This way, the MBox stays perfectly sync'd with the computer with no latency.

The Focusrite mic preamps are amazing to say the least, and the MBox is super easy to use. Anyone can have it dialed in the first evening of use. And besides the awesome ProTools LE software you get with the MBox, I am LOVING the included ProTools Plugins. They are all real-time processing plugins. I record my tracks dry with no effects. I can then add a delay plug-in, or EQ, anything I want, and in real-time playback, I can hear and dial in the plugins to my tracks. If I don't like the plugin, I can click on the plugin, remove it, and my track is unaltered. And I gotta mention that the noisegate plugin is fantastic. I can use any pieces of gear from my 20-space rack, but I do prefer to record with just a straight eq and amp. After recording my first few tracks, I had a tad of noise from my amp before the guitar kicks in on the recorded tracks. I added the noisegate plugin to the track, and it cleaned it right up. I can even take the plugin out, and the track goes back to normal.

For the cost of the MBox, it was definitely money WELL SPENT!

John

[Argos]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Great! Thanks for taking the time for a review.

Looks like that may be what I go for unless something spurs me the other way.

Now, a general recording question: Do I need to mic my amp or can I directly record from the head? I don't really have the space to set up my halfstack where my box is.

[the_drip]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

hey argos...can you post a review once you get that pro tools LE? thanks.

[Infernal Death]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

When choosing a software go with what you can work best.
Protools LE with the Digi M-Box should be enough for homerecording. Just don't think about this because you heard that Protools is the number 1 choice for professionals. That's true but this concerns only the Protools HD system. Almost all professionals who use Protools use Protools HD with it's processing cards. Those systems are very powerful and professional. But they start at $10k.

Choose this recording solution because you can work with it.
For reference i use a STAudio DSP2000 soundcard with Steinberg Cubase.Works good but i am thinking about replacing the DSP2000 with a RME HDSP 9632. Nothing wrong with the DSP2000 i just think about stepping up one step on the quality ladder.
My opinion is that all those cheap recording cards are good enough for recording demos. The converters are normally quite good. My guess is that the mic preamps will limit you more in terms of quality than those converters. So you should buy better mic preamps and mics before thinking of upgrading the soundcard.
The M-Box and all other suggestions from this thread should give you a good basic setup which you can build upon.

@ JJGray
There are Focusrite mic preamps in the M-Box ? Didn't know that. Although i guess they are nothing like the ISA Range or Red Range which Focusrite is famous for. All the build in mic preamps in cheaper recording cards i heard weren't really good.

Flo

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

The focusrite preamps in the M-Box are from the platnium (consumer) range.

[Infernal Death]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Thanks for the information. Well i guess they are nothing to write home about [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
At the moment i am quite satisfied with my self build tube mic preamp going through my Urei 1176 clone. The only thing i want in the near future in terms of mic preamplification is building a neve style mic preamp and a api style mic preamp would also be nice [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] This should be enough for me.

Flo

[JJGray]

Re: Digidesign M-Box

Argos,

I can tell you how I generally record my amp if it helps. My MBox and recording computer are in a different room from my guitar room. I have my guitar cabinets inside a soundproof enclosure, and I use 30' Monster mic cables ($70.00 each is steep, but worth it) to travel to my computer room, where I can monitor my amp via the MBox.

The nice thing I like now about this setup is that my guitar is far enough away from the guitar amp that any hum that may have been present from being close to my gear is gone.

If you don't want to mic your speakers, I would suggest getting some kind of speaker simulator for direct recording, such as one of the Palmer units, or even an older ADA MicroCab. I've got two Palmer's (PDI-03 and PGA-04) which are fantastic, but I only use those between my guitar amp and power amp. Trying to record your amp using a lineout rather than mic'ing your speaker or using a speaker simulator will give you results you won't be happy with.

However you decide to run your amp signal, the Mbox will though accept all three mic, line and instrument signals.

And to BigDaddyD:

If you want to know the exact specifics to the bandwidth used for audio recording devices per their standards, use this as your guide:

Megabytes of audio data processed per minute per track:

Sample rate (Khz): 44.1 / 48 / 96
MB/Minute - 16-Bit 5 / 5.5 / 11
MB/Minute - 24-Bit 7.5 / 8 / 16

Recording two tracks using a 96Khz sample rate at 24-Bit, that's a total of 32 Megabytes per minute, which equates to only 4.26 Megabits per second, which is WELL UNDER the maximum capacity of 12 Megabits per second that USB 1.1 can handle. The playback audio is taxing on the cpu, but takes hardly any bandwidth via USB to playback for monitoring. The makers of MBox and OmniStudio already knew that USB could handle more than enough bandwidth that both the MBox or the OmniStudio can process.

And regarding your statement that the OmniStudio is "way better than the MBox", you left out that this was your opinion and you didn't give any reasons why it was. I also had looked at the OmniStudio, and if you browse SameDayMusic.com or ZZSounds.com, both websites have user reviews that happened to rate the OmniStudio 5.2 stars out of 10, yet they rated the MBox 7.8 stars out of 10. Okay, so that means nothing. However, keep in mind why *I* chose the MBox: the Focusrite mic preamps. For under $500, you are not going to find another audio device with better mic preamps. And when it came down to it, I only wanted a two channel device that had high quality, great sounding mic preamps. The MBox delivered it to me.

John

[ February 12, 2004, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: JJGray ]