phraseland
Published on 12/05/08 at 04:32
I wanted a decent interface with at least two microfone inputs and a decent software bundle. ProTools was also in issue as I am working with Cubase and wanted to be able to transfer projects into ProTools so I could use them in a bigger studio later.
I really like the software bundle even though I don't really need most of it. The most important one is the ProToolsLE along the BombFactory plugins. That by itself justifies the price in my opionion.
I use this MBox with a Dell Inspiron 6400 Laptop (2GB RAM, 1.6GHz DualCore) and use it mainly with Cubase. The interface is very straight forward - maybe they could have built a little smaller.
UTILIZATION
I didn't have any problems installing the drivers. As for the manual there really isn't one. Yeah, yeah - there is always the .pdf but I just don't want to waste a bunch of paper and ink on that! Anyway - everything installed nicely.
I had one annoying problem though. When I started recording in ProTools everything was fine but in Cubase the interface suddenly shifted the recordings a bit to the left. This would have not been an issue at first but I was recording overdubs for a song I had recorded with my MOTU 2408...all the vocal takes were not synced with the playback! I still don't know why that is but I found a solution. I genereated a MIDI click and recorded that click via my speakers into the MBox again. Then I could see how much the signal was shifted and adjusted the delay time (samples) in the Cubase configuration. As I said it works now - but I have a feeling that it shouldn't be like this...
GETTING STARTED
Besides the issue mentioned above I have no copmlaints. When I bought the computer I was running Vista and Digidesign had promised to release a driver within a couple of months. Well the months became almost a year and I eventually gave up on Vista anyway (luckily I realized very soon what a piece of junk it is). So I don't blame them for not wanting to release a driver that wouldn't really work on Microsoft's faulty software.
It seems the preamp has a lot of headroom and I have not really had big issues with clipped signals.
OVERALL OPINION
I have been using the MBox 2 now for about a year and like that it really sounds quite good and gives me a professional sounding monitor output. Since it is meant to record only two tracks at a time (or four if you add digital) it doesn't really run into any performance issues. Just make sure to not have the interface hooked up to a USB hub - plug it in directly and you will be just fine.
I looked at the M-Audio interfaces and I think they are pretty good as well (maybe even better value for the money). But I put my faith into Digidesign and so far have not been disappointed.
I really like the software bundle even though I don't really need most of it. The most important one is the ProToolsLE along the BombFactory plugins. That by itself justifies the price in my opionion.
I use this MBox with a Dell Inspiron 6400 Laptop (2GB RAM, 1.6GHz DualCore) and use it mainly with Cubase. The interface is very straight forward - maybe they could have built a little smaller.
UTILIZATION
I didn't have any problems installing the drivers. As for the manual there really isn't one. Yeah, yeah - there is always the .pdf but I just don't want to waste a bunch of paper and ink on that! Anyway - everything installed nicely.
I had one annoying problem though. When I started recording in ProTools everything was fine but in Cubase the interface suddenly shifted the recordings a bit to the left. This would have not been an issue at first but I was recording overdubs for a song I had recorded with my MOTU 2408...all the vocal takes were not synced with the playback! I still don't know why that is but I found a solution. I genereated a MIDI click and recorded that click via my speakers into the MBox again. Then I could see how much the signal was shifted and adjusted the delay time (samples) in the Cubase configuration. As I said it works now - but I have a feeling that it shouldn't be like this...
GETTING STARTED
Besides the issue mentioned above I have no copmlaints. When I bought the computer I was running Vista and Digidesign had promised to release a driver within a couple of months. Well the months became almost a year and I eventually gave up on Vista anyway (luckily I realized very soon what a piece of junk it is). So I don't blame them for not wanting to release a driver that wouldn't really work on Microsoft's faulty software.
It seems the preamp has a lot of headroom and I have not really had big issues with clipped signals.
OVERALL OPINION
I have been using the MBox 2 now for about a year and like that it really sounds quite good and gives me a professional sounding monitor output. Since it is meant to record only two tracks at a time (or four if you add digital) it doesn't really run into any performance issues. Just make sure to not have the interface hooked up to a USB hub - plug it in directly and you will be just fine.
I looked at the M-Audio interfaces and I think they are pretty good as well (maybe even better value for the money). But I put my faith into Digidesign and so far have not been disappointed.