Digidesign Mbox 2 Pro

Hi all,

I've had the MBox Pro 2 for some years now and can say with confidence that it is a solid and reliable piece of gear. I've used it for all kind of simple recordings, mostly vocals and guitars/basses. It has been my main interface at home and for small projects on the road.

I like the MBox Pro 2 because it is good at its job. The recording quality is solid, in part thanks to the Firewire connection. The preamps are great quality for a midlevel interface and there is no noticeable fuzz during the "silence" during recording. I have never had any problems during recording, even when using the box to its full potential. I also have until now had no problems driving low-impedance or high-impedance headphones. Alongside that, it is pretty well designed and I, as a guitar player, particularly enjoy the front-facing line inputs. It is easy to understand the layout of the MBox Pro 2 and it takes up very little space, as well.

For a small home-studio setup, I think this is a great product. It has a little something for everyone, including an external word clock for the 'post' community, the phono preamp for the DJ community and the extra I/O is great for everybody. Although I never had it myself, I've heard from others it was a real improvement on the original MBox Pro so if it's an option for you, get yourself the upgraded version.

Cheers!

Very good unit, given the price. And the pack it comes with is a weighty argument.

USE

I don't know how a mobile studio can do with this setup. Once installed, you won't dare touch or move it much for fear of having to reconfigure everything...For a non-mobile studio it's okay, especially since the Mbox can be rack-mounted and that it looks nice. Not much to say in terms of sound.

The most (and very) negative point is that these guys might be the best at designing hardware and software (Pro Tools is definitely a must!), but they are really bad at programming. You'll inevitably have to deal with several crashes until you end up with an optimal configuration.

OPERATION

Bizarrely enough, I have a fighter jet on my desk in the guise of a PC...and the instability of the system freaks me out sometimes!

OVERALL OPINION

Bottom line, if I had to choose again, I'd save some money to get a bigger system, like a 003 with PT HD!!! But, for the price, it's a good solution and, despite its defects, the Mbox fulfills its role very well.

So, it's okay if you are looking for a quickly enough functional system (not considering the installation time)
But forget about it if you want a stable system that will last a long time!

I'll update my review if I ever get to install it...

USE

I give it zero points right from the start!
I'm very used to working with computers, especially PCs (I regularly set up systems for pro audio), and I can assure you that Digidesign gets the first prize for absurdity (no, no, Bill Gates is way behind, trust me).

The operation principle is distressing, unintuitive and completely inappropriate on a PC. In short, if Digidesign were to focus solely on PCs, they'd be doomed.

I know, it seems a bit harsh like that, but I want to prevent anybody thinking about buying this product (given its price I think it's unacceptable to have to pay someone 150 bucks to install this crap for, you like some other reviewer has statedç...It ought to be Digidesign's role to make the installation easier).

You have been warned...
And don't get me started with the recurring incompatibility issues you can find on the Digidesign website (which is just as intuitive as this soundcard, even if it has improved a bit in the last three years).
It's embarrassing to have us do your work (we shouldn't be the ones doing all the work on the test bed, you should make your gear compatible and open! Many brands have proven that it's possible...).

But there's a thing that's bugging me: How come so many studios choose Digidesign hardware?

OPERATION

Drivers = Crap

Updates = I think we'll get them when Digidesign gets enough pissed off phone calls. And be very careful because their more recent hardware is not backwards compatible. So you can kiss bye bye your older pro tools versions (5.X, 6.X) with the firewire mboxes.

Software used = It might not be pro tools if this carries on. In any case, I'm not about to let go of my fireface 800.

OVERALL OPINION

Its value for money is very poor when compared to brands like MOTU or RME. In other words, digidesign clearly isn't the best deal. The only advantage is that you get pro tools (but so limited that it would be a pain to work with it).

The Digidesign Mbox 2 Pro is part of the Mbox series. This pre is a step up from the normal Mbox 2 and has a few cooler features. First of all, you always get Pro Tools LE with these bundles, so you'll always have a good recording environment. This one is powered by firewire instead of USB, and that's probably the biggest reason I recommend this model over the Mbox 2. This also has 4 analog inputs, 6 analog outputs, 2 DIs, 2 channels of S/PDIF, MIDI, 2 headphone jacks, phantom power and more.

UTILIZATION

Digidesign did a great job fitting everything into this box without it being too hectic. First of all, everything is self contained in this unit. That means there are no breakout wires running anywhere to connect various gear. Apogee tends to have this problem, and it can be a real pain. Thanks to the firewire connection, there's zero lag. Whereas USB 2.0 could sometimes have some lag issues depending on how you set the buffer and how many plugins you're running while tracking, firewire is much more forgiving in that aspect. Pro Tools LE is pretty stable, and I didn't have too many problems with it. I'm more of a Logic guy, so I can't praise it too much.

GETTING STARTED

The unit is very easy to set up, and getting started is a breeze. Simply plug in the components to their corresponding ports, install Pro Tools LE and you're good to go. One issue with all Digidesign stuff is that it's locked to Pro Tools. That was a big issue for me since I'm a Logic user, but that's what happens when you start using proprietary gear.

OVERALL OPINION

I prefer this unit over the regular Mbox 2 simply because this has firewire. The software bundle that comes with it is solid, it's easy to set up, everything is self contained without any breakout cables, the price is pretty good and it sounds good as well. If you're looking for a good mid level pre, check this out.