All user reviews for the 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!

I have a MacBook Pro Processor 2.13 and 2GB of RAM memory
APRS many hsitation, I opt for the solution pro-tools. So for digidiseign. The mbox 2 as poorly plutt ct digi 002 and a bit too expensive for me, I DCID this Mbox2 pro (with the factory option).
I record my voice and my main guitar and think to use it to record concerts and RPTES

UTILIZATION

The instalation is trs peinible and long (I'm telling trs to have invested 150 euro more for the professional help in the Contents!). They protgent and they are right, but suddenly the number of codes of conduct containing opration is fastudieuse trs.

For plug-in requires a factory iLock cl. Think cre an account with them before starting any facilities pro-tools. we did not do right away and when we enter the user name iLock in pro-tools, we put one unaware that could be used dj (which is I glimpse later when I made my account iLock!). L is the galre since digidiseign will send the security code on the wrong account!
So many difficulties in the rtable situation.

on the other hand after the installation completes, a real rgale, worked wonderfully! Too bad the program does not be translated into French! But the manual is provided on Franais CDrom trs is clear and intuitive program trs
By using a ingnieur / IT professional I normment economy of time and I do not regret the investment

GETTING STARTED

I currently only pro-tools, which emplement enough for me to compose arrange and record.
The latency of dpend rglages performed in pro-tools. For me the latency is inaudible.

The recording quality surprised me for good! With microphones lctronique Se 3 and a beta 58. Is your exact thunder!
My folk guitar plugs directly into the mbox has allucinant sound, beautiful! The classic Gitare takes a little more work APRS correction record.

I record my voice with the beta 58 (no budget at this time for a real studio vocal mic). The result is not too bad, but still a quality of work and I would not mock him. The lack of precision voice, sounds a bit dull and is somewhat artificially colored. Many rglage APRS shot for drinking something (for a rest against a beautiful micro scne for!)
Save is a breeze, by reworking its application against a sacred exprience that I have not yet

OVERALL OPINION

I've had a month and I rgale.
She surely a default, but for me and I asked her, she is perfect. If I record a CD option studio seems to me essential. The advantage is that I can go with the track dj commplter registered to me and what I could not do. The mastrisation is not my mtier and even with pro-tools HD home and a super stuff I need to call the professionals.

So this pro Mbox2 Fully completed its rle:
- Lgre and transportable
- The quality of registration satisfies me (from the classical music world, I have a sensitive ear plutt Sonxai natutels)
- Pro-tools is a enjoyable utilisbr trs />
Voil there are cheaper on the market and we Digidiseign nibbles of all sub cts ... but I would do this same choice with eyes closed

What motivated my choice: The all-inclusive package, price, renamed PT

UTILIZATION

Installation laborious.

For the less computer of us: prvoir several days.
Otherwise no DCON is taking a vritable head.

On a positive note, the impression of having done something "big" when everything is installed.

GETTING STARTED

Once installed it works.

APRS several weeks of use, and change of heart (it's shit, it plutt good balance between my heart ...) you can not say that the packaging is the absolute shit. Srieusement has worked well, the sound quality is fairly good to use "home-studioiste" see out of beautiful models, auto-production clean well?

PT is difficult to begin with and seemed less intuitive than cubase sx2, I used last squenceur

OVERALL OPINION

M The box itself is a good product the problem could be protools.
You should know be patient, but once understood Systm (the Systm what ...) it works great (except the south which remains on amliorer PT)

However, little cherry on gteau: the Ilok.

So cool.
Of shit in a box that costs 40 euros.
How to say is a finger in the ass that makes you doubt the benefit of the acquisition of this system.
We will say that all, in hindsight, (I put an average of 3 / 10 before correcting my opinion) is really INTERESTED because of opportunities and the quality offered by the all mbax2pro and PT. I began my note 7-8/10.

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.

I wanted to use pro tools.

USE

You can't really talk about use.

OPERATION

First test with an old IBM laptop
It kind of worked. I blamed the PC for the sloppiness and malfunctioning.

I tried with more powerful computers and it never worked.

I tried several times during a 3-year period.
- On three or four different PCs (XP, Vista)
- I bought a firewire card (chipste TI) without success
- I actually ended up buying a Macbook specially for it. (OS 10.6 / 2.4GHz 2Gb RAM) it surely must be enough, I thought!!!

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL
But I remained optimistic.
I continued working with other setups, telling myself that someday I would get this machine working. A brand like Digidesign, a reference product like pro tools, the problem certainly had to do with me, because I didn't know what it took.

But I gave up. I'm exhausted.

Not even the money I paid for it is worth wrecking my head about it.

The soundcard can't be used with other software programs.

Today, the Digidesign site doesn't exist anymore and it was replaced by AVID.
Getting drivers or infos is more complicated every day.
Not to mention the hotline, which isn't free anymore.

I asked for help:
Back when the hotline was still free: The guys at the other end of the phone always managed to come up with something to win some time ("Download the update," "it might be your Firewire," "try Pro Tools 8").

The same happened with the store where I bought it. They tested the soundcard on one of their machines (a Mac) and it worked.

However, it never worked on my computers. Besides, I use lots of programs, audio, video, computer music... and everything works fairly well.

OVERALL OPINION

It's my worst purchase ever.
It was supposed to help me be more efficient. The result?
A waste of time, energy, money, loss of hair and lots of frustration.

I don't think there's anything more to do than to put it back in its box and throw it away. I wouldn't even dare sell it secondhand, it's a hot potato.