Hey guys so im looking at picking up an audio interface. Im new to all this so bare with me if I'm not making sense lol.

Im going to school and I will be running Pro tools, Logic, & Reason. I need an interface that will work with all 3 programs. I will need one that I can plug my monitors & headphones into as well as a mic or 2 for recording (which may expand even more in the future). I found the Mbox packages

Couple questions for you:

1. Is the mbox a good deal? if so which level of the mbox would you go for and why? http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm...04&itemid=23596 Would this do what i talked about above?

2. How many audio inputs do u think I realistically need for producing house music?

3. Is there anything else I should look at that will work with all 3 of those programs?

Thanks for the help guys!
Chris

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the mbox 2 mini will be fine for those programs mate. and u can plug in 2 mics or any instruments via the xlr's

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quote:

Originally posted by djandymac the mbox 2 mini will be fine for those programs mate. and u can plug in 2 mics or any instruments via the xlr's

Thanks for the reply mate. I think u can only plug 1 mic into the mini if im not mistaken? seems to only have 1 XLR input but 2 line (1/4") inputs. Does that seem right?

also someone just told me the mbox can be only used with one application at a time. So i would have to close logic if i wanted to switch over to reason. Is that true? and will that make a huge difference?

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Really, your only option is to run one of the mboxes but I warn you they're not the best in terms of sonic quality or value.

They're certainly not terrible, but I'd take a cheaper interface from Echo or second hand motu any day of the week.

If you're using Pro Tools M-Powered you can use it with the following soundcards.

Have a look at this one.


http://www.focusrite.com/products/s...ire_pro_24_dsp/

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Don't buy M-audio mate, M-audio sounds like shit, poor components, poor A/D converters, mother****** support that doesn't exist even and are Made In China.

Don't buy hardware made in China never!

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Presonus Firestudio Mobile

- Very portable
- 10 inputs
- 6 outputs
- 2 mic inputs
- 1 headphone input
- true 48V phantom power
- Comes with Studio One Artist software
- Universal Control drivers


Goes for around $300

http://www.presonus.com/products/De...px?ProductId=58

I got one and travel with it almost all the time when I produce at a friends house.

quote:

Originally posted by Lindo Presonus Firestudio Mobile - Very portable - 10 inputs - 6 outputs - 2 mic inputs - 1 headphone input - true 48V phantom power - Comes with Studio One Artist software - Universal Control drivers Goes for around $300 http://www.presonus.com/products/De...px?ProductId=58 I got one and travel with it almost all the time when I produce at a friends house.

Not bad, but not amazing either, but certainly good value. No chance of protools though.

I'm afraid the OP is going to have to buy and Mbox to use protools(forget maudio).

@CK - what's the deal with you and the chinese? Bout the 3rd thread where you're angry at them (I know, I know, you MB died etc.).

If you want to run PT your basically fucked. Any interface from them is going to be appalling, and your only other option is an maudio.

Depending on how big you want your setup to be, I hear an maudio lightbridge with good converters is a good option, but thats going to get pretty expensive.

As for how many inputs you'll need for house music, that very much depends on what you mean by house music. If you mean prog, then you don't really need any. If you mean cheesy house, then you probably need one for vocals. If you mean disco house, then you probably need enough to record bass, drums and vocals at the minumum. It depends on how you work too, how many external synths your planning on getting etc...

If you have to get an mbox, I'd get the cheapest one possible, and try and only use it for mixing and not recording. I assume your going to audio school and thats why your using PT, so if you get the mbox dongle thing, then you can just record everything at school and use the dongle for mixing at home. Its the most portable, cheapest option, and will leave money left over for if you want to buy a good interface for home recording in logic later.

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+1 to kit's advice.

You're going to be disappointed when using the mboxes in the long run with the other sequencers because there are cheaper interfaces that do more and sound better - you're just compromising and spending more to have that compatibility. The dongle is probably the best way to go as the cheap Digidesign products just aren't worth it. The dongle will let you at least use it and if your school has PTHD then do the recording and advanced work in that.

quote:

Originally posted by cristianokeller Don't buy M-audio mate, M-audio sounds like shit, poor components, poor A/D converters, mother****** support that doesn't exist even and are Made In China. Don't buy hardware made in China never!

What is it with you and the Chinese? This must be the third thread where you've posted this.

M-sudio have lost their crown as one of the best budget names. Ten years ago they were good value but just got left behind and sloppy in terms of support.

DJ RANN because my old M-audio NRV10 (made in China) also died by a heavy storm in my area. Believe, a lightning hit it...

Before it death I've extensively tested the unit and what can I say... Really Sucks! there is a lot of noise sine/square signals in the background of some channels, very poor components, the faders looks like top ones but they are poor, a short life and they can make crackle noises in some positions causing undesired pans. The A/D converters sounds like a toy. The microphone pre-amps that M-audio says in their website "Class A" is a stupid lie, they are class C or something, very buggy, if you increase the gain a bit it start to sound boomy. A shit! M-audio is shit!

Well, I have a Virus Ti Snow now and at the moment using as my sound card.. what a difference! Very solid componets, sounds clean, solid.. the A/Ds are pretty good for a "sound card by accident" synth. Made in Germany, a cheap synth for what it offers, very different from Made in China products that are cheap and shit..

___________________
• i7 950 class A Vanilla Hackintosh w/ Logic 9 • Dead Macbook Pro w/ error ts2377 pending court decision ( I hate apple ) • Apogee Duet • Access Virus Snow • Roland JP-8000 and Juno-G • Novation Ultranova • Mackie 802-VLZ3 Mixer • Yamaha HS-80 •

Last edited by cristianokeller on Feb-15-2010 at 09:47