What to do!!??!!??!??!??!

/Drool.

So tempted... I need a few guitars:
One for hard rock/metal
One for punk
One for alternative/light folky stuff.

That tele fits the bill perfectly for the alternative stuff. If I get a job anytime soon, that'll find its way to me, sharpish!

mbox is probably the most expensive 2in2out interface you could get. I've no doubts about it's quality, but you could save a few pennies on an edirol ua-25 or maudio something. Preamps might not be as good as what is on the mbox, but the edirol new is 1/2 the price (€222 musicstore.com). Lesser alternatives are worth considering, as well as ebay.

You might even be able to afford audio interface + headphones (might I recommend AKG K240 M) + guitar if you spend wisely! Don't think the pod would be required if you were to 'aquire' guitar-rig, which is a very neat little software package ... neat as in probably better than micing up your amp unless you have a €1000 amp & a €1000 mic

I presume the mbox comes with a protools licence which is always nice to have, but I wouldn't factor software into your budget. You can always buy licences once your project moves beyond the bedroom (sorry for advocating theft, but we are poor, think of it as buying on another form of credit!). As far as guitar rig goes, I was perhaps wow'd by how much it can do. I've never had a POD, but based only on the fact that it was sucking up 60% of the cpu, I imagine it's at least as good as ... and, ahem ... free

I don't know what software came with our edirol (not an ua-25), it has ASIO drivers so it works with Cubase SX 2 without hitch and I presume almost any other package around. I'll check when I get home.

Also consider a condenser from studioprojects, whatever in their range you can afford. I've used a B1 (cheapest) and a C3 (not so), and they are both very good, probably more bang-for-buck from the B1 as it is dirt cheap. digitalvillage.co.uk is a source for them (shipping 20 something pounds, but they're also good for any other recording gear, thanks to some boards person for pointing me to them!)

The mbox does come with very well regarded preamps though, I don't think the edirol pres would be any match (though they've sounded fine on our fa-101).

But let me talk about midi!! If you only have need for one powered xlr preamp (with one other 1/4' jack pre) then consider an m-audio Ozone. It's a midi keyboard, with lots of midi knobs and stuff ... AND ... it's an audio interface. A friend I haven't talked to in a while has one, and I think he loves it (he loved it before he got it, I hope it's lived up to his expectations). I think it's potential is just brilliant, from albeit limited use in composition on the PC to quite comprehensive control of whatever sound processing/sampling you are doing with reason/guitar rig etc, as well as of course recording. I am hoping this friend will take his on stage at some point and blow my mind

Doctor J wrote:

Nope, that's the version that works with an Mbox, Digi001 and Digi002. There's a stripped down old version of LE available as a free download.

Newband, get Pro Tools whatever you do, you'll need to know it if you want to work in the music industry, simple as that.

Is it your intention to move into the recording industry? If that's the case then it is a good idea to stick with Pro Tools as DrJ says, however if you are doing this to record yourself & your band, there's absolutely no point in going anywhere near Digidesign due to cost.

Cubase doesn't have the respect that Pro Tools demands as it used to suck in comparison, but it's as good (and certainly prettier!) these days, and the all under 1 roof solution from Digidesign is also getting outdated as other vendors improve the stability of their recording interfaces.

It depends on whether you need to put this stuff down on a CV or not ... you may just have to suck up the cost.

edit: didn't see your post there, no problem.