MBox vs Other Interface

Squidgy Black

Looking to pick up a cheap enough interface with two inputs. Not associated with any programs at the moment really.

The mbox has two inputs, one an xlr with phantom power. This is one of my basic needs. But I've heard that unless it's with protools it's sh**e.
The only thing is, I can pick one up for around 100 quid used with protools le.

My other option is another interface, something like the Alesis io2 or something along the lines of that.

My main needs are on xlr input with a preamp and phantom power, and one instrument input.

I'd like to use fruity loops and reaper, so I dunno what to choose.

DamagedTrax

stetyrrell wrote: »

The mbox has two inputs, one an xlr with phantom power. This is one of my basic needs. But I've heard that unless it's with protools it's sh**e.
The only thing is, I can pick one up for around 100 quid used with protools le.

you've heard wrong, it just depends one which drivers you run it with. infact i find it more stable outside protools. the avid asio drivers were and seems like they always will be muck outside protools but you have a choice of drivers to use.. i find the most stable with reaper to be the generic full duplex asio drivers.

Squidgy Black

Oh right, I just heard there were problems with the buffers and there was so much latency outside of protools.

So which would be the better choice for quality and low-latence?

DamagedTrax

mbox goes down to 64 samples so thats pretty low.

as to which one to go for? ive no idea. especially now protools 9 is open to all interfaces. personally im not a fan of alesis but ive no idea if the i/o is any use.

also depends on how much you want to spend. 300/400 isnt going to get you much while a few thou will get you a thing of beauty.

Squidgy Black

Err my budget's quite low, I've only got about 100-130 to spend on it, I've spent most of the money on a decent mic.

DamagedTrax

well then 2nd hand would be your best option. mbox2 or m-audio fasttrack pro are decent enough and go for sensible prices..

GTE

An M-box under Windows is utter garbage for a couple of reasons.

There is no routing so if you need, which I admit may not be a common need, to have two line ins sent to the L and R monitor output you can not do it.

It will only work with some buffers outside of Pro Tools. I dont use pro tools enough to see if it has the same problem.

You can not use it as the Windows sound device which brings up the need for the first thing I mentioned.

I had to send the output of my Saffire into the two line ins of the Mbox which was then connected to the monitors so I could use Cubase and Pro Tools and keep Youtube for after for example, since I cant route anything that got shot out the window.

I got one so I could have Pro Tools for uni and it was cheap which is fine but I think the Focusrite competitors would be better judging from my experience with the Pro 40. Mackie have a new little interface out which I may get at some point.

DamagedTrax

There is no routing so if you need, which I admit may not be a common need, to have two line ins sent to the L and R monitor output you can not do it.

theres no proper routing in any of the interfaces in that price range (OP spoke of 100 euro)

It will only work with some buffers outside of Pro Tools. I dont use pro tools enough to see if it has the same problem.

i use it with both reaper and cubase and i can get 64 to 4096 samples in reaper and 2048 in cubase using the asio full duplex drivers rather than the avid drivers.

You can not use it as the Windows sound device which brings up the need for the first thing I mentioned.

you can. you need a small free program called digiMMEhelper. new mbox3 ships with new drivers that cover all applications

I got one so I could have Pro Tools for uni and it was cheap which is fine but I think the Focusrite competitors would be better judging from my experience with the Pro 40. Mackie have a new little interface out which I may get at some point.

you could be right. theres a lot of different options in that price range.

GTE

I should clarify that I own the Mbox 2 Mini. Silly of me not to mention it.

DamagedTrax wrote: »

theres no proper routing in any of the interfaces in that price range (OP spoke of 100 euro)

That is disappointing, especially from Focusrite. The USB6 makes no mention of the Saffire control that the firewire ones use.

i use it with both reaper and cubase and i can get 64 to 4096 samples in reaper and 2048 in cubase using the asio full duplex drivers rather than the avid drivers.
Never really used the full duplex drivers. Asio4all is one I do and it wont detect the Mbox. Will check it out but with my laptop I dont think it ran well with the low latency and it would not work on 1024 or summet. Computer dependant on that one I say.


you can. you need a small free program called digiMMEhelper. new mbox3 ships with new drivers that cover all applications
New windows 7 drivers dont include support for primary sound device, will check it out but I would have thought it would be included in the Mbox 2 Mini update for Windows 7? Or is it third party?

you could be right. theres a lot of different options in that price range.

Indeed, if the OP can push for the Mackie Blackjack which is the same price as the Mbox 2 Mini on Thomann then I have a good feeling it would wipe the floor with the Mbox.

Reply in red =D

goblin59

guys im just jumping in here as a fellow mbox user.

Before my acer died and i replaced it with a mac, i had no problems using my mbox 2 with windows xp, vista, or 7, i even used it to rig up my expensive oktava valve microphone up to use as a microphone in a video game just to see if i could and because i had no headsets with a built in mic.

the driver i was using was asio4all and i could select the mbox from the audio settings in the control panel when i needed too.

In my opinion their well worth getting, but you can buy them cheaper than 100 on ebay.co.uk

Squidgy Black

I'm getting it for like 100 with protools le.

I think I'll get the mbox and just download new drivers if I decide to use reaper the odd time or whatever.

Paolo_M

I've had an MBox Mini 2 running on XP SP2 and 3, Vista, Mac OSX10.5 and 10.6 and done all sorts of stupid experiments and mistakes.

I've never had any problems of any description with the ASIO or CoreAudio drivers for either OS platform, and their variations.

That's using Reaper 3.4/5/6/7, GarageBand 10&11, ProTools LE 8.01/02/03/04, Ableton Live Lite 7&8, ReValver MKIII.

It also runs perfectly well as an aggregate device.

GTE

The 8.0.5 drivers they released a few days ago has solved the Windows default sound device problem I had in the <8.0.5 drivers.

Asio4All can now see it which is a good thing as the Digidesign Asio driver sounds like a bowl of rice crispies even at 4096 buffers.

stetyrrell wrote: »

I'm getting it for like 100 with protools le.

I think I'll get the mbox and just download new drivers if I decide to use reaper the odd time or whatever.

If you get the Mbox with PT8LE and get those new 8.0.5 drivers off their website you should be sorted if you need to use other DAW's.

Im doing a project now with Cubase 5 running Asio4All and its fine, finally!

EDIT:
Drivers as I said it here is the wrong word. The 8.0.5 is a big 1000mb update to Pro Tools which probably includes some 10 to 15mb drivers for the Mbox.

Squidgy Black

Yeah I have Asio4All running at the moment through reaper, it's not ideal and can be unstable and just not work sometimes, but when it works, it works.

I probably should've read up a bit more before I threw myself in the deep end

Just waiting to get the copy of protools soon and then hopefully it'll get better and I'll do something creative :rolleyes:

GTE

Yeah, I think from what I linked to in the other thread the 8.0.5 Pro Tools update does update the Mbox drivers from the 8.0.4 beta ones so it could solve the problems you have too.

It seems Digidesign/Avid forgot about Windows 7 for a good while.

Paolo_M

Why not use the standalone Digidesign/Avid drivers?
They're available for download on the website.
That what I use and never had any problems on either Windows or Mac.

GTE

I posted a link to those in another thread as he could only find XP I think.