For discussion about setting up your studio and advice on the gear and equipment within it.
Bylooney_toon Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:14 pm
I was wondering how many of you guys use pro tools and if i bought a MBox would pro tools come with it? And also what is the price of the MBox?

By cooocooo1 Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:40 pm
There are quite a few PT users in these forums, the MBox does come with Pro Tools Le and is going for 450.00 but you can find one on eBay for 350.00 to 400.00. Check out http://www.digidesign.com , you'll find everything you need to know about PT there but feel free to ask around here too for some "real world" answers.

My bad, I spelled digidesign wrong, I'm still gettin' used to these damn PT keyboard stickers.
Last edited by cooocooo1 on Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

By homershines Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:44 pm
CoooCoo1 steered you right. While you're at www.digidesign.com check out the User Conference inside of the Support pages. There's a forum there that will help you out.

Peace.
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By J WALES Fri Apr 23, 2004 8:39 pm
I just got the mbox from www.americanmusical.com, they got ez pay, for cats thats tight on cash, and you get your gear in about 2 to 3 days. As for that DD user conf, if you arent familiar with the lingo you are on your **** on, but they do have one for the mbox section(I think)but good luck.

By blowout dome Fri Apr 23, 2004 10:25 pm
The mbox is dope but it does not have midi.
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By enotide Sat Apr 24, 2004 12:08 am
I'm using Digi 002 Rack, It's nice.
I haven't hooked up an Midi stuff to it yet, That'll be next.
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By MistaMike4u Sat Apr 24, 2004 4:06 am
Yeah i have the 001, i had the Mbox, it was coo but wasn't to compatible with the specs on ma laptop, so i copped the DIGI001 and anotha PC and it works tight.... trust me, i aint' shyttin on tha MBox though cuz ma mans thats runnin a commercial studio is runnin a Mbox, with PT 6.3, and it's workin great for him.... just make sure you go ova the specs and make sure they meet your PC and you'll be tight... u can always get a MIDIMAN for bout $30, and hook that up and u'll be good, that'll take care of ur midi's and the latency on the midiman's arent' bad if your computer is up 2 par
By ThaHero Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:49 am
Sorry, sometimes when I post on message boards with my sidekick it posts multiple times.
Last edited by ThaHero on Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By young_keyz Tue Apr 27, 2004 6:25 am
Man dont even spend your money on the mbox. Take that 450 and save up and get the digi 002 rack or something close. I use to own the mbox. Im not gona hate and say it was wack but over time i out grew it because a few things. 1. it only has 2 audio tracks,no problem, cause at the time my mpc only had 2 audio outs but with the motif and the 8 outs on the mpc now i had way more outputs then i had inputs. 2. No midi ins or outs to track your beats, no problem, cause you could buy a midi man 1x1 and your all set to go. 3. THE VALUE OF YOUR TIME! How much do it mean to you, cause lets say you have a mpc and you have a song that has about oh lets say 10 sounds going on that you want to put on its own track, well with the mbox you have the option to record 2 tracks at a time but since i had a motif and a mpc i have one input for the motif, and one for the mpc. I had to record every sound one at a time. Now days i just record 16 bars and loop things later and cut and paste things but at first i would record each sound for the full time of the song 3 or 5 minutes. O yea remember i ask you THE Value of your time. well if you ahave to record 10 tracks one by one Times 5 minutes that = 50 or so minutes to record a damn beat, and thats not count the time it will take you set up the next track to be recorded, or the times your computer may crash. I feel the mbox would be a good tool for rappers. Lets say i had a artist and i wanted him or her to record some of there freestlyes at home or before we went to the studio cause money was tight, i would buy them a computer a mic and a mbox. As far for tracking beats or just to say i have pro tools its not even worth the money, and lets not get into the problems your gona run into cause its usb and it runs off the power of your computer, and not its own. Dont get me wrong the mbox sounds good but its like a chick that looks like the badest chick you ever wanted but with out the azz, or chest, after awhile you gona want more. Now days i use a Motu 828 with Nuendo 1.6( i feel is better then pro tools anyways and lets not even talk about 2.1 whoa that program is hot). With it having just as many in and outs as the digi 002 rack for only 745....if you can get it to work with your computer and get your hands on a audio tracking software program....in the long run youll be happy you got it. Anyways just a word of advice for a former mbox owner, if you want pro tools get some more better like the 002 rack the mbox isnt the way to go.
By ThaHero Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:13 am
That's why I love this board! Great advice like this! Well I dunno I only been seriously producing a few months so I'm not really at the mixing and recording stages I guess, maybe I'll spend the money on the microkorg or somethin.
By ThaHero Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:13 am
That's why I love this board! Great advice like this! Well I dunno I only been seriously producing a few months so I'm not really at the mixing and recording stages I guess, maybe I'll spend the money on the microkorg or somethin.
By ThaHero Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:14 am
That's why I love this board! Great advice like this! Well I dunno I only been seriously producing a few months so I'm not really at the mixing and recording stages I guess, maybe I'll spend the money on the microkorg or somethin.
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By MistaMike4u Tue Apr 27, 2004 1:43 pm
I can somewhat relate to what Young_keyz said, cuz it's true.... on a positive note, it really doesn't take 50 minutes to track a beat UNLESS you do it full length song for 5 minutes, doing each track, which most people dont.... I have the digi001, and it takes me 5 minutes to fully track a beat, and i DON'T have 8 outs! And thats the reason i've decided not to get 8 outs, cutting that 5 minutes to two minutes isn't worht the time to me... The MBox is a good piece... like i said, i had it, worked with it, sold it... I think i wanted more of a all in one piece... just ONE piece that had Mic Inputs, Audio, Midi, all of that in one piece, but if i decided to keep tha MBox, i woulda went ahead and got anotha MidiMan, hooked it up, and did 8 bars a track, loop, and edit from there....

The biggest downside for me was the problems i was having with Buffer and those other settings... everytime i would go to record... boom here it goes again, another lil message interrupting my session, but that probably had more to do with my computer than the Mbox, I THINK! Anyways, before you take any steps, peep out the PC requirements for the Mbox, and 001, and 002 for that matter and make sure that ur computer far exceeds the minimum, because the minimum probably won't run like you want... Then after that, consider how much time u want to put into it, because until you get used to it, it might take a minute for everything to start working out right... For another easy quick fix, look into the digi001, i don't know if you're runnin a LapTop or desktop, or the specs of either, but if you have a desktop, the 001 is a GREAT piece... the Mbox is a good piece too, you just need see it in action before you make ur choice
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By young_keyz Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:19 pm
young_keyz wrote:Now days i just record 16 bars and loop things later and cut and paste things but at first i would record each sound for the full time of the song 3 or 5 minutes.


MistaMike4u, Im just like you dog....i was just saying at first this is what i use to do when i was a newbie.
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By MistaMike4u Tue Apr 27, 2004 4:17 pm
Yeah i feel u, ain't no thang.... i was just reinterating what u already said.... we on tha same page