M-Boxes

[Kev]

Anyone own one?

Are they easy to use?

Im looking at purchasing one in the near future.

[thelivingvines]

what is an m box? tell me and I'll tell you if i have one.

[Kev]

what is an m box? tell me and I'll tell you if i have one.

They're a box that you use with your computer/laptop to record stuff with.

Mainly used with Pro-Tools.

[Sammas]

Yeah I have one but I rarely use it... I only have it to open protools sessions then bounce it into Nuendo.

They are alright I guess, don't be fooled by those who tell you to buy it because it is the "industry standard"... it ain't protools|LE (what the mbox runs with) that is the industry standard.

here is the way I see it

Pros:
- Is an all in one solution, providing software and hardware including mic preamps
- Very stable if you follow digidesigns compatability requirements listed on their website
- Simple and easy to use, good support, tech and user documents.
- Gets you up and running quickly with minimal fuss.

Cons:
- It sounds just ok. Pretty terrible preamps and average conversion.
- Simple and easy to use... because Protools|LE is limited software. If music is all you will be doing, and you haven't spent any time using other software you probably won't miss those features.
- Pretty average stock plugins (like most stock plugins in software). The Eq's and dynamics sound alright but dverb is hideous.


What are you planning on doing with it? What do you expect to achieve, soundwise? Thats probably going to be the easiest way to tell if you will be disapointed with it or not.

[Kevin]

i posted a question about pc recording on another forum yesterday, i'm looking at one of these for some home recording

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main.html

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta44-main.html

https://www.jrrshop.com/product_info.php/products_id/6411?osCsid=7909025c7ab99f51e518dcd397b2554a

[thelivingvines]

I'm not sure where I stand on recording with PCs... I'm not sure quite what it is I don't like about it- perhaps its the rubbishness of programmes like garage band and the expensiveness of programmes like logic pro/express. Could even just be that you don't have much hands on in the way of sliders and stuff to twiddle and push around.

I use the roland digital work stations. I have to say they really are incredible. The recordings I have made with them - even considering my producing skills are faily shit- sound really really pro and I would recommend them to anyone. The awesome thing about the roland ones are that you can plug them into a VGA and have it all in front of you as well- I don't think many of the other ones (korg, yamaha etc) let you do that. It's an awesome set up.

[Kevin]

i've got a mixer, 8 or so tracks on it, which is why i might end up going with the delta-44 box from the links above.

i may get a v-amp too as a guitar amp simulator instead of micing my amp, but i'll see about that later on.

[thelivingvines]

how good are v- amps? i find micing my amp to be such a pain sometimes. what would you recommmend I look into?

[Kevin]

i have no idea :p i might get the pc interface first, and see how it is micing my amp, and then grab a v-amp to see the difference