Digidesign Mbox 2 - will it do?

[Grand Wazoo]

Ok so... here is my latest attempt at home recording, in Jan 09 I've bought a line 6 POD Studio UX2 and unfortunately it was really bad, even though I have a powerful PC with over 4Mb ram, 2800Gb divided in 4 hard x700gb drives, the thing still suffered a hell of a lot of latency and there was a nasty cycle both on live play and playback where there was a recurring millisecond glitch where your sound would just click off and on with a nasty noise. I tried it on a Mac and on a more powerful pc and same occurred, even tried updating my sound card to one of the latest but that didn't work either so off it went back to Line6 for a refund.

Now I have made a more expensive purchase and got a Didigesign Mbox 2 Factory bundle with ProTools and an extensive plethora of softwares all part of the bundle as per this link. Absolute Music Solutions: Digidesign MBox 2 Factory (USB) 9900-37246-02

Additionally I have downloaded a demo of a Tube Amp Emulator from Sudio Devil as per this link Studio Devil Guitar Amp Plugin for VST, Audio Units, and ProTools RTAS!

I have just got it delivered and as I am at work won't be able to set it up for a few days yet until I disembark.

Anyone uses this and can give me a few pointers on how to obtain a decent chance to record clean bass using these softwares and plug ins do you know of any other plug ins I might need?

Thanks to all in advance for your replies.

p.s.: I am total beginner with these techno gizmos, so I know Jack about any of it, please be patient with me. (sorry Jack)

 

[TheBassGuy]

Capt, interesting to hear the Line6 UX2 didn't work for you. Did you disable the onboard soundcard on your pc and uninstalled old drivers? Also, lots of ram and harddisk space doesn't say much about the computers performance... Key to fast computers is a number of things. CPU, FSB clock, RAM + speed, Harddisk RPM speed.

Not that I'm a big fan of Line6 products, but i'm really surprised to hear this. I use a cheap M-Audio fast track USB and its working without any problems. Hope the Mbox will do the trick for you.

-Ben

 

[MingusBASS]

The MBox2 should work great. More than enough for what you seem to be looking to do.

Getting a good tube mic pre/DI might be helpful for getting a great bass sound.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Capt, interesting to hear the Line6 UX2 didn't work for you. Did you disable the onboard soundcard on your pc and uninstalled old drivers? Also, lots of ram and harddisk space doesn't say much about the computers performance... Key to fast computers is a number of things. CPU, FSB clock, RAM + speed, Harddisk RPM speed.

Not that I'm a big fan of Line6 products, but i'm really surprised to hear this. I use a cheap M-Audio fast track USB and its working without any problems. Hope the Mbox will do the trick for you.

-Ben

Hi Ben, well the pc is one of the latest
Pentium D 950 Dual Core
4 GB DDR4-SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS
etc etc

When I had the Line6, I didin't disable the onboard soundcard cause I wouldn't know how to. So yeah I am hoping for this new gizmo to work better.

Cheers

 

[Grand Wazoo]

The MBox2 should work great. More than enough for what you seem to be looking to do.

Getting a good tube mic pre/DI might be helpful for getting a great bass sound.

Thanks Mingus, what is the "good tube mic preDI" for? To record directly from the amp via microphone? Is that what that is for? Thanks for explaining.

Cheers

 

[mynan]

When I had the Line6, I didin't disable the onboard soundcard cause I wouldn't know how to. So yeah I am hoping for this new gizmo to work better.

Cheers

You're probably going to have to figure it out. I believe that the Line6 and the MBox both have a realtime monitor-out to eliminate the latency. If you are having problems with the Line6, you will probably have the same problems with the MBox.

 

[Slingy]

Thats correct, the Line6 boxes work the best when you use record over its USB and monitor from it, you get zero perceived latency, though actual is much higher. They did a smart thing a wrote a low level of processing into the driver that is bounced back before it hits the operating system. So what you have is processed and latency free.

Mbox should have realtime too, it might be a dry signal though. If you need to monitor VST surely it wont be realtime.

Let us know how you do.

 

[MrMusashi]

the mbox has a fader to mix the direct signal you are playing with what is coming back processed from the pc. it works fine
nother nice bonus is that protools 8 is awesome!

MrM

 

[MingusBASS]

Thanks Mingus, what is the "good tube mic preDI" for? To record directly from the amp via microphone? Is that what that is for? Thanks for explaining.

Cheers

When I am recording my bass I'll either mic my cab and send the mic through my Groove Tubes Brick(the tube mic pre/di) and then into the Mbox or I'll plug my bass directly into the Brick.

It warms up the bass tone quite a bit and it ads a nice vibe to the track that doesn't exist when you plug your bass straight into the Mbox.

FYI, I work for Sweetwater Sound.

 

[MrMusashi]

if youre looking for plugins both ampeg and markbass has made plugins of some of their amps

MrM

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Thats correct, the Line6 boxes work the best when you use record over its USB and monitor from it, you get zero perceived latency, though actual is much higher. They did a smart thing a wrote a low level of processing into the driver that is bounced back before it hits the operating system. So what you have is processed and latency free.

Mbox should have realtime too, it might be a dry signal though. If you need to monitor VST surely it wont be realtime.

Let us know how you do.

Can you recommend a good pair of monitors I realized for the time being I can only hear it through the headphonse as I can't use the pc monitors for it, oh and thank you muchly, you're all been very kind despite my total ignorance on the subject.

Cheers

 

[Grand Wazoo]

if youre looking for plugins both ampeg and markbass has made plugins of some of their amps

MrM

Yay !! got a link, please mate? Cheers

 

[TheBassGuy]

if youre looking for plugins both ampeg and markbass has made plugins of some of their amps

MrM

I've used both (still using Ampeg SVX). Very good plug-ins. Kinda like Mark Studio a little more though (only tried the demo version). Reflects the sound of the bass very good. On Ampeg SVX every bass sounds almost the same (too much sound coloring).

 

[MrMusashi]

Ampeg SVX

MARKBASS

interesting that both are from italian companies

MrM

 

[Slingy]

You can also concentrate on just getting a good sound from your bass and tone controls. Or add the amp model after and adjust its sound while listening back.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Thank you Mr.Musashi and Slingy...

But first thing first, I am here on board the ship.... no bass in hand and no home pc, I have opened the box and apart from the MBox 2 box itself there are loads of software discs as follows:

1. Pro Tools LE 7
2. Pro Tools Ignition Pack 2 Version 2.1
3. AIR Version 1.0 Structure Free - Free Sample Player
4. 1 disk simply entitled "Translated Documentation"
5. and then there is this blue USB Dongle called Mbox 2 Factory iLok

Any idea in what order I should upload the software and what to do with that iLok thing?

Your help is appreciated.

 

[Colin]

that's your iLok it's for loading all your software licenses on. very handy as you can take it with you and use it other computers. The Mbox is also very good I don't own one but have used them before. Pro Tools is great.

 

[MrMusashi]

if you have internet on board i would register the card to get protools 8. they will email you a link and a new serial to the address you use when you register.
the download is one full dvd image which you can burn to a dvdr. 4gb download might take a while but its worth it
the lil usb dongle is a copy protection thing. it contains the licenses for the plugins in the factory bundle.
you might also want do check if the plugins are compatible with pt8, if not you should be able to download new ones from them...

hth

MrM

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Yes we have internet on board INMARSAT...

I wouldn't be able to view the forum otherwise, but can I register this without loading the software on the ships computer?

Thanks for all the replies. So when I get home in what order do I load these softwares, any idea?

Cheers

 

[bassmonkey]

Stupid question: What do these things actually do? It's not really clear from the websites and no-one has ever been able to give me a simple explanation.