{"id":616,"date":"2009-01-13T22:30:35","date_gmt":"2009-01-14T05:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=616"},"modified":"2009-01-13T22:30:35","modified_gmt":"2009-01-14T05:30:35","slug":"farewell-mbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=616","title":{"rendered":"Farewell, Mbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

About nine months ago I decided I wanted to a) stop using bootleg software for audio work, which I’d been doing for several years; b) learn Pro Tools, which is the industry standard, and c) set up a better home studio, with dedicated monitors and a simplified interface. I have a great desktop mixer but it’s kind of overkill for what I need, and I don’t have tons of space on my desk.<\/p>\n

I found a nice Mbox 2 Mini package with monitors and Pro Tools LE 7, and I thought, well, that’s that. I adopted Kat’s backup Macintosh (as a freelancer, it’s important that she have a spare if her main machine goes down), installed Pro Tools, and set about going legit.<\/p>\n

There were only a few problems with this plan:<\/p>\n

1) Pro Tools kept giving me error messages about the hardware buffer. The MacBook is totally up to the task — dual core, more than 2GB of RAM — and it’s saying “no.” But it’s a laptop and apparently PT needs a second drive just as a target recording drive.<\/p>\n

2) Oh, and my USB 2.0 drives wouldn’t work — it had to be FireWire.<\/p>\n

3) And it had to be a FireWire drive using a specific Oxford chipset.<\/p>\n

4) When I plug the Mbox 2 Mini into my PC laptop — an unimpeachable, rock-solid Dell Latitude D630<\/a> — it blue-screens. USBDRIVER.SYS totally vomits all over itself. I rooted around online and found that it could be this device overloading my USB bus. It’s a laptop; it’s not something I can change. And I really want the convenience of using my existing XLR condenser mics with either machine — so this was the last straw. If it doesn’t love my computers, I shouldn’t keep it.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it’s on eBay<\/a>. I am keeping Pro Tools LE because at least that puts me on an upgrade path should I find a future version is perfect for my needs. But I’ve found a Line 6 TonePort UX2<\/a> on clearance that seems to do everything I need and with more stability (and for about the same money I’ll get for the sale of the Mbox). I’m a Line 6 fanboy so it feels good. Also, the UX2 does more and looks fucking awesome:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I’m also going to give GarageBand a whirl, because a) I have already it, b) Jude uses it for his half of PSN<\/a>, and c) lots of people say nice things about it. Maybe some day I will take another swing at PT, but for now, I’d rather have fun making music than fight the tools I’m using.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About nine months ago I decided I wanted to a) stop using bootleg software for audio work, which I’d been doing for several years; b) learn Pro Tools, which is the industry standard, and c) set up a better home … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":619,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}