DIGIDESIGN MBOX 2
Mar 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY MARKKUS ROVITO
It's hard to believe that it's been more than three years since Digidesign answered the prayers of many cash-strapped and/or traveling musicians by introducing the Mbox. (Time flies when you're staying up until 3 a.m. working on automation curves.) That small wonder rocked the music world in two ways: It made a Pro Tools LE system available for less than $500 for the first time, and it made carrying that system as easy as shoving a copy of The Da Vinci Code into a laptop bag. Times have changed. The original Mbox had very little competition and was flat-out the only way to buy an inexpensive Pro Tools LE system. Now, the Mbox 2 not only faces stiffer competition from portable interfaces for other DAWs, but it's also not strictly the cheapest path toward Pro Tools; a couple of M-Audio's audio interfaces could combine with M-Audio's similar Pro Tools M-Powered software ($295) for slightly less than an Mbox 2. For all that's changed in the world, however, it's remarkable that while almost every day-to-day item has felt the sting of inflation, the Mbox 2 delivers a new look, new features and a better software bundle than the Mbox did for the same price of $495.
OPENING THE BOX
A hardware redesign has the Mbox 2 looking classier — the deep, dark blue says maturity — yet aside from a few improvements, it is functionally similar to the Mbox. Most key to the Mbox 2 is its addition of MIDI In and Out ports on the back panel. That alone makes it a much more complete and convenient interface. It can record a maximum of four simultaneous input channels when the two channels of digital S/PDIF (RCA I/O) and the two analog inputs are used. The Mbox 2 swaps the original version's combination XLR/¼-inch inputs for a 3-pronged arrangement. The two analog inputs each have XLR, ¼-inch DI and ¼-inch line-level TRS jacks and can deliver 48V phantom power to mics. There are two unbalanced ¼-inch monitor outputs. This new back-panel arrangement sacrifices the two TRS insert jacks on the original Mbox.
On the front panel, the Mbox 2 now has a ¼-inch headphone jack with a level knob. There are also level knobs for the monitor output and a handy Mix knob for mixing the signal pre- and post-Pro Tools. Switches turn on mono mode and phantom power. The two analog inputs each have level knobs with red Peak LEDs; a source-selector switch for indicating a mic or DI input source; and a new Pad button, which rounds off 20 dB from signals that are too loud coming in. A faceplate handle emphasizes the portability of the 2.7lb. Mbox 2. It also helps prop up the hardware horizontally on a desk. There is a flat, unobtrusive faceplate and a hex wrench included for swapping out the handle for a more streamlined shape.
Setting up the Mbox 2 was smooth as butter. It is fully USB bus-powered, so plugging it into a built-in USB port on a computer (no hubs allowed) powers it up. The hardware now comes with the great Pro Tools LE 7 software, 38 useful DigiRack plug-ins, an additional seven Bomb Factory plug-ins and the Pro Tools Ignition Pack. The Ignition Pack alone includes Ableton Live Lite 4, Propellerhead Reason Adapted 3, FXpansion BFD Lite, Celemony Melodyne Uno Essential, a Bunker 8 REX file CD, IK Multimedia SampleTank 2 SE, Amplitube LE and T-RackS EQ. Installing and entering authorization codes puts all this software into operation. For another $100, the Mbox 2 Factory Bundle includes all of the above software and five extra plug-ins: Moogerfooger Analog Delay, Joemeek SC2 Photo Optical Compressor, VC5 Meequalizer and Cosmonaut Voice and Digidesign Maxim. With this bundle, installing the additional plug-ins requires a USB iLok Smart Key (included).
IN USE
Even though USB 2.0 has become standard-issue for most audio interfaces, the Mbox 2 sticks with USB 1.1, although it has no trouble working through a USB 2.0 computer port. Gone are the excellent Focusrite preamps from the original Mbox; they've been replaced with preamps created in-house by Digidesign. Questions over potential latency due to the USB 1.1 connection and about sound quality from the new preamps have concerned potential Mbox 2 users. Thankfully, those fears proved to be unfounded.
I tested the Mbox 2 and Pro Tools LE 7 on an iMac G5/2GHz machine, a nice mid-level computer that may be a little mightier than some of the laptops that will be used with the Mbox 2 but weaker than many tower computers. (Note: Digidesign's system requirements and recommendations are some of the most detailed in the audio world. Those listed here are guidelines. Go to http://digidesign.com/compato for full details.) On this system, the Mbox 2/LE 7 combo easily played back the maximum-allowed 32 audio tracks in a session, with a good dozen or so of the included plug-ins strewn throughout the mix.
Even with 30 tracks already pumping in a song, the latency during audio recording was audible, yet negligible. For me, hearing a few milliseconds latency in the headphones when tracking didn't prevent successful recordings. However, Mbox 2 users don't have to be bothered by the latency at all. The unit's three level knobs — Headphone, Monitor and Mix — make it easy to quickly adjust the amount of audio going into and coming out of the Mbox 2 in order to hear only what is desired. When recording, rolling down the monitor output with the Mix knob will dampen the latent signals coming back out from the software. Better still, Pro Tools LE 7 will record armed tracks even if they are muted. So, muting the tracks being recorded can kill the annoying latent audio altogether. (Unfortunately, that doesn't work on the S/PDIF input.) While that may not be the perfect solution, it's incredibly easy to get used to. And only absolute zero latency would be perfect, which even USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces can't guarantee. The one way that the USB 1.1 connection does inhibit the Mbox 2 is with audio resolution. The Mbox 2 has a 24-bit/48kHz cap on audio support, rather than the 96 kHz that Pro Tools LE 7 supports.
Recordings from the Mbox 2's preamps sounded great. Audio tracks maintained a clear, commanding presence, with very little coloration for better or for worse. Overall, there were no complaints for preamps in this category. The same goes for the Mbox 2's D/A conversion at output. For a low-cost USB device, the sound was fantastic. In fact, the pair of Event 20/20 monitors used to test the system never sounded better when they were amping the Digi 001 PCI interface.
THE LUCKY NUMBER
Let's face it: The Mbox 2's best asset is Pro Tools LE 7. People buy and love the hardware mainly because it gives them the awesome audio editing of the industry-standard DAW and nearly universal compatibility with pro and project studios. With Pro Tools LE 7 on your computer, you can create session files that you can take to a studio and open in Pro Tools|HD — or even on a machine running Pro Tools M-Powered. With the Mbox 2, you can open Pro Tools LE or M-Powered files perfectly. When opening HD files, TDM plug-ins are replaced by RTAS plug-ins or deactivated, and surplus audio tracks beyond the 32-track limit are silenced.
Pro Tools LE 7 builds on the already stellar audio editing of its predecessors with some cool new features such as Reverse Strip Silence. Rather than remove silent parts of an audio clip, this function removes bits of the clip over a certain volume threshold. Audio Region Quantize lines up audio clips according to the grid or a groove template.
Many other new improvements have to do with usability. Pro Tools LE 7 now supports REX and Acid audio formats, for example. You can also drag and drop those and other audio clips, as well as MIDI files, straight into the timeline from the desktop. New Region Groups are groups of any number of audio and MIDI regions together — a huge time-saver. Those groups can be looped all at once to speed up working with arrangements.
A single Regions list now combines audio and MIDI regions, with improved searching to help find what you're looking for. Track duplicating is also much more powerful with a dedicated dialog box, and in a simple but very effective move, Digidesign has added rollover text in the software interface that shows what each object does.
MIDI is the one area that Pro Tools has been playing catch up with for several years. Fittingly, version 7 concentrates on some big MIDI upgrades. My favorite is the new Instrument track, which condenses the MIDI and audio routings for software instruments and MIDI modules into one channel strip, whereas before it took two. Pro Tools LE 7 also processes incoming MIDI in real time, so it can quantize and control volume, transposition and other aspects of MIDI recording on the fly. Incoming MIDI notes can be timed with a groove template, either to a single track or across multiple MIDI tracks.
On the mixing front, Pro Tools LE 7 now supports 10 sends per track and RTAS plug-ins on the aux inputs and master track, nudging the program further into pro territory. Tremendously valuable new Cut, Copy and Clear commands are better than Percoset for taking the pain out of automation editing. With all of those and many more additions to Pro Tools LE 7, it was gratifying to see it perform so well. In Mac OS 10.4.4, it was as stable as Shaquille O' Neal on a teeter-totter, even though Digi so far officially recommends only OS 10.4.2 or 10.4.3.
The 38 plug-ins in the DigiRack include many basic dynamics processors such as EQs, a de-esser and compression/limiting, as well as many basic effects like chorus, flanger, pitch shift and several delays. Those are functional, basic plug-ins that sound all right for subtle track tweaking. Most of them are gentle regarding CPU strain.
As a final bonus, the Pro Tool's Ignition Pack software bundle contains stripped-down versions of some of the most popular music software out there, as well as a sizable collection of audio files and an instructional DVD. Those light editions come bundled with other music hardware on the market and may seem pedestrian to many experienced computer musicians. At the same time, for beginners wanting to dive headlong into computer production, the Ignition Pack, with its incarnations of Live, Reason, SampleTank, AmpliTube, BFD and Melodyne, makes the Mbox 2 a powerful studio right out of the box.
M-PRESSED
Any way you look at it, the Mbox 2 is a fine choice for a budget-studio centerpiece or mobile production unit. A producer before Pro Tools and after Pro Tools is not the same person, and the Mbox 2 presents a quick launching pad for that transformation. Artists can and will make entire — and entirely good — albums with it. With so many competing options out there, Mbox 2 may not reign supreme over all desktop/mobile recording interfaces the way the first Mbox did. However, Mbox 2 is still like the hardcover edition of a book: It's a little more robust and impressive than the softcover, which in this case would be the less-expensive M-Audio interfaces combined with Pro Tools M-Powered. In the end, they're pretty much the same read. On the other hand, competing audio interfaces offering software other than Pro Tools are like the movie version of a good book; the hardware may be glitzier on the surface, but the software isn't as deep.
DIGIDESIGN
MBOX 2 > $495
Pros: Solid audio quality. Easy set up and operation. No-latency workaround is effective. With Pro Tools LE 7 and extras, it has the best software bundle on the market.
Cons: Only supports 24-bit/48kHz audio. Somewhat basic hardware features.
Contact: www.digidesign.com
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Mac: G4; 512 MB RAM; Mac OS 10.4.2 or 10.4.3
PC: Pentium 4/2.4GHz or Athlon XP/Athlon 64; 512 MB RAM; Windows XP Professional or Home Edition
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