Product: Digidesign Mbox2
Price Paid: USD 356
Submitted
11/19/2008
at
02:53pm
by
BearMoon
General
:
9
The MBox2 is a portable unit with two mic imputs with preamps. MIDI in and out, and S/PDIF. Hard plastic shell with plastic nobs, but nothing is loose and if you treat it well, it will hold up just fine. Came with PT 7.3.1 and a ton of periferals, and while limited to RTAS or Wrapped VTS plugins there are still tons of choices. While it is true that you do have to pay for most of the plugins that are available, it is simply because they sound better than free VTS. (i.e. Waves is really expensive for a reason!). The MBox2 has one gain nob for each of the two preamps, a headphone output level nob, and monitor output level nobs.
Connectivity
:
8
USB. Others complain about this. I havent had much trouble.
I/O
:
7
Two channels of I/O. On each channel you can choose TRS Balanced or XLR inputs. Phanom power is supplied to both channels with a single on/off selector. The pre amps are clean in my opinion. I have never heard any hiss from them.
As mentioned above has S/PDIF in and out. The input from the S/PDIF can be split into two mono inputs. Get yourself a two channel preamp with an S/PDIF out and BAM! you've doubled the number of channels to multitrack.
This is the one are that could be better on the device, but then again I didn't want to spend a $1000 or more, so I guess I should just shut up. If you have the cash get the 002 or 003.
Power
:
9
Bus Powered, and yes Phantom power.
Technical specs
:
10
24 bit 48kHz A/D/A The mix nob, allows you to directly monitor the source to controle any latency.
Other
:
9
Pro Tools gives you Reason adapted, Ableton Live and a few other programs to get you started. The Digi plugins are ok to learn with, but you will want to upgrade eventually. Ignition pak 2 came with it.
Overall
:
10
I love IT!!!! I wanted to learn the recording industries STANDARD! software, and I was on a budget. I had to do a ton of reading to get the most out of this product, but it was totally worth it.
-If it was stolen I would get the 003 console. But I would eventually replace it I think, because this thing is so portable. My laptop, MBox2, and external drive all fit into a normal backpack. Talk about mobile studio!
