Mbox vs. Digi001

[MuddyBucket]

Hello all. I have the opportunity to get a Digi001 at the same price as I can get an MBox. I'm in school right now for recording engineering, so I wanted to get the Mbox so I can use protools at home. I like the option on the Digi001 for the extra inputs for future use. Eventually, either way, I'll be using the Digidesign hardware only so that I can use Protools (I hate digidesign for this). Any advice on the pros/cons for my situation, or even an alternate gear lineup so that I may still use protools without having the Digi hardware.

Thanks in advance

[lvjazzman]

I'd go the Mbox route, the 001 is not going to be supported by Digi anymore so you won't be able to get the latest greatest software. Your school hopefully has newer versions of the software, so you should get something that you can use the newer software with, especially for the learning process. If you are concerned with # of inputs, save up for the 002 or 002Rack.

[Mark Dreher]

I am not sure what the difference between the LE and the M-Powered software is but I have not seen very many obvious differences that effect my needs. I have the Audiophile 2496 ($99) card - MIDI, S/PDIF in/out, audio ins and outs (unbalanced) - 24 bit/96KHz. Pro Tools seems to support the card well. There are external M-Audio units that are also supported including USB interface. Pro Tools syncs up well to my Tascam 2488. It seems to me like you can get similiar horsepower for less money and still have Pro Tools so why not?
Mark

[dpd]

You know what this industry really needs? An independent testing lab that measures the true performance of all these audio interfaces - high resolution FFTs from the recorded files with standard test signals, etc.

They call them 24 bit A/D converters, but none of them provide true 24 bit performance. And, 24/96 performance on a sound card? No way in a PC chassis, especially with unbalance I/O and consumer price points.

[Mark Dreher]

Maybe some rag like PC magazine will do some testing at some point as you suggest but I wouldn't hold my breath. Digital distortion through ADs can be quite nasty with alasing - phase distortion especially. The technology has come a long way though. There is an interesting techie document on the digidesign web site:

http://akwww.digidesign.com/support/docs/Mixing_in_the_Box.pdf

about how nice things get once your converted. I use S/PDIF to get the converted signal in the PC then watch loading on the processor and signal levels once I am in. I still think the consumer technology has come a long way in the last 20 years. It is nice that even on the low end Digi is suppoting dithering.
Mark

[dpd]

Aliasing isn't the fault of the A/D. That's purely the fault of spectrum levels above the dynamic range of the converter's noise floor above the Nyquist limit - or, in other words, inadequate anti-aliasing filters. Phase problems come from the same place. However, phase issues with Delta-sigma converters are pretty much moot with the high oversampling ratios since the anti-aliasing filter doesn't need to be a brick-wall design that has severe non-linear phase near it's cutoff frequency.

[DAS]

Originally posted by dpd
Aliasing isn't the fault of the A/D. That's purely the fault of spectrum levels above the dynamic range of the converter's noise floor above the Nyquist limit - or, in other words, inadequate anti-aliasing filters.

That's a technicality (though correct) that is potentially misleading. From the standpoint of the end user the anti-aliasing filters are part of the A/D Converter.

That said, aliasing isn't much of a problem with any reasonable converter these days. The same is largely true of the phase problems, as you have identified.

Also, to address the original post - Pro Tools software will now run on a variety of MAudio cards.

[Mark Dreher]

Ok, now you guys have done it - made me think. When I was getting out of school in EE in the mid 80s we were furiously trying to design Bessel (6th and 9th order) filters in front of our successive approximation ADs and bumping into the aliasing harmonics and phase distortions - that stuff really made consumer priced audio an impossibility. When I worked in modems in the 90s we were using delta sigma converters but for 5K (phone line) bandwidths with oversampling which did simplify our analog front end (and cost) significantly. After looking at the audio ADs being used now on these consumer products I am really amazed on how far they have come. These devices are working in the 100db signal to noise range which makes everything in front of them a problem more than the devices themselves (you’re lucky to get 50dB SN out of your average room). Now with Pro Tools jumping in the consumer market fray the back end has taken a huge leap forward for us home recording enthusiast. Oh, while I was looking into this I found a cool webstite:

http://www.extremetech.com/category2/0,1556,23466,00.asp

- does some of the benchmark testing that "dpd" was referring to.
Mark