Digidesign Mbox Factory Bundle

I'm thinking about purchasing this:Digidesign Mbox2 Factory Bundle

Check out the musicansfriend postings. Lots of useful information there.

Does anyone have experience using the Mbox 2? The factory bundle comes with a ton of programs which are appealing.

I bought the Mbox factory bundle, so you may want to check the specifics of the Mbox2 bundle. Reason Adapted is a MIDI virtual instrument/drum loop library. I wound up upgrading to the full version ($150 credit for Adapted version). Reason is a wonderful program, but it is only useful if you are doing MIDI. Live Adapted is an audio sequencer (again a cut down version). I already had FL Studio, and I am happy with that for sequencing, so I haven't really used Live. The Bomb Factory and Amplitube are RTAS effects which you can use to modify audio tracks in Pro Tools. I have a POD amp/effect simulator, so I really don't use the Amplitube plug ins (or really any post-recording guitar effects).

I have a Dell Inspiron, 2 Ghz Pentium M, 1 Gig RAM, so it should be able to handle the workload.

Be EXTREMELY careful to make sure that your computer is supported by Pro Tools (http://www.digidesign.com/compato). This is a VERY PICKY piece of software. I work with computer hardware for a living and I wound up with a setup where I cannot record through the Mbox using ProTools.

Also - it says it's powered by the USB port, but this thing have real-time sequencing? Can it/does it plug into the 1394 port?

It uses a USB port and gets power over the USB cable. It does not plug into a 1394 (firewire) port - I believe that some of the rack models do, but the Mbox
does not.

I don't know what you mean by real-time sequencing. If you mean that want to be able to play along with backing tracks, record overdubs, patch in, etc. you
can certainly do that. If you mean that you want to combine and loop smaller audio clips into larger audio clips, you want to use Live, not ProTools.

I play guitar and plan to record demos. I realize there are simpler programs, but I like the software package this one offers.

The Mbox is a high quality/low latency external sound card. With a 3.4Ghz processor and 800Mhz FSB I can record with 8 ms latency (which means that I really don't have to do any input monitoring). If you need to set a larger buffer size (higher latency), the Mbox provides direct input monitoring via a spin knob on the front of the box. If you have a mono audio input (microphones, guitar amps) the Mbox can mix the mono equally into both headphones.

I appreciate any comments/advice on this software package, and if there are other alternatives.

ProTools and Reason are both complicated software products - there are a ton of knobs to twiddle and options to choose. Expect to spend some time (weeks) reading manuals and how-to books. That being said, I don't think that ProTools and Reason are unnecessarily complicated. Digital Audio is a complicated subject, and these are powerful programs - you need to take some time to understand the tools at your disposal and how to use them.

The Mbox is a good piece of hardware. The mic-inputs are pre-amped. The monitoring features are extremely useful, and the drivers are excellent. If you are going to connect an electric guitar directly into the Mbox you need to get TRS (stereo) patch cables.

There are other alternatives. FLStudio (www.flstudio.com) combines MIDI/Audio/Effects/Mixing/Sequencing capabilities. If you are just doing audio Cakewalk Home Studio (www.cakewalk.com) is pretty good. Both of these programs can run (for better or worse) with almost any sound card. As far as sound cards, I had an M-Audio Delta 44 (www.m-audio.com) before I bought the Mbox, and I was pretty happy with it - drivers and latency are good, but it doesn't have mic inputs, pre-amps, or the stereo monitoring option.

Bottom line - the factory bundle has good versions of everything you need to run a home studio. Just make sure it works with your PC.

Have fun.