M-Box Mini ... pros and cons?

[woodman]

as some of you regulars here in the RIP know, i'm running ProTools 5 on an old Mac G4. i desperately need to get into modern PT and will soon have a machine that can hack it. the M-box Mini would basically be a dongle for PT, since i'll continue to use the Alesis MultiMix 8 as my interface (i'd just use the line in on the Mini).

my concerns are:

• are all the Mini's shipping with PT8 these days?
• will USB 1 be a latency bottleneck?

i figure $295 is worth it to get into the modern age. opinions?

[Big John]

As ever it's definitely worth checking but I use a G4 and 10.3.9 with an MBox1 going into Digital Performer and it works like clockwork even on USB1, setting up your monitoring is the key so if there should be any latency you hear the track after the latency has happened (hope that makes sense).
I know there have been a few issues with 10.6 and audio so it might be worth checking with Apple first, the fact that mine is rock solid at 10.3.9 is kinda why I don't feel like upgrading.
Is it worth keeping the G4 to record with and the mini for 'other' uses ?

[woodman]

Originally Posted by Big John

setting up your monitoring is the key so if there should be any latency you hear the track after the latency has happened (hope that makes sense).

Does that pertain to the "Mix" control on the Mbox? Or are there additional considerations in the prefs and so forth?

Originally Posted by Big John

Is it worth keeping the G4 to record with and the mini for 'other' uses ?

Performance-wise, not really ...
processor: G4 — 800 MHz PPC. Mac Mini: 1.83 GHz Intel duo-core.
RAM: G4 — 1 GB. Mac Mini: 3 GB (and that old-timey RAM is expensive!)
System drive: G4 — 38 GB @ 5400 rpm. Mac Mini — 200 GB @ 7200 rpm. (i do all my recording onto external Firewire drives, but a lot of the apps i use are disk-intensive.)

so my plan is to run the MultiMix Firewire board into the line inputs of the Mbox (bypassing the preamp) and into the Mac Mini. i've run Garageband along with my other apps on my older, less beefy Mac Mini without problems, so i'm hoping for the same kind of luck with ProTools and the Mbox.

[Big John]

Aha , gotcha (I think), i'm not that familiar with the MultiMix but if you bring the Mini's stereo out to the desk you can control it without sending it back to the MBox then you'll hear it 'after the latency' and not back through USB and of course if you are monitoring the guitar straight off the board no sweat, I don't use a desk now, just the MBox.

Do make sure it plays nice with 10.6 !!

I totally take the point about 'old gear' but I really think my old G3 PowerMac with a 233Mhz processor and OS 8 was a really responsive machine, even with it's massive 512Mb of RAM !, it certainly did a lot of mileage for me, maybe i should resurrect it.

That old G4 needen't be totally redundant though .......

[woodman]

HAHAHA! that's the mailbox that killed Elvis!

yeah, i totally take yer point about old gear that gets you where you want to go, and that's why i've been running the ol' G4 for so long. i usually stick with a rig 'til the spirits whisper that it's time to move on, and with this new box arriving soon, the whispers are getting loud!