Anyone using ProTools LE and the M Box?

[Primo Don]

I may have the go ahead to spend the $450-ish on the package from my War Department. What I want to know is if the program comes with the vital plug-ins like reverb, compression, etc. Have you found it to be at least moderatly complete (semi-contradiction in terms?) or did you need to purchase more ancillary programs to get the job done?

Thanks an advance, Adam

[KC]

protools LE comes with everything: compressors, delays, reverb, EQs, gates, pretty much everything you'd find in a rack. the pros turn up their noses at the 'verb and the EQs but they'll get you by for a while.

where you'll spend the money at first is on monitors and mics. you can't really mix on headphones, and the mighty sm57 doesn't work really well on acoustic instruments. (tom petty is rumored to use one for a studio vocal mic, though.)

the digideign user conference is a good place to get these and all questions answered -- the second-most-useful place on the web after this one. good luck. once you figure it out, it's a world of fun.

[KC]

whoopsy-daisy, forgot the address of the digidesign user conference, which is:

http://duc.digidesign.com/

[Primo Don]

yeah, the mics and the monitors are the bulk of the $. I actually used to use an old version of Cakewalk and have grown weary of it. I am looking for an upgrade and I know ProTools is the "standard".

I already own a nice Mackie amp and near-field monitor set-up and several Shure mics (KSM 27, KSM 109, Beta 87A for stage, (these 3 condensors) SM 57 and SM 58 ) and a couple Alesis processors, Behringer mixer, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, the point... decent equipment, mediocre recording medium. Sorry about the list.

Adam

[Billy Claire]

love my mbox and it's wonderful for live stereo recording on my laptop @ gigs...

[pbradt]

Originally Posted by Primo Don

I may have the go ahead to spend the $450-ish on the package from my War Department. What I want to know is if the program comes with the vital plug-ins like reverb, compression, etc. Have you found it to be at least moderatly complete (semi-contradiction in terms?) or did you need to purchase more ancillary programs to get the job done?

Thanks an advance, Adam

I use it. Are you on a Mac or PC?

I LOVE IT! it's great for doing overdubs and I use LE to finish stuff off that was recorded in a real studio. I just have them burn me a CD of the session and away I go, I finish it off myself.

If you're on a Mac, I can help even more.

[Primo Don]

in hind-sight, I should have bought a Mac. The mrs. didn't want to learn a new system. I used them all through college and KNOW they are superior for this sorta thing. So alas, I use a PC. It is a good one, though.

I appreciate knowing I can call on ya for advice. I wanted to know up front that this will have all I'll need for my home studio. All I do is my own demos, song hash-outs and other small-time projects. Do you find the quality of sound to be first class, or does it fall short in some areas to your ears? Production and post-production?

Thanks, Adam

[KC]

the good news is the same as the bad news, which is that the protools system is capable of producing fully professional product, but only if you have the ears and the engineering experience to make it happen. a lot of recent music has been recorded in part on these systems -- bands will go into the studio, lay down basic tracks, then cut vocals, solos, overdubs at home on protools. this is how coldplay, for instance, recorded their most recent disk.

the preamps in the Mbox are usable, as is the a/d conversion.

what I tend to discover, in my recording adventures, is that I can't sing and I can't write a lyric to save my life. but those lousy lyrics sure sound good! that ksm-27 is a nice mic. good luck.

[Kingpin]

I use ProTools LE for Windows (yes, Macs are the market that most music software is developed for, but I already had the PC) along with the Digi001 interface. PTLE is very robust and offers a professional set of editing tools, certainly everything a home recordist could ask for. I would agree that the DVerb effects software isn't top notch but the EQ, compression, limiting, etc. are all very good. I'm not sure about the MBox interface but I think you might be able to take advantage of your existing gear by sending a recorded track signal out of the MBox, into your outboard effects and record back into the MBox. ProTools can be adjusted to deal with latency problems.
Although the sound quality is first-class with ProTools, you will need to have your projects mastered to make them as loud as a regular CD is. Mastering will also help tweak EQ issues and give a more polished and professional sound.

[Primo Don]

can you not master with PTLE? I have the ability to burn CD's and was under the impression that all could be done with the program, like Cakewalk's mixdown function (creats one stereo .wav file). Or is it just sub-standard?

Adam

[Kingpin]

You can use plug-ins like EQ, compression, limiting, across the stereo outputs and do mastering of sorts, but I've found that it doesn't perform as well as a dedicated mastering system which can apply compression to specific frequencies and has more robust EQ capabilities. You will get a nice quality CD out of ProTools but it won't sound quite as full or have as much presence as a well-mastered commercial CD. I usually end up taking my stuff to a friend who has an Alesis Masterlink and assorted other goodies to polish up my ProTools projects.

BTW, I'm using PTLE version 5.3.1 The MBox probably comes with the newer 6.X version of PTLE. It may have some new features that I'm not aware of.

Edit: Yes, in ProTools you can bounce your mixes down to a number of formats, sample rates, and bit depths.

[pbradt]

If you have the $, Waves mastering is about the best. I think they're RTAS plugins.

Less expensive are the T-Racks RTAS plug-ins or the stand-alone T-Racks app.

I don't know if they make those things for PC, I'm on a Mac and I don't pay attention to the PC side.

T-Racks stand-alone actually has some useful presets. Also does *great* fades.

[Billy Claire]

Hey Pete- are you still using OS 9.2.2 like me? If so, email me @ bclaire@rcn.com