replacement for Mbox3
 

Hi all,

The time has come for me to upgrade my secondary production machine to Catalina, which of course marks the end of the run for my beloved Mbox3.

I was alway impressed with the audio quality and rugged construction of the Mbox3. What would you suggest for a quality replacement with similar features?

So far I'm considering the RME Babyface Pro. Comments? Other options?

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

Focusrite and Presonus have got good reviews

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

So far it looks like either an RME Babyface or an Apogee Duet.

Anyone have actual experience with both?

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

I replaced my MBox 3 Mini with a PreSonus Studio 24c. I'm very happy with it.

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

I used the Apogee Duet 1. gen. for years, and all I can say is it sounds great, and I'm shure the newer version sounds at least as good. Only minus, I think is the breakout cable. Very untidy.

I have the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, and I think it sounds lovely. Scarlett series offers lots of quality for your money IMO.

The RME stuff gets much praise too, of course.

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

What exact computer interface (USB 2? 3? ... ), Thunderbolt 2, 3 ... etc are you looking for? you mention USB models you are looking at but you could be giving away a little latency vs thunderbolt.

What IO features do you need? SPDIF? on optical or coax can be present or not at this price range. Same with MIDI... do you need either? Do you want any monitor control features? How important is hardware monitoring to you? if you need to learn to use a hardware mixer software app I would take time to flick through the doc for that.

UAD and Motu also make nice interfaces.

Apogee make nice products but the breakout cable adapter on the Duet would make that a non-starter for me. (ha I see Ben mentioned that as well. Apogee seem to have a blind spot for cable silliness. I dealt with funky cables on their small JAM guitar interfaces... owned several, and they still have not worked that out on their latest JAM Pro... they should have been just used a USB-C port on the device).

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

Can I use a Mbox 2 interface with Pro Tools 2020.9?

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

PT 2020.9 requires High Sierra or later and Mbox2 drivers are very old. You can try but do not expect success

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

Apogee Duet II will fill your needs.

Re: replacement for Mbox3
 

I ended up getting the RME Babyface Pro FS and am very happy with it. Immediate improvement in sound, very well built and well featured.