MBox S/PDIF Apogee Rosetta 200 Latency

[ptal]

Greetings,

This is my first post on the board and I would like to get some feedback from people
who have used the following setup. I am looking at upgrading my current MBox 6.4
setup by getting an Apogee Rosetta 200 and a good mic and pre. I only need one
channel to do guitar and vox overdubs on existing drum tracks.

Then I can send the signal to the S/PDIF on the Mbox and monitor using the Rosetta
on the way out. I know I need a headphone amp or something there to monitor.

My questions are:

1) What kind of latency can I expect and how would I deal with it since I am
bypassing the MBox input blending knob?

2) What frequency can the MBox S/PDIF port carry? Will it go to 96Mhz? I read
elsewhere on the this board that it will not.

If this works I will upgrade the computer to an Athlon 64 and I should be okay for
processing power on 32 tracks. I dont need that many plugins.

Am I wasting my time trying to make an LE system perform like this. I suppose my
investment in the Rosetta is safe since I could get a Rosetta transfer card and
an HD core card. Then go directly Rosetta to HD core. Does that make sense?
In other words if things dont work out then I can upgrade to an HD core and get the
Apogee transfer card.

Anyone who has actually done this with MBox please let me know. Of course there
are other things to consider like the fact that HD uses different algorithms to
mix down (as posted elsewhere on this board).

I dont really have the extra budget for the HD core card so I would like to do
it with just LE but if I need to go to HD I can find a way. (Oh I can hear you
all saying - "find a way")

Thanks again in advance for your help.

andre'

[albee1952]

My 2 cents worth: This is not going to work the way you think. You can't monitor direct into the SPDIF input like you can with the analog inputs. You will need to record with a buffer setting of 128 or the latency will drive you nuts. My advice: learn the ins and outs of protools while you make music. The Mbox is capable of very good quality if you have your act together(and that means good monitors in a decent sounding room, a good mic and good mixing techniques). Save the upgrades for later when you have really mastered the system as you will likely want to upgrade to a DIGI002 anyway. The 002 will allow for a serious improvement by adding better converters and pre's and can also input up to 18 inputs(16 is dirt simple with the addition of a Digimax LT via lightpipe)

[ptal]

Thanks,

Could you please explain why I cannot monitor with such a system? Is this because the
track that I am recording is not routed back through the S/PDIF. How are other people
using external A/D and D/A converters?

Thanks

andre'

[tapani]

Thanks,

Could you please explain why I cannot monitor with such a system? Is this because the
track that I am recording is not routed back through the S/PDIF. How are other people
using external A/D and D/A converters?

Thanks

andre'

I am interested in this general topic too. Any issues? General guidelines?
Thanks