Pro Tools LE 8 Sample Rate question

[shaolin_kobudo]

Ok first of all apologies for the noob nature of this question. Hopefully you'll be able to pick apart the nonsense enough to know what I'm trying to ask

I've just tracked some songs at a studio at 24-bit/88.2 kHz. Now I'm wanting to a.) edit the files I tracked and b.) record new material at this sample rate / resolution. I'm looking to buy an MBox 2 Pro w/ Pro Tools LE 8, but first I need to know this will support recording and editing at 88.2 kHz.

The MBox 2 Pro says it has "24-bit A/D and D/A converters, supporting
sample rates of 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz."

BUT then on page 10 of the setup guide pdf it says "Pro Tools LE on Windows provides the following capabilities with Mbox 2 Pro: ...16-bit or 24-bit audio resolution, at sample rates up to 48 kHz" (so i guess not 88.2 or 96 kHz)

So can I track and edit on Pro Tools LE 8 at 88.2 kHz, and if not, why does the MBox 2 Pro support 88.2kHz?

Many thanks in advance, I'm out of my depth but I hope you can get what I'm asking!!

Edd

[albee1952]

You are confusing sample rate(48K, 88.2K which is how many times per second the audio gets "looked at") and bit depth(16 bit, 24 bit, which is essentially the size of the window available to "look thru"). If that makes no sense, I suggest a google search for a better explanation. Mbox will not play any audio that is of a higher sample rate than 48K so you need to look at a different interface. Both the 002 and 003 families will run 88.2 or 96K sessions. You can import the audio into a lower sample rate session by using SRC(sample rate conversion), so you could finish a project with an Mbox(but at the lower sample rate). If you go that route, I would convert to 44.1 as the conversion is easier for the machine to do accurately(because of the 2:1 math).

BTW, since this is new stuff for you, read up on bit depth and dither. Your recordings will sound better if you record at 24 bit(more headroom), but you will need to use dither to make a 16 bit file for audio CD burning.

[Vegadark]

From what I can see on the product info page for the Mbox2 Pro, it says it supports samplerates up to 96k, but only supports to 48k with external sync.

[sw rec]

More appropriately, the SOFTWARE might support 88.2 & 96k sample rates, but the HARDWARE won't in this case. But yes, you can downsample with SRC...when you create a new session on your MBOX, you can actually drag the files in from the OLD session and it will convert them for you.
FWIW, I do ALL my sessions at 44.1 'cause when they go to CD that's what they have to be anyway.