Pro Tools LE 6.4 upgrade to PT7 Question

[BSykesBeatsFool!]

Hi everybody,

I'm sorry if this question was already answered in another post, but I did a search and couldn't find it.

I currently have Pro Tools LE 6.4 (with 1st generation Mbox operating on Windows XP) so I am LONG overdue for an upgrade.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that the first generation Mbox is not compatible with Pro Tools 8, so does anybody know if I can get a free upgrade to at least Pro Tools 7?? I was told awhile ago that I can, but I couldn't find any info about a 6.4 to 7 upgrade on Avid's site. Maybe I'm just terrible at finding information :/

Thanks! I appreciate it!

[sunburst79]

The original MBox will work up to 8.0.1

[BSykesBeatsFool!]

Oh OK, cool. Do you know if I can get a free upgrade to 8.0.1? Or upgrade for a small fee?

[albee1952]

LE8 is a paid update. Once you register it, you would have free access to all the subsequent updates for 8(all the way to 8.0.5, but as sunburst said, 8.0.1 is as far as the old Mbox can roll with). I just did a quick search on eBay for pro tools le 8 and found several listings for software with authorization codes. Depending on how old your computer is, 7.4 might be a good choice(but 8 adds a lot of goodies). In any case, you will need to stay on XP.

[BSykesBeatsFool!]

Thanks! I was also thinking while I'm at it, I might as well get pro tools 9 (since people are selling it for about 100 bucks with the mbox 3 mini) so that in the future I can eventually upgrade to a larger 3rd party interface (because I understand that you need PT9 or higher to use 3rd party interfaces.

The only thing I don't get is why with PT9 you CAN use 3rd party interfaces, but you CAN'T use PT's own original Mbox. Doesn't make much sense to me. The only reason I would want to use the original Mbox over the Mbox 3 mini is because it has inserts, which the Mbox 3 mini doesn't.
ANd possibly also to record 2 mics at once, because it looks like the mbox 3 mini has 2 line inputs but only one mic input.

Any Advice?

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by BSykesBeatsFool!

Thanks! I was also thinking while I'm at it, I might as well get pro tools 9 (since people are selling it for about 100 bucks with the mbox 3 mini) so that in the future I can eventually upgrade to a larger 3rd party interface (because I understand that you need PT9 or higher to use 3rd party interfaces.

The only thing I don't get is why with PT9 you CAN use 3rd party interfaces, but you CAN'T use PT's own original Mbox. Doesn't make much sense to me. The only reason I would want to use the original Mbox over the Mbox 3 mini is because it has inserts, which the Mbox 3 mini doesn't.
ANd possibly also to record 2 mics at once, because it looks like the mbox 3 mini has 2 line inputs but only one mic input.

Any Advice?

Either stay at LE8 or change your work flow so the inserts are not needed. What exactly are you inserting? Sometimes we get so used to doing something a certain way, we forget there are other ways to do it.