New Macbook Pro with Lion - Interface with MP9 or SE?

[magic_child]

Hi,

basically I have a very simple question, but I have to explain myself a bit, sorry I'm kind of planning my "casual comeback" to recording music and Pro Tools (after about ten years absence) and need a little advice.

I always did music as a hobby, played in bands, but mostly recorded full demos on my own (guitar, vocals, programming drums and orchestration). Maybe ten years ago, I wanted to switch from tape recording to Pro Tools LE 6.4 (I think). I had worked with it already with a friend and liked it, but wasn't really knowing the program. So I bought a PowerBook, Pro Tools LE with the original MBox and SampleTank. Unfortunately, I never got further than recording a few demos, because I stopped making music almost completely after that. So I didn't even get beyond trying out the features of the program. I always thought "someday I am going to pick up again", but never followed what happened to digidesign, Pro Tools, etc. And then it was just too many years I hadn't touched my PowerBook at all.

Now back to present time: Last month, I needed a new notebook and bought a new MacBook Pro 13 inch (the new, just released version, with Lion). I chose a Macbook for other reasons, not for making music. BUT I thought, well, if I now have a Mac again, I could fool around a little bit with GarageBand, try to start making music again.

So I looked for a cheap little interface for recording with GarageBand, since I figured out that my original MBox wouldn't work. I stumbled across things like M-Audio FastTrack (Pro) or Mobile Pre and found out that they even ship with Pro Tools - the circle is closing

A thought arose: If I buy an interface for GarageBand anyway and can have Pro Tools for not much more money, then I could try Pro Tools again. If it wouldn't work out, I could still use it with GarageBand. And if I should not be able to do a lot of music and will never use Pro Tools, I still haven't lost much money (like for a "real" Pro Tools).

So I tried to learn what had happened to the various Pro Tools versions in the meantime and found out that these interfaces are sold with MP9 or SE. I compared and soon decided I would go for MP9 (much more features, much more a "full" Pro Tools, not much more costs).

But then I found out that MP9 is not really supported for Mac OS X Lion, there's just a "beta" version for now. And MP9 seems to be discontinued (although it is still sold), so there's a good chance it never will be supported for Lion or continued to Mountain Lion, etc. On the other hand, SE seems to be the current "light" line, is Lion-supported via patch and probably will be continued/supported in the future (I guess).

So, to make a very long story short, my question is:
Given my strange kind of "casual-maybe-maybe-not" situation explained above, in combination with my new purchased MacBook and Lion (maybe Mountain Lion soon): Would you advice me to go for an interface with MP9 or for an interface with SE?

Thanks a lot for any hint!

[Dism]

Honestly, I wouldn't go with MP9 or SE.

Avid just sold M-Audio, which means there will mostly like no longer be any more support for MP9, and there definitely won't be a MP10. Which also means it probably won't work with future versions of OSX. (ie Mountain Lion).

If you really want to stick with Pro Tools, your least expensive best bet would be to get an MBox Mini with Pro Tools 10 bundle, at least if you want to carry on into the future of software updates and OSes.

[magic_child]

Thanks for your answer, that's what makes it so difficult, there seems to be a kind of in-between situation at the moment.

But isn't the MBox mini with Pro Tools 10 much more expensive? Or did you mean Pro Tools Express?

By the way, for MP9 or SE, I would always need the interface connected, is it the same for Express and the MBox? Or can I use Express without the MBox connected, for mixing, for example?