MBox Pro 3 or Focusrite Siffire Pro 26?

[JoeLouis]

Hi, I'm buying a new Mac Mini i5 and Pro Tools 11/12. I'd like to get some advices about what interface to buy: MBox Pro 3 or Focusrite Siffire Pro 26?
Thanks in advance

[Darryl Ramm]

~$350 - $800 price range there.

People here can't really give you much help if they have no clue at all what you are doing with this hardware, or what you need in terms of analog and digital IO? What type of music/instruments you are recording, what other gear you have that it has to work with, etc.

I'd generally avoid any consumer interfaces from Avid. Just not great support.

Both these interfaces are fairly long on the tooth and it's not clear if they will even be in the market much longer.

Why not look at Thunderbolt interfaces?

There are multiple other threads asking for interface advice recently that you can also look at.

What hardware monitoring/mixing capabilities do you need? How many preamps? What digital inputs? Outputs? How many monitor outputs? How many headphone main outputs? How many headphone (or line out) separate cue mix outputs? What motioning control features do you want in the interface if any? Budget?

You do know the general advice to get an i7 for Pro Tools use right? You can option up that processor in the Mac Mini to an i7 when you order it... I would do that if you are going to be doing much with plugins. It's a real pity that Apple crippled the Mac Mini so much in this recent generation.

[Seafoam_Green]

DO NOT by an Mbox 3 (or any other Avid interface) if your using Yosemite....,

and....., if you intend to use Native Instruments plugins that are capable of hardware utilisation as these rely on a BUGGY Avid CoreAudio Plugin which does not work correctly and will crash your pro Tools session

Some of these effected N.I apps include....,

- Guitar Rig
- Machine
- Tractor
- Remote Control , their keyboards etc ..., and more,

also not working is ; Audiofile TRIUMPH 2.5



Almost a year has passed and this BUG is still not fixed

[Eric Seaberg]

Originally Posted by JoeLouis

Hi, I'm buying a new Mac Mini i5 and Pro Tools 11/12. I'd like to get some advices about what interface to buy: MBox Pro 3 or Focusrite Siffire Pro 26?
Thanks in advance

DO NOT BUY an i5!! ProTools will waste away and you won't be happy. Minimum requirements are an i7.

Regarding the comment to NOT buy an Avid interface if you're using Yosemite, I've been using a MBox 3 Pro for several years on a 2011 iMac i7 without any issue, and I'm running Mavericks and ProTools 12.

Your first priority it to spend more money on the Mini and get that i7 chip!!