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  #1  
Old 03-17-2019, 02:55 PM
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Zarabozo Zarabozo is offline
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Default I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

Hello,

I'm done with how little Avid cares for providing a good driver for the MBox 3 Pro. I've had issues with its drivers along several updates, workstations and versions of Windows since day one. On Windows 10, it's the worst - it causes BSOD with the message "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" related to the Mbox3Pro driver at least once a week. At least on Windows 7 it didn't crash Windows.

And no, I really don't think it's related to my PC. I've had several good workstations (read my signature to get an idea on the power of the latest one), I'm also an IT guy and I keep them really well configured, clean, I've followed all "optimization" recommendations and I don't have this kind of issues with anything else.

Now, I'm asking myself: Why in heaven do I keep trying to work with this interface? In the old days, it was really hard to find non Avid/Digidesign interfaces that could work nicely with native Pro Tools. But I'm pretty sure (I hope I'm right) that's not the case these days.

Can you guys please share your experience with other interfaces? I'm looking to have at least these points checked:


1) High quality converters that can work from 44.1 KHz through 192 KHz (or at the very least, 96 Khz).

2) At least 8x8 IO - with at least 4 good quality included preamps, but of course 8 or 16 would be much better.

3) NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER (generally speaking) with its drivers and updates.

4) NO ISSUES playing along with Pro Tools, being able to keep up with really low sample buffers - which is one of the good things on the MBox 3 Pro, I can go to the lowest sample buffer and have nearly zero latency when tracking.

5) Hopefully, not crazy expensive.


I have Thunderbolt 3, Firewire 400/800 and USB 3.1, so one of those connection interfaces would be great - but I'm willing to go PCIe if really worth it.

I know I could just start Googling this, but I'd really like to have some feedback from actual professional Pro Tools users.

Thank you guys, I really appreciate your time and help!

Francisco
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The audio world is full of (mainly very expensive) placebos.

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
Pro Tools Ultimate (perpetual with active updates/support plan)
RME Fireface 802, Focusrite Clarett+ Octopre, Eleven Rack (ERXP)
Monitors: Yamaha MSP7 and Yamaha HS8S
Asus RoG Maximus Hero Z790 (in a 4U slidable rack mount! )
Intel Core i9-13900k 5.4 Ghz (16 cores / 32 threads)
128 GB RAM G.Skill DDR5 6000 MHz (4 modules 32GB each)
Boot disk: Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB
Media disks: 2 x Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB in RAID 0 for current work, 2 x Seagate Exos X20 20TB mirrored for archive and backup
Video: PNY/Nvidia RTX 3080 TI with a single 4K display Dell U3223QE 32''
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  #2  
Old 03-17-2019, 04:15 PM
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

Well i use a Focusrite clarett pre 8 X and it works pretty , pretty good .
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  #3  
Old 03-17-2019, 04:35 PM
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

RME.
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  #4  
Old 03-17-2019, 06:23 PM
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Southsidemusic Southsidemusic is offline
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

You are describing UA Apollo X8 and X8P which we have used since they came out on Mac Pro’s and we haven’t had one issue ever on PT Ultimate so a 100% stable setup. We have two studio rooms with Apollo X Series and we live off producing and writing for the biggest artists in both US and Europe so we couldn’t use something that kept crashing even once a month.
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  #5  
Old 03-19-2019, 01:27 AM
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Zarabozo Zarabozo is offline
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeam25 View Post
Well i use a Focusrite clarett pre 8 X and it works pretty , pretty good .
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Weed View Post
RME.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Southsidemusic View Post
You are describing UA Apollo X8 and X8P which we have used since they came out on Mac Pro’s and we haven’t had one issue ever on PT Ultimate so a 100% stable setup. We have two studio rooms with Apollo X Series and we live off producing and writing for the biggest artists in both US and Europe so we couldn’t use something that kept crashing even once a month.
Thank you guys, that's all really helpful. I really appreciate it.
__________________
The audio world is full of (mainly very expensive) placebos.

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
Pro Tools Ultimate (perpetual with active updates/support plan)
RME Fireface 802, Focusrite Clarett+ Octopre, Eleven Rack (ERXP)
Monitors: Yamaha MSP7 and Yamaha HS8S
Asus RoG Maximus Hero Z790 (in a 4U slidable rack mount! )
Intel Core i9-13900k 5.4 Ghz (16 cores / 32 threads)
128 GB RAM G.Skill DDR5 6000 MHz (4 modules 32GB each)
Boot disk: Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB
Media disks: 2 x Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB in RAID 0 for current work, 2 x Seagate Exos X20 20TB mirrored for archive and backup
Video: PNY/Nvidia RTX 3080 TI with a single 4K display Dell U3223QE 32''
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  #6  
Old 03-19-2019, 02:58 AM
weezul weezul is online now
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zarabozo View Post
Hello,

*frustration snip*

Francisco
I've been in the exact same boat, but with an Mbox 2 mini, Firewire ProFire 2626, and an AudioBox VSL 2424. Seriously just buy a PCIe RME card, and never look back. Even paired with some Behringer ADA8200 for I/o.... you're going to be so much happier. You can't put a price on good drivers. Oddly enough my Mbox 2 mini was better than any other interface until i got the RME.
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  #7  
Old 03-19-2019, 04:27 AM
PatriotsBiker PatriotsBiker is offline
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

If you have any sort of electricity influenced signal noises on your incoming audio to deal with, I would highly suggest going the route mentioned earlier and get the Apollo X-series. That ended a very long battle with electrical noises. New power system including supply and converters cleaned it all up. I hate using this word as it is often over-used (IMO), but for me, it was a game changer.

Yeah, I went from the Eleven Rack drivers to the mBox3 drivers. ugh!!!!!
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Old 03-19-2019, 05:30 PM
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Zarabozo Zarabozo is offline
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

Quote:
Originally Posted by weezul View Post
I've been in the exact same boat, but with an Mbox 2 mini, Firewire ProFire 2626, and an AudioBox VSL 2424. Seriously just buy a PCIe RME card, and never look back. Even paired with some Behringer ADA8200 for I/o.... you're going to be so much happier. You can't put a price on good drivers. Oddly enough my Mbox 2 mini was better than any other interface until i got the RME.
I went into the RME website. Pretty confusing to me, as I'm not familiar with wha MADI, AES/EBU, etc. are. The thing is it seems like I need to know what to get because they're not precisely stand alone interfaces. Any recommendations on what I should get from RME to be up an running with, let's say, 16x16 I/O?

Quote:
Originally Posted by PatriotsBiker View Post
If you have any sort of electricity influenced signal noises on your incoming audio to deal with, I would highly suggest going the route mentioned earlier and get the Apollo X-series. That ended a very long battle with electrical noises. New power system including supply and converters cleaned it all up. I hate using this word as it is often over-used (IMO), but for me, it was a game changer.

Yeah, I went from the Eleven Rack drivers to the mBox3 drivers. ugh!!!!!
Yes, I was avoiding Apollo because of the price. I think the price tag is high not only because of the brand and quality, but also because those systems have multicore DSP and include UA Plugin licenses. But I'm starting to think I should get on that path.
__________________
The audio world is full of (mainly very expensive) placebos.

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
Pro Tools Ultimate (perpetual with active updates/support plan)
RME Fireface 802, Focusrite Clarett+ Octopre, Eleven Rack (ERXP)
Monitors: Yamaha MSP7 and Yamaha HS8S
Asus RoG Maximus Hero Z790 (in a 4U slidable rack mount! )
Intel Core i9-13900k 5.4 Ghz (16 cores / 32 threads)
128 GB RAM G.Skill DDR5 6000 MHz (4 modules 32GB each)
Boot disk: Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB
Media disks: 2 x Samsung 980 Pro M.2 2TB in RAID 0 for current work, 2 x Seagate Exos X20 20TB mirrored for archive and backup
Video: PNY/Nvidia RTX 3080 TI with a single 4K display Dell U3223QE 32''
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  #9  
Old 03-19-2019, 05:49 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zarabozo View Post
I went into the RME website. Pretty confusing to me, as I'm not familiar with wha MADI, AES/EBU, etc. are. The thing is it seems like I need to know what to get because they're not precisely stand alone interfaces. Any recommendations on what I should get from RME to be up an running with, let's say, 16x16 I/O?
.
16x16 what IO? Analog line level. You can look at the FireFace UFX+ or UFX II which is a 12x12 line level analog. RME does a lot of digital and mixed analog/digital stuff. That is really their thing. Lovely multi-format digital converters and interfaces etc.

As for MADI, and Dante, and AVB, if you needed any of those you would know what they means, but you can always Google them if curious.

But AES/EBU... you should Google that and learn what it means (essentially the pro-version of S/PDIF). Ditto for ADAT and SMUX if you are not sure there. And with many higher-end interfaces you may be connecting your Eleven Rack via AES/EBU.

And yes Apollo is certainly something to look at. But watch out for the x8p which does not have AES/EBU or S/PDIF for your Eleven Rack (kinda the reverse of RME, UAD is not always great with digital connectivity), the x8 has S/PDIF out/in. With all the more pro-vendors you are hopefully paying for ongoing support and software quality. I don't think the of the Apollo hardware as being expensive for what you get... I think of it more as a razor/razor blade model and they get you on plugin pricing if you get hooked on UAD plugins. Hard to know without comparing specific models, but RME stuff is not bargain priced either... it's quality stuff.

Last edited by Darryl Ramm; 03-19-2019 at 08:31 PM.
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  #10  
Old 03-19-2019, 06:46 PM
ejinbc ejinbc is offline
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Default Re: I had it with MBox 3 Pro drivers. Please suggest!

I would strongly recommend a MOTU 1248. I have a very stable, low latency, Win 10 system: 8700K, Asus Prime Z390A, 32 Gig Ram, MOTU via USB, PT 2018.7, Waves Gold + HEQ, Kontakt Complete.

With this system I can record 16 audio and trigger 3 VIs (Abbey Road Modern Drummer, Maverick Piano, Absynth) at 24/96 with a 64 bit buffer. I monitor VIs and vocals through the DAW when recording, although the MOTU 1248 has a very advanced zero latency internal digital mixer/router. I use HEQ lite and HDelay as inserts for vocals and VIs when recording.

MOTU software is very stable and the drivers are now mature. My DAW partition NEVER goes online (disable Network and use dual boot to go online). I use an AFFINITY of FFE when running at 64 bit buffer. When mixing I use 1024 bit buffers and no affinity adjustment.

YMMV
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