Newbie questions about pro tools & m-box

[43% burnt]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and PT. So new, I don't have pro tools yet. After lots of research, comparison, and discussion I have decided to get a Pro tools system for basic home studio recording. I have no hands on experience with it, other than being recorded in pro tools. So I have a few questions.

I want to start building a basic home studio using my computer to record and edit tracks. I am not looking to build a vocal booth, or seperate room for drums, etc...(at this point). I basically want to familiarize myself w/recording guitar riffs, bass lines, some vocals, etc.

I have a mac g4, 400mz, 512mb ram, 250gig firewire hd. I've had this machine for a long time now, and its nothing compared to the new macs on the market. But i'm wondering if I added some ram, could I use what I already have? Or, should I invest in a newer more powerfull machine first?

If I don't have to upgrade my mac first, will my mac running os X support PT LE 6.7?

The Mbox factory bundle looks like a good place to start, should I buy the mbox and some ram for my current machine. Use it for a little while to get familiar with it. In the meantime save up for a g5? Or, should I put the $500 towards a new computer, then get the mbox??

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Slim Shady]

The oldest powermac supported with PT6.x and OSX is the dual 800mhz G4 machines. That doesn't mean yours won't work, but it's not supported by digi, and you won't receive any support from them if it's problematic. 400mhz also isn't really enough to do any sort of mixing, and you'd probably be lucky to get more than 8-12 tracks running 24bit sessions. OSX is a lot more demanding on an older mac, because it also requires a decent video card, and lots of RAM. The amount you would spend upgrading your machine could easily get you a new one instead.

I'd put the $500 towards a Mac Mini, upgrade the RAM in it and then look at your interface options. You could probably get $150-$200 for your current computer as well, helping the cause.

The Mbox works pretty well for me, but digi recently announced a new version of PTLE called "M-Powered" which allows you to run PT on several different affordable interfaces by M-Audio - this gives you a little more choice than just the Mbox, but the Mbox is also still a great product too.

[jonnyc]

If you're planning on going mbox for the price I'd seriously consider the fw interfaces from m-audio. m powered is the same as pro tools le and having a firewire interface is much more beneficial than a usb interface. plus for me there have been too many negative things written about it.