PT, Mbox and ext compressor

[buckaroo]

Whats the best way of using these?

I have a Mac G5 with a MOTU 828mk2 and an Mbox orig 1 for Protools (and soon to be PT8 hopefully)

Now im wanting to go portable with a macbook pro (the new ones dont have FW400 for the 828mk2 do they?) I know they have 1 connector that can be either 400/800 but i already have a fw800 drive for that..

Anyway I use an external compressor with Logic (using ext audio effect ) with 2 outs to Comp/2 ins back to 828mk2, then selected on the and it works like a plug in! great! can i do this in PT7.4 or PT8 with live real-time renders?

However, if i get a new MBP and just want to use my mbox1 USB can i do the same thing?

My mbox has 2 ins and 2 outs only plus inserts - is there a smiliar way of connecting outboard to this mbox so it does the same job as above? can i use the inserts in any way? Also i want 2 outs to my monitors which is where it gets tricky?

Can this be done?

Also will the mbox as my main soundcard, allow me to switch easily between Logic. Live and PT whilst im using them?

[albee1952]

You can't really do harware inserts with Mbox in a PT session, but you can use an external compressor if you insert it thru the Mbox insert jacks and record thru it. Once audio is recorded, you will have to stick with plugins.