Head Phone Mix

[DonaldM]

I had posted this to the PT Tricks and Tips forum but I meant to post it on this one, which is more relevant to LE Mbox etc. Sorry to duplicate, but this is the right place for the question. My bad!

I'm wondering if there is a way to set up a separate headphone mix with my MBox 2 mini. If I set up an Aux buss for headphones, and then, say, input 2 of the busses (for stereo) to that and then set up a send on the audio/instrument tracks to go there, I can see how you can then use the send faders on each track to create a separate mix. But, the only place to route the audio output of the Aux track is to Out 1-2 which go directly to the Mbox's outs to the monitors, same as all the tracks and Master.

I do have a little 1-in/4-out headphone amp. Right now I have the stereo input for that connected to the front of my MBox into the headphone jack. I sometimes plug into the headphone jack on my Mackie Onyx mixer. since the main audio out of my MBox runs through that anyway, then to my monitors. Either works fine. But there's no way I can see to get a headphone mix separate from the main mix. The Aux set-up can certainly be used to create a mix, but I need to be able to send the audio output to something other than the MBox.

Is there some kind of USB device out there that would be recognized by PT as a place to route audio output from PT that would be a separate headphone amp or the like? Thanks

(yeah, I know, upgrade to 003 or HD!!!)

[DeyBwah]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

I had posted this to the PT Tricks and Tips forum but I meant to post it on this one, which is more relevant to LE Mbox etc. Sorry to duplicate, but this is the right place for the question. My bad!

I'm wondering if there is a way to set up a separate headphone mix with my MBox 2 mini. If I set up an Aux buss for headphones, and then, say, input 2 of the busses (for stereo) to that and then set up a send on the audio/instrument tracks to go there, I can see how you can then use the send faders on each track to create a separate mix. But, the only place to route the audio output of the Aux track is to Out 1-2 which go directly to the Mbox's outs to the monitors, same as all the tracks and Master.

I do have a little 1-in/4-out headphone amp. Right now I have the stereo input for that connected to the front of my MBox into the headphone jack. I sometimes plug into the headphone jack on my Mackie Onyx mixer. since the main audio out of my MBox runs through that anyway, then to my monitors. Either works fine. But there's no way I can see to get a headphone mix separate from the main mix. The Aux set-up can certainly be used to create a mix, but I need to be able to send the audio output to something other than the MBox.

Is there some kind of USB device out there that would be recognized by PT as a place to route audio output from PT that would be a separate headphone amp or the like? Thanks

(yeah, I know, upgrade to 003 or HD!!!)

This might be what you're looking for...

http://www.mackie.com/products/bigknob/

I don't have any experience with it, but I know some of the guys active in this forum do. Maybe they'll chime in.

[promixr]

The Big Knob will not accomplish this. Your MBox Mini only has one physical Stereo Main output, duplicated at the headphones. You could do what you want to if you split up the Main into 2 Mono outputs. Create 2 MONO sends in ProTools and bus signal to one or the other... but I doubt this will give you the result you're looking for...

All the external headphone amps will do is amplify and treat the main headphone signal coming out of Pro Tools... if you want a special headphone mix seperate from the mains, you need multiple line outs...

For you to do what you want to do you need a Digidesign hardware interface with more stereo outputs. The next step up for you in the MBox series is MBox 2 Pro (Firewire) or you could try an M-Audio interface (in which case you would need to buy the M-Powered...) such as a Fast Track Pro...

[DonaldM]

Thanks for the replies. I had a feeling this was the case. I was hoping there was some sort of USB device out there that PT would recognize and could be set up in the I/O set up page...but alas, apparently not.

Well, its not the end of the world...but would be nice to have!