other hardware IO options?

[dpwanab]

Greetings,

I'm a newbie, and not even really an audio guy (I film, but use it Ptools mostly for VO's) so bear with me please.

And I did try multiple searches of these forums and couldn't find an answer...

Is it true there are no other compatible hardware I/O's besides the mBox, 002R, and 002? I was told this by a dealer, but I don't know. Digi's website says that there are many 3rd party controllers (such as the Mackie HUI?) on it's new control 8 product page, but for example, would none of the M-audio interfaces work with Ptools? I'm running an mBox right now and it's good for my VO needs, but I've got a new project looming and can't really afford to upgrade to the 002 and need more inputs than just the two available on the mBox.

Are there any compatible hardware I/O's out there that are a 4-channel in? Maybe I'm mistaken cause I thought I saw somewhere on this board that you can record 4 simultaneous tracks in LE with the Mbox? Is this true? I'd really like to avoid having to bottleneck everything down through a small mixer to a stero mix if possible, but right now that's the most affordable option.

Thanks in advance, and I know I sound like an idiot, but I appreciate your help. If this has been answered elsewhere, please just point me in the right direction.

Thanks again,
Christopher Ratledge

[where02190]

There are tons of 8 channel lightpipe interfaces and 2 channel spdif interfaces, however Protools software will not open without Protools haredware dected on the system.

For the M-box, it has 2 i/o, that's it, so the msot you can record at one time is 2 tracks, either via analog or spdif, but not both.

You could buy a used 001 for about $500 on e-bay. 18 i/o total: 8 analog(2 with crappy mic pres, not nearly as good as the m-box and 6 line input only) 8 lightpipe and 2 spdif. Also, you cannot run it on a laptop, as it requires a pci slot.

Otherwise your only other choices are the 002 and 002R.