mbox + mini me latency issues

[jvancorduroy]

I am thinking of putting a portable system together for overdub purposes . I have been looking at the mini me as option for a mic pre a/d converter ,then s/pdif out to the mbox.I am led to believe that there will be latency issues when monitoring with using the s/pdif input of the mbox PT LE and the Mini Me. Can anyone shine some light on this subject ,or suggest how to get around it.
cheers
JVC

[Rail Jon Rogut]

There is no way around it.. the Mix knob only works with the analog inputs of the MBox.

Rail

[spookster]

Really? That really sucks Rail. Because I was going to be doing some tracking at a friends studio just by tapping into the SPDIF outs from his TASCAM DM-24 console. I wanna do this because he uses Cubase and I just don't like Cubases interface. It's the perfect work around. But I guess I can monitor the input from his console. Well, I guess I just solved my own problem there huh. This is gonna work awesome!! He's got a TLM 103, a baby bottle, and a Summit 2BA-221 pre amp, plus a buch of other gear that I can utilize through SPDIF right into Pro Tools. I've got an eMac (fairly portable). Now I'm stoked about this.

But that's still funky why the mix knob doesn't work with SPDIF.

Hey Rail, you wouldn't happen to know how the A/D converters are on the TASCAM DM-24 would you? I'm guessing they're better than the M-box's? Thanks as always Rail !!

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Well you definately answered your own question.. which makes it the perfect setup for you... but I have no idea what the Tascam board sounds like.. sorry... I still stick mainly to the large format analog boards of yore

I do remember being at AES the year it was introduced.. and no one on the Tascam floor could demo it.. as they didn't have a clue how it worked.. I just moved on..

Rail

[jvancorduroy]

I thought as much.... IDEA 1* I may have to get a external digital mixer to monitor perhaps?SPDIF out of Mini Me into SPDIF in mbox:+AES out Mini Me into digital mixer
+ SPDIF out mbox into digital mixer
Is this worhable or am I still in" Latency Issues Land"?
Any suggestions on a cheap digital mixer,one that my even have the added bonus of a control surface for PTLE mbox.

[Chad C]

You could run a cord out from the headphone jack of the mini me into the inputs on the Mbox and use mix knob as you normally would.

[spookster]

Is this workable or am I still in" Latency Issues Land"?

This is definately workable. Remember, the only problem with latency is hearing that annoying echo when tracking. Your always going to have the latency recorded to tape when using the M-box. The M-box has an inherant latency of 164 samples no matter what you do. The work around for this is remembering to slide your regions over after tracking. All you have to do is highlight the regions and then use the "shift" option on the "edit" pulldown menu. It has an option for samples. Just set it to samples and then shift earlier by 164 samples. Easy as pie. Of course, it would have been much easier for Digidesing to just incorporate an auto-shift function specifically for this purpose. But you've got to work with what you got!

Also, I would try that headphone suggestion out before going and buying a mixer. Couldn't hurt.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

I dunno Spooky, trying to record without using the Mix knob to reduce latency monitoring through the Pro Tools software.. I doubt that's gonna fly with the talent.

You may have less descerning talent tho'

The headphone out idea is an excellent option to try.

Rail

[jvancorduroy]

Thanks for the suggestions about mini me headphone out into mbox inputs then monititor from mbox, does any one know how the mini me address's the channel 1 and channel 2 pre amps in the headphone monitor mix i.e channel 1 =left ,channel 2 =right ??? I was not aware that the mbox had that much latency on recorded material "to tape".To get around the "echo" on monitoring in my situation, will muting/fade out the recording channel in the mix window remedy this.