Help big decision! Keep Mpower or go LE?

[Mikey Ace]

Well I have Mpower 7.1 with a firewire 1814 interface with an apogee mini me (stereo A/D convertor and stereo preamps connected spidif.)

I am recording into a Mac book 2.0 processor with 1 gig of Ram running tiger.
I am waiting for Apple to unleash the new Mac pro early next year.

I could upgrade to Pro tools 8 when I get the new computer running Leopard but with mpower it will cost me $150.

This gives me an option to sell mpower and the fire wire 1814 now and finally get the next step Le.

Is Le really the next step?
I was looking at getting a Mbox pro or 003R with 7.4 with free upgrade to 8.0 when I finally get my new computer running leopard.

The main difference I see that would make me change to the LE is that it has a lower buffer size. In pro tools 8 , Le will have a low 32 buffer size where as Mpower in Pro tools 8 will only have a 64 buffer size.

Does this make a huge difference?
I do record using eleven le guitar plugin and I feel that the lower buffer size will help alot with latency. I am currently using a 128 buffer size with Eleven le and its hard to play fast riffs with and it sometimes feels clunky.

Also Le has a low latency mode where as mpower does not, but using low latency mode disables all plugins therefore elimnating the chance to play eleven le in real time. But does low latency mode record all tracks in perfect sync with no latency or delay per recorded track?

If I were to record all tracks with a 32 buffer size will all my recorded tracks be on time with no delay or do I have to still nudge all tracks?
Will I be able to do punch ins and out with no delay?

Also considering I will be updating to the new Mac pro coming out will a 32 buffer size take up a lot of processing that I will need to increase to a higher buffer size after a few tracks are recorded or can I record a lot of tracks with a 32 buffer size with a fast Mac pro?

Is it worth selling mpower for a loss and buying Le just for a lower buffer size worth it?

Its kinda strange that Pro tools would not make Mpower and Le completely equal.

Is there anything else Le comes with that mpower does not?

Thank you in advance.
Ace

[Premo]

That's a hard question because it's really your personal preference.

All in all, M-Powered and LE are designed to be nearly identical. Same features and usability throughout. But there are minor differences, esp with Low Latency Monitoring Mode on LE Firewire devices and if that is important to you and you'd enjoy using Pro Tools more because of it then it might be worth the investment.

If the benefits of (slightly) better A/D D/A, Wordclock, lower HW Buffer, better mic pre's and PT8's new features outweigh the cost then you should go for it.

But I don't get the feeling that your Pro Tools world is going to change too drastically. There's no delay comp in LE or MP, so you'll still need to be aware of delays so that's not going to change.

LE can use C8, C24 and control surfaces if you decide to upgrade later. I would mainly switch for the option to use a different interface and get the PT8 Upgrade for free. But not switch just for M-Powered to LE for software changes. The differences are nill.

[albee1952]

Premo said it well. Remember, just because the software allows a 32 buffer, does not mean your computer will run that way as that puts a lot of strain on the CPU and RAM to stream audio that fast.

[Bob Olhsson]

I'd use a mixer and not monitor myself through Pro Tools even with an HD system. My decision would be based entirely on time code and video capabilities.