I need advice on my setup

[ace nova]

I am building a pc and I right now I have an audigy sc and an maudio omni. I also have a fantom and a turntable and mixer. Right now I have the audigy/turntable/fantom inputting into the mixer then outputting into the omni. in turn, the omni outputs to my monitors. i also have a mic inputting into the omni as well.

NOW, i plan on ditching the omni and getting an mbox. Will i be able to have the same setup with the mbox as with the omni?? I know pro-tools hardware is funny as far as outputting sound. I want the output of ANY sound on my PC to go through the mbox.. Even sound coming from say, winamp. Can this be done w/out pro-tools being open??

ALSO, is an mbox an ideal setup for my equipment and needs? I figure the 002 would be too much and unessesary, seeing as how i only have and use 1 synth and 1 mic...

Thanks!

[superpenguin79]

Welcome to the boards Ace, yes your setup will work with the MBox. I would suggest running your mixer out to the inputs on the MBox and then running your MBox back into the mixer and playing all of your audio through your mixer to run out to your speakers.

For playing audio through the MBox, you simply want to go into Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Audio Tab > Select Your Sound Playback to be your MBox on there.

Also, what are you going to be doing in your studio? If it is just you recording, then the MBox will suite your needs nicely. If you are to record a full band at any point, you might want the 002 or the 002r.

yes, this can be done without PT open.

[ace nova]

I am only planning on recording vox from 1 microphone.. nothing fancy. mainly for hihop/rnb purposes. I will also be recording audio from my fantom in stereo into the mbox.. but i guess this would mean i have to remove the mic everytime i want to record my fantom... eh..

also, you mentioned i should have my mixer outputing into the mbox then back to the mixer.. um, wouldnt this cause a signal loop?

i've been looking at the new m-powered pro-tools along with an m-audio fw 410. im thinking maybe this would more suit my needs.. but again, im not used to pro-tools setup.



super: just to clarify once again.. people have told me that pt is ONLY compatible with asio devices. but according to your statement, i can make the mbox my primary sound card? so this means that i will have no problem playing games/dvd's on my computer and outputting through the mbox??

thanks again

[superpenguin79]

yes, I would suggest your Mixer to your MBox and then out your quarter inch or SPDIF jacks back into your mixer if possible for playback.

as for games/dvd's I would not reccomend these unfortunately. You can set your MBox to be your primary playback device, but some Game consoles/DVD player programs will cause troubles with your audio playback in PT. I have seen it set it up for folks before to play back things like Winamp though. If you are looking to do games/dvd's, usually I like to keep my audio machine seperate from the rest of the computer world like surfing, games, dvd's...etc.. I keep a spare machine just for that stuff and my audio machine just for audio.

[ace nova]

yeah, i wish i could have 2 seperate computers... unfortunately my funds don't meet those requirments. LOL!