ProTools LE or M-Powered?

[bcarr22]

Hi,

I'm in the process of changing over my home project studio from a Roland VS-2480 to ProTools. I'm going to pick up an iMac strictly dedicated to audio recording. My projects tend to be small-ish and manageable, so I think I can get away without buying some kind of MacMonster. My question is, which version of ProTools to go with, M-Powered or LE?

I'm a guitar player and like the fact that LE comes with Amplitube LE. But, I don't know how good (or not good) that version of Amplitube may be. Anybody have an opinion?

I've got some virtual instruments on my laptop (PC), such as B4, Pro 52 and Model E. And I've got a QS8.1 with all the asundry sound cards. So, for the most part I'm okay on keys. That's not my instrument, so isn't the focus of my projects.

I also like the fact that LE comes with BFD LE for drums. Again, does BFD LE make any difference?

So, I'm asking the experts your thoughts. Which version would best suit my needs?

Thanks in advance,

BC

[Barry Johns]

LE not doubt. One main reason is the lowest buffer you can go with Mpowered is 128. That's just not low enough for tracking. The 003 Console is very, very good. The implementation is the best out there.

[The Dougfather]

The m-powered interfaces are a damn site cheaper than the LE gear, also the core audio drivers woud probably work a lot better. Check out the profire 2626 and the project mix i/o, the 003 and 003R equivalents are a lot more expensive.

[musicalavtech]

Amplitube LE and BFD lite only offer a few features of the full 'paid for' plugins. LE can be expanded to 48 stereo tracks with the production toolkit.

[The Dougfather]

Music Production Toolkit works with M-powered. I'm fairly sure it's DV Toolkit 2 that won't work with m-powered.