Alternative to Pro Tools please?

[robertnorris]

What other programs out there can I use the digidesign mbox2 with? I've done more attempts at tweaking and setup then anyone should ever have to just to get a program running at a decent level. Normally when I tweak things, its to get better performance, e.g make it run faster, but all my tweaking has just been to have it record without 1 of many possible errors and crashes occur and after 6 months of failing to do that, 6 months of no actual attempt from digidesign to make it work - I now need another solution that will do what it says it will do.

Thanks in advance.

[lwilliam]

Obviously you could try any of the competing products such as Logic or Digital Performer; or even Live if you do a lot of looping.

My understanding was that the Mbox and some of the G4 Powerbooks just didn't work well together. I don't know that switching to another program will solve any of the problems if it's a hardware incompatibility with the USB chipset (not firmware - hardware).

I'm sorry you've had so many problems with your PB and that's a shame because you now have a bad experience with a good program. It does seem like there are a LOT of people running Mbox's out there as well as Mbox 2's who aren't having any issues - but they aren't running G4 PBs.

I really think you have two options (and I would consider them in this order):

1. Get a new Mac Book or MacBook Pro; even the new iMacs seem to run great, and they're pretty cheap. G4s are now 2 generations behind. You'd be amazed at what you can do with a new Intel/Mac machine compared to the G4.
2. Replace the Mbox2 with something else by another hardware manufacturer and learn one of the other programs (Logic, DP, or my least favorite, Cubase).

If you want to get a new MB or MBP, you can trade in your G4 PB. I'm sure there are other companies that take trade-ins, but I've dealt with these guys:

www.powermax.com

I bought my last two Macs from them and they've been really good.

[Phil Jeffers]

Hi, are you a registered user? Why haven't Digidesign responded to your calls? Have you called them?

[Phil Jeffers]

P.S. I highly recommend DP.

[toecat]

Last month I purchased the MBox 2 Mini. I have not really used Pro Tools since LE 5.0 and was very impressed with the improvements made to 7.x. My frustrations started not with PT, but with the third party plug-ins. I spent a good amount of time intsalling them, only to have to go on PT and not being able to load them. Then the emails to get the codes etc. One big pain in the A##. So before I continued I asked myself one question, the main plan was to go back to Logic. Well that is what I did, Logic Pro loaded right up and I have not looked back. So you may want to check out Logic, if Logic Pro is out of your price range look into Logic Express. If you are a student, you can get either one at the student discount.

Toecat

[Forum Member LE]

My frustrations started not with PT, but with the third party plug-ins. I spent a good amount of time intsalling them, only to have to go on PT and not being able to load them. Then the emails to get the codes etc. One big pain in the A##.

Reason #1 why I am Pro iLok.
That is where all my PT problems tend to have existed.

[pietervd]

P.S. I highly recommend DP.

me too. once you got used to the multiple windows it's a great alternative.

[DigiTechSupt]

What other programs out there can I use the digidesign mbox2 with? I've done more attempts at tweaking and setup then anyone should ever have to just to get a program running at a decent level. Normally when I tweak things, its to get better performance, e.g make it run faster, but all my tweaking has just been to have it record without 1 of many possible errors and crashes occur and after 6 months of failing to do that, 6 months of no actual attempt from digidesign to make it work - I now need another solution that will do what it says it will do.

Thanks in advance.

Robert - I tried to look up your history to see if I might be able to get some info on why your system wouldn't be working, but I didn't see that you had any calls logged to Tech Support. I looked through your previous posts and see that you were having problems with 48v phantom on your Powerbook. Our compatibility documents state that your particular Powerbook is not qualified for use with the Mbox 2 and phantom power. This is a limitation of the Powerbook - it does not supply the necessary power to the Mbox 2.

I also see that you have buffer size errors, but you did not indicate in your posts what the error numbers were in the messages you're getting, nor any troubleshooting you've tried. While we are here on the DUC to try to help, due to the number of posts it is not always possible to reply to every post, especially those that do not supply enough information.

If you would like to try to continue troubleshooting, please start with the steps in the OS X Setup and General Troubleshooting sticky at the top of this forum and then reply with the specific error numbers, a concise outline of your system and it's configuration, including any peripherals as well as any troubleshooting that you've tried and we'll see if we can help you get this up and running properly.

[robertnorris]

Hi guys who recommended DP... Is that an abbreviation? I'm familiar with the other programs you've mentioned but not this one...


Hi Support, thanks for responding. It seems the troubleshooting has been updated quite a lot since I looked at it back in may 06 when I did every single thing it said but still found the same errors and the same power shortages with my laptop.

I will go through it again and do everything it says and see if it helps.

Thanks for your time as I am sure you are busy.

[avamark]

DP stands for Digital Performer from MOTU. I personally have never used it before but ive heard alot of PT users say its alot like PT.