Can I use my old MBox on a Win 10 PC?

[K.B.]

Wow. Not been here for 10 years!

Just built a PC after many years on a Mac, and was looking for an audio interface for guitar and other audio feeds, and then remembered I've still got my old Digi 001 and a MBox gathering dust.
I doubt the 001 would work, but has the MBox still got life in it?
Will it work with non-Avid software?
Where would I get up-to-date drivers?

I'm on Win 10 with an AMD chip.

Cheers!

[64GTOBOY]

If it worked with Win7 it should work with Win10 IME. Win 7 drivers should wok fine with Win10 if they are 64 bit capable.

[K.B.]

Thanks GtoBoy. Very encouraging.

Should it work with other DAWs? Would be great to run an old ProTools!

What should I search for in terms of drivers?

Many thanks.

BTW Here's my new build

[albee1952]

The old original Mbox is not likely to work with much any software. As for Pro Tools, you are stuck at LE 8.x, but there's no harm in trying. Personally, I would move to a modern interface with current drivers. Lots of options from under $100 and up

[K.B.]

Thanks for the reply Dave.


You're probably right. I could spend hours getting this going to end up with LE8. Or it might not even work. And I need MIDI too.



Sometimes you gotta spend a bit of money. A shame really.


Cheers!

[Darryl Ramm]

I was going to post the same comments as Dave. But I'll add you will also get better audio quality with more modern interfaces. The Original Mbox is notably worse there to me than say the MBox 3 Pro. So for multiple reasons it's likely just not worth your time.

There is a long list of third party vendors who make great interfaces. In no order... Universal Audio, Apogee, RME, Motu, Focusrite, Presonus, ... an amazing range of stuff out there. But some other vendors I'd avoid.

Avid has a new Mbox out, my preference would be to avoid Avid and use third party products. Avid has earned an unfortunately bad support reputation especially for consumer/prosumer hardware. My own bias is to RME, who's (pricier than many) interfaces come with really high quality drivers, very long term engineering support and good customer support/forum help.

The Focusrite 2i2 is the canonical beginner interface frequently recommended here, but there are many many other choices and a massive range of additional capabilities and features available in other interfaces.

You can look for interfaces that have MIDI, but you can also use low-cost stand alone USB to MIDI adapter. So I would not make it an absolute requirement that your interface has MIDI. If you outline what you are after folks here can make suggestions. Include what you are doing/what mics you use, if you need digital (S/PDIF, AES/EBU, ADAT, etc.) connections? How many preamps, line in, line outs, separate headphone outs etc. you would like.

[The Weed]

Dave has some excellent points and Darryl even more. In addition, what is your budget?

Like Darryl, I'm a big fan of RME, regardless of their priciness, for everything Darryl mentioned, plus TotalMix, RME's software mixer. Once I learned how to route signal with it, I can't do without it.

[K.B.]

Thanks Darryl for the comprehensive answer.
I've gotten old tin boxes to do surprising things (plastic in this case) but I think this thing is now a museum piece.
My needs are very humble: a way to plug in a guitar; and a midi port for my old Korg X5D

I'm looking at
M-Audio AIR 192x6 USB C MIDI but I read it's a bit noisy.
The Behringer UMC204HD Audiophile 2x4 looks good to me, and a bit cheaper than the Focusrite 2i2. But is that USB 2 port a good idea?

I must say I'm sorely tempted now to stick with my Mac for audio - going PC is proving to be a world of pain.

Cheers!

[K.B.]

Bruce! Good grief! How are you? My favorite gravelly voice.
I'll take a look at RME. Anything in particular? As I said this is just for a guitar and a keyboard. I'll go a bit cheap on this because if I need something more expensive in the future, when there will be new gear out and I'll have a clearer idea what might be needed then, and I won't see whatever I buy now as a wasted expense. I've bought plenty of stuff in the past that I didn't really need to. Should have instead spent the money on drugs and prostitutes*.

But hey, not too cheap!




*Yes, that was a joke!

[The Weed]

Long time!

This will do all you need and more, but it's not inexpensive:

https://www.kmraudio.com/rme-babyfac...-interface.php