koblo, usb-pre, protools free

[joelsimone]

Yeah
the sales rep at the friend said there not going to order anymore...or that all orders are cancelled...I wonder why. Let me know how your mbox package fairs---alright bro
Joel

[vf124]

Joel,

After what you stated, I too called the "musicians friend"! Man, you're right.

They are not taking any more orders...strange.

Peace

[jindrich]

hey joelsimone,

how much memory do you have on your ibook 500?

i ask you this because i have an ibook500 (128MB RAM) with the emagic emi2|6 usb audio interface and (under soundmanager) this box dont work with pTools Free. Well, it works but i can't do more than play 2 tracks (no plugins, nonothing). As i surpass this, i get the 'not enough what the hell' (dont remember the error number now) message. Sometimes i cant even record a single mono track from scratch without getting the error. Without the emi2|6 plugged, ptools works wonderfully and i can insert lots of plugins everywhere (dont have any reverb yet). Hey, i even did some great songs tracking thru the ibook's inbuilt mic!

So i thought about trading the emi for the USB-Pre or the M-Box, but as they're all usb based i fear i'll get the same "not enough.." error msgs. So maybe it's the 500mhz@66 CPU that's not enough, or perphaps it's just a memory problem and i just have to buy a 256MB chip and allocate more memory to Ptools.

In Ptools, How does your icebook500+USBpre combo perform? How many tracks, plugins, reverbs (if any) can you simultaneously get? Any other hassle to know? any advice?


With (my ibook and emi) Logic Platinum (under emi's ASIO drivers) i can perfectly play more that 20 16bit audio tracks from the internal HD (no plugins inserted). My cpu only hogges when i start adding 2Pverbs and some Pcompressors (in RMS mode). Anyway, i want to get back to Ptools, logic is too weird for me.

I bought the ibook for mobile recording as well, prefering it over the Ti not just for $$ reasons but becuase the Ti had those noisy fans. But now i'm starting to think the G3 at 66mhz wasnt that good an idea.

[joelsimone]

Im running with 384mb of ram...I haven't tried it with less, but 128mb should be fine. The fact that you can record through the built in mic says something...I think it may be a conflict with the emi and protools...i heard there were issues. Ive actaully recorded a song through the built in mic to...it has an amazing unique sound...check out the "newyears" link @ joelsimone.com...that was done with the built in mic for vocals and guitar...the drums were done with koblo...all through protools free.
Im not sure what to suggest for the emi, I plugged in the usbpre and it started working right away...hey...is your emi setup to work through the apple sound manager...i had to configure that before I started recording. But for some reason your emi is twisting protools when you record...hmmmm.
As far as the usbpre...the results are great...excellent pre-amps. I usually only hook it up when Im going to record, otherwise I just use the outputs on the ibook for monitoring. My lil ibook can kick out all eight tracks with several eqs, delays, and compressions with no problems. I think only once I got it to chokeup, and I had eqs and compressions on every track...with a couple of reverbs.
The better solution would probably be to go with the mbox and your icebook...that think will work right out of the box. Im actaully getting ready to sell my usbpre on ebay ao I can purchase the mbox. Somthing thats cool about digidesign is there **** only works with their **** and they release it when the know their ready...so...it is more then likely going to work.
Im adicted to protools and portable to...the ibook should be just fine for your purposes. As for the emi...I dont know what to suggest...check for post in the past...I remember hearing issues about it...thats why I went with the usbpre.
alright man
Joel

[joelsimone]

The solution....koblo, usb-pre, and live recording...

I believe the prevailing problems with protools free has to do with extensions. I Went into the extension manager, turned all those mother grabbers off excpet for those essential for the OS, protools, and the usbpre----> that includes date and time and etc.......----->
just what it takes to run protools, koblo, and usbpre.
I then saved it as an extension set, so I just restart when I switch between my standard mac...and my recording studio...my icy ibook runs like theres no tomorrow...no problems.
Now I am good...I will hold off on the mbox and stick with the ADs on my usbpre...24 tracks would be nice but its not needed for my canvas...the several db difference is good to keep me for a while longer...until I want 24 tracks.
Im looking foward to the release of protools free on OS X.
Alright guys...
Later
and thanks for the help...LOL
Joel