No More Mbox Support? :(

[samanthah]

I know there are some who will point and laugh, or perhaps some that will scorn and ridicule, but I still have an original Mbox. You know, the blue and white one? The one that uses the Focusrite Preamps?

Yup, I'm still using one. And I love it. It suites all of my needs. All of the lights work, all of the knobs work, all of the plugs work; I don't even think there is a physical scratch on it, perhaps it's a tiny bit dusty because I rarely move it around, but there is no reason to stop using it.

Unfortunately, it looks like I am being forced to put my old friend to bed. Why? Because you (digidesign) decided to stop supporting a perfectly good piece of hardware, probably to save 5 bucks by cutting it out of the equation. I am completely disappointed that I being forced to upgrade when my current equipment is still more than sufficient.

What's even worse is that the 8.01 that I am stuck using is buggy. It crashes, freezes, refuses to play sometimes and to make it worse the drivers are terrible. I no longer have access to the Mbox through Windows or Asio as of the 8.01 driver. And if I try to revert back to the 7.3 / 7.4 drivers, Pro Tools stops functioning.

People may say, "Samantha, why not just upgrade?"; well the answer is simple... Cost. In order to get hardware that will equally replace my current Mbox, I will be forced to purchase a Mbox 2, the mini and micro simply won't cut it for my needs. That's $450 that I just can't justify spending with my current hardware still in working condition.

So I am left with a plea, I am hoping that Digidesign can resume support for the Original Mbox, because there is no reason to discontinue support for a perfectly good, working piece of hardware.

If you cannot or will not support the Mbox further, can you at the very least release working drivers that will work with Windows, Asio and Pro Tools? Because as it stands, Pro Tools is the only thing that functions; the drivers simply do not work with Windows and Asio.

Thanks Digidesign Team for your time, I wish you the best.

[sw rec]

using an Mbox on Xp with 8.0 without issue, and am perfectly content to not have the ability to "upgrade" it any further. It's my backup & incidental system.
Don't count on Digi resuming support for something they've dropped. Ain't gonna happen.
Tell us a little about your system if you would, please (Sandra report is in order here).
But you might need to run PT NUKE to get rid of ALL TRACES of your current install. THEN go back to what worked.
Are you on XP?

[Kryst]

Originally Posted by sw rec

using an Mbox on Xp with 8.0 without issue...

I agree, the original mbox I sold a little while ago was working for me on XP 32-bit at Pro Tools LE 8.0. Until my computer died and I got thrown into a 64-bit mess...

Try Reaper. Maybe by now, it'd read the mbox fine. It didn't for me in 64-bit at the time I tried, but it might for you. If you're on 64-bit, that is.

As for upgrading from the original mbox to, say, the mbox 2, I hope you've been following on the hit & miss stuff of the new beta drivers for Windows 7 64-bit... Again, if that's the system you'd be using.

Posting a SiSandra report is a definite must for the computer gurus here to help you better. Google sisandra and download the lite version.

And seems that this is your first post, so welcome to the DUC

[samanthah]

Sorry for the late response. You guys are telling me that your current drivers are offering Windows Directsound/Waveout support as well as Asio support? Pro Tools is working fine for now, since I reinstalled recently. However, Directsound and Asio do not work.

If they are working, would you mind linking the drivers you are currently using? I am using the driver that came with my installation of pro tools.

[Tommy01]

Hey Samanthah here is an option i did and it works great even on an older laptop! Follow this post and scroll to post #12 to get info on the driver you need:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...highlight=mbox
Once again this is just an option to use some hardware that has been discontinued with other software (Reaper). Im on XP Pro Sp3 and it works great even at low buffer settings ( not sure about Vista or 7 haven't tried it ) The driver is really good and stable im pretty sure its the company that makes the driver for my Virus Ti and its a good driver as well.
Hope this at least lets you get some more mileage out of your Mbox it did for me.

Tommy

[Tommy01]

Oh and by the way, the driver you need to get is an "asio" driver that works great on anything in windows. More about the driver here:
http://www.usb-audio.com/ this driver in combination with the original Mbox will let you continue to use your Mbox with other windows programs (Reaper etc...) .

Tommy
p.s. (this driver is not for pro tools) just for other windows programs and i think you need to uninstall you digi driver first.

[samanthah]

If I have to pick between Asio or Pro Tools, I pick Pro Tools. but I'd like to have both. The impression I get with those USB Audio Drivers is it will overwrite my Mbox driver and render Pro Tools inoperable.

Is this this case? If not, I'll get em a go.

[Tommy01]

I haven't tried it as i don't use Protools Le much anymore, but i think your right i think it does uninstall the digi driver... anyway no big just an option to use discontinued hardware. I was mad too that my mbox was not able to work past Ptle 8, so i put it away and moved on to other stuff ( i use logic 9, sonar 8.5 and am messing with reaper. i also have m powered Pt with a few different m-audio interfaces as well.
anyway, good luck

Tommy