Fireface 800 with....? (M box or Digi 002) Advice

[Royalston]

Hi
Im a longtime cubase SX user and Ive been slowly warming to the excellent mixing capabilities of PT.
I own a Fireface 800 (and a G5 dual 2.3), so Im all set for good pre's and inputs etc...but I if I want to get PT whats the best and cheapest way to do it?

If I get the M-box, will the USB connection have slow performance relative to the 002R's firewire connection?

I'll be using PT mainly for mixing so I wont really ever be recoding more than 1 stereo pair into PT at a time (If at all). I'd probably just do all my tracking with Cubase and then export the tracks into PT...but I want PT to perform well at the mixing stage.

I would really appreciate some advice.
Thanks
Royalston


www.myspace.com/Royalston2

[accession]

The question of Firewire vs USB has absolutely no effect on Pro Tools capability of mixing down to a stereo file.

The cheapest way I know of to get into Pro Tools is the M-Powered version of the software with a M-Audio Transit (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html).

But you'd need an optical ADAT input if you wanted to use, say, 8 channels from your Fireface800, so back to the idea of a Digi002R or appropriate M-Audio product.

If you're happy with just 2 channels I/O, then M-Box or the M-Audio.... decisions, decisions.

Just curious, how is Pro Tools superior to Cubase for mixing?

[kelsey]

Just curious, how is Pro Tools superior to Cubase for mixing?

Just my two thoughts, it's more intuitive. I find it easier to be creative and effective in my mix using PT. Even more so when editing!!! Could just be I'm way more use to PT than anything else. who knows. That said, your ears will do more for a mix than a program can ever do.

As far as getting PT, I would decide if you need the extra capabilities that LE gives you over M-Powered, then choose an interface that suits your needs, the simplest of either sounds like it might work for you.

[Royalston]

Hi
thanks heaps for the replies....

So...The USB connection will not come into play if Im just mixing in Protools? Thats great...usb audio scares me a little (as being unreliable). Theres no data going to and from the hardware? I wouldn't have thought so....I just wanted to be sure.

Why PT? -
PT has full sidechaining, proper bussing options....cubase (on mac) has none of this yet....it will soon, but I need this stuff badly. Plus its a well designed program - easy to work with, editing is nice in PT - and this counts for a lot....cubase, I find, is not so streamlined...

Hmm...now ive gotta get my head around the different choices in hardware....

R.