Have mBox 2; PT8, Logic or something else?

[OrganMusic]

So I bought an mBox2 that came with PT 7.x a while back. It's held me back from upgrading my iMac and MBP to Snow Leo ever since.

PT7 turned out to be beyond overkill for my requirements, but I'd like something a little better than GB.

Doing a bunch of editing in FCE4 I tried to use the mBox for a headphone monitor and it seemed to cause kernel panics all the time, so I'm wondering if the SL drivers for the mbox are better. In the mean time I got used to the way audio editing works in FCE4, is that at all similar to Logic Express?

So I'm trying to decide what software to use when I upgrade to SL:

1. Upgrade to PT8 (~$150)
2. Logic Express
3. ?

Are the drivers reliable enough under SL to use it with non-protools software?

My needs are fairly modest -- mostly copying records, recording church services and occasional modest multi-track projects.

 

[OrganMusic]

Back in my PC days, sound forge worked nicely for me. Mostly what I need is a 2-track editor good at cutting gaps out of long recordings and then splitting them into individual files.

 

[OrganMusic]

I did download the Adobe Audition beta and it seems like just what I'm looking for.

 

[Leddy]

Hi OrganMusic,

Just wondering if you're still having kernel panics using the MBox 2 - if so, are you running the latest Core Audio drivers? These are available from Avid's website. I'm using a 003 under Snow Leopard with the latest core audio drivers and ProTools 9 (upgraded from 8) - it has been pretty reliable so far.

I saw some videos explaining the features of Adobe Audition and it looks like an impressive program.

Does FCE come with Soundtrack at all as you could easily use that as a 2 track editor ...

Cheers.

 

[Fishrrman]

"3. ?"

I'd suggest "Cubase Essentials".

Goes for $150 (or less) on ebay. There is a "student version" for $99 which is exactly the same as the "regular" version. Don't know if "non-students" can get that on ebay and get it registered, but my instincts say yes.

I use "Cubase LE4" which is a "slight step down" from the "Essentials" version. I've found it to be a good balance between adequate power, features, ease-of-use, and ease-of-learning.

I would also like to add that I have not seen -ANY- other DAW software that offers the ease of editing audio that Cubase has. Whether it's adjusting levels, cutting and pasting, processing audio, or moving sound clips around, it's as easy as editing words in a word processor. No "editing window" needs to be opened, you can make your changes "right in line".

BTW, if you can get your hands on a copy of "Cubase LE4", that will work, too. LE4 is generally found "bundled into" some audio interfaces, and you don't need a "USB key" to run it (Essentials requires a key which comes in the box).

 

[Xavier]

I would vote for Pro Tools just because that is what I am most familiar with. Next would be Logic.

 

[OrganMusic]

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Thanks all.

I've tried the Mbox with GB a bit on one of my minis using the current driver and it seems to work fine. It was actually about a year ago on my iMac under 10.5.x where I was having the kernel panics trying to use it for monitoring.

I will look into Cubase though. Protools is great but I don't think it's the right program for me.

And no fce doesn't include soundtrack.