Guitar Center vs. DSF

[bmills]

Okay, so I called guitar center asking if they carry the NI Kontrol 1 interface (they don't), but the guy recommended the mbox (w/ full protools). Now I'm a full ableton live user, and one of the reasons I was getting the interface was because it came with a free Synth (which is 200 in value). NOW, the mbox is $50 more but is it worth it? I mean I REALLY need massive but protools actually sounds pretty nice...

What are your opinions?

[moki]

F protools. Live is the shiatz neezy!

Get it if you think the box is worth it, not for the pro tools.

[gnome]

Pro tools is much more recording bassed and lacks a lot of Midi functionality your probably used to being an Ableton user. I personally wouldn't get Pro Tools

[yamaz]

This is a no brainer, screw protools, go with the way better deal. Have them order it for you or go through another vendor like zzounds.

[green plan]

Why would you want protools? It's meant to be industry standard etc for working with audio, but I presume you're making electronic music involving some MIDI which protools isn't as good for and live is awesome for. Also, Ableton's audio editing is the biznazz anyways so your bases are covered. If anything the NI Kontrol will sound better than the Mbox, has nice converters apparently (thanks MACC), and lots of connectivity. So might as well try and buy the NI Kontrol online, heaps of stores (Gigasonic etc), and avoid the nasty box.

[deadly_habit]

just snagged an mbox2 myself last week, talk to audiowright about its midi he can work just as fast as i can in cubase in pro tools
or just call the roc gc and talk to me and audiowright

[studio dread]

I've got the Kontrol 1. Has been great and reliable. Easy to set up etc.. I'm sure the features on it would be useful for Ableton too

[bmills]

Yeah I actually bailed on protools (digidesign is my uni's standard ) but I went with the Kontrol 1 off ebay for 220. Thanks for the input guys and I'll be sure to harass you over the phone deadly

[dreadheaded]

just for your info aswell, chances are it isnt the full pro tools and is pro tools LE, thats shit!!!

[nowaysj]

Don't trust anything m-audio.

[kidlogic]

Don't trust anything m-audio.

I wouldnt say that... Ive got a few pieces of m-audio gear Ive had for years with hardly any problems. I use my Fasttrack Pro pretty much daily and have never had an issue.

Pro-Tools LE though, is a bunch of shit. So are the M-Boxes.. when I worked at GC we had so many of them come back we almost all our stock was open-box. Sure you can learn to get down to business on ProTools, but it was primarily made for recording bands. There are other things much better suited to electronic music production.

[deadly_habit]

just for your info aswell, chances are it isnt the full pro tools and is pro tools LE, thats shit!!!

pro tools le is full pro tools
unless you're talking hd which i hope you have like 30k to drop on

[FSTZ]

I worked at GC as well

sounds like he just tried to flip your sale to something he had in stock, regardless of what you really wanted

if I was him and you wanted Komplete, I would search the national inventory for a store that had one sitting around

it couldn't have been "d coded" for that long

[nowaysj]

Gc always pushes maudio crap. I suspect that maudio can give a little bit bigger of a margin because their products cost lest to produce cause they're so crappy.

[deadly_habit]

Gc always pushes maudio crap. I suspect that maudio can give a little bit bigger of a margin because their products cost lest to produce cause they're so crappy.

that and most entry level people don't understand why the focusrite or presonus with the better preamps etc cost more

[FSTZ]

focusrite

drool

[abZ]

Don't trust anything m-audio.

I wouldnt say that... Ive got a few pieces of m-audio gear Ive had for years with hardly any problems. I use my Fasttrack Pro pretty much daily and have never had an issue.

Pro-Tools LE though, is a bunch of shit. So are the M-Boxes.. when I worked at GC we had so many of them come back we almost all our stock was open-box. Sure you can learn to get down to business on ProTools, but it was primarily made for recording bands. There are other things much better suited to electronic music production.

Agreed I have some m-audio stuff and I am happy with each item. That said you have to do your research. When I was shopping for a box a looked at the m-audio stuff. Price and features where looking good but looking deeper their low end stuff didn't look worth buying, thus I didn't. M-Audio doesn't = Behringer, don't make that mistake.

I did the same thing as OP tho. Went to GC looking for the AK1 and when they didn't have it they asked me what I wanted and I told them the AK1 and went home and order it. You can't let a salesman talk you into something. Salesmen aren't there to help, they are there to sell you shit/

[3za]

Don't trust anything m-audio.

i fucking hate m-audio. stuff starts to fall off their shit after about a week, then 6 months later the thing just shits the bed. then you send it to them. they take there time fixing it, then you get it back again then it fucks up again.

[FSTZ]

well.. I am not the biggest fan of M-Audio stuff but I'll say that everything I have bought from them I am happy with... I had an old FW-410, a trigger finger and I have used Torq for nearly 3 years now with minimal issue.

they are deffo not Behringer

[Dub_Fiend]

Fuck Pro Tools up it's overpriced little arse.

Seriously, working with Pro Tools is so counter-productive and it's so focused/reliant on keyboard shortcuts instead of learning the program itself... It doesn't even have tooltips to tell you what the fuck the buttons do :/

I was in the Pro Tools HD studio at Uni a few days back (with a SICK Mac Pro and the fatass 24 track ethernet mixer doodle - I forget the name (EDIT it's the C|24 mixer )), and it took myself and a group of four others 3 hours to figure out why Pro Tools was at 100% CPU with just a MIDI channel w. Mini Grand on and a vocal track with Melodyne on it, delete the MIDI, re-import it and then attempt to record guitar and epicly fail. I could've done this in 20-30 mins in Cubase all by myself and done it right.

Trust me, anything but Digidesign/Avid/whatever the fuck they're calling themselves now.

Also, I've never had a problem with M-Audio... I have a Fasttrack USB Audio Interface (the cheapest one) and it gave me 10ms of recording latency, which for £60 quid in my first year wasn't too bad... I used an Oxygen 49 to DJ with before I got my APC40, and I'm currently using an Audiophile 2496 PCI Soundcard (currently to play my PS3 sound through my PC speakers but I'm getting some monitors soon enough ) and I've not had a problem...


Dub Fiend