Digidesign Mbox 2 Micro

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Today's Bonus:

• Micro-sized, anodized aluminum design for on-the-go editing, mixing, and music creation
• High-quality sound up to 24-bit, 48kHz
• 1/8-inch stereo output jack for headphone or speaker monitoring
• Convenient volume wheel for quick headphone adjustments
• Powered by USB

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The first issue you have to address when considering this product is do you actually need or have a use for it? As I compose music the answer for me was yes, when I am outside of the studio or home I needed a way to create music. This device is very handy if you have a laptop and you don't need to record anything yourself. It is create for writing midi tracks and playing with loops or other various activities like adding effects to your pre recorded tracks. This is an instrument to make your current rig much more mobile and that's about it. I enjoy taking my laptop outside and just writing a midi track to the beautiful scenery. This device actually makes me want to take a train to work because I would just be more productive. Also it is a great way to upgrade your pro tools system if you haven't made the jump to 8.0. If you have I would suggest waiting until the next update unless you are in dire need of writing or mixing away from your stationary rig.

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I don't like to complain, especially about Digidesign (a.k.a. Avid) products, which generally do what they're meant to do quite well.

Most if not all other DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) programs have limited copy protection or use a USB-powered copy-protection "dongle" to verify an authentic installation. In exchange, they let you use any audio interface you'd like. ProTools LE, made by Digidesign, is free software -free, that is, if you purchase an audio interface made by Digidesign or M-Audio, such as the mBox family.

And so, Digidesign had a problem in trying to create a portable version of ProTools, they had to create some sort of tiny "audio interface" that would somehow handle audio and authorize the DAW software, and be worth about $250.

There are very few good things about this mBox 2 micro: it lets you edit in ProTools while you are traveling, it's really small and weighs nothing. It's USB-powered. That's it.

On the other hand, there is a litany of mediocre facts about the mBox 2 Micro, which you should consider before buying:

1) At the present moment, it's not hot-swappable, at least not on a Mac -that is to say, if you try to insert it into a USB port while your Mac is already powered on, the mBox 2 Micro *will crash your computer* while you shut down. To work around this, you have to shut down your Mac each time you move from location to location. Sound convenient?

2) Its design is downright terrible. The mBox 2 Micro consits of three pieces: the mBox micro itself, a short USB extension cable, and a little plastic cap, which protects the USB interface when it's not in use. You'll likely need to use the USB extension cable if you're connecting to any Mac laptop, as the "Micro" is too wide to fit into any of the slots. And you're likely to lose the little plastic cap within a few days, given how small it is and how easy it is to miss on a desk, or in a bag. Given that the mBox 2 Micro consists of these three integral items, you'd hope that Digidesign offer a small pouch or a convenient case to hold things together but no dice. How's that for portable and convenient?

3) The mBox 2 Micro has a tiny, cheap-looking volume control, which can easily be put to shame by any radio you may have bought in the 70s.

4) As you may have read, you cannot record with the mBox 2 Micro, as it has no recording inputs. Unlike most of the other sequencers, you cannot use the Built-in Audio inputs for recording or monitoring.

All these caveats aside, I'm strangely happy with the mBox Micro. It lets me edit in ProTools when I'm on the road, without having to schlep around a larger audio interface, simply for the privilege of editing in ProTools.

Still, I harbor a hope that the next version of the mBox 2 Micro will simply be a USB dongle -just enough to verify that I paid for my ProTools software, and not something that will mess with CoreAudio or crash my computer in case I need to take it out mid-flight without shutting down. I would also hope that one day I may be able to use the built-in audio microphones of my laptop, or any other external interfaces, in a ProTools environment, which is still the most convenient and easy-to-use music editing and creation software.

I remain hopeful now back to editing.

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I inherited one of these devices.

This is an amazing product from an amazing company.

Avid has created a device that on a dollar per gram basis is probably the most expensive audio interface known to man. It does not provide most audio interface functions. If you think about it (!) it actually does not provide one function that is not already available on your laptop, and you would not need it at all if you used any other DAW product. This is the story with Pro-Tools, the must have product for "pro" tools.

Buy one of these now. It is an IQ test.