presonus firebox, mbox2 or emu 1616?

malabito · #1 10-03-2005, 08:35 AM

Hi a been playing bass for at least some 8 years, but my recording equipment knowledge is very small. I will really apreciate all the help that you could give me since I am kind of new to the recording stuff.

I been doing some research and finally narrow my search to the following options

-mbox 2
-e-mu 1616 or 1616M dont know the differance
-presonus firebox, will prefer the firepod couse of the more inputs, but its a little bit over my price range.
-maudio 1814 firewire

My intentations are to create a small recording studio at my house, the 8 simultaneas inputs of the firepod arent that necessary for me right now, since I wont be recording drums. I just need to be able to obtain a high quality sound, and some extras options such as a midi.

What is the diferance between th e-emu 1616 and the 1616M.

Of dose 4 which would you choose, I know it seems more like a usb vs pcmia vs firewire connection type thing. I know that the mbox comes with protools which is a great software, with the other two I wont be able to use pro tools.
it seems to me that emu is the best one in quality and options, but whats getting me hook on the mbox is the software issue, even though its a le version, i wont have any comptability problems if i decide to record the drums, in a pro studio, and then record the rest of the instruments at my house, since almost all studios use pro tools.

I will be using a inspiron 9300 laptop from dell, with 2 gigas of ram and a 2.0 ghz pentium M procesor.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer all my questions.

BulkHead · #2 10-16-2005, 04:10 PM

Hey Mal- the 1616M has better preamps and converters.
I have a Firepod and highly reccommend it.
My singer has the 1616M and makes high quality recordings.
If you take the recorded drum files, they will be in AIFF format from Pro tools, if you get the firebox, cubase can handle this format or wav.
Good luck and let us know what you get.

malabito · #3 10-16-2005, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BulkHead

Hey Mal- the 1616M has better preamps and converters.
I have a Firepod and highly reccommend it.
My singer has the 1616M and makes high quality recordings.
If you take the recorded drum files, they will be in AIFF format from Pro tools, if you get the firebox, cubase can handle this format or wav.
Good luck and let us know what you get.

Hi thanks for the reply, after doing an extansive research through out the web I finally went for an edirol ua-101. The emu 1616M seems to have better conversors but in emu's website they mention something refering to incompatibility issues with some brands of pcmcia cards, and my laptop has one of dose cards. Also I was going to get the motu traveler, which was a little bit over my budget, but worth the effort, and also they were incompatibility issues, this time regarding the chispet of the firewire controller, works great if you have a TI chipset, but if you have the nec chipset problems will occur. I was never able to fid which chipset I had installed.

So to avoid any incoveniance I decide to get the edirol ua-101, I know its usb, but I talk with many people on the web who own it and until the moment they didnt have any complaint just positive comments.

Thanks,

BulkHead · #4 10-16-2005, 09:55 PM

Awesome! post an mp3 when you get a chance!!

malabito · #5 10-16-2005, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BulkHead

Awesome! post an mp3 when you get a chance!!

It will take some time, it has to be shipped first to miami and then to Venezuela, but as soon as I have it here, I'll post some clips.