Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini Portable USB-Powered Pro Tools LE Audio Workstation

by Digidesign

Product Features

• Professional sound quality (up to 24-bit/48 kHz)
• Two simultaneous analog inputs and outputs
• Zero-latency monitoring
• Compact, rugged metal enclosure for maximum portability and durability
• Powered by USB (USB 1.1 connection, cable included)

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 21 x 9 x 17 inches ; 1.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000KW4TZK
• Item model number: 9900-55898-00
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,347 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #97 in Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Computer Recording > Audio Interfaces

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Meet Mbox 2 Mini — the world’s smallest, most affordable Pro Tools LE™ recording, editing, and mixing system ever. Whether you’re a singer/songwriter who’s new to recording or a seasoned pro on the go, Mbox 2 Mini packs professional features into a robust, ultra compact, easy-to-use audio workstation to record and mix music wherever your inspiration takes you. And with its diminutive size, Mbox 2 Mini literally puts the power of Pro Tools in the palm of your hand.

Like its siblings, Mbox 2, Mbox 2 Pro, and Mbox 2 Micro, Mbox 2 Mini delivers superior sound quality and includes plenty of powerful creation tools for composing, recording, and mixing music. It comes with award-winning, easy-to-use Pro Tools LE™ software, which provides you with many of the same tools the pros use on major recordings and in films. And because Pro Tools is the industry standard, you can use your Mbox 2 Mini-recorded sessions in any Pro Tools-equipped studio around the world.

System Requirements

• Digidesign-qualified Windows Vista- (32-bit Business or Ultimate), Windows XP- or Mac OS X 10.5-based computer
  
• Minimum 1 GB of RAM
  
• DVD-ROM or equivalent optical drive for software installation
  
• Available USB port for Mbox 2 Mini system (USB hubs not supported)

Hardware
Mbox 2 Mini is professionally and durably built to withstand all the knocks and bounces it encounters as your traveling companion, and delivers superior sound quality.

• Professional sound quality (up to 24-bit/48 kHz)
  
• Two simultaneous analog inputs and outputs
  
  • One XLR analog input for connecting a microphone
    
  • Two ¼” line-/instrument-level (DI) analog inputs for connecting guitars, basses, keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, and more
• Zero-latency monitoring
  
• Compact, rugged metal enclosure for maximum portability and durability
  
• Powered by USB (USB 1.1 connection, cable included)
  
• Front-panel volume control and monitor mute switch
  
• Two ¼” analog monitor outputs
  
• Stereo headphone output
  
• 48V phantom power
  
• Kensington Security Lock

Software

Pro Tools software is used in countless professional studios around the world, and includes all the tools you need to easily compose, record, edit, mix, and master your projects with pro results — every time.

• Award-winning Pro Tools® recording, editing, and mixing
  
• 48 simultaneous stereo audio tracks (expandable with Toolkit options)
  
• Includes dozens of pro effects processing plug-ins and virtual instruments
  
• Professional MIDI sequencing with dedicated MIDI Editor window
  
• Integrated Score Editor based on award-winning Sibelius notation software
  
• Full Elastic Time and Elastic Pitch to easily adjust timing and pitch on your tracks
  
• Unique Beat Detective™ LE automatic groove analysis and correction tool
  
• ReWire support for streaming your favorite applications right into Pro Tools
  
• Support for the Digidesign C|24™ and Command|8® control surfaces
  
• Huge selection of compatible third-party plug-ins and software options
  
• Works on Windows and Mac computers

Bundled Plug-ins

In addition to M-Audio Torq LE DJ software and an incredible 8 GB collection of pro-quality loops from industry sound heavyweights Big Fish Audio, Pro Tools software includes a comprehensive bundle of amazing virtual instruments, effects, and utility plug-ins.

Virtual Instruments
Boom drum machine and sequencer DB-33 tonewheel organ emulator with rotating speaker simulation Mini Grand acoustic grand piano Vacuum monophonic vacuum tube synthesizer	Xpand!2 multitimbral synth and sample workstation Structure Free sample player FXpansion BFD Lite acoustic drum module
Effects, Sound-Processing, Utility Plug-ins
1-Band EQ III 4-Band EQ III 7-Band EQ III AIR Chorus AIR Distortion AIR Dynamic Delay AIR Enhancer AIR Ensemble AIR Filter Gate AIR Flanger AIR Frequency Shifter AIR FuzzWah AIR KillEQ AIR Lo-Fi AIR MultiChorus AIR Multi-Delay AIR Nonlinear Reverb AIR Phaser AIR Reverb AIR Spring Reverb AIR StereoWidth AIR Talkbox AIR Vintage Filter BF76 Compressor BF Essential Clip Remover BF Essential Correlation Meter BF Essential Meter Bridge BF Essential Noise Meter Celemony Melodyne Essential Chorus Click Compressor/Limiter D-Verb DC Offset Removal De-Esser	Delay DigiReWire Dither Duplicate Eleven Free Expander/Gate Extra Long Delay II Flanger Gain Invert Lo-Fi Long Delay II Maxim Medium Delay II Multi-Tap Delay Normalize Ping-Pong Delay Pitch Pitch Shift POWr Dither Recti-Fi Reverse SansAmp Sci-Fi Signal Generator Short Delay II Slap Delay II Time Compression Expansion Time Shift TL AutoPan TL InTune TL MasterMeter TL Metro Trim Vari-Fi

Specifications

Mic Input		Line/DI Inputs
Connector: One balanced XLR jack Mic Phantom Power: 48V Equivalent Input Noise: -129 dBu Frequency Response: +/- 0.1 dB Dynamic Range: 103 dB / 106 dB A-weighted THD + N @ 1kHz: 0.0006% (-104 db) Input Sensitivity, Pad off: +1 dBu minimum gain, -52 dBu maximum gain Input Sensitivity, Pad on: +21 dBu minimum gain, -32 dBu maximum gain Input Impedance (pad off): 9.5 k ohm		Connector: Two unbalanced 1/4" jacks with independent gain controls Frequency Response: +/- 0.1 dB Dynamic Range: 103 dB / 106 dB A-weighted THD + N @ 1kHz: 0.006% (-84 db) Input Sensitivity, Pad off: +1 dBu minimum gain, -52 dBu maximum gain Input Sensitivity, Pad on: +21 dBu minimum gain, -32 dBu maximum gain Input Impedance (pad off): Inputs are DI only
Monitor Outputs		Headphone Outputs
Connector: Two 1/4" unbalanced jacks Frequency Response: +/- 0.25 dB Dynamic Range: 105 dB / 107 dB A-weighted Output Sensitivity: +6 dBu maximum		Connector: One 1/4" stereo jack Output Sensitivity: 1.6V RMS maximum gain Frequency Response: +/- 0.25 dB Dynamic Range: 99 dB / 101 dB A-weighted
Digital Specifications		Size / Weight / Power
Supported Sample Rates: 44.1, 48 kHz Maximum Word Length: 24 bit Host Connection: One USB 1.1 type B jack (cable included)		Height: 1.75 inches / 4.44 cm Width: 5.0 inches / 12.7 cm Depth: 6.0 inches / 15.24 cm Weight: 1.12 lbs / 508 grams Power Requirements: Powered off USB bus only

Product Description

Compact USB Pro Tools LE Music Workstation. DigiDesign/Pro Tools. DigiDesign/Pro Tools. With General Merchandise. 8" L x 7.75" W. Made by Digidesign.

Meet Mbox 2 Mini - the world's smallest, most affordable Digidesign Pro Tools LE(TM) recording, editing, and mixing system ever. Whether you're a singer/songwriter who's new to recording or a seasoned pro on the go, Mbox 2 Mini packs professional features into a robust, ultra compact, easy-to-use audio workstation to record and mix music wherever your inspiration takes you. And with its diminutive size, Mbox 2 Mini literally puts the power of Pro Tools in the palm of your hand. Like its siblings, Mbox 2 and Mbox 2 Pro, Mbox 2 Mini delivers superior sound quality and includes plenty of powerful creation tools for composing, recording, and mixing music. It comes with award-winning, easy-to-use Pro Tools LE software, which provides you with many of the same tools the pros use on major recordings and in films. And because Pro Tools is the industry standard, you can use your Mbox 2 Mini-recorded sessions in any Pro Tools-equipped studio around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pro Tools Research, June 23, 2008

By 

B. Hagberg "DOCB" (Wiesbaden, GE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini Portable USB-Powered Pro Tools LE Audio Workstation (Electronics)

I normally do not write reviews; however after seeing the negative reviews on here I felt I should write about this product.

First, It is imperative that you do research before you buy this piece of equipment. This is Pro Tools, in case you didn't know it is the recording studio standard across the world. It is not designed as a personal computer application and is very finnicky when it comes to operating systems. For example, when I purchased it, I knew that it would not run on Windows XP Media Center Edition. Because I did my research and reading, I bought it anyway and was able to run well but not without some pretty technical changes in the way that my computer operates.

Second, if you are new to computer recording; there is a huge learning curve associated with it. Alot of people hear Pro Tools and go out and buy it without any knowledge of how to record or what computer requirements are. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to read. Read the amazon reviews, get some recording books and recording "theory" books, Pro Tools guides, (futureproducers.com has great forums for questions) and everything until you are going strong. Then after you know what you need and what is overkill, buy on an informed decision. Once you get it up and running its a pretty good solution.

Since getting the MBox 2 Mini I've recorded about 30-40 tracks and they've come out sounding really good, but beware that it is not compatible with VST's and will only run RTAS plug-in's unless you get a VST to RTAS wrapper. Since I've got a host of them it worked out well for me.

Pro Tools is great for recording and pretty good at MIDI sequencing as well. Its not hard to tell why this is the recording standard. I definitely give this product 2 thumbs up.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great product...know what you are getting yourself into., May 11, 2009

By 

Jarema Czarnecki "jczar" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini Portable USB-Powered Pro Tools LE Audio Workstation (Electronics)

First of all. People who rate this product poorly are rating it for the wrong reasons. If you do you research then you should not have any problems getting it to work with your computer or with your equipment. I bought this used after some research. I am using it with both a mac and xp however I prefer the mac. Very solid, good sound quality when used properly.

All I could say is know what you are buying and why you are buying it. Protools is not easy to used and it will take a while to get use to recording and manipulation.

One book I recommend for singers/songwriters/musicians that are beginners with ProTools is "Pro Tools for Musicians and Songwriters" this is a beginners book that I came across. I am not advertising just trying to help people out. It is right to the point for beginners. I have used ProTools for a long time and it is nicely done. The rest is up to you to figure out and play around with. Help sections, online tutorial searches and putting in time is a plus.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Price, Good sound... but (iMac users), January 11, 2010

By 

LygerTail (SAN FRANCISCO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini Portable USB-Powered Pro Tools LE Audio Workstation (Electronics)

If your new to sound editing or using Avid systems your going to either LOVE ProTools, since its largely considered industry standard and you'll happily know your using a real audio editing system, or HATE ProTools because you dont know how to use it. Either way, know what your getting into before you buy it. It took me 6-8 months before I felt comfortable using the software. Been using it since film school, (2005), this is my second MBox. Previously owned the MBox1 (upright model) with no problems for 3+1/2 years.

MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT... on some computers, seems to happen to iMac computers more often, when your MBox mini is plugged in it will crash your CPU, and its really, really annoying! So do your research before buying this!!! This unit is not hot swappable so you must shut your CPU down before plugging/unplugging it. And even then, it will still crash your other applications (Safari, FCP, etc)esp. if you have your MBox routing your CPU audio through it. It will also cause tons of Permission Errors (Disk Utility had to correct around 100. Most I've ever seen.) Some people have no problems at all, but those CPU seem to be dedicated machines to strictly sound editing. If your like me and have only one main CPU youre going probably going to have issues as I and many other have.

YOUR FOREWARNED!!! IT DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY!!!! Some people blame the sound driver created by Digidesign. EITHER WAY, IF DIGIDESIGN/APPLE could get together and fix this problem I would actually be a satisfied customer!!!


iMac 2009
10.5.8
2.66 GHz Core duo
4 GB memery