Bought a MAC ... Got questions

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 10 Oct 2010 10:07 pm

I bought a mac book pro and a friend of mine is selling me his Mbox with PT 6.9...It doesn't like 10.06 I guess. How do I upgrade to Pro tools 8 so I can use the Mbox? The 6.9 says it can't open because I need to change to an audio record volume but I an not allowed to change it.. Thanks for your help...

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 10 Oct 2010 11:44 pm

You can buy ProTools 8 online. The original company was Digidesign, but they are now under the Avid banner here:-
http://www.avid.com/US/resources/digi-orientation
It is a huge upgrade from the early versions, especially once you get used to how to use the "elastic audio" functions.
Cheers
Dave

David Winfrey · Post by **David Winfrey** » 11 Oct 2010 9:52 am

Scott,
I am in the middle of making the migration from PC to Mac myself. I bought an iMac. I'm not real sure if I understand the message your getting, but you need a dedicated drive for your audio files. Most people use an external firewire drive such as a Glyph drive. Firewire is the preferred port. I'm not sure but I am guessing the Macbook Pro has a firewire port since the iMacs do.
At any case, it is highly recommended that you not use your system drive for the audio files.
Also, you can find answers to a lot of questions on the Digidesign Users Conference (DUC) and the Digi/Avid website has a google search for the DUC. I hope that helps a bit. I've been down the ProTools troubles road quite a few times and will be glad to assist you if I can.
Regards,
David

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 11 Oct 2010 12:52 pm

Scott, definitely use a large outboard drive for your recording storage drive (the PT program itself will live on your system drive).
While you're trying to figure it out though, when you try to boot up the PT program, see if you can click on the "workspace" window from the menu on top of the screen, if you can you can change whatever drive you're using to record using the little window there, sounds like that might be your problem right now.

David Winfrey · Post by **David Winfrey** » 11 Oct 2010 1:15 pm

Scott,
I just did a quick bit of research and PTLE 8.0.3 and higher does not support the orignal Mbox. There are quite a few versions of the Mbox, but if you've got the old original it is being "retired" and will be no longer supported for any future versions. If it's an Mbox 2, Pro, etc. you can upgrade your software on the AVID website.
Regards,
David

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 13 Oct 2010 7:12 am

Thanks for all the comments.. Yeah I've realized I am going to have to go with MBox 2 and 8.0 which isn't a bad thing. Guess hit ebay or guitar center in the next couple of days...I want it for a project I am working on.....Plus I have so many peopleI work with using PT it just makes since....(we do a lot of internet sharing on our recordings) I think DAWs are like guitars they're all basicly the same just a matter of what you happy with and I can be happy with Pro Tools...I've worked in several of them and I look for user friendly. I've only had a couple that gave me problems but again that was mainly the computer not the format....
Thanks again

Mark Butcher · Post by **Mark Butcher** » 13 Oct 2010 1:55 pm

If you got a Mac then why not get Logic? A Mac's strength is the integration of hardware/software. Apple makes Logic. The system drive on your MacBook will handle ten tracks easily. If your getting more complex than that then you will find a big screen very useful! So grows your studio.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 13 Oct 2010 3:48 pm

Scott,

Another method you could use with your existing hardware and software is to partition your drive into two parts. The system and software installed on one, and the other left blank as your audio drive.
Partitioning requires reformatting which means you'll need the system CD to boot from. The partitions can be different sizes, so make your system partition large enough for the system and applications, leaving the bulk of your disk space available for recording on the second partition.

Another easier option previously mentioned is just get a huge external drive and use that as your recording drive.

Clete

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 14 Oct 2010 5:44 am

Yup...good advice.. my plan is to get a terra bite external HD...I need more than ten tracks most usually. Drums alone are at least six. Thanks for the input..

John Phinney · Post by **John Phinney** » 14 Oct 2010 10:17 am

I'd recommend checking out the Pro Tools LE compatibility guide for hard drives before buying one.
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfser ... NewLang=en

I've had good experiences with both Glyph and OWC drives.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 26 Oct 2010 6:21 am

If you can bump your budget up just a tad, I'd look at the new Avid 3rd gen. mBox. or mBox Pro. Supposed to be a big improvement on A/D and mic pres.

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 29 Nov 2010 9:39 am

The MAC life is going great...A word of advice to newcomers. Make sure your external hard drive is formatted for MAC. I went to wally world and bought one that said it would work on MAC but the reformatting was a nightmare. It still doesn't work totally right and I think I will be buying another one more suitable for my system. Trying to save a few bucks and time actually hurt me in the end.
Otherwise I love it. I run my studio and my real estate business off of it and it handles all my "creative" stuff so much better than the PCs did.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 30 Nov 2010 6:38 am

We buy all our drives from www.pacificproaudio.com . They use a great fanless enclosure and seagate drives. They always have the latest 911 based chipsets for fastest performance. We have about 30 of them and have never had a problem...

Orville Johnson · Post by **Orville Johnson** » 30 Nov 2010 11:54 pm

I second the rec of pacific pro audio. Top quality drives at very fair prices.