Avid Mbox 3rd Gen

Renji Mathews, a long-term Avid user delivers his verdict on the new Mbox

The original Mbox from Digidesign revolutionised personal studio recording when it was first released.

The new lineup of Mbox 3 products features several key hardware modifications over the previous iterations, along with a complete cosmetic makeover. Avid claims that all three products in the Mbox 3 family (Mbox Mini, Mbox and Mbox Pro) were designed by the same engineering team behind the top-of-the-line Pro Tools HD systems.

The unit I received for this review is the standard Mbox (the middle child in the family). Although the unit is commonly referred to as Mbox 3, there is no mention of the ‘3’ on the packaging. The package includes Pro Tools LE Ver. 8.0.4, built-in Sibelius score editor, 70 plus effects and virtual instruments, more than 8 GB of audio loops and sounds, and a useful training DVD aimed at getting newcomers up and creating with Pro Tools in no time.

This unit features a completely redesigned metal chassis, which feels very rugged and sturdy. It is impressively heavy and can come in use if someone attacks you in a dark alley! The solid metal case construction and the sleek black and silver colour combo makes the unit at once portable and appealing and the Mbox 2 pales in comparison.

The digital-to-analogue and analogue-to-digital converters seem to be of a much higher grade than the previous iterations and offer very low jitter.

Like the original Mbox, the new version features two XLR/TRS combo input jacks for microphone and line level signals, as well as two DI inputs to plug directly into the unit. Another long awaited improvement is the capability of 96kHz sample rates, previously only available on the Mbox Pro.

Each input has a microphone preamp with 48V phantom power and its own gain control, which when pulled out, applies a -20dB attenuation to the incoming signal. Another welcome feature is the professional grade ‘Soft-clip Limiter’, which was previously available only on the high-end 192 I/O interface, allowing one to track much hotter signals without overloading the inputs and clipping. This results in great-sounding tracks at the recording stage and offers a much warmer classic overdriven tape saturation sound.

The source for each input can be selected individually, the Front/ Rear switch toggles between the XLR/TRS combo socket at the rear and the Instrument input at the front. The placement of the instrument input socket at the front of the unit is ideal for quickly plugging in guitars. Two independent stereo outputs, one analogue and one digital allow analogue output for speakers and headphones simultaneously. The headphone socket is placed at the front of the unit, next to a dedicated knob for phones volume control. As for the speaker output, Avid has re-designed the volume level control, implementing a bigger knob for easier and more accurate monitoring levels. This knob, like all of the other controllers of the unit, feels very solid and responsive.

Other handy features include a ‘Dim’ button that reduces the speaker output by about 20dB (very useful if you want to have a conversation in the control room!) and a ‘Mono’ button that sums the left and right channels to the centre, to check mono-compatibility of the mixes and phase issues. The ‘Multi’ button can be assigned to one of numerous commonly used commands such as start/stop record, and create a new track, tap session tempo and so on. The integrated guitar tuner enables you to tune your guitar, bass, and other instruments directly from the interface. A single LED next to each input gain control indicates signal presence (green) or clipping (red) and these also double as an instrument tuner, by pressing the Dim and Mono buttons simultaneously, again, a very useful feature.

One of the best new additions is the internal DSP for flexible cue-mixing and reverb effects. The DSP chips are built into the unit and they work well for recording and over-dubbing. The internal DSP helps to monitor input via the audio driver (instead of using Pro Tools) and prevents any issues with latency. With this edition of Mbox, Avid has thrown the door open to a number of third party applications that integrate perfectly with the Mbox hardware.

This is good news for those who do not use Pro Tools. They can now choose from a variety of audio applications like Logic, Cubase, Live, Sonar, Record, Nuendo, Reason and Fruity Loops to name a few. Although Pro Tools LE comes ‘bundled’ with Mbox, one assumes that the charge is part of the package. A version without Pro Tools may perhaps be more affordable and appealing to non Pro Tool users.

The verdict? After testing the new Mbox thoroughly, the impression one gets is a sense of quality — in terms of build as well as audio. In fact, considering what a remarkable job Avid has done in designing the new Mbox, I think it should have gone the whole nine yards and launched it with a different nomenclature as well. As it is so much better than the previous generation, it merits a new avatar.

It’s safe to say the Mbox is a few notches above most of the other USB interfaces in its category. This professional unit will make an impressive and invaluable addition to any personal studio.

This 3rd generation Mbox family is the first to be released under the Avid name after Digidesign was acquired by Avid in 1995. Aimed at music professionals and hobbyists, the Avid Mbox offers a flexible solution to make music in your personal studio, at home or on the go. The Pro Tools LE 8 software (which is included), is based on the same platform used in commercial facilities around the world — ensuring pro studio compatibility and delivering everything one requires to compose, record, edit and mix music. You can also upgrade to the full version of the new Pro Tools 9, which will run on the same hardware.

Renji Mathews is head of digital media at the College of Fine Arts & Design, University of Sharjah and a long-term Avid user.