m-audio Blackbox

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:02 am

Hi ;

Can I use m-audio black box for amateur home recording or Do I have to buy another sound card for the latency ?

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:02 am

That looks like a reaosnable entry-level unit. It also seems that it has analog direct monitoring, so latency is not an issue.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:48 am

Thank you very much for your reply Tony And sorry for submitting similar posts twice . Just couldnt decide if the both questions can be asked in this section . Anyway just to learn further how could you understand that the device has a low latency . Is there a variable in the feature list or did you used this item ? What values are suitable ?

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:58 am

"analog direct monitoring"
Means that the output side is directly connected to the input side, no "processing" has to be done therefor latency is so low as to be not an issue.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:45 am

Regardless, is latency much of an issue in software monitoring?

I've only done ten tracks with basic processing (EQ, compression, reverb, pitch/beat correction), but it's never caused latency issues (unless those issues were auto-corrected by the software?) and I generally use software monitoring.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:02 am

StephenMC wrote:

Regardless, is latency much of an issue in software monitoring?

Yes, latency is an issue with software monitoring if you have poor ASIO drivers or if your computer is particularly slow.

I have a Black Box but I only use it for the amp sims which are.....not bad. The Black Box is limited to 16bit 48kHz though which may not be an issue now but you may end up finding yourself growing out of it in the future. Ah yes, the endless pursuit or cleaner sound. It does support ProTools M-Powered which is nice but that will set you back another $400 give or take. Comes with Abelton Live Lite and some loops but it's limited to 4 audio tracks. OK for a start but again, you may find yourself growing beyond it. I don't know how the ASIO drivers are as I run it into my Onyx then into Cubase or Tracktion 3. It's an M-Audio product though, they do one thing well and that is ASIO drivers.

If you're just starting out, you'll enjoy it.

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