Mbox factory VS E-MU 1820 M

MissYouAllDay

So I have some down to these 2 options. I am not a technical wizard when it comes to audio so I was hoping that some of you could help me decide which is better by deciphering their features. I guess the most important part is recording quality and quality of mic pre amp. Here is a link to the features of both. From an uneducated perspective it seems like the 1820m has far more to offer for the same price.

Here are links to their basic features including mic preamp type.
1820m
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/242510/

Mbox
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/240475/

It seems being internal would have to lend the 1820m some sort of advantage also.

Thanks for any help

KillerIsMe

depends on what you want to record. If you want to just record an entire band at once, drums, or anything else that NEEDS more than the 2 inputs that the MBox has, you should go with the Emu. I own the MBox and it's a great piece of equipment, and if you are imaginative and forgiving, you can do drums with 2 mics. Also depends on your computer, Pro Tools is an incredibly draining program, and challenges my top of the line computer ever now and then. The Emu stuff should run much smoother than pro tools.

MissYouAllDay

Hmmm.

See thats kinda what I was thinking about it being internal. Alot more of the stuff with the E-MU is done onboard I think and so doesn't rely on your system. Like it says that on the specs page as part of its attraction.

I am gonna assume that pro tools is better than whatever E-MU comes with because pro tools is the standard and whatever emu comes with.... is whatever it comes with. Probably not spectacular.

mccreadyisgod

The E-Mu hardware has better specs. It's a bit misleading... it only has 8 analog inputs, and only 2 of those are mic preamps. The preamps on the MBox are better, but the E-Mu ones are probably just fine. It does have a lot of connectivity options, including turntable connections, plenty of MIDI, some ADAT connections, etc. The nice thing there is that you can eventually get two 8-channel mic pre's and get 16 channels of analog input (8 through the analog ins, and 8 through an ADAT interface). The MBox is limited to just 2 analog inputs at a time, can't get any more than that (limited by USB speeds). One big difference: the E-Mu box requires installing PCI card(s). The MBox just hooks up to a USB port. One other big difference: the MBox comes with ProTools LE recording software, while the E-Mu comes with (if I'm reading the embedded information correctly) Cubase VST. I'm having trouble finding a lot of these things out about the E-Mu system... it seems like they want to throw a bunch of stats at you, and let you figure out what it actually means. I'd be prepared to spend some time reading manuals and .pdf files with that system.

The biggest difference between the two is expandability (E-Mu) versus ease of use (MBox). I think quality is a subjective statement, but I'd give the MBox/ProTools the edge here. The E-Mu does get bonus points for using hardware-accelerated effects (which means it uses less of your computer's resources).

MissYouAllDay

Hmmmm,

Only 2 inputs are preamped eh. It doesn't say anything about the other type of mic connector. The ELX or whatever they're called. Would you assume it has them? Is there another name for them there on the specs that I am missing. I am not worried so much about figuring it out anymore. COmputer hardware is kinda fun and I am gonna need to learn more about audio tech anyway so might as well read through a few manuals.

Question if it has 8 analog inputs, first does this mean 8 1/4" inputs? and what is the point of the other 6 non preamped inputs? Just straight signal eh. I feel as if the Mbox is the get rich quick solution, and in the long run E-Mu will serve me better. Not to mention it is cheaper by $70 or so canadian than the Mbox factory bundle.

When you mic drums, do you preamp them or not usually?

mccreadyisgod

MissYouAllDay wrote:

Hmmmm,

Only 2 inputs are preamped eh. It doesn't say anything about the other type of mic connector. The ELX or whatever they're called. Would you assume it has them? Is there another name for them there on the specs that I am missing. I am not worried so much about figuring it out anymore. COmputer hardware is kinda fun and I am gonna need to learn more about audio tech anyway so might as well read through a few manuals.

Question if it has 8 analog inputs, first does this mean 8 1/4" inputs? and what is the point of the other 6 non preamped inputs? Just straight signal eh. I feel as if the Mbox is the get rich quick solution, and in the long run E-Mu will serve me better. Not to mention it is cheaper by $70 or so canadian than the Mbox factory bundle.

When you mic drums, do you preamp them or not usually?

The E-Mu system only has two internal mic preamps. It has 8 total analog inputs, the first two can be either mic or line. Mic signals use XLR connections, line signals use 1/4" connections. So, it will only give you two mics at a time. You can get some sort of external mic preamp and add channels, so it will give you the ability to expand in the future, but by itself, it only has two.

You could use a mixer to provide you with the additional mic preamps, and then take line signals out of the mixer into the E-Mu. You could also use something like this:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/185277/

That has 8 mic preamps that will directly output to line outputs. You could also use this:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/182483/

Which would connect to the system via an ADAT lightpipe connection.