Hi everyone,

Does the Mbox pro 3 need to be connected via firewire to a computer
in order to work or can it be used as a standalone preamp without using firewire?

I've got an Onyx 1620i and i'm curious as to wether or not I can use Mbox to power the extra tracks that don't have an onboard preamp?

I believe the Mbox Pro is a USB interface, so you will need to connect to your computer via the USB cable. It is not a standalone mic preamp. You can however invest in a mic pre and connect it to your interface using some standard cables. This isn't necessary of course as the Mbox Pro already has mic preamps built into the interface. You would only want to do that to colour the signal. Hope that helps!

Actually the mBox Pro uses firewire.

Noisebomber - if you are trying to use the preamps in the mbox pro as standalone pres, it sadly won't work. You're going to have to find another way to utilize the line ins on the onyx. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

You're right, my mistake! I also misread the question as well, so my apologies.

Hey guys,

I started this thread prematurely. Somehow I missed this infomation in the manual (of course!). I'm pleased to say you can actually use the Mbox Pro as a preamp only- I've just tested it out myself and it works great.

For anyone else who is trying to do this, simply press and hold the speaker button until it goes red. This puts the Mbox into preamp only mode. Then all you need to do is run the outputs on the back into your desk etc.

Here's more from the manual:

Mode

The Mbox Pro can be in the following three types of sub-standalone modes:

-AD/DA Converter
When in AD/DA mode, analog inputs 1 and 2 are routed to S/PDIF outputs leftand right and S/PDIF inputs left and right are
routed to analog outputs 1 and 2.

-Preamp
When in Preamp mode, analog input 1 is sent to analog output 1 and S/PDIF left. Analog input 2 is sent to analog
output 2 and S/PDIF Right.

Analog inputs 3–6 are sent to analog outputs 3–6.

-Mixer
When in Mixer mode, all analog and digital inputs are summed and routed to analog outputs 1-2 are mirrored to S/PDIF outputs left
and right.

Changing Sub-standalone Modes

Once you are in standalone mode you can tell which of the three sub-standalone modes the
Mbox Pro is in and change them using the Speaker source select switch (pushing the
Speaker button cycles through them all).

The button displays the following colors for each mode:

• Green in AD/DA Converter Mode
• Red in Preamp mode
• Amber in Mixer mode

That is great. I had no idea. Of course I don't have that unit, I have its predecessor (the mBox 2 Pro) and I don't believe it has a preamp mode - but perhaps I'm wrong. Thanks for the info!

any clues how to power in standalone mode, will computer treat it as an peripheral just to send power to or could you power with wall plug usb charger in standalone mode? cheers

The Mbox Pro 3 requires the wall plug to be used during operation.

It works fine without plugging into the computer via Firewire for standalone use.

Are you perhaps referring to one of the other Mbox models?

i was meaning the m box 3 the model below the pro but i imagine all works the same... cheers

Happy to say that I just picked up an Mbox 3 Pro. I've had a normal 2 channel Mbox 3 for a long time, but for the amount of money I'd much rather have 4 mic pre's on the Pro. There lots more features on the Pro vs the normal Mbox as well.

Overall...through the years the Mbox I have has functioned great and still does. The Pro is firewire, which my system has I think. I love that it has inserts on all mic pres's and the line inputs. 3 speaker choices. etc. They're really affordable on Ebay these days. Great deal for an interface.

Just a heads up on these units, there was a season when Avid poached some engineers from Apogee back in the Ensemble FW days and the MBox Pro3 came out about then and the similarities between the two boxes was well...interesting to say the least...

It wasn't long after this that Apogee went to the Symphony system and moved towards Thunderbolt and left Avid in the dust for a few years...but its kind of funny to see the exact same kinds of features with the exact same LED's/indicators on two completely different vendors products...

Both units are still outstanding pieces of kit...and I think both units used the PGA 2500 digital preamp from Texas Instruments, a really solid mic preamp design that would give 65dB of gain with super low noise...some of the cleanest preamps you will ever hear...

Now they both used (IIRC) the CS4272 which is not all that and a bag of chips as a converter, but the implementation of it was solid and sounded better than other vendors.

If you need a straight up clean preamp these are built like tanks and in "stand-alone" mode works great for this.

Yep. I've used the mic pre's on my Mbox and I've never had any problems. They sound fine. Can't wait till I get the Mbox 3 Pro! These are still really nice affordable interfaces!

Yep. I just got my Mbox 3 Pro....and I'm really happy. It's like brand new or something. It's never been used. Tested everything and seems to be working great. I'm stoked. 4 solid mic pre's with inserts...or 4 balanced line inputs. 2 headphone outs, 3 speaker outputs. Nice LED meters.

Great interfaces for the money.