Digidesign MBox 2 Professional (FireWire)

Installation & Configuration Linux
#1

Hello,

I know it has been asked a couple of times before but is there a driver/ has one been created that will allow the Digidesign MBox to work with Ardour?

Thanks.

#2

My experience with Digi’s hardware is that they don’t use a true Core Audio driver, and that causes problems. It has been some time though since I messed with it.

Catch me on IRC sometime(Probably won’t be anytime soon sorry due to other stuff) and I will do what I can to help you, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for it to work sadly.

   Seablade
#3

The MBox is a piece of proprietary hardware.To whatever extent it obeys the USB1 audio specifications, it could work on Linux. I believe it doesn’t follow that specification much at all, and consequently would require a device driver of its own. Creating that requires information from Digidesign that they are unwilling to release.

#4

If by chance you are running OSX, your mbox should work just fine as long as you have the digidesign coreaudio driver installed. It works fine for me. You just have to select the correct driver with qjackctl.

#5

@axetota: thanks for reminding all of us (including me!) that ardour runs on OS X too :slight_smile:

@will murray: it might be useful for you to say which features of the MBox make it attractive for you - perhaps others with experience of similar devices could suggest a USB-standard-compliant equivalent that might serve your needs (unless you already have an MBox and just want to use it).

#6

I would go with a Presonus Firebox / Firepod / Firestudio if running linux… M-Audio stuff works very well too.

#7

I’m new to this forum and Ardour. I’ve been using ProTools and an MBox for remote recording for years. I’ve upgraded to an Intel-based Mac and am wanting to make the transition out of ProTools and into Ardour, if possible. I still want to use my MBox. I have the Digi CoreAudio running and it “sees” my MBox. However, Jack doesn’t seem to see it. I can’t find it in the Audio Midi Set Utility, either. When I launch Ardour it uses the built-in mic. Any ideas on how I can resolve this issue?

Thanks,
Stuart

#8

I just reverse engineered the Mbox 2 and created a linux open source alsa driver for it… http://www.zamaudio.com/?p=97

Damien

#9

Very interesting, I hope it works well. Thanks for the effort.

Seablade

#10

Someone please rename this thread USB not firewire… my driver only works for the USB version of the Mbox 2. Also, the thread originally referred to the USB version not the firewire one…