The Reintroduction of a Legend—MBOX Studio

It was right around 20 years ago when Avid—then known as Digidesign—introduced a revolutionary new product to the audio world called MBOX. MBOX brought the power and magic of Pro Tools to so many people around the globe with its affordable price point and powerful feature set all in a compact USB interface. MBOX was a pioneer and helped define a new segment of the market that’s still thriving today.

There were three generations of MBOX family products over the course of a decade and a half. After an extended absence, MBOX is back, and it’s bigger and more powerful than ever in its brand new incarnation, MBOX Studio. One thing is for sure—this is not your parents’ MBOX!

MBOX Studio is so much more than just another audio interface. Not only does MBOX Studio serve as a way to record audio performances direct to your Mac, Win, or iOS audio application of choice with low-latency monitoring and Avid effects, it’s also a powerful standalone studio monitoring system with built-in studio talk-back and extensive cue mixing capabilities that replaces the need for additional pieces of gear in order to run a session the way that you want to run it.

So, yes—you did read me right when I said “audio application of choice”. MBOX Studio does come with a 1-year subscription to Pro Tools Studio and Sibelius Artist, but you can also run any audio application of your choosing with MBOX Studio, including but certainly not limited to Logic Pro, Reaper, Studio One, Cubase, and Abelton, just to name a few. You can also integrate streaming applications such as Zoom, YouTube, or Spotify into your workflow with loopback recording to stream audio directly into your DAW using the MBOX Control application, which comes with MBOX Studio.

The MBOX Ignition Pack rounds out the software you receive with MBOX Studio and includes perpetual offerings from premier partners Plugin Alliance, Baby Audio, Gauge, and BPM Create. With your Pro Tools Studio subscription you also gain access to the Pro Tools Inner Circle, which includes even more perpetual software offerings.

I’ll dig a little deeper into the capabilities of MBOX Studio in a future blog, but right now I’d love to hear from you. Who reading this got their start on Pro Tools with MBOX and how did it help you in your audio pursuits? We want to hear your stories! Vive le MBOX!