i cant say whether it is more bang for the buck or not the factory package which sells for 495
It comes with reason,ableton live lite 4, bfd lite fx expansion , sample tank se, ik multimedia amplitube le. T racks EQ melodyne uno essential,bunker 8 rex file cd plus a protools instructional dvd and a and the plugins are, moogerfooger ring modulator, and analog delay, bf-3a classic compressor, sans amp psa, voice spin, voce chorus/vibrato, tel-ray variable delay, and more
this is a lot of free software or maybe not free cause you pay an extra 100 for it and i have not even got my protools down loaded yet i am still waiting for the processor to come so i can have the computer built
in any event extra inputs are cool if you are doing a choir or a band thing which i am not.
i suppose i could upgrade later if i were to but my system is a roland phantom and a yamaha s90 and a bass and a guitar and i wont be playing them all at the same time
i think that more is not always better if you really understand your recording needs i have been recording since the 80's and i have never needed more than four inputs at the same time and if i ever did i could always use an external mixer
of course if you want to be a real full service studio you can never have enough inputs
but i am glad that you are providing feedback i plan on updating and chronicalizing my experiences with this mbox 2 the ups and downs so that anyone who is planning on buying it will know what they are getting
so far i have searched for computers to run this thing for a week and this is what i found
windows xp media center does not work with pro tools you need xp home or xp pro
i found that most refurbished computers with pentium 4 processors do not have the correct chip set
the pentium d is your best bet and radio shack has a perfect computer with a 915gv chipset that will work for 989.00 with a 17 inch monitor
i have priced other builders for a custom computer and i still feel that is the way to go
my system will be pentium d processor
two gigs ram
200 gig hard drive
256 video card
dvd burner
cd burner
all for 900 (thats a special favor price)
but i shopped around and got the same system quoted at 1,200 to 1400
but the parts alone only cost 800 so if you know how to follow instructions buy the parts and build it yousrself or buy the parts and take it to someone to put it together for you.
the order time for the asus motherboards take a long time though about three business days but if you can wait custom building is the way to go
comp usa has some good systems as well and dell fsx systems are really cool as well
Dell fsx 400 = 1,173 with monitor and 1 gig of ram
comp usa a couple of pentium d computers for under a thousand but you they come with media center so you have to buy indows xp home and load that
i hope all of this crazy stuff helps
i almost wish i bought a cheaper music producton studio no computer to buy no headaches
i sure hope all this aggravation was worth it