by Y-my-R » Fri Sep 02, 2022 5:24 pm
As long as the latest versions of Pro Tools still support "HUI" as a control surface protocol, adding a ProBox to a D8B, would turn the D8B into an emulation of 3x Mackie HUI controllers, for control of 24 channels.
Just to avoid confusion (some people don't seem to understand what the ProBox is and does): A ProBox will NOT let you use the D8B as a mixer - only as a control surface to control DAW tracks inside your computer. You could still use the monitor section on the D8B (that part is analog), but the channels don't work as mixer channels, and the D8B will NOT be outputting any audio that comes from Pro Tools to it's output jacks, nor will it send audio from the D8B's inputs to Pro Tools.
In other words, the D8B does NOT expand your Pro Tools rig with more I/O or anything like that. It just turns the D8B into a control surface, so you don't have to touch stuff like faders and knobs on the Pro Tools GUI with the mouse, but can touch the faders and knobs on the D8B, instead, to change settings in Pro Tools.
If your D8B has the Mackie OS 5.1 installed, you can actually try it with your version of Pro Tools as a "single" HUI controller, since the D8B by itself, allows you to use faders 17-24 in HUI mode. You'll have to switch it to that from the settings (I'd have to look where... my D8B isn't running right now).
If using the D8B's "built in" HUI emulation like that, you need to have the MIDI inputs and outputs connected from the D8B, to the computer that is running Pro Tools, and configure Pro Tools for remote control by a HUI on that MIDI port.
(when using the ProBox, it comes with a USB connector to connect to the computer with Pro Tools, so the MIDI on the D8B itself, isn't used for that).
I'm not sure if Ralph can make more ProBoxes right now, though... I heard something about a parts shortage, but I'd just reach out to him and ask. I think his contact info is somewhere in an earlier post in this thread.
Anyway, best of luck!