Today sees the UK launch of Digidesign’s latest addition to their ever expanding Mbox range, with the introduction of the aptly named Mbox 2 Micro (pictured above on the far left). The original Mbox was seen as a bit of a breakthrough as it’s relatively low price brought ProTools in reach of many musicians for the first time. It was also USB powered making it a truly portable solution. The Micro now takes this to the extreme with a form factor similar to most USB thumb drives. The price is pretty good at £179.99 considering you get the full ProTools LE software, which is also capable of opening ProTools HD sessions, and includes the usual bundled plug-ins. Even as an avid Logic user, when I first saw this being announced I was genuinely excited, and for many existing ProTools users this could be just the mobile solution they are looking for. But Digidesign stops short of the one thing that many musicians and engineers really want; a software-only option. When all that is offered hardware wise is a single headphone out you really do start to think, “well I’ve already got a headphone out on my laptop, why can’t I just buy the software rather then have to carry this dongle around?” Having said that the Micro’s older brother the Mbox 2 Mini is a great ProTools solution at just £195 (Digital Village). With 2 ins and 2 outs all in a pretty mobile form factor.