Digi 002 and 003

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Arrigotti

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Joined
Jun 3, 2004
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187
Location
California
Does anyone have any experience with the Digi 002 and 003, and more specifically with a Black Lion Modded one.

I was think of selling my Lynx Two card to switch over to a Pro Tools LE system, because of course you have to use only their prescribed hardware.

I was just wondering if I'd be downgrading to go to the Digi 002 or 003 even if it is modified.

Thanks!
 
I dont think anyone has heard the 003 yet. It just came out and is not avaiable in stores yet.
 
It really seems like the Digi002.1 rather than the 3. By specs It looks like the 003 is basically a s with the black lion mod. Again the general public has yet to get ahold of it but most PT users are less then thrilled at the unupgrade.

I am trying to decide myself if I want to hold on a little longer to what I got or upgrade it up to the 003. For me it would be a excellent upgrade for my 001 except the rumors are of a mid level system sort of a HD lite or mid level system.

I think the hold pattern at least for a few more months will work. By summer Namm or a little after we should know what digi is up to in the mid level systems and if it's good then I'm probably going to be there.
 
I have read the M-audio works with the latest version of Pro-tools. Specifically the M-audio profire lightbridge. I have one, but I don't use pro-tools. It is an ADAT/Firewire interface, you use any ADAT pre-amp for the conversion.That could be another option.
 
1) What SW do you use now?

2) Why do you want PT-LE?

This is something I think I should be able to choose for myself independently -- SW and HW. I think it a bunch of crap to be locked in to certain HW because of my SW choice. Just my opinion.
 
The main reason I am considering Pro Tools is so I can do main tracking (drums, bass, etc) in a nicer facility then bring it back to my place for overdubs and mixing.
 
Greg,

Your reasoning makes sense. Though I believe you should be able to record in "whatever" and then bring the raw tracks into "whatever else" for overdubs and mixing. The problem being incompatible file formats between SW in some cases...which just shouldn't be the case...

An analog comparison...If I record a session on 1 inch on say a Studer, then take the tape home and not be able to play it back on my 1 inch MCI machine because it won't accept the "file format". Everyone would agree that situation would be totally bogus, right?

Ahh well, in a perfect world! If you gotta have compatibility, you gotta pay the price, right?
 
i do what Sons is talking about all the time, it's a bit of a pain, but what can you do. I track rhythm at bigger more pro studios into pro tools, then bring the raw tracks into cubase sx3, if you do any editing or overdubs in pro tools then you just have to consolidate before you leave the PT facility and then your golden, i mean a .wav is a .wav right ?, you just have to make sure that all the tracks line up correctly, so no trimming or fade ins while your tracking!, but thats just my 2c, (p.s. i also have a PTLE system in case anything goes wonky on the way)
 
1) What SW do you use now?

2) Why do you want PT-LE?


I use Sonar, which I really like since I've been using it since it was Cakewalk.

The only reason to switch to PT-LE is that almost everyone else in my little musical circle of Modesto is using that.

I have done the import .wav file thing before, and only had issues when the guy who tracked drums for us used the Sound Designer format instead of .wav files, so I had to search the web for something to convert it. We then gave him all the .wav files back to mix, which I am sure he is not overjoyed about having to import 10 songs worth of .wav files.

This is something I think I should be able to choose for myself independently -- SW and HW. I think it a bunch of crap to be locked in to certain HW because of my SW choice. Just my opinion]

I completely agree with you on this point, and if I could find a hack to use my own hardware with PT-LE I'd do it.

I think I'll just stick with the audio SW and HW that I already have.

Also, I'm keeping my PC...Yeah Window's Vista is a copy of the MAC OS, but that's what I know, and that's what I have. :green:
 
Speaking of formats... CJ and I were sitting in the front row of Roger Nichols' AES Convention talk on mixing. He spent a lot of time going over how you need to get good quality, clean tracks. He played a variety of things, like James Taylor with Tower of Power, and soloed tracks to show how drum leakage helped... Then he was playing a session recorded in Mexico. It sounded like the others, stunning. He soloed tracks again, stunning sound. "By the way," he says, "these were recorded on two black face ADATs." Several guys in the audience nearly crapped their pants, including CJ. Then he added that the error correction notice was on full time and the heads had over 10,000 hours and he couldn't read the time displays because of all the error messages... Impressive. We couldn't believe how good it sounded.

I bring it up, because I still track to ADATs at times. It's not to be scoffed at. It's absolutely the fastest workflow (tracking, not locking up sync back and forth) and beats all the DAW BS you have to deal with. It's just like tracking to analog. Everyone can hear everything without annoying monitor issues, no latency, plenty of tracks, plenty of I/O, etc. And the converters were a breakthrough in their day and still sound good, no matter what anyone says.

It's an overlooked option, especially on a budget, and especially when you need a lot of tracks like me, 8 tracks for the kit, 3 for the organ, 3 for the guitar, 2 for the bass... when all the guys are playing at the same time you need an assistant to keep up on a DAW, there's so much clicking and routing and screen time. Man, the ADATs have saved me in many sessions. With the ubiquitous optical I/O on everything, even Macs now, it's a cynch to fly ADAT tracks into your favorite DAW. But no one uses 'em now. It's old fashioned.

I was an early PT adopter. And I left the platform because of the annoying way the company ties the HW in with the SW and makes you pay to keep up with both. PT stands for PayTools.

Man, that was a good salad. Now for the pale ale. Wife and kids are outa the house and I'm remembering how much fun it is to be in a quiet environment again. :grin:
 
I bought a RADAR and I couldn't be happier. Like Todd says, there is nothing as immediate as purpose-built recording devices. Like ADAT, RADAR is just about recording. It doesn't crash, it sounds fantastic, and it is supremely easy to use. Love it. LOVE IT!

Having said that, tomorrow morning I start production on a gargantuan, year-long recording project. I plan on tracking as much as possible here on my RADAR, but will have to record MIDI data simultaneously. That I'll record into Pro Tools, slaved up to the RADAR.

This project will require loads of interfacing with the outside world - mixing and tracking at other studios, pulling in content remotely from New York and L.A., and people doing desktop-level work with this music as well - and for all of that, the rosetta stone (rightly or wrongly) is Pro Tools.

Things always change. Nothing ever stays the same. Ten years from now it will be something different. But for now, if you need to work in music or post production with other people, PT is the way to go.

BTW, I sat down last night and checked out the WaveArts plug-ins: TrackPlug, MultiDynamics, and FinalPlug. Those plugs absolutely rock - great sound, very easy to use, terrific UI. Didn't like their reverb plug, but the rest of these are awesome, and MUCH cheaper than Waves. I'd suggest checking 'em out, regardless of what DAW you use - they seem to be compatible with everything.
 
I wish I could afford a RADAR...

But I did recently use a pair of Alesis HD24 to record at my old church. Got them to buy the Fireport interface for the HD carriers. Import from that proprietary format went flawlessly. 24 tracks imported in less than an hour. The only issue was lining up the tracks between the machines because they were not sync'd.

I think the HD recorder is the way to go if you are doing location recording rather than haul around a PC...even a laptop.

Peace!
 
Humble as it is, I enjoy recording with my old (circa 2000) VSR-800 HD recorder and an analog mixer/outboard much more than using a DAW.

Ten years from now it will be something different

Got that right. Ten years ago I was working in a repair shop and their bread-and-butter business was repair of Blackface ADATs. All the serious players owned an ADAT or two and a BRC, the shop was the regional Alesis servicer center and we were located a reasonably short drive from NYC. Naturally, business was booming. I met a few "name artists" when they came in personally to pick up or drop off their machines, that's how important their ADATs were to them.

All of us techs worked on commission, and one guy did ADATs and nothing else. Not coincidentally, he made the most money by far. He owned two new cars and took exotic vacations; I drove a '73 Oldsmobile and ate at Taco Bell. :?

People laugh at ADATs now, but I remember...
 
[quote author="Arrigotti"]Does anyone have any experience with the Digi 002 and 003, and more specifically with a Black Lion Modded one.

I was think of selling my Lynx Two card to switch over to a Pro Tools LE system, because of course you have to use only their prescribed hardware.

I was just wondering if I'd be downgrading to go to the Digi 002 or 003 even if it is modified.

Thanks![/quote]

The 003 is just an upgraded 002 due to new stricter EU electronics regulations, I doubt if the 003 would be better than a 002 BLA mod as it is still built to a price point?
 
My friend @ G.Center said that the only difference he was told was the lower-noise pres. Manufacturer unknown to him, but apparently the THD on the new ones is significantly less. Not that that means anything.

Still amazed a second ADAT I/O was not added...
 
I seriously doubt the 003 is just an upgraded 002 due to new stricter EU electronics regulations. That in itself would not warrant a new model number.
 
[quote author="SonsOfThunder"]The only issue was lining up the tracks between the machines because they were not sync'd.
[/quote]

Imagine that. Sync issues with ADAT's. (sorry to be so sarcastic) That's the biggest problem with working with them. That and they tend to be pretty breaky.

[quote author="SonsOfThunder"]
I think the HD recorder is the way to go if you are doing location recording rather than haul around a PC...even a laptop.
Peace![/quote]

I've been doing live location jobs for feature films for several years now- both music and dialogue. For dialogue, we use very specialized recorders that will also run off battery power and have a lot of special features. I won't even get into those because as price goes, they're in another ballpark. For all the music stuff I've used Pro Tools hooked up to a laptop. It's worked flawlessly so far, with the exception of a channel going out on the interface when someone didn't strap the rack down properly on the truck and it rolled around in the back a bit. So I'm all about using computers for location recordings where steady AC power is available.
 
[quote author="tommypiper"]I seriously doubt the 003 is just an upgraded 002 due to new stricter EU electronics regulations. That in itself would not warrant a new model number.[/quote]

Sorry to state the obvious, but the mic pre's on the 002 suck anyway, so I wouldn't buy it [the upgrade] based on that.
 

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