Ah the 003, finally! …Right? Maybe not…
Upon review, although it does look pretty, the digi 003, from Digidesign, does very little to improve upon the digi 002. The most obvious “improvements” are the added headphone output (bringing the total of headphone outputs up to 2) and the added stereo outputs besides the main outs. More headphone outs is usually regarded as a great and wonderful thing, and rightly so, because passing headphones around is definitely and unnecessary hassle in the studio but at this point nobody’s sure whether you can attain separate mixes in the headphones or not. Same thing goes for the extra main outs; Digidesign makes it sound like they are to be used if you need to route sound to another control room or another set of monitors perhaps strategically places in a listening room or acoustically correct booth. While both are useful improvements, neither necessitates the production of a new interface.
The Digi 003 still only has 4 mic preamps, making extensive drum micing impossible without using ADAT to attach more mic preamps and lowering the resolution to 48kHz. Compared to similar level DAW’s from other companies this puts Digi 003 users at an immediate disadvantage upon purchase.
Besides the largely cosmetic changes, which are arguably a step in reverse, the Digi 003 makes few improvements on the 002 and appears to be little more than an attempt to have users upgrade to something that is hardly better than their current systems. This article is based entirely upon personal research AND opinion, and I will extend to all readers the opportunity to argue my position on the 003 in the hopes that I can further improve the article and the information contained herein. As with all articles, please comment and I will take your opinions into regard and may perhaps review this article and re publish in the future.
Edit: As Jon mentioned in his comment, I forgot to include that the Digi 003 does boast wordclock connectors on it which brings it up to the industry standard in rack mount DAW’s. Not including this improvement was a grievous error on my part and I beg forgiveness from you, the readers.
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Hey Syd, excellent article, I’d have to say their target market isn’t for upgraders from 002 but the same type of people that bought a 002. People that need something better than an Mbox.
Looking at that back panel it looks like they could have fit everything into a 1U rack but didn’t.
Also they added wordclock jacks to this one, which you can also get on the new mbox 2.
My take, buy a newer model (the old ones caught fire) used 002, save the money, in all practical applications these are identical.
This is page 10 of a google search, yes I was bored.
now its on page 2!
or 1 depending on what your search is
I used to have an old DIGI 001, and I was away from the digidesign scene for a while, one day I decide to change my old DIGI 001 and bougth the DIGI 003, maybe I could save my self a few bucks buying the DIGI 002 but I read this article to late, thanks any way man.
No man, the 003 is a huge step up from the 001, so you did the right thing.
The 003 is an improvement from the 002, just it was not what most users were expecting.
The 003 has better preamps than the 002, which has a pretty weak bass response.
You made the right choice.
Thanks for commenting
Well Thanks! man it’s good to know, I was not familiar with the DIGI 002, so I got the latest I saw, THANKS AGAIN!!
I have an MBox 2 mini and a Digi 002, as well as a MOTU Traveler and MOTU 2408 mk3. I’ve been using the MOTU stuff for years starting with the original 2408, and recently bought the Digi stuff to handle a number of business requests to mix projects for clients that were recorded in pro tools. In direct comparison, I think the MOTU Traveler blows away the 002 in sound quality. It’s more capable with the Cuemix console for no-latency monitoring, which can even save and recall the preamp settings. It has word clock I/O like the new 003, the preamps sound great, the ADAT jack can handle double-channel operation for 4 channels at 88.2 & 96k, it can run on firewire bus power, and it fits in my computer bag with a MacBook Pro. I don’t understand why all the digi stuff is 2 rack spaces? Even the HD systems – Apogee’s Pro Tools converters are single space! A friend of mine got the 003 and we compared the sound of the D/A converters by playing back WAV files from his iTunes and switching the Audio driver back and forth. I first used a test tone file and a dB meter to calibrate equal volumes. The 003 sounded thinner and harsher, even when I clocked both interfaces with the same Lucid GenX6 96 Master Clock. I got my 002 used on ebay for around 6 bills, and I’m glad I didn’t pay more for an 003. Oh yeah, you can clock the 002 via SPDIF up to 96k, so that gets around the missing word clock in. When working on Digi projects I find it sounds best when I route my session’s main out either to 2 ADAT channesl or SPDIF into my Yamaha 01V96 console and use the console’s monitor out. The D/A on the Yamaha sounds worlds better than the Digi. For recording into Pro Tools, I mainly use the ADAT input with some good front end A/D in my Focusrite ISA428′s.
I’m really glad that you made a discussion out of this topic. I have been listening to the Home Recording Show now for many months and wanted to ask a questions about A/D D/A stuff. I have been really torn up about how to get the best A/D conversion. I have a Zoom H2, which I love, and I noticed that it has a Line input jack. I was interested in knowing whether or not the A/D in the Zoom was good enough to digitize my audio, run from a mixer, or if I should buy something from the Apogee, Presonus, or Pro Tools family?
Thanks for the advice.
@Nathaniel
The line in on the Zoom will do the trick but I personally make the move to computer recording and possibly ditch the mixer.
A/D & D/A converters do make a difference, but good mics, cables and external preamps should be taken care of first. Good monitors on the other end of the path are more important as well.
And don’t forget acoustic treatment for the room, that makes everything sound better. More controlled sound and you can trust what you hear.
The ones that obsess over what A/D and D/A converters they use either A) don’t actually get work done that matters or B) already have the first 98% of what matters in a production taken care of.
The Presonus Firestudio, Focusrite Saffire Pro and M-Audio Profire lines of interfaces all have good preamps and converters and a nice variety of I/O connections that should take care of all your needs.