Digidesign Digi 002 Review

[Philip OKeefe]

Have you noticed the trend? The mouse as the primary human interface for controlling a DAW, while not exactly "dead" is quickly being overtaken in popularity by dedicated hardware control surfaces. Apparently Digidesign has also noticed this, and has decided to address the public's desire for a comprehensive control surface for their popular Pro Tools LE DAW software by releasing the new Digi 002. Digidesign apparently also noticed that many of their competitor's low and mid priced audio interfaces now support higher sample rates of 88.2 and 96 KHz, and they addressed this with the Digi 002 as well - basically allowing Pro Tools LE fans to get in on two hot trends at once - and at a much lower price point than was previously possible with their higher end Control 24 and ProControl control surfaces and HD systems. While it's open for debate whether the increased sonic quality that is heard at these higher sample rates by many listeners is due to the sample rate increase or just due to better converters, it's apparent that the pro recording world has embraced these new sample rates as the new "standard". So let's dive in and take a closer look at the new Digi 002. [b]General Overview:[/b] The Digidesign Digi 002 ($2,495 MSRP) is a combination audio / MIDI interface and controller unit housed in a distinctively shaped desktop unit measuring approximately 19" wide X 17" deep X 6" high and weighing 15 pounds, It connects to your Mac or PC via a single IEEE 1394 "FireWire" cable, making installation quick and easy without requiring the user to "crack open" their computer case to install any PCI cards. When running with the bundled Pro Tools LE software, it requires Windows XP (Home or Professional) or Mac OS 9.X, with support for Mac OS X promised in the not too distant future. At this time, true dual processor support is not available for either Macs or PC's, although you can run Pro Tools LE on a dual processor equipped Mac. If you're fortunate enough to own a dual processor equipped PC, you're out of luck - Pro Tools LE is currently incompatable with dual CPU equipped PC's, although Digidesign might change this in the future. In addition, the Digi 002 can also function as an 8X2 stand alone digital mixer at a 44.1 KHz sample rate, with onboard effects and EQ, although these DSP effects are not available for additional processing power when functioning as a control surface / audio / MIDI interface with the bundled Pro Tools LE software. [b]The Digi 002 Hardware Unit:[/b] [b][i]The Connections[/b][/i] So what's on the box? You get 8 balanced analog I/O's on 1/4" TRS jacks that are compatable with balanced or unbalanced gear running at either +4 dBu or -10 dBV, as well as an optical digital interface that can be used either for S/PDIF optical or ADAT "lightpipe" optical. Coax S/PDIF digital I/O on RCA jacks is also included. While you're given a choice of optical or coax S/PDIF interfaces, both interfaces are not available for use simultaneously. The optical and S/PDIF digital I/O's can function at up to 96 KHz sample rates, while the ADAT interface will only function at 44.1 / 48 KHz, providing 8 channels of I/O. On sessions with sample rates of up to 48 KHz, the ADAT I/O and coax S/PDIF I/O are available for simultaneous use. There is no S/MUX capability on the ADAT interface, so using the ADAT lightpipe for four channels of high sample rate audio "split" across the 8 channel lightpipe interface at the higher sample rates that the Digi 002 otherwise supports (88.2 / 96 KHz) is not possible. This is an unfortunate omission, since it means that at the highest two available sample rates (88.2 / 96 KHz), the Digi 002 actually has fewer I/O's available than the Digi 001 does. In addition to the I/O previously mentioned, the Digi 002 also includes an "extra" set of what Digidesign calls "Alt Main Output" jacks that duplicate the signal coming from the main 1/2 output jacks, as well as a set of "Alt Source Input" jacks that can be routed to either the monitor outputs or to Pro Tools inputs 7/8. These two sets of jacks are on standard unbalanced RCA connectors, function at a nominal -10 dBV level and are intended for interfacing to external CD and cassette decks or any other -10 dBV device. There is also a second set of 1/4" TRS balanced Monitor Output jacks that duplicate the output of the main 1/2 output jacks. A dedicated Monitor Output control on the Digi 002 control surface allows the user to adjust the playback volume of the Monitor Output jacks, and a dedicated "mono" switch lets you quickly switch these jacks between stereo and mono for checking on the mono compatability of your mixes. These jacks and volume control may prove useful for those users who need them for connecting directly to and controlling the volume of a set of powered nearfield monitors while leaving the regular outputs available for other purposes. There is also a single stereo headphone output jack and level control on the Digi 002. The headphone amp can drive most headphones to pretty high levels, so use care and protect your valuable hearing! The location of the headphone jack is near the top right side of the unit. This may or not bother you, depending on how you have the Digi 002 set up, but I think many users would have preferred to have this jack located at the front of the unit, where a cable inserted into it would be less likely to drape across the top of the controller surface and get in your way as you're working. With a maximum of 18 simultaneously available analog / digital ins and outs (10 at the 88.2 and 96 KHz sample rates), the Digi 002 should have sufficient connectivity for basic rhythm section tracking and overdub sessions. For those who wish for more analog or digital I/O, you're out of luck - there is no expansion option available from Digidesign, and third party audio cards can not be addressed by the Pro Tools LE software. This is probably not going to be a problem for many users, but an expansion option would be nice for those who need more simultaneous I/O. A jack for an optional footswitch to control punching in and out is also included. While this was a very important feature with cassette ministudios, it's less crucial with a product of this nature, where "comping" takes and automated punching can be handled within the software. Still, it's nice to have available when you need it or if you prefer that method of working. MIDI I/O consists of a single MIDI in and a pair of MIDI output jacks. The inclusion of the second output jack is a welcome addition, and may prove sufficient for users with minimal to moderate MIDI connection needs. A Digidesign or third party MIDI interface can be added to your computer setup and addressed by the Pro Tools LE software if you need additional MIDI I/O. The Pro Tools LE software supports MTC and MMC, which allows the Digi 002 to be "locked" to other MIDI equipped devices such as hardware sequencers and hard disk recorders. Unfortunately, SMPTE is not supported, but can be used with a third party SMPTE to MIDI Time Code converter. For most of the "targeted" users of the Digi 002, this will not pose a significant problem, but if you want to lock to an analog tape deck or if you're heavily involved in doing A/V post work, the Digi 002 may not be the right product for you due to the lack of a software SMPTE timeline display in Pro Tools LE. Locking to Word Clock from the incoming S/PDIF or ADAT data streams is supported, but there is no dedicated Word Clock input or output jacks. With the proliferation of digital devices in the typical modern project studio, this is, in my opinion, an inexcuseable omission. There are ways to get around it (for example, by supplying a S/PDIF out from a digital mixer to the Digi 002's S/PDIF input), but the lack of dedicated Word Clock jacks on industry standard BNC connectors makes locking the Digi 002 to a master Word Clock generator much more difficult than it ought to be. [i][b]The Microphone Preamps[/i][/b] There are four mic preamps, with 48 V phantom power (defeatable in pairs of two). Contrary to what some people apparently think, they're not Focusrite preamps. They are reportedly based on the R&D that went into the new high end Digidesign "PRE". The sound of these preamps can best be described as "neutral" in character. The preamps have up to 65 dB of gain available, and a gain knob is provided for each preamp on the top of the Digi 002 control surface. An individually switchable 12 dB / Octave high pass filter at 75 Hz is also included for each preamp. I found these mic preamps to sound better (WAY better) than those that are included on the Digidesign Digi 001 unit, with a generally clean, smooth, detailed amd transparent tonal quality. With the Digi 001, I wouldn't have considered using the preamps for anything much beyond the occasional scratch vocal - but if / when the need arises, I'd use these preamps without hesitation. I don't often find myself doing that (since I have several outboard preamps), but it's nice to know that they're useable if you want / need them. The mic preamps can be used instead of the first 4 analog line inputs, but not in addition to them. You can use any combination of mic or line inputs on these four channels, so if, for example, the situation only calls for a single mic preamp along with 7 line inputs simultaneously, you're covered. [i][b]The Converters[/i][/b] The A/D and D/A converters on the Digi 002 improve on the ones in the Digi 001 in all respects. With a maximum dynamic range of up to 108 dB ("A" weighted) and a S/N ratio of up to 114 dB ("A" weighted), they are clean and quiet, and much smoother and less "grainy" than those in the Digi 001, with better sonics at the extreme ends of the audio band. I also think they sound better than the Digidesign 888|24's converters, but a tad less transparent than the ones in the Digidesign 96 I/O for Pro Tools HD systems. To be fair, the 96 I/O alone costs nearly as much as the Digi 002, so this level of performance represents a very good value. With the Digi 001, I used to avoid the analog I/O's whenever possible and pretty much used the ADAT lightpipe I/O with outboard converters exclusively. With the 002, I find I can use the analog I/O without feeling like I'm making a serious sonic compromise. True, they're not comperable to high end / high dollar Weiss converters, but at this price point, you didn't really expect that they would be, did you? [i][b]The Control Surface[/i][/b] The controller surface is logical and well thought out. If you're like me and prefer mixing "hands on" and "playing" the mix instead of "drawing" and "mousing" one thing at a time, you'll appreciate the increased level of simultaneous control that the Digi 002 controller surface offers over just using a mouse to control software faders or "draw in" automation moves on a vector display "one at a time". It just feels more natural to me to work this way. On the '002 you can control a surprisingly large amount of things without ever touching the mouse. In fact, there are so many possibilities that describing all of them here would be difficult to do. One thing that is missing though is a true jog / scrub / shutle wheel. Outside of that omission, the control surface integrates about as well as could be expected with Pro Tools - painless and seamless. Unfortunately, the control surface is only compatable with Pro Tools and Pro Tools plug ins - you can't use it for controlling a third party DAW software package such as MOTU's Digital Performer, Steinberg's Cubase SX / Nuendo or Cakewalk's Sonar, although Digidesign recently released ASIO drivers that will allow you to use the Digi 002's audio I/O with most of those programs. The Digi 002 control surface features eight 100 mm touch sensitive faders with .1 dB resolution. "Bank" and "nudge" buttons on the control surface allow these faders to control any of the software faders (audio tracks, MIDI tracks, aux input channels) in the Pro Tools LE software. The faders are the same ones found in the much more expensive Control 24, and while they aren't high dollar Penny & Giles faders, they function well and are fairly smooth. One little nitpick about the faders - the stock knobs don't do it for me. I didn't really care for their feel under my fingers and I missed that they lacked any easily read center mark. So I replaced them (for about $35 or so, available from Digidesign) with a set of 8 Control 24 fader knobs. They fit perfectly, and I find them to be much better on the eyes and on the hands. They also help reduce the overall "Fisher Price" look of the unit, which is another plus. As far as the overall "look" of the Digi 002, I think you'll either love it or hate it. Personally, I wish the case was a little more "squared off", so it would more easily fit on a roll around stand. But the built in "handles" on the sides of the unit are a nice touch, and are sure to be appreciated by mobile / laptop recordists, and the gentle "slope" of the display makes seeing the various controls and displays easier than it would have been if they had designed it with a flat control panel. So while it may look a bit funky, the ergonomics of the unit that result from the design are actually quite good. In addition to the 8 motorized faders, the Digi 002 boasts 8 multi-function rotary controls, and directly above each of the eight rotary controls is a "ring" of LED's. Depending on the display mode selected by the user, these knobs and LED's can be used to control and display the values of panning, send and insert levels, plug in parameters, etc. The LED's can also be set to function as track level meters for each of the eight displayed channels. In addition to the "Console View" where eight channels of data are displayed at once, the Digi 002 can be set to display what Digidesign refers to as "Channel View", allowing all eight rotary controls and LED meters to display more detailed information about a single channel, track or plug in. Yes, plug in parameters can be controlled from the Digi 002's control surface - a nice feature. In addition to those controls and displays, there are also ten alphanumeric "scribble strip" screens (one per channel plus two additional ones) that can display abbreviated track names, control values (moving a fader, for example, temporarily displays the value, with resolution in tenths of a dB, for that fader on the corresponding scribble strip) and other useful information. There's also standard "transport" (stop / play / record / RW / FFW / RTZ) controls on the Digi 002 hardware controller, as well as dedicated mutes, channel select, solo and record enable controls for the individual channels. There's also a "flip" control that allows you to transfer parameters that would normally appear on the rotary controls to the 100 mm touch sensitive faders. This feature can even be used to allow the long throw faders to adjust plug in parameters. A dedicated button allows you to bypass a plug in when editing plug in parameters. This can be handy for making quick comparisons between the processed (via the plug in) and unprocessed audio. An "undo" button functions like the "undo" menu command in Pro tools. Other buttons allow you to enable or disable the loop playback, loop record and Quick Punch features. An "Escape / Cancel" switch allows the user to escape from certain display modes back into the default display mode, and can also function as a enter or "cancel" button for responding to many onscreen dialog boxes that the Pro Tools LE software may display. There are even switches that allow you to show or hide the various different Pro Tools windows (Edit, Mix, Plug in) on your computer monitor - these are particularly useful for users with a single, as opposed to dual, monitor display hooked up to their computer. Text entry fields can be adjusted from the Digi 002 control surface, as can numerical values. While not as convienient as using the computer keyboard, the inclusion of this capability is a nice addition. It's the little, well labeled features such as these that make the integration of the Digi 002 hardware controller with the Pro Tools LE software more complete and more readily learned and understood than would be possible with a more general, "universal" control surface. As mentioned previously, there is no jog / scrub / shuttle control on the Digi 002. The round area on the Digi 002 that somewhat resembles that type of control is actually part of what Digidesign calls the "Navigation and Zoom" section, and is a collection of four switches that can be used for various different things, depending on the settings of other nearby switches. For example, you can use these controls to zoom in or out on the onscreen waveform display in the Pro Tools Edit window, or to raise or lower the "height" of the waveforms displayed on screen. They also control the fader bank and nudge functions, allowing you to display either the next higher or lower bank of eight onscreen faders on the Digi 002 controller surface or to increment / decrement a single channel at a time. Nice. You can also specify a "selection", with in and out / start and stop points from the '002. This is great for editing operations as well as specifying regions for loop playback and recording. Rounding out the controls (while adding additional flexibility) is a set of "Modifier" switches. They can be used for a variety of purposes, including disabling or adding to track groupings, allowing fine adjustments of other controls, applying a command "universally" to all tracks in Pro Tools, and when used in tandem with your mouse and / or keyboard, can function in the same manner as your computer keyboard's modifier (Alt / Ctrl / Shift, etc) keys. [b]The Software Bundle:[/b] [i][b]Pro Tools LE[/i][/b] Pro Tools LE DAW software as well as several Digidesign and third party plug ins and "soft synths" come bundled with the '002. Pro Tools LE is a 32 audio track / 128 MIDI track version of Pro Tools - which, love it or hate it, is pretty much the "industry standard" DAW software. There's been plenty of reviews of the Pro Tools software written, so I'm not going to go into great detail regarding the software (and the features that are left out of the "LE" version compared to the TDM versions of Pro Tools), except to point out that unlike some hardware based DAW systems, you can record on and play back up to 32 audio tracks (depending on your computer system's capabilities) - even at the higher sample rates of 88.2 and 96 KHz - in Pro Tools 5.3.2. Unlike most "native" DAW programs, Digidesign restricts the maximum audio track count to 32 tracks. For many users this will be plenty - but others may find this intentional "crippling" of the "LE" version of Pro Tools to be annoying. Overall I find the software easy to learn and use, and logical in the way it functions - especially for audio recording, editing and mixing tasks. The MIDI features are sufficient for most everyday tasks, but not nearly as full featured as most "sequencer / DAW" programs. There's a few features I'd really like to see added to Pro Tools LE - specifically a MIDI notation display in addition to the "piano roll" display, the TDM "Beat Detective" and "Command Focus Mode" features and the ability to import track and mixer parameters / layouts from one session into another. That last feature is expected to be in the soon to be released Pro Tools version 6, but Digidesign has not confirmed whether it will be in the next revisions of Pro Tools LE or not. Let's hope so. Pro Tools LE 5.3.2 (the current version as of the time this was written) is only compatable with the Digi 002, and will not work with other Digidesign hardware, and the Digi 002 will not run with any other current versions of Pro Tools. If you're upgrading from a Digidesign Digi 001 or MBox, you'll need to uninstall the previous software and hardware before setting up your Digi 002 system. [i][b]Plug Ins and Soft Synths[/b][/i] With a combined list price that matches the going "street" price of the entire Digi 002, the plug in bundle that is included with the 002 is impressive. In addition to the standard Digidesign "Digirack" and D-Verb plug ins, several third party plugs are included. The Waves Rennisance bundle is a standout. RenVerb is a great sounding reverb plug in, but a bit CPU intensive. RenEQ is one of the better plug in EQ's out there. The RenComp is also good sounding and very flexible and useful. A discounted upgrade to the Waves Gold bundle is available for registered Digi 002 owners. In addition to the Waves bundle, you also get a collection of Digidesign plug ins that normally are extra cost items - specifically the D-Fi, D-fx and Maxim plug ins / bundles. D-Fi is a cool collection of lo-fi AudioSuite and RTAS sound mangling tools. Maxim is a AS/ RTAS level maximizer and D-Fx is a Audiosuite only effects plug in suite. I wish that D-Fx was RTAS as well as AudioSuite (for real time use), but them's the breaks. Hold on a second - we're [i]still[/i] not finished with the bundled software. Soft synths are all the rage these days, and Digidesign included two with the Digi 002, and depending on your host CPU's capabilities, it's possible to run multiple "instances" of these plug ins, just as you can with any other RTAS plug ins. The Native Instruments Pro52 is a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 styled analog synth emulation, and they really did a good job in capturing the vibe and sound of the old Prophets. Thankfully, they left the drifting oscillators of the original hardware synth out, resulting in increased tuning stability. You also get a "lite" version of IK Multimedia's SampleTank. Contrary to what the name might lead you to think, SampleTank is not a "software sampler", but a sample playback synth. I wasn't quite as impressed with this as I was with the Pro52. Yes, you get a collection of bread and butter sounds, but they're fairly generic. They're useable, but many people have sounds of similar or better quality in other soft synths or outboard MIDI modules. More troubling is the inability to expand the sounds available to you. You can't just purchase specific sound expansion CD's from IK because, while those sound collections are available, they're not compatable with the "lite" version of SampleTank that is bundled with the Digi 002. You do get a discount as a Digi 002 owner if you decide to upgrade to one of the more full featured versions of SampleTank though. As ho-hum as I personally found SampleTank LE to be, the other bundled IK Multimedia plug in was one I found very impressive. "Amplitube" is a guitar amplifier / speaker cabinet / stomp box / effects simulator, and it's a good one. It's a product that really deserves a full review of its own, but I'll just say that the amount of tonal flexibility and available options are substantial. And thankfully, the full version is included - not some stripped down "lite" version. [b]Overall Impressions:[/b] The bad news first. The very first Digi 002 I purchased (one of the very first units to be shipped out from Digidesign) failed after two months of nearly daily use in a commercial studio environment. The word is that there was a DC wiring harness problem in some (about 3 - 4%) of the very earliest units. Digidesign has corrected this at the manufacturing plant, so this should not be a concern for anyone contemplating a Digi 002 purchase today. And to give credit where credit is due, Digidesign had a replacement sent out to me FedEx overnight (at their expense) and paid for the return shipping on my defective unit. The customer service and support at Digidesign is, in my experience, first rate. This is definitely something I give serious consideration to when purchasing new gear. Calls to tech support are answered fairly promptly (usually within five or ten minutes), by people who seem to care about your problem and who, far more often than not, have the answers you need. This is in contrast to the long hold times, unknowledgeable staff and uncaring or outright rude attitudes displayed by the "tech support" staff at other companies I could mention. Digidesign also provides an active and helpful user's conference / forum. Kudos to Digidesign for putting such effort into "after the sale" support for their customers. The lack of a true jog / shuttle wheel, the placement of the headphone jack, inability to expand the amount of audio I/O and a few software features that are missing from the higher priced TDM versions of Pro Tools are really minor quibbles when considered in light of the overall feature set and pricetag of the '002. The MIDI features can stand some improvement and expansion when compared to most other native audio / MIDI DAW programs, but are slated for some improvement in the upcoming 6.0 version, and actually work fairly well insofar as what they can do. As I mentioned before, they work well for most everyday MIDI tasks, but if you're a MIDI "power user", you may want to either consider budgeting for a seperate sequencer for MIDI use or consider a different solution to your needs. There's now a fairly broad selection of hardware available within the Pro Tools LE "family", with the MBox, Digi 001 and Digi 002. Software wise, all three systems share essentially the same primary program and features in their respective versions of Pro Tools LE. So who should consider the '002? Anyone who wants a controller surface that is tightly integrated with the Pro Tools software is a likely candidate, as are those current Digi 001 owners who want the higher sample rate capabilities - either because of perceived sonic benefits or for compatability with other studios who are working with higher sample rates. Laptop users and those seeking a mobile recording or editing solution may be better off with the far less expensive and more portable MBox, but the increased I/O and control surface features of the Digi 002 will likely be popular with those who want mobility AND more features than the MBox provides. Just remember that the Digi 002 is powered from an A/C receptacle, so it's not going to be quite as "mobile" as the USB powered MBox. And while you can add many of the '002's features to an existing Digi 001 setup with the addition of a seperate third party control surface, outboard mic preamps and stereo A/D converter and still have many similar capabilities to what the '002 offers, the increased audio performance of the Digi 002 hardware would not be there on as many channels, you'd be missing out on high sample rate compatability with other studios and the control surface would likely interact in a less intuitive and seamless manner than the Digi 002's control surface. Adding an outboard mic preamp and A/D converter (not to mention the $2,200 worth of bundled plug ins that come with the Digi 002) would also seriously increase the Digi 001 system's price, but this may be an option that some current Digi 001 owners find attractive, especially if they already have many of the bundled plug ins or have already invested in a control surface. And while I can't see where many people would purchase the Digi 002 primarily for the stand alone digital mixer features when there's other, more powerful digital mixer models available for less money, their inclusion may be useful for some users who need the box to serve "double duty" both for live and studio tasks. Now for the last, and probably most important bit of good news. This thing sounds good. Very good. I don't see any reason why tracks recorded with nothing but the Digi 002 couldn't be used on a major label commercial release - assuming you do your part with the engineering. And at the end of the day, it's about how it [i]sounds[/i], right? The Digidesign 002 represents a good balance of features verses price, with very good audio quality, industry standard DAW software, well designed, tightly integrated controller surface and a generous plug in bundle. This much power used to cost a lot more, and the overall bang for the bucks performance of the Digi 002 make it a big winner. It's definitely worth checking out. (Copyright 2003 by Philip O'Keefe. Quotes and publication of this review online are permitted as long as they are credited to the original author. All other rights reserved.)

[Valkyrie Sound]

Thanks Phil! Just to prove no one can seem to write a bullet-proof review... ;) I was working with a 002 lately and a friend of mine and I discovered that the SPDIF input would NOT lock to an AES digital signal. Yes, I know it's a "SPDIF" input... but just about every CDR recorder and other soundcard will take an AES signal assuming you wire the cable correctly. I found this a serious problem... given the unit goes for $2200. We also had some problems running the unit on a Powerbook.... some sort of software bug where it would think there was not enough space on the drive. This was an older Powerbook G3... Digi suggested using an external firewire drive instead... which worked... but only for a couple of tracks. We also had a MOTU firewire unit that would work perfectly with all it's inputs recording onto the internal drive... Why doesn't the Digi work and the MOTU does? I dunno..... :rolleyes: Nice work Phil...let me know when you'll be at NAMM... I wanna hang buddy. :) :wave: Valky

[Uh Clem]

Phil on my Mbox, the mono switch is also used for playback/tracking monitoring (with no latency) when the track you are recording is mono. Without the mono engaged, you hear whatever you are recording on either right or left depending on which input you are using since there is no way to pan a mono source center onto the no latency monitor buss. Is this the same on the OO2? I don't see the same "mix input/playback" knob on the picture though, so maybe it works differently? The little Mbox rig is OK - sounds like you get quite a bit more with the 002 - I wonder why they require different software? Either way, the increased support for Win XP lately and ASIO are very positive turns. If they can get the MIDI fleshed out and relax that track limit, support for Rewire (OK, maybe that's asking too much :D ), this could be quite the entry level system.

[Alndln]

[quote]Originally posted by Philip O'Keefe: [b]The Digidesign 002 represents a good balance of features verses price, with very good audio quality, industry standard DAW software, well designed, tightly integrated controller surface and a generous plug in bundle. [/b][/quote]Hey Phil,what do you think of this thing? :D

[Philip OKeefe]

[quote]Originally posted by Valkyrie Sound: [b]Thanks Phil! Just to prove no one can seem to write a bullet-proof review... ;) I was working with a 002 lately and a friend of mine and I discovered that the SPDIF input would NOT lock to an AES digital signal. Yes, I know it's a "SPDIF" input... but just about every CDR recorder and other soundcard will take an AES signal assuming you wire the cable correctly. I found this a serious problem... given the unit goes for $2200.[/b] Hey Valky... no, I have not tested the Coax digital input with AES... just S/PDIF. Thanks for pointing that out - I'll check it. [b]We also had some problems running the unit on a Powerbook.... some sort of software bug where it would think there was not enough space on the drive. This was an older Powerbook G3... Digi suggested using an external firewire drive instead... which worked... but only for a couple of tracks. We also had a MOTU firewire unit that would work perfectly with all it's inputs recording onto the internal drive... Why doesn't the Digi work and the MOTU does? I dunno..... :rolleyes: [/b] I dunno either... I didn't test the 002 on a Mac yet (due to time constraints and not having a Mac on hand to do so with), but I CAN tell you that the '002 is a bit of a CPU hog - it likes / [i]needs[/i] a FAST CPU for best results. Digidesign has a list of recommended / "approved" system components for each system - the Mac / Digi 002's compatability docs are located here: http://www.digidesign.com/compato/main002mac.cfm And while I see the G3 powerbook, I'd say you'd really be better off with a faster G4 for best results. The '002 likes a FAST processor. [b]Nice work Phil...let me know when you'll be at NAMM... I wanna hang buddy. :) [/b] I'll be there tomorrow morning at about 10 -10:30, traffic permitting. I'll have my cell phone (909) 489-2361. Looking forward to seeing everyone! :D [/quote]

[Rail Jon Rogut]

I run my 002 on my old Pismo Powerbook 500 with 9.2.2 with no problems. Valkyrie may have run into the open ended record allocation bug.. which is well documented, and exists in all versions of the PT software. Rail

[Botch.]

Thanks for a great overview, Phil. If you'd do this a little more often I could just drop my subscription to [i]Keyboard![/i] :)

[Philip OKeefe]

Thanks Botch. :) But I wouldn't want to take anything away from our Hosts here. :) Besides, I don't come anywhere near the writing skills of people like Craig and Jim Aikin, so you're gonna need that Keyboard subscription. And EQ too... ;)

[Philip OKeefe]

[quote]Originally posted by Rail Jon Rogut: [b]I run my 002 on my old Pismo Powerbook 500 with 9.2.2 with no problems. Valkyrie may have run into the open ended record allocation bug.. which is well documented, and exists in all versions of the PT software. Rail[/b][/quote]Yup, well known bug, but it hasn't been a problem with the 002 under XP and PTLE 5.3.2. If it is a problem, just manually set a maximum recording time that is well beyond what you'll need for the tune / recording. To be honest, I didn't even think of that since it's been so long since it's effected any of my setups. But that powerbook G3 she mentioned seems a little on the low power side... at least on the PC, the 002 likes a bit faster CPU / system than the Digi 001 does for the same level of performance. Anyway, all I know is that is SCREAMING on my Athlon XP 2700 / A7N8X system... I can run 32 audio tracks, with a Waves RenEQ on every channel, 16 Waves RenComps, four aux sends on every track feeding 4 Waves RenVerbs on four stereo sets of aux return mixer channels and STILL have some CPU power to spare. I get 32 + 7 on the "DaveC" test, while others with similar systems to the one I tested / spec'ed over on the DUC (but using Digi 001's) are getting 32 + 14 on the DaveC - as I said, the Digi 002 seems to like / prefer a bit more juice, so at least on the PC side, I recommend considering Digidesign's minimum system specs in the "compatability" docs as REALLY minimum, and the "recommended for best performance" specs as the minimum midrange system, and mine for the fastest reported PC system. ;)

[rickpowell]

Does the lack of a dedicated master fader bug any of the 002 owners out there? I know, one of the 8 can be "assigned" to be the master, but it seems the addition of a dedicated master fader would have been easy to implement on the 002 at little extra cost. I find this omission puzzling, especially considering the 002's being sold as a "double duty" control surface/outboard mixer. RP

[Philip OKeefe]

Rick, I think it would have been a nice addition, but it doesn't bug me all that much in its absence. The flexible nature of PT mixer layouts kind of conceptually reduces the need for one for my needs, and as you said, you can have one of the faders showing your master fader.

[Salyphus]

I dunno Phil, I think you put a lot of the pros to shame with that review. Nice work! Feel free to write more :)

[Philip OKeefe]

:o Thanks Sal! :o Sure, I'd be willing to write more, but I've usually only written reviews of things I've purchased. Maybe I should go after some manufacturers to send me some goodies to review... but then I'd have to have a place to publish them, and I don't know how many manufacturers view independent "reviews" on UBB boards (even mega popular ones like this one) as legit, professional reviews worthy of a loan of a hot new peice of gear. :rolleyes: More's the pity because I think sites like this have more influence on a lot of user's purchasing decisions than many manufacturers give them credit for. Besides, if I really liked the gear, I'd be hot to buy it, and eventually would go completely broke and / or wind up in divorce court! :eek: ;) So I have to keep the reviews to a minimum unless some of these things change a bit or I hit the lottery. But I do enjoy sharing my impressions of new gear with other interested people, and so I'll probably continue to write things like this from time to time and post them here, as long as it's cool with Craig and everyone else here. Thanks again to all who took the time to check out the review.

[Philip OKeefe]

Oh, one more thing... I posted this just before going to the NAMM show. At NAMM, I picked up the latest Keyboard and Sound On Sound magazines - there's a review of the Digi 002 in each of these publications (drats! I thought I was going to be first!). So anyone interested in other reviews and opinions on the '002 should check them out - the SOS review in particular is pretty extensive. :thu:

[Salyphus]

Hey, you could always set up a section on your Web site where you post your reviews (in addition to posting them here of course); maybe that would make you seem more legit and the gear would start flowing in. :D Ah, but then you might lose your objectivity ;)

[Philip OKeefe]

:D I try really hard to remain objective. As Craig has pointed out regarding magazine reviews, they don't want to waste time and valuable editorial space on reviewing products that are total turds, and I don't want to waste time writing a review on a turd either. ;) Actually, I had promised several users over on the Digidesign DUC (user's group / forum) that I'd write a review of the Digi 002 after I had a chance to really run it through its paces for a while. Because of other stuff I had to do, it took a little longer than I expected to get it finished... but once it was done, I thought it would be best to post it over here instead of on the DUC. For one thing, no one can say Digidesign posted it or edited it in any way, or influenced anything I had to say in it this way. And besides, it wasn't ALL good news for Digidesign. ;) But I definitely try to call 'em as I see (and hear) 'em. :) BTW, the studio website is due for an update - I've got a guy working on it. I'll keep everyone posted...

[Philip OKeefe]

One last comment on the "objectivity" thing... I wasn't trying to "scoop" Keyboard, SOS or any other magazine, but I DID want to be "the first" to have the review out - mainly because I didn't want anyone else to be able to say that what I wrote was in any way influenced by what I had read in anyone else's review. So while those reviews were published at around the same time, I was unaware of them until after posting mine. And to be honest, I was pretty surprised by many of the similarities in the three reviews.

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Nicely done, Phil. - Jeff

[Philip OKeefe]

Thanks Jeff! BTW, it was great getting the chance to finally meet you at NAMM. For those who have not had the honor, Jeff's a great guy! :thu: BTW, I really thought the "little Red Box" over at the Tascam booth was cool too! ;)

[Philip OKeefe]

Bump, per request.

[deanmass]

Am I missing something here? Are people p/o'd that Phil gave a nice review of a hot new product BEFORE someone else? Keyboard should hire him if they or any one else thinks the article was good. From what I read, that was a nice professional review..

[Ren.]

Once the digi002 gets the Mac OS X support, I'm buyng one! :bor:

[Philip OKeefe]

[quote]Originally posted by deanmass: [b]Am I missing something here? Are people p/o'd that Phil gave a nice review of a hot new product BEFORE someone else? Keyboard should hire him if they or any one else thinks the article was good. From what I read, that was a nice professional review..[/b][/quote]No one, to the best of my knowledge, at Keyboard, EQ or any other publication was upset regarding my review. And if Keyboard / EQ had any concerns, I would honor their wishes and remove it from this site - which they "own". Salamandroid made an "in jest" comment regarding my objectivity, and to be honest, I had received a couple of emails that questioned / suggested that 1) I might have "lifted" some of my conclusions / opinions from some of the other reviews and 2) that I might be biased simply because I own the product in question. So to clear up any potential misunderstandings, I tried to explain that I hadn't seen any other reviews at the time I posted mine and that they ARE out there, so if anyone's interested they would know about them and could check them out for different opinions. Again, my desire wasn't to "scoop" Keyboard, EQ, SOS, etc. but I did want to be first with a review, so that my opinions would stand on their own and I couldn't BE accused of simply "repeating the findings of others". And no, I have not had any indication that anyone at any of these publications is upset with me for any reason. While I hope the review was helpful to some people, I don't think it's going to cut into any publication's circulation figures. ;) Thanks for the complements on the review deanmass.

[Salyphus]

To clarify (in case there is any doubt, though I suspect there isn't) my "jest" was only intended in the friendliest possible terms and I indeed think Phil did an excellent job on this review. I only wish I could find such thorough reviews of products I am actually in the market for ;) I'm kinda dissapointed to hear that someone wrote Phil accusing him of plaigarism though :( Anyway, cheers! :thu:

[BrianT]

Thanks for the info, Phil. I'm about to recommend a system for a buddy. Here's the big question I have. How well does the system deal with monitoring latency during record under a fairly big track load? Have you empirically measured the A/D in to D/A out latency, and if so what was it? In general, I'm just wondering how useable and robust the thing is for recording once it gets loaded up a good bit. Also, how's punch-in timing? Thanks, Brian T

[deanmass]

Apologies...I mis-thought the context (of the in-jest comments)...My brain is toast this week...

[monas]

Great review thank you. :wave:

[Philip OKeefe]

[quote]Originally posted by = stevepow =: [b]Phil on my Mbox, the mono switch is also used for playback/tracking monitoring (with no latency) when the track you are recording is mono. Without the mono engaged, you hear whatever you are recording on either right or left depending on which input you are using since there is no way to pan a mono source center onto the no latency monitor buss. Is this the same on the OO2? I don't see the same "mix input/playback" knob on the picture though, so maybe it works differently?[/b] In PT LE, there is a software "low latency monitoring" option. By clicking that, you get inperceptable latency, but at the cost of disabled busses and plug ins on any record enabled track(s). [b]The little Mbox rig is OK - sounds like you get quite a bit more with the 002 - I wonder why they require different software?[/b] I assume it's because of the need for different drivers (which may be built in to the actual PT software program version) required for the various interfaces - PCI on the Digi 001, USB on the MBox and FireWire on the Digi 002. [b]Either way, the increased support for Win XP lately and ASIO are very positive turns.[/b] Agreed! :thu: Now if they'd only make a hardware I/O expansion unit (doubtful) for the Digi 002, and would allow its faders / knobs to control other software (ala the Mackie Control), they'd really be on to something. :) [b]If they can get the MIDI fleshed out and relax that track limit, support for Rewire (OK, maybe that's asking too much :D ), this could be quite the entry level system.[/b] The track limit has never bothered me all that much, but I also have 32 tracks available via my dual Yamaha AW4416's, so with everything locked up via word clock / MTC, I have 64 tracks available. :cool: We're supposed to see some MIDI improvements in PT 6. Actually, it may not be called "PT 6" on Windows, but we're slated for most of the same improvements our Mac friends are getting now by this spring / summer on the PC platform. Unfortunately (for me at least) a MIDI score display apparently isn't among those improvements. I really miss that the most when using PT's MIDI - I really dislike the Piano Roll editor metaphor, since I have to look in two "spots" to see what note is what. Notation just is easier to use / makes more sense to me. Hopefully this is something Digidesign will consider adding in a future release. [/quote]

[Philip OKeefe]

Bump for MadeByNick from the DUC.

[madebynick]

Thanks for the bump! Absolutely wonderful article I must say! I subscribe to SoundOnSound, Home Recording, EQ, Recording, and Electronic Musician. I am always glad to read a 002 article (since I'm buying one in a week! ) But I've never seen such a thorough review of this piece in any of the mags (even the SounsOnSound 01/03 mag)! Thanks a lot.