003 Whats the point?!!!

[downward78]

Ok a 003 is a good idea and all the advancements they've made are wonderful blah blah blah. i am a producer and was anxious about the 003 for personal use then i noticed something.... What is the point of Two headphone Jacks on the front that is just silly, they only application that is good for is in a learning enviroment such as the trade school i went to. So the teacher can listen in. (9 times out of 10 we have these things called monitors!) I was really let down with this product and am going to stick with my 002 because i dont see the use in upgrading. (if thats what you can call it) the 003 is useless. When i innitially saw the 003 i thought one of the Jacks was a Line/Ins Jack and was very excited, i thought to myself Wow AVID/Digi finally realized that having to get to the back of your interface anytime you want to plug in is redundant and stupid. ESPECIALLY with Rack mounted interfaces!!! But no i was severely let down and am led to believe that Digi doesnt know their client base, i mean as easy and nit picky is that is....a Line/Ins Jack in the front...i'm an engineering genius. PS if they come out with that someone owes me money! 003 is junk and serves no greater function than its predicessors. Its funny cause i mentioned this to a former colleague of mine who actually works for Digi's software design and he agreed. so take that.

Love,

Glenn

Florida.

[EGS]

Welcome to the DUC. Most people prefer having jacks on the back of rack mount gear to reduce visible cable clutter. Just wire it up to a patchbay.

[downward78]

i can see your point, however i'm not saying put all of the jacks in the front, i'm saying get rid of the extra headphone jack and put a line/ins jack there, it would be very very convenient for when you have inspiration, sure you can have other things plugged into the back but, i tend not to leave my guitars plugged in and a patch bay is a little over kill for an LE system dont you think, Just admit the headphone jacks serve no purpose, i've never ever sat down with another person and said listen to this with me through the headphones!!!, for two reasons (A) I have Monitors, and (B) i know what i've mixed sounds like so i dont have to listen along. I must admit the new packaging is swell astetically but its eye candy nothing more, engineers are solo creatures, LE is designed for home and home studio applications not for coinciding with Professional studio equipment and we know the reasons why...ITS LIMITED!! so whatever it is what it is eyecandy for people who dont know any better, i mean there is no real reason why a person would ditch their 002 for a 003 unless they just want to look hip and with it. Its not really going to change your production because its the same thing just prettier.

[tele_player]

I love the second headphone output on my Focusrite Saffire, I often work with another person. On the Digi002, I had to use an extra piece of gear to provide additional headphone outputs.

I used a Digi002 for a few years, and I usually just left a guitar cable plugged into the Channel 4 line/inst input. For me, this was just as easy as having a front-panel guitar input.

[Jeff Ulmer]

I'm not seeing a reason to complain about an extra jack, if you don't use it, what harm is being done? If two people were working in a room where monitors weren't appropriate (apartment late at night), the second jack could be very useful. Sure, a front panel line or DI input would be useful as well, but why complain about an added feature? Many people may not find the word clock (or any other item/feature) that useful either, but if the time comes that they need it, it is there.

[sky88dd]

Although the 003 is not much of an upgrade, I actually find 2 headphone jacks very convenient. When I'm recording a singer for example, we definitely need 2 headphones.
Of course, using a headphone amp would solve this, but its just more convenient to have 2 jacks.
And I totally agree that if you don't need a certain feature, just leave it open. Its there to make somebody's life a little easier, I would assume.

[nossnevs]

yes it´s limited it´s a LE.
It is not a upgrade for users of 002 but it´s a very nice upgrade for
users of 001. That´s the point.
Why spend all this energy, if you don´t need it don´t buy it, stay at your
002 or take the step into HD.

[filosofem]

I was really let down with this product and am going to stick with my 002 because i dont see the use in upgrading. (if thats what you can call it) the 003 is useless.

Personally, one feature of the 003 that raises my interest is MIDI Mode. In short, two Banks (A & B) consisting of four programmable and recallable Preset MIDI Maps each. Default Presets are Standard MIDI Map, 003 Map, A.I.R. groups Strike Map and an Unitialized Map. For anyone that has external MIDI devices and/or Virtual Instruments, this is huge! Do you know (not you personally, just in general) what a pain in the ass it is to reassign Continuous Controller events every time a device is in use, now, this is recallable at a simple push of a button!

That's all Faders, Rotary Encoders and 45 switches ...oh and Footswitch.


Hmmm...









filosofem

[the_dr38]

If u could assign things to the jacks independently it would be handy. Two separate stereo outs. Although I assume most studios willing to fork out for a 003 would probably already have a headphone pre amp, respectively.

L.Dudley

[Wayne Rose]

Thanks to all for the interesting input on the Digi 003.

However, I'm surprised that so far no one has mentioned the higher quality preamps and A/D converters!

I have been a PT user for many years, and about a year ago upgraded to the Digi 002. At that time, this forum was repleat with complaints about the poor quality of that unit's preamps.

Undoubtedly, there is an audible difference between the 002's analog and digital in/outs. I get around the problem by using the 8-channels of ADAT I/O, but it sure would be nice to have those cleaner analog in/outs provided by the 003.

On this issue, Digidesign's response to their customers' expressed need is bang on!

If a cross-grade trade-in is made available at a nominal few hundred bucks, at this point I would consider going for it.

Thoughts, anyone?