Major Issue - 003+ BLA Qualification Question

[AgentGFunk]

Hey guys-

Really hoping I can get a real experts opinion on this.

Funny, I would consider myself an expert on a lot of this stuff, but I still find myself learning new **** about audio every day of my life.

I'm opening a commercial studio in Shrewsbury, PA in a few weeks. Already purchased the building. I need a really good audio interface that can expand up to at least 16x16 with ADAT (because I will be recording some full bands). Originally, I was going to buy a Clarett 8PreX, but I just found out that the mix software that comes with it really screws stuff up when doing outboard gear sends and headphone sends and things of that nature. RIDICULOUS. Of course, I don't have time to fuss with routing in a second piece of software when time is money and I have a band in the studio.

So, I changed my mind to a 003+ modded by Black Lion, which I thought was going to be the solution to my problems.

I called Black Lion a bit ago just to ask a few questions and a guy answered the phone who seemed like he was in a bit of a rush but after explaining a little bit of my situation, he said something to the effect of "003 racks are definitely not going to work with modern computers." This came as a surprised to me, because I'm currently running a crappy old 003 console (which has not been modified by BLA, haha) on my new iMac from just last year on it right now and it seems to have been working fine for the past six months, since I bought this computer. I've found a good deal on one of these 003+ BLA modded interfaces online and I want to buy it but now I'm afraid that it will not work with my computer, even though I have this Firewire 400 interface running flawlessly on it currently. And that's going through 3, count them, 3, different adapters. It runs to an 800 adapter which has a thunderbolt adapter on the other end of it, and then adapts to a second piece with a thunderbolt adapter to a USBC adapter on the other end to attach to the most modern of computers. And it runs fine! No issues except on occasion I need to restart the interface when I boot up my computer from sleeping to reestablish connection. Not a big deal.

I really don't know what to do. Does anyone have experience running an 003 rack on a modern computer? Is what this guy at BLA told me really accurate?

After I told him that I was currently running an 003 console on my new computer, he said something to the effect of "yeah... they sort of kept support for longer for the consoles than the racks." I don't see anything online to verify that claim.

Should I buy this thing if there's a return period? I have a feeling that guy at BLA I just spoke to maybe didn't know as much about this stuff as some of the experts on here....

I really don't know why an 003+ rack would operate any differently than an 003 console on my 2017 iMac.

What should I do? Looking to buy this TODAY, so please respond ASAP if you're reading this. HEEEELLLLLPPPPPPPP

Thanks!
CJ

[AgentGFunk]

By the way, I'm running a 4.2 Ghz Intel i7 iMac with 32 Gigs RAM 2017. macOS Sierra 10.12.6

Pro Tools version is 12.5.2

[YYR123]

FW is FW.......

I would get a different interface personally (I owned a 003r years ago).

There is much better sounding converters these days.

An Apollo would be my starting point (personally) Quad for sure.


if you have purchased a building another $1500 for an Apollo quad and some plugs is coin well spent.

[skizzo]

Ill start with unless you have a setup that bypasses the mic pres the 003 RACK+ is not an ideal setup for using other mic pres or outboard gear. This is because the line in inputs still go through the pre amps. So you will never be able to get a true unaltered signal from outboard mic pres or processors

if it is a 003 console, or 003 rack (not "+" or plus) on the other hand those have only 4 mic pres the other 4 line ins do not have pre amps so therefore would go to presumably your DAW without having the interfaces pre amp in the signal chain

And I did a lot of reading on the claret 8preX recently and the only reason I didn't purchase is because my old mac pro is not thunderbolt upgradable. I am a bit baffled hearing that focusrite control has any impact on sending signals to outboard processors. The only thing I am not 100% on is that interface may have the same issue as mentioned above due to outboard pres and processors will still go through the interfaces pre amp. However, I know for sure the clarett octopre has insert points and those bypass the mic pres. That's just an adat mic pre tho not an interface. The presonus studio 192 line ins also bypass the mic pres as another interface suggestion (its USB). Both interfaces are ADAT expandable for more than 16x16

to your question about using it with a modern computer, it's risky. I am going to test using my digi 003 rack+ with PT 2018.3 on my 2009 mac pro in the next week but that is only because I recently upgraded from PT8LE and got a new interface and wanted to keep it for the meantime as I transition or maybe even keep it forever just so I can access my legacy sessions. There are more modern equivalents of the digi 003 rack+ that are just as cost competitive and you wont have any compatibility issues. Not to mention I sort of think the BLA mods on that unit are overrated. Id personally buy a more modern interface. However if you are saying you are going to use the same exact computer as the one that runs the 003 console, then the 003 rack+ as far as I know uses the same drivers so by theory should perform just as good as the 003 console. Note it would be important to stay on the same OS version and PT version

Im not an "expert" so there could be something I am missing

[AgentGFunk]

Considered the Apollo. Apparently, same deal with mix software and outboard gear. Clarett 8PreX was supposed to handle it BETTER but still not well....


Most everyone else I've discussed this topic with have also said that a BLA Signature upgrade to an 003 still blows the converters of an Apollo out of the water. If this is the case, I'd rather spend half the price and buy a used modded BLA 003+. Although, I would get the new gen Apollo 8p quad core for $1800 through my employee accommodation program....

Still, I'd rather have the compatibility of a good old fashioned proprietary Avid interface at this point. Like I said, I dont have time to be messing around in two different cuing softwares just to give people headphone sends in the studio...

[WKG]

Don't know if this helps but I used an 002R and then a BLA signature modded 003R for a number of years. Sold the 003R and moved to an RME UFX and couldn't be happier. RME's drivers are legendary and support is second to none. It's super stable and very easy to route outboard and headphones with their TotalMix FX software and 30 I/O. Currently I am running up to 20 mic pres in and up to 8 separate stereo monitor mixes if needed.

If it were me I would not purchase an 003, modded or not. FW support is likely going to continue to diminish and there are too many other options available.

[AgentGFunk]

Originally Posted by skizzo

Ill start with unless you have a setup that bypasses the mic pres the 003 RACK+ is not an ideal setup for using other mic pres or outboard gear. This is because the line in inputs still go through the pre amps. So you will never be able to get a true unaltered signal from outboard mic pres or processors

Bud, I'm really not too worried about coloring the processed signals ever-so-slightly on its way back into Pro Tools. That would not be a huge concern for me.

And it IS the 003+; that being said, are you sure the line inputs still run through the pre's?

In the picture on the back of the unit, all the lines are in separate 1/4" connections from the mic ins, but I guess in theory they still could be running through the preamps inside...

Either way, I'm not too concerned about that.

[AgentGFunk]

Originally Posted by skizzo

However if you are saying you are going to use the same exact computer as the one that runs the 003 console, then the 003 rack+ as far as I know uses the same drivers so by theory should perform just as good as the 003 console. Note it would be important to stay on the same OS version and PT version

Thar is what I'm saying. I dont understand by the BLA rep would have still insisted that it would not work even though it currently works on my computer.

BTW, I am not planning on upgrading my PT system any time soon, or my OS for that matter, as its only caused me issues on the past and I just dropped 4 g's on this computer six months ago and want nothing to do with risking ruining it (which upgrading audio computers has done in the past to myself and others I know).

I'm pretty much set on the BLA mod for the 003+ rack. I really dont see any reason this wouldn't work.

[WKG]

Another thing to consider is Avid support. Your unit may continue to work but the 003 drivers have not been updated since 2016, they are going to go the way of the Dodo eventually...

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...ers&popup=true

[AgentGFunk]

Originally Posted by skizzo

Ill start with unless you have a setup that bypasses the mic pres the 003 RACK+ is not an ideal setup for using other mic pres or outboard gear. This is because the line in inputs still go through the pre amps. So you will never be able to get a true unaltered signal from outboard mic pres or processors

Just realized using a piece of gear like a Behringer ADA8000 via ADAT in and out to do outboard sends would eliminate this problem anyway (I'm planning on buying one of these anyway to expand the send capability; may even buy the BLA modded one of these as well to keep it consistent in sound quality).