Guess the next 003

[taiazeez]

Hi Guys you know what I reckon Digi have an ace up their sleeve, i mean 3 Mbox solutions can only mean better 003 solutions and man the jump from mbox2 to mbox pro is nothing short of revolutionary so how about we guess what the next 003 will be, here is my take.

digi 003HD mixer: $4995.00
features sample rate to 192k, the smoking gun is that it will run on FULL protools software natively thats it no LE features also the next best bit is that it will feature optional connection to the HD cards in other words you cuold use it natively then add it as an i/o for a HD system. It will feature 16 faders, 8 mic pres/line, 4 aux outs, 8 direct outs 2 stereo outs also 16 adat i/o 2 aes/ebu 2 spdif i/o and will run in standalone mode with EQ. Sonically it will be slightly better than the existing 96 i/o not quite up to the 192 i/o.

It will look similar to the Venue but much smaller it will cost $4995.00 it will kick serious butt, the fact you can add HD connections @ say $699.00 makes this viable for HD users as well increasing sales for digi for both 003 and HD, oh and i forgot to add that it is a fully fledged controller as well. Also will have s/mux up to 96khz

digi 003rHD $1995.00
Features sample rate up to 192k, will have the following 8 mic pres/line , 16 adats i/0 2 aes/ebu 2 spdif i/o, 8 outs. Smoking gun will run on full protools system natively, and also have the optional HD connector @$699.00 enabling users to step up to hd cards, sonically it will be slightly better than the existing 96 i/o but not quite up to 192 i/o will also have tons of bundles.

Thats my take if Digi are smart theyll do this or smilar and well as for HD theyll be newer HD cards with tons of DSP, also the new i/os will have 64 channels(MADI). I also reckon the new HD cards will use completely different technology, the smoking gun for new HD will be the MADI i/o's incl 16 analog i/o's as really they wont impress too much on the dsp front hanks to the super duper computers out there. Still the dsp will be 4 times what they are now.

Thats it ive looked in the future now so Digi you might as well release a statement then

[Andy Caretti]

003 ... and no word clock??!! What a shame!

[cfb25]

control 24 is $7995. Makes me skeptical something like that would be $5k... But I'd buy it if it was/ will if it is. 16 faders would be really nice. Especially if LE gets the VCA fader groups. 8 could be dedicated vca's, and I'd still have 8 for FX, and extras. That would be awesome.

[speky]

it be nice to track drums with one unit and have no connectivity issues... if the 8 mic pres were worth a damn. it would be nicer if they just made some stand alone software without some expensive dongle to work around...

[froyo]

Hello. This may sound like I am nitpicking semantics, but you guys realize that the LE line by definition is limited, correct?. It is after all, Pro Tools Limited Edition. It was an arbitrary creation of Digidesign; before the 001 was released and the LE line was created the software was indeed the same for all versions of the hardware you purchased. So if you bought an AMIII card you got the same software as the regular full blown TDM systems.

This all changed when the LE line was created. Again, Digidesign went out of their their way to arbitralily limit software functionality on it. That's why it was named Pro Tools Limited Edition. When the literature for the 001 was released it was clearly named Limited Edition, and when you launched the software it also said Limited Edition. The same way Logic Express is a limited version of Logic Pro. If Logic Express became unlimited it's just Logic Pro, not Logic Express Unlimited.

What's the point? Well basically that you will never have an LE hardware system with unlimited Pro Tools software. It's a contradiction in terms. I am not saying that it can never happen, just that as long as they are named LE there will always be limits because that's what the name describes. Now if for example they renamed the entire LE line and called it the Gold line and TDM became Platinum while M Audio was Silver, then that's another discussion altogether. But I just wanted to point out that as long as it's called LE it will always have limits.

And for those of you who may not remember this exact same subject has been the most requested and discussed subject since day one of the creation of the LE line.

We'll see what they unveil with the 003, which in my opinion is way, way, way overdue. There has been some discussion and rumors in the past of Digidesign releasing an all inclusive, self contained hardware system a la Venue, that comes with the software and an embedded computer OS. I doubt that will happen but the 003 is probably not too far away. The Mbox 2 Pro has Word Clock and I doubt they would introduce that feature for the lowest member of the line and not the highest. So I expect a 003 with Word Clock will be out not too long from now. We'll see.

[taiazeez]

Good point except for one thing, im talking about the hardware and what i guess could be the next stepup for the digi00 series i.e move it from le to full blown system and let mbox and mpowered take care of that.
thanks

[Sonny in London]

I would like to see three new units.

1 - 1U I/O with 8 analogue line ins (no mic pres), 8 outs, 16 ADAT ins, Wordclock, MIDI I/O, two headphone outs, 2/4 S/PDIF I/O.

2 - 1U Pre with 8 high quality Mic Pres/line ins with at least 2 DI inputs and ADAT I/O with high-end converters, 2 headphone outs.

3 - 16-Fader control surface version with all the features of the above, a scrub wheel and nice transport buttons.

Each could be used as a PT interface on its own or be combined together for a total of 3 units and a total of a possible 26 inputs for simultaneous recording.

Bundle each with a new version of Pro Tools that doesn't have the DSP and hardware-related features of the HD software but is much closer than LE.

For example;

64 audio tracks, Automatic Delay Compensation, Unlimited Instrument Tracks, DigiTranslator, Surround, SMPTE timecode and general extended functions and features should all be included to sate the 'Prosumer' market to which these products will appeal.


You never know, eh?





Sonny

[cfb25]

I have a feeling they'll stick to a basic two system layout, like the new MBOx2 "family".. We'll see an 003, and an 003r, and a pro of each hopefully. Maybe the pro will have the extra Adat i/o's, the extra headphone, ?.....\

[JFreak]

What's the difference between 001 and 002R? Basically, better converters (48k->96k) and different connection to the host (PCI->firewire). And then there was naturally the fader pack that 002 added to the 001, but that can be purchased separately as a Command8, so it's better to compare 001 to 002R, IMO.

So the question will be: what would 003 add to the 002?
-Probably word clock i/o. This is actually a given, 'cause the mBox has it already.
-Perhaps smuxed adats finally? That would probably mean two pairs of ADAT i/o, but not necessarily.
-If Didigesign feels generous, they'll up the i/o count to 24, but that's unlikely.
-Don't expect sampling rates higher than 96k. If smuxed adats happen, 96k i/o count rises.

Bottom line might be that the best LE system cannot rival the entry-level HD system, so take a look at what HD1 can do with 96 interface, and then think about the LE machine. The 003 must not cost over 5000 dollars, but cannot rival the HD system either. It can be on par (feature-wise) but it would still not sound quite as good as the real deal.

That's the reality, like it or not. Don't dream about 192k LE system that has tons of i/o, because there's this HD system for sale if you want it... Clearly you don't NEED it, because 002R@96kHz sounds almost as good as HD96@48kHz, and that's a lot -- a whole lot more than some MOTU system with 192k converters.

[onlyone-jc]

I would like to see three new units.

1 - 1U I/O with 8 analogue line ins (no mic pres), 8 outs, 16 ADAT ins, Wordclock, MIDI I/O, two headphone outs, 2/4 S/PDIF I/O.

2 - 1U Pre with 8 high quality Mic Pres/line ins with at least 2 DI inputs and ADAT I/O with high-end converters, 2 headphone outs.

3 - 16-Fader control surface version with all the features of the above, a scrub wheel and nice transport buttons.

Each could be used as a PT interface on its own or be combined together for a total of 3 units and a total of a possible 26 inputs for simultaneous recording.

Bundle each with a new version of Pro Tools that doesn't have the DSP and hardware-related features of the HD software but is much closer than LE.

For example;

64 audio tracks, Automatic Delay Compensation, Unlimited Instrument Tracks, DigiTranslator, Surround, SMPTE timecode and general extended functions and features should all be included to sate the 'Prosumer' market to which these products will appeal.


You never know, eh?





Sonny

You've got my vote! This would be a good way to go!

An upgrade to the 00' line, might mean an upgrade to the budget HD line. So, we may get more for our money than we're expecting!

onlyone-jc.