Upgrading to the 003--Your thoughts/suggestions appreciated!

[toddamo]

Hi...

After 6 years of happily using my 001 rack...I'm making the leap
up to the 003 Rack (Factory) and trading in my 001. Very exciting!

I plan on making my purchase with Sweetwater.

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice, caveats, suggestions, etc. about
doing the upgrade.

First...will my current computer be able to handle the new software/hardware software adequately?

I bought an Allenstein recommended set up in 2005:

Motherboard ASUS K8V SE DELUXE SC754 VIA K8T800 DDR400/333 AMD Athlon64 ATX
CPU AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.4GHz 512k cache 754pin Retail Box w/heatsink & Cooling Fan
Memory PC3200 DDR400 512MB Samsung
PC3200 DDR400 512MB Samsung
Windows XP

Next...(I'm not very hardware literate, sorry), I understand I need to purchase
a firewire card. Any advice on this? Are they all the same?

Any other hardware concerns to be aware of?

What else...

Is there any chance that a 004 or some other upgrade is just around the corner
and I should hold off on the purchase for now?

Any installation tips? Things to be aware of?

And on a fun, musical level...How much better are the preamps and A/D converters on
the 003 compared to the 001? Will I be able to hear a big difference?
(I suppose that depends on my ears...but just curious to your thoughts...)

I appreciate your thoughts, advice or suggestions very much!

Thanks,

-todd amodeo

http://toddamodeo.com

[EGS]

Good move!!! Get the Digi-approved firewire card. Go to the digi web site, look up 003, and scroll to to recommended firewire card. Don't deviate from that, or you may very well have problems. You might want to add more ram, too. Are you using a separate drive for PT audio? Read the General Troubleshooting thread here in the DUC - lotsa good tips there, including deleting databases and trashing prefs, etc. Digi004? I wouldn't hold my breath on that one... Hope this helps.

[tamasdragon]

Digi003 is a very good choice. I highly recommend it.
Tamas Dragon

[bilco]

I just got a used Digi 002 Rack and the 4 mic preamps in it are noticeably better than the 2 mic preamps in the Digi 001 to my ear. The Digi 003 preamps are supposed to be better still, so I think you are going to be happy with your upgrade.

bilco

[toddamo]

Thanks very much for all the helpful info here.

Much appreciated...and making the purchase today!

[blizzard]

Hey Todd,

I just made the same upgrade earlier this year and I have been very happy so far. I actually have almost the same computer that you have (see specs below). When I made the upgrade I also got another 1GB of RAM (2GB total) which made a big difference in counteracting any performance hit due to the newer software. I highly recommend putting 2GB in there.

Also for the firewire card, I was originally using the onboard firewire but ran into minor problems. I picked up this firewire card which fixed any errors I was having.

If you don't have a dedicated Hard Drive for Audio, definitely get one. It's the only way to go. You'll be very happy with the upgrade, being able to use the new software (7.3 or 7.4) alone is great.

Good luck!
Andrew