• Pro Tools 8 Le Requirements

By John WaldenIf you fancied the well-specified, Firewire-based I/O of Digidesign's Digi 002 but didn't need its control surface functions, you now have a cheaper alternative in the shape of the Digi 002 Rack.When it comes to the higher end of the audio production world, there is no doubt that Digidesign's Pro Tools systems, combining quality hardware/DSP and software, are the dominant platform. Indeed, those who read Mark Wherry's Nuendo 2 review in the September 2003 issue of SOS will have got a sense for how difficult it is for Steinberg to break Digidesign's dominance, despite the very impressive functionality of Nuendo as a music production system.In recent years, Digidesign have done their best to bring the essence of the Pro Tools environment to the project and home studio market — and one aim of the strategy has presumably been to get users started with a basic Pro Tools setup with the hope that they will upgrade to one of the more sophisticated Digidesign systems. Therefore, over the last few years, users have seen Pro Tools Free (a cut-down software-only introduction for no cost!), the USB-based M Box (software plus audio/MIDI interface with a sub-£400 price tag) and the Digi 001 (software plus a PCI card/external rack).More recently, Digidesign have added the Digi 002. As with the other home/project studio products, this system depends upon host-based processing but does feature high-specification multiple ins and outs, MIDI and a hardware control surface. All this is connected to the computer via Firewire and comes bundled with the Pro Tools LE software.

In their SOS December 2002 review of the, existing Digi 001 users Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser were extremely impressed with the audio quality, flexibility of I/O and the well-designed mixer control surface.While representing good value for money, the Digi 002's £2000-plus price tag might be more than some potential users could bear. Enter, stage left, the latest addition to the Digidesign product line: the Digi 002 Rack.

At about half the price of the Digi 002, this essentially provides the same Pro Tools LE software and I/O hardware, without the control surface. As the name suggests, it is housed in a very sturdy 2U rack case, making it easily portable.The Digi 002 Rack supplied for review included the 2U hardware unit, CD installers for both Mac and PC, a printed Getting Started manual and a 12-foot, 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable. The recommended specifications for both Mac and PC are listed in the 'Hardware Requirements' box, but potential purchasers would also be advised to visit the Digidesign web site, as this contains further information on computer systems that have been tested with the 002 Rack and are therefore known to be compatible. Given that most previous SOS reviews of Digidesign/Pro Tools systems (see the 'Reading Matter' box for a list of the more recent reviews) have been Mac-based, in looking at the 002 Rack it seemed time to give the PC a run out. In fact, as described below, I used two PC systems, a P4 desktop and a relatively new Dell laptop — the latter obviously of interest if the 002 Rack is to be used as part of a mobile Pro Tools system.Pro Tools software is based around two main windows: this is the Edit window.Summary specifications of the 002 Rack are provided in the ' box.

However, if you compare the photographs of the Digi 002 from the December 2002 review with those of the 002 Rack here, the parentage of the 002 Rack hardware is easy to see. With the exception of a slight repositioning of the power supply, the rear-panel connectivity of the 002 Rack would appear to be identical to that of the Digi 002, in terms of both specification and layout. To the right are inputs 1-4, on both XLRs and quarter-inch balanced jacks. Two small switches engage the 48V phantom power to inputs 1+2 and 3+4 respectively.

Next up are inputs 5-8, again on balanced quarter-inch jacks, each of which can be switched between +4dBu (professional level) or -10dBV (consumer/semi-pro level). These are followed by the Alt Src inputs (RCA connectors operating at -10dBV) intended for bringing CD or cassette audio sources into the 002 Rack for recording or monitoring.The upper left of the rear panel features all the analogue outputs: the Monitor Output pair, eight analogue outputs and an Alt Mon RCA pair for sending the main output to a cassette deck, for example. The Monitor Outputs mirror the signal send to the headphone output and Main Outputs 1+2. As the supplied Pro Tools LE does not support surround sound mixing (which is a great shame), perhaps the most obvious application of the multiple outputs is as sends for integrating external hardware processors into a session.In terms of digital I/O, both optical (Toslink connectors, giving eight channels of ADAT I/O) and two-channel co-axial S/PDIF I/O are provided, and the optical connectors can also provide two-channel S/PDIF I/O if required. Bit depths/sample rates up to 24-bit/96kHz are supported for S/PDIF I/O.

Standard MIDI In and two independent MIDI Out ports are also present and, aside from a footswitch jack for hands-free punch-in/out, the only other connectors are a pair of Firewire (IEEE 1394) ports. The Getting Started manual is perhaps a little vague about the best sequence of daisy-chaining the 002 Rack with other Firewire devices for data pass-through — but the hint is that any Firewire drive used for audio ought to be connected directly to the host computer, so presumably the 002 Rack might have to be at the end of a chain on computers with only one Firewire port.The layout of the controls on the front panel of the 002 Rack is very similar to those found along the top strip of the Digi 002. To the left, this features four large Gain knobs used for inputs 1-4. Above each of these is a pair of switches which select between Mic and Line operation and engage a high-pass filter that rolls off 12dB/octave below 75Hz. The right-hand side is dominated by output level controls for the main outputs and a headphone output — the only jack socket on the front panel. Usefully, there are also Mute and Mono switches for the outputs.

The Mono switch is an excellent touch, given how important mono compatibility still is in audio for broadcast. The two other buttons can be used to route the RCA Alt Src input pair to either inputs 7+8 (for recording into Pro Tools) or directly to the Monitor and headphone outputs. A number of small LEDs are present to give useful feedback of sample rates and activity on the MIDI and Firewire ports.

A more comprehensive list of compatible computer hardware is provided on the Digidesign web site. However, the following list summarises the recommended systems for using the Digi 002 Rack.Mac. Puppet pin tool after effects cs6 serial number. Best performance achieved with OS X and a dual-processor Mac.

Pro Tools 8 Le Requirements

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