 The Digi 002 The power of Pro Tools-how sweet it is By Stephon Fraley Lots of pieces of gear out there claim to be an all-in-one solution to hard- disk recording, but few can actually grab hold of that ring and hang on to it. Products from Digidesign, however, seldom lose their grip. From the omnipresent and nearly omnipotent professional Pro Tools|HD to the entry-level MBox, Digidesign has proven they know their way around the dog-eat-dog world of digital audio. The Digi 002
There was more than just a little speculation and anticipation when rumors leaked out that a new consumer market addition to the Digidesign family was on its way. I don't know what anyone else was imagining in the days leading up to the Digi 002's The press release sent to me by Digidesign along with the latest and greatest Pro Tools LE (6.1!) describes the 002 as a FireWire-based mini studio. Well, they got the FireWire part right, but mini? There's nothing small about the 002's capabilities. Maybe they were just referring to its size, because at just 19"W x 6"H x 17"D, the Digi 002 Hey there, good lookin' A well-designed interface is just as much a part of the overall equation of value as how powerful the tool is. When bringing a pro-level tool in at consumer-level prices, companies sometimes make the mistake of putting ugly and cheap controls around an elegant and operable system, completely crippling the end product. Thankfully, Digidesign did not make that mistake. I love the way the Digi 002 It's small but professional with a soft gray color scheme for the housing and most of the controls, and a brushed metallic faceplate for the control panel. The rounded corners and ergonomic controls are comfortable with a soft, cushioned feel that's very nice under your fingertips. The interface is well-thought-out with versatile controls for the channels, transport, options for playback and looping, and buttons that quickly call up the mix and edit windows, as well as plug ins.
The 002 provides you with an incredible amount of control over your recording project in a way that feels completely natural. Take editing for example. By pushing just a few buttons you can call up the editing window and manipulate the waveforms using the tactile controls right in front of you, without leaving the Digi 002. The faders and channel strip interfaces are taken from the Control|24 control surface. The faders are touch-sensitive and motorized, so making adjustments and switching between different tracks or sessions is stupid easy. The faders also give you direct manipulation of almost every parameter and plug-in available in Pro Tools LE, an outstanding capability that you really can't appreciate until you've used it a little. It's almost like cheating. The channel pan knobs, likewise, can be used for more than just panning. Different functions, such as send levels and plug-in control, can be selected by using the channel view buttons located just above the scribble strips. The meters above the knobs represent the knob value, but can also function as meters during playback. The LED scribble strips are very cool, allowing you to label your tracks with handy 4-character tags. These strips are multifunctional, though, displaying all kinds of pertinent information dependent upon which mode you're in. Even in doing something as simple as adjusting EQ, the Digi 002 The seat of power The magic button, however, is definitely the navigational control interface. It's really not a single button, but the controls here are so well integrated and intuitive that it feels like you're using a single control instead of a cluster of buttons. The up, down, left, and right button array manipulate different characteristics based upon which mode you've selected. You select those modes via three buttons placed just north of the directional controls. The Bank button allows you to navigate through banks of eight tracks and Nudge is for moving through one track at a time. Zoom moves you in and out of the edit window. Above and beyond Just based on the combination of Pro Tools LE and the Digi 002 All of the 1Z4" inputs are balanced TRS ins, which makes it even easier to use the Digi 002
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