These are a few of the features that give the 003 a more professional feel than the 002.
A few extra chores can be accessed via the inner jog section of the wheel, such as moving fader banks, and horizontal and vertical zooming of the edit window. Tops! Just be aware that ProTools needs to think for a second or two as you disengage jog or shuttle operation, and remember that you can’t access any menus with either feature engaged. Meanwhile the inner jog section will move the playhead at sample precision. Just like a bought one, the outer shuttle section will fast forward and rewind while shuttling the current edit track – from extremely slow click searching up to chipmunk speed (800%). Reason being? There’s now a proper jog/shuttle wheel on the 003. Off to the right of the eight faders, just above the transport buttons is the navigation controller – this functions as per the 002, only this time around Digi hasn’t attempted to make the navigation controller look like a jog-wheel. The channel strips offer their own five-segment LED peak meters just above the rotary encoders, which also display automation modes for each channel, again making the unit feel more like a mixing console. Unlike the 002 there’s also a set of dedicated automation mode buttons that sit just above the modifier buttons, which are a great addition and give the unit much more scope as a mixing tool. Unlike the 002’s forward taper that considerably reduced the surface real-estate, the 003 has room for a proper armrest area across the front as well as space for things like the modifier buttons, which are now placed more sensibly on the lower left of the fader bank. The main difference is that the 003 is a much ‘squarer’ unit.
The actual footprint, however, isn’t that much larger than the 002 at all the overall width is a mere 6mm wider. Moreover, since Digidesign released the Icon and D-Command systems, the dark and brooding aesthetic – a hangover from the early Digidays – has been completely abandoned.Īt first glance, the 003 seems a lot larger than its predecessor, an impression that stems mainly from the extensive array of extra controls the 003 offers. It’s a far more professional looking unit than the 002, having an altogether more sophisticated ‘production surface’ air about it, rather than the 002’s vaguely sci-fi vibe. I reckon Digidesign has done a really great job with the 003. There are more features and greater monitoring control on the 003 than on any other dedicated LE system. The 003 takes the Digi 002 console concept and runs with it, offering a new control surface that’s designed to re-connect LE users with tactile mixing tasks and liberate them to some extent from the drudgery of mouse-based mixing. The Digidesign 003 console is unquestionably the unit that boasts the most significant changes of the two in this major LE release (I found the 003 Rack sonically superior to its predecessor but vaguely disappointing in terms of new and expanded features). Last issue we managed to rope in a just-out-of-the-oven Digidesign 003 Rack for appraisal, pending the arrival of the star of this review – the control-surface endowed 003. A more professional feel, and a jog wheel… AT puts the new 003 through its paces.