Digidesign Digi 002

The Digidesign Digi 002 is a FireWire Pro Tools system released in 2002: an audio and MIDI interface and an eight-fader control surface in one unit, bundled with Pro Tools LE. For a lot of independent rappers and producers in the 2000s it was the first real Pro Tools rig they owned.

History

Digidesign’s Digi 001 (1999) had brought Pro Tools LE into home studios through a PCI card. The 002 moved the connection to FireWire and added a hands-on mixer surface, filling the gap between the budget Mbox and 001 and the expensive HD systems. It sold for $2,495. A cheaper Digi 002 Rack, with the same audio but no control surface, followed in 2003.

Specs

The 002 has eight touch-sensitive motorized faders and eight rotary encoders, four mic preamps with phantom power, eight analog inputs and outputs, ADAT and S/PDIF digital I/O, 24-bit/96 kHz converters, and one MIDI input with two MIDI outputs. It also works on its own as an 8×2 digital mixer with EQ, dynamics, delay and reverb, so it could double as a live board.

On Breakbeat Archive

Frizzo saved for a Digi 002 with Pro Tools while working in Dayton, Ohio. With it, a Korg Electribe and a Behringer B-2 microphone, he taught himself recording, mixing and mastering, at a time when Pro Tools could not even export an MP3, and made his first album, Criminal Record (2004).

Buying one today

Digidesign is now Avid, and the 002 has not been supported on current computers for years. Running it with Pro Tools means an older machine with a FireWire port and an older Pro Tools version, though the standalone mixer mode still works with no computer at all. Test every motorized fader, the four preamps and the FireWire port, and make sure the power supply is included.