Digidesign Digi002 Rack - Firewire

70srocker · 02-21-2018, 09:13 AM

Hi. I have a chance to grab an old digi 002 pretty cheap and i was wondering if anyone can confirm that it will work with Reaper on an old Windows Vista 32bit machine. Thanks for your time!

grinder · 02-21-2018, 10:39 AM

I have a modded Digidesign 002 rack this works and unmodded mostly worked
(see below) use search in the Reaper forum
for more answers /drivers etc this subject has been well documented search forum.
I can only speak on the "Rack" version the wiring loom has always been suspect
some can cause outs not usually a computers / firewire problem. You will as you most likely know need firewire on your computer.

Grinder

70srocker · 02-21-2018, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grinder

I have a modded Digidesign 002 rack this works and unmodded mostly worked
(see below) use search in the Reaper forum
for more answers /drivers etc this subject has been well documented search forum.
I can only speak on the "Rack" version the wiring loom has always been suspect
some can cause outs not usually a computers / firewire problem. You will as you most likely know need firewire on your computer.

Grinder

Hi, thanks for the info. What does the" mod " contain? I have FireWire card on the computer that I was planning on using it with. I'm using a small presonus fire wire interface at the moment on the Vista machine and a win 7 laptop. I noticed the digi has ADAT and spdif and I have an 8 channel digital preamp that's collecting dust. I could put it to use if I can get the digi002 to work with the Vista pc. I'll do some digging through old threads. Thanks!
Edit to add-this is the rack version

martifingers · 02-21-2018, 12:04 PM

I have no experience with the 002 (I do have a couple of 001's around somewhere (!) and they were really good. No, my question was what Win 7 laptop have you got working with Firewire. Chip incompatibility seems the big thing and I have had an achingly frustrating time trying to get a Firestudio mobile to work consistently. Ended up having to buy an old MAC - which of course worked instantly...

70srocker · 02-21-2018, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by martifingers

I have no experience with the 002 (I do have a couple of 001's around somewhere (!) and they were really good. No, my question was what Win 7 laptop have you got working with Firewire. Chip incompatibility seems the big thing and I have had an achingly frustrating time trying to get a Firestudio mobile to work consistently. Ended up having to buy an old MAC - which of course worked instantly...

the laptop i have is a dell inspiron. it didnt come with firewire. i bought one of those express card firewire converters. It slides right into the express card input on the side of the computer. It cost about 30 bucks.

grinder · 02-21-2018, 01:12 PM

Any chance you could try before you buy?
Firewire cards have improved way back some would not cope with the 002.
In that time texas instrument chips were the go.

Grinder

vdubreeze · 02-21-2018, 01:33 PM

The hardware issue with the 002 was the power harness, which caused symptoms that mimicked all kinds of things, including FW issues. If it had the harness replaced (it was a free mod from Digi) you'll be ok if the price is very low. It was a great box for its time but the mic pres were sub standard, and some of the internal routing was a bit compromised. But having both spdif and optical inputs you can do plenty of good stuff with it.

I would say to pass if it has the stock power harness, though. Could go intermittent tomorrow.

70srocker · 02-28-2018, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vdubreeze

The hardware issue with the 002 was the power harness, which caused symptoms that mimicked all kinds of things, including FW issues. If it had the harness replaced (it was a free mod from Digi) you'll be ok if the price is very low. It was a great box for its time but the mic pres were sub standard, and some of the internal routing was a bit compromised. But having both spdif and optical inputs you can do plenty of good stuff with it.

I would say to pass if it has the stock power harness, though. Could go intermittent tomorrow.

It did not have the harness mod done on it. That, and the fact that I did not have access to it before hand to try it out, caused me to pass on it.

70srocker · 02-28-2018, 05:24 PM

Thanks to Grinder, martifingers and vdubreeze for helping me out on this. Much appreciated!

Dannii · 02-28-2018, 05:29 PM

The power harness issue is actually really easy to fix. I have a 002r here that I've had for a little over a decade. It had the issue when I first got it but all you need to do is remove the harness (it's actually just a cable with a couple of molex plugs on each end), spray it with some contact cleaner (Deoxit D5 is perfect) and reconnect it.

I did that with my 002r and haven't had a problem since.

My 002r doesn't get a lot of use these days but it is handy if I have to open an old Protools session on my G4 Mac.