# "Linking" Digidesign 003 Rack?



## NickVon (Mar 26, 2010)

this question is mostly to just satisfy my curiosity as i had a really hard time coming up with anything through google. 

On the back of the Digidesign 003 Rack hardware there is connection labeled "link"

this would imply to me that i could take two of these boxes and "link" them together and be able to mix 16 channels of audio to a PC//Macbook instead of just 8. The Creative Arts and technology Department on campus here (whom i don't have much faith in) tell me there is absolutely no way to hook more then one box together for recording purposes. 

The Link light apparently actually means that you are connected to a Firewire source. Is tit possible t link Presonarus or MotU boxes together, is this just a crazy Digidisign(protools) limitation they impose?

Anyone familiar with this. is it possible to hook them together and it's simply a software licensing limitation for the version they have or what? Thoughts?


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## SHARYNF (Mar 26, 2010)

Hi it is not a connection it is a led indicator that tells you when there is a valid firewire connection (the 003 has been know to have problems connecting to SOME firewire integrated adaptors on some notebooks for instance)

SO it is not a connector, and Digidesign only allows one 003 connection, this is to provide value engineering for the HD highend systems and the LE systems


If you have a Manual it is on page 60
Sharyn


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## NickVon (Mar 26, 2010)

Yeah i managed to find the manual for it. Hence my edit above. So there is now way to use this particular hardware in conjunction with other hardware for more channels it looks like. I thought the link light might indicate that the fire-wire is daisy-chaining boxes together but it reads as if it really just indicates "HEY something is plugged in!" So it looks like aside from a mix console with fire-wire recording output more then 8 channels becomes a little prohibitably expensive :-(

this has just become a little bit of a side interest as i'd like to have some of my student workers expand some of their recording portfolio work for graduation but being limited to one 8 channel box is frustrating for us. Though could always set up a second box on a second laptop i suppose?. Well thanks for the affirmation on the not being able to do this. Bummer.


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## SHARYNF (Mar 26, 2010)

All this is part of the Protools method of product differentiation.

There is one very odd exception, if you have a version of m-powered 7.3.1 and you have the M audio Light Bridge, for some reason the limitation seems to have been left out. I am guessing that since this was from the early days of M-powered the thinking was to fully support the M-audio devices with their total channel numbers.. sadly this never was followed thru

What I do to get around all this is use a Alesis HD24 which will record to Hard drive 24 channels via adat Light pipe (so you can use it with a variety of consoles (in my Case Yamaha) that have adat support.

Then Alesis makes a device called the Fireport that takes the Alesis drive and makes it a Firewire drive and you can then import all the tracks in to Protools LE

I use this for on location recording and it works quite well.

Sharyn


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## Morpheus (Mar 26, 2010)

We record 32 channels straight out lightpipe from Our M7 to a computer running DP...
Then, downstairs, in the studio, we've got an 002R with a Black Lion mod hooked and an ASP 8024 (12ch) that we can patch around.


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## SHARYNF (Mar 26, 2010)

Morpheus said:


> We record 32 channels straight out lightpipe from Our M7 to a computer running DP...
> Then, downstairs, in the studio, we've got an 002R with a Black Lion mod hooked and an ASP 8024 (12ch) that we can patch around.




Since there are a lot of readers who are not going to understand the what the various components you are referencing are, it might be helpful to offer a bit more explaining

Sharyn


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## NickVon (Mar 26, 2010)

thanks for all the feedback, our sound system is comprehensive while still being basic. Still running of a Old School Yamaha 2404  We are looking to upgrade here though at the end of the semester.

The recording was just a curiosity because i know the other department has some decent equipment that I can borrow when theirs a need. Nothing in the budget nor is their really a need or problem to solve regarding any of this. Though for future proofing myself in the future your thoughts about boards and their functionalities is duly noted


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## Morpheus (Mar 26, 2010)

SHARYNF said:


> Since there are a lot of readers who are not going to understand the what the various components you are referencing are, it might be helpful to offer a bit more explaining
> 
> Sharyn


Ah, good point.
Upstairs, in our main chapel space, we run a Yamaha M7CL with two ADAT lightpipe cards, which connect into a Mac Pro with ADAT input cards, the software we are using is Digital Performer, by MOTU.
Downstairs, in our studio, we have an Audient ASP 8024 console. We also have a DIgidesign 002R with a Black Lion mod on it... the patch bay allows us to plug it how we need, or connect to external interfaces.

So, I guess, to be more helpful to the OP: no, you can't link interfaces, but if you can afford it, send the group outputs to your 003R... and use the console for a rough mix sum if you need to record a bunch of simultaneous in's...


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## pmolsonmus (Mar 26, 2010)

Hi,

You certainly can add additional inputs to an 003r but the link light has nothing to do with it. You need an interface with ADAT (lightpipe) connections and that can run in a stand alone mode and that can be slaved to the 003r's internal clock.

A valuable source for anyone with a DIGI product is the Digi User Conference
http://http://duc.digidesign.com/

The cheapest device I know of would be a used ADAT machine (lots on ebay) or any number of 8 input interfaces.

I also mod at recording.org, so if you're looking for more help there's some very knowledgeable people there. Just be sure to use the search before posting new questions. They like new people, they just expect them to work a little before they ask the same questions.

Phil


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## SHARYNF (Mar 27, 2010)

An other alternative that gets surprisingly good marks is the Behringer ada8000 which would add 8 more inputs. The key limit is that ProtoolsLE is currently limited to 18 inputs. 

Sharyn


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