I'd have to say that it depends on your production skills and your musicianship.
As you know, I've only had the 001 since
February, and I'm a far cry from being a top-notch big-shot producer. However, given what I know, I believe that with more time learning and working on the system, I will
definately be able to turn-out professional
quality finished product. The constraints are that you are limited on the number of tracks, you need very clean, accurate tracks,
and you must use your effects very sparingly.
These, in general, are not problems for me,
personally. For some, they may be a prob.
As you know, a major issue for me is still drums and percussion. I am still trying to
sort-out the electronic system that will fill my needs, yet be as inexpensive as feasibly possible without sacrificing quality. Unfortunately, until I get this prob
solved, my recording can't really make the progress that I find necessary. But in the meantime, I continue to experiment with my most important basics...electric, acoustic, and bass guitars. Since I have no formal training in recording, it's basically all trial and error, but in a way, I think in some ways it is an advantage. I probably do
things in a very unconventional manner, and
probably take way too much time tinkering and tweaking, but it gets me the results that I am looking for, with no compromises.

what type of music are you doing?

Type of music...hmmm...good question...
I'm 40, been playing since I was 4. My original compositions vary, according to the mood I was in when I originally started writing each given song. I love almost all styles of music, including, but not limited to rock, blues, jazz, folk, reggae, ska, latin, r&b, flamenco, funk, metal, some techno etc...not a big fan of country, opera, or rap. I play a mean Strat, I have some beautiful 12 string compositions, I've got some killer dance tunes, and I studied
Flamenco under Jose Madrigal for 3 years.
I tend to like to listen to music that's off
the beaten path, unusual, or obscure.
I like to experiment with odd timings, I like a lot of dynamics in my music, and I'm very into the 'feel' of notes, not just
hitting the notes. I believe that, when mastered, music is a direct communication of a person's innermost feelings, and should be treated as such. That's why I have so much enthusiasm for this whole DAW thing that's happening. In order to truly express himself
(or herself), a musician must have complete individual control over everything from the time each sound is generated until it reaches it's completion. With someone else at the board, the musician's intent is always
redirected, if not misdirected. This continuity aspect is much more important than the type of equipment that the music is recorded-on, provided that the recording has truly captured the escense of the artist, and that it's of reasonable, listenable quality. With so many of us now recording ourselves, the entire artform will be taken to a new, higher level.

Awesome SonOfSmawg, couldn't have said it better. I am with you 100 %.
43, playing since I was 4, I too love spanish guitar.

The MPC 60 was a basic idea of what a DAW is today. This is what I have being doing since the beginning of drum machines. Just being able to have a steady beat while I created a song was such a help, then came midi, the came Pro Tools. I realized the importance of keeping the cooks out of the kitchen right then.

Now I can program and play many instruments. The guitar is my thing. Glad I play it because it's one thing that you can't program very well. Put it into programmed stuff and the whole thing comes alive.

All my rhythm is programmed, I hear it all in my head and lay it down one by one. Client are moved.
It could be latin, rock, dance, blues, country what ever, it's sounds real when I lay the Pro Tools to it.
Awesome way to compose.

The DAW is going to bring the very best out of each writer that uses it to it's fullest. I believe the music we produce this century using DAW's will be so close to the feeling, the words, passion and sounds will merge with a truer meaning. Hard to explain but I love it.

No turning back

Originally posted by audiokid:
Is the Digi 001 good enough to produce commercial sounding recordings?

Can you get the sound radio ready using just the Digi 001 or is it basically just for making demos?

I thought all you needed to get radio ready sound is lots and lots of compression!

But, seriously... I own a 001 and think it is capable of creating great sounding recordings. Just try not to skimp on other critical components, like microphones. I think, in the end, the quality of the performance and the skill of the operator will make a bigger difference.

SonofSmawg, audiokid,

It's refreshing and inspiring to see that others are rapidly advancing in the home rec field. I too recently built a bedroom DAW and have surprised myself with the speed at which everything is coming together. All the forums that I visit daily have been invaluable to me.

KIT:
Digi001 in a fast ass PC
Roland XV 3080
Roland MC307 Groove Box
Sherman Filterbank (mmmmn)
Fatar 61 key midi keyboard
POD 2 (mmmmmmmmmmmmmn)
Wavelab
Acid (of software variety)
Some sample CDs
Nero CD-Burning sw
Fender Strat
Tak semi-acc
Active 3A HBH monitors
Rode NT1
A plectrum

Will soon have:
A sampler (I hope)

My ambition is to create a harmony of dance beats and hooks with guitar licks, chords, riffs. At the mo the thing I find most difficult to do is to discipline myself to achieve the sound I am looking for - which is always very hard to define. I get pulled in so many directions every 10 minutes - always experimenting.

I am moving (and renovating) to a small house in Dublin city centre at the moment and have been DAWless for 2 months. I no longer have fingernails, I curse alot and miss my little baby.

I hope 2001 is a great year for us all,

Keep these forums alive, they are the best.

Simon

Simon,
Way Kewl to have you here! I hope you make us a regular stop on your daily web surfing.
There are a lot of phenomenal pros on this
site, and the info you'll gather here will be invaluable. There are a lot of great things planned for the not-so-distant future here, and I'm quite sure you will REALLY dig it!
You've got a nice system, and I hope you get it up and running soon. Keep us posted on that. At least you've got a Strat and
Acid to get you through til then...HEHEHE...
Once you get your system back up, don't get discouraged with the experimentation.
THAT'S THE FUN PART! Sometimes, 'accidents'
during experimentation can be your Crown Jewels!
What other DAW sites do you frequent?
I'm on the DUC quite a bit, and also go into the Nuendo forum. There's a moderator on the Nuendo forum named Dimitri who's way cool.
He looks in on the RO from time to time, but
unfortunately he's way too busy to be able to moderate the Nuendo forum here on RO.
Truly our loss!
Soundscape has a 'users-only' forum that is fantastic. Chris Wright, one of the heads
of SS, was nice enough to grant me a 'read-only' access to their forum to check it out.
He told me that they'll be opening the forum soon to the general cyber-public for read-only access. Their BB is by far the best DAW
manufacturer's forum I've seen. Very professional and down-to-business. No whining, horsing-around, or bull***t.
I'll be looking forward to your posts here. Til then...Rock-on Brother...

PEACE

I was working with a producer & we started a song in his 001 (he just bought it & wanted me to show him the ropes). We intended it to be for demo-purposes only. We cut the entire song at his house. I then mixed the song on my TDM system (at my place)- without using any of the xtras, so I could re-open the session on his 001. I sent it to the producer- he loved it. I checked it at one of the major studios I work at- and it sounded just as good. We sent it to a director that wanted track in his movie/soundtrack. I saved the producer thousands of dollars since it was an all-end budget. ...just one of my experences

e-cue,
It's great to hear a producer of your caliber singing the praises of 001. I feel
that I made a very good purchase when I chose
001 to be my first DAW.
I have a good question for you...Toward the end of this year, I'm considering moving
up to a better, more advanced recording system. I already know that ProTools TDM
will be well out of my price range. I am
estimating that I'll have around $15,000 max
to play with. What system would you personally recommend?

Son,

for 15K you can get a pretty good TDM system: software, Core card, Farm card, 888 (or 2), USD.

Why not go that way?

The one thing, the only thing that bugs me about the 001 is that there are no virtual tracks. The midi is very basic as well, but thats kind of what you expect with pro tools. It was however dissapointing to see that there arent any virtual tracks.

Also, the a/d/a conversion is not of a tremendously high quality. But, for the price I feel it would suffice until one can afford better. I must say , there are soundcards that at least on paper appear higher quality for a similar price. Still, I wonder how much higher the quality really is at that price.

in some cases special dsp's for 1.5 ms latency, converters in the breakout box instead of on the card with a greater dynamic range, and other attributes I think diminish the 001's overall "great buy" status somewhat. This combined with poor drivers for vst and mas, and software that doesnt even have virtual tracks or mp support makes it look like even less of a killer deal.

Its pre amps arent very good. Really I wish theyd've just left them off the unit. But, they do come in handy occasionally. Not really an obstacle since if your on a 001 sized budget, youd only use those pre's when recording many tracks in a live situation in wich case tracks would be run through equally mediocre mixer pre's anyways.

It has limited usefulness for film and post work. Since I dont work in that vein, its really besides the point for me and I dont fully grasp the elements required to do that type of work, so I couldnt comment on why the 001's not up to the task. From what I've heard though, its not really up to that particular task.

For serious audio work some smaller project studio's do feature a 001, but have better converters attached. My guess is they have it to lure the naive with a bait and switch routine. Yes, how jaded of me to think like this; Really, for a group of musicians tring to get some stuff sounding good the only obstacle I see on the 001 for its price is lack of virtual tracks. Otherwise its a nice conception.

As you may already know if you use direct connect, or midi a lot pro tools is kind of clumsy in those respects. I was amazed just playing with the cubase demo how elegantly soft synths were integrated into the program, a far cry from pro tools LE.

I think for a band, or engineer looking to record various ensembles the 001's a mean machine, but for the songwriter/composer looking for a tool as one or two people to do it all using extensive midi and electronic tools that other set ups should be seriously considered.

Really? No virtual tracks? Is the software
limited to the hardware's channel count?
I'm disappointed.

Please share with us if there is any more
caveats of that kind in 001?

What plugin interfaces 001 software supports?
Can I use VST plugins, for example?

--bronx

No virtual tracks? RUBBISH.
You can do as many takes on each track as your hard drive space will allow. They lay ontop of each other and then if you want you can very easily chop them to bits and comp together the best bits of each take. Try doing that with a Roland etc.

Protools LE which comes with the 001 has 24 audio tracks, 128 midi tracks, and plenty of aux track for fx returns etc.

Plugins.... VST & DirectX plugs won't work. Protools uses file based Audiosuite plugs, and Real Time Audiosuite (RTAS)which as the name suggests can be altered real time whilst audio is playing and you can fully automate those alterations.
SUPER COOL!!!

If you need some good sound, hook up some better converters and your good to go.

If you need more i/o, smpte, more tracks, better midi or what not then dont get the 001. Its conceived as a "home" system. Motu doesnt make home systems, Nuendo plus rme as a 1-2 punch isnt a home system, and for a bit more emu's paris certainly isnt a home system. Ive got enough limitations as a home recordist, and working stiff, a "home system" is not one I need. This is not to say the 001 is bad for what it is. The problem is thats what it is, a home system.

TDM on the mix plus or mixcubed on the other hand is imho stil the best platform going when you look at everything all together. But that doesnt mean its the best for everybody, and it doesnt mean the 001's not good enough..just that the 001 hardware isnt as versatile as rme's or motu's... and the L.E. software is missing some features...If you dont need those features then its all good... but if you want any of those features dont get the 001. One feature even in the limited edition of pro tools is seamless, easy to use editing tools.

Btw, you can use VST and Dx plug ins in real time too. Also, with vst plug ins there are now vst cards by creamware, tc works, and ua audio. The tc powercore is reviewed in this months sound on sound btw...

Fair comments. Well put.