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Digidesign has formally announced their 003 product group. The 003 Factory [pictured left] is a table top firewire device that features eight touch sensitive motorized faders.

Additional features include: 24bit/96kHz resolution, eight analog inputs, 8 analog outputs, S/PDIF optical I/O, four mic inputs with 48v phantom power, BNC Word Clock I/O, and dual headphone monitoring support. Inserts and sends are easily. assigned directly form the control surface. The 003 Rack variation is housed in 2U rackmount chassis and features the same I/O configuration as the Factory.

As I read into this, it appears that the Factory includes Digidesign’s Premium Software Bundle, adding $3k of professional plugins to the mix. This device will retail for $2495 US. The Rack interface is priced at $1295 US, and it is also available with the same advanced plugin bundle for an additional $400.

Digidesign is offering a special program that makes it easy for current LE users, or users of third-party systems to upgrade to any new 003 system. No specific release date has been specified.

Needless to say that ProTools LE is included with both units.