Highly recommend

I've been using a digi002 for about 8 or 9 years now. I have always liked having some faders to mix with, but have never been a fan of the hardware itself. A month ago I decided it was time to upgrade, so I purchased the D-Box along with a Lynx Aurora. The difference is staggering. I already had nice monitors, but man, I'm hearing things I never heard before. Most noticeably, the stereo field. Deeper and Wider. When I used to pan things there was a void between hard panning and center, where I really couldn't tell where I was placing an instrument. Now I can hear exactly what I'm doing.

Another noticeable improvement was my ability to hear reverb. The tails sound so much better. I can now make much better choices when mixing.

The bottom line is that being able to accurately hear what's going on in a recording is one of the most crucial steps to creating a great mix. This is why I purchased the unit, and it allowed me to do just that.

As far as the summing goes, after hearing what 8 channels can do, I immediately wished I had more. To put it simply, it helps to glue everything together, creates a more cohesive sound, all while enhancing the separation between instruments.

It's not a magic box, in the sense that it will fix a bad mix. It won't. It will definitely make a good mix sound better though.

All this for under $1500

I was looking at getting a X-desk for summing and my sweetwater rep introduced me to the Dbox. Analog Summing, monitor selector, talkback, headphone jacks, d/a conversion all for under $1500. Half the price of the X-desk, and its 1U.

As far as the sound, the summing surely does remove digital harshness, and the d/a conversion sounds better than my lynx aurora to me. My ONLY complaint is that I would of liked a dim switch, and maybe a way to run both my monitors to the sub. But I guess thats what Dbox mkII can add.

game changer

This little box is def a game changer. Worth the price of admission alone just for the monitoring d/a conversion. Incredible clarity (with proper room treatment) from the monitor section. Making mix decisions is SO much easier now. The summing is an amazing added bonus. Biggest advantage IMO is the depth you get in your miix from analog summing. This is def in the top 3 best upgrades i have made to my studio (room treatment & good monitors being the other 2!)

Makes My Studio Better!

I'm very happy and satisfied with all gear bought at Sweetwater, but I need to say that definitely this is one of my best buys. DBOX complements every piece of gear that I have, from interface thru eq and compressor, the signal monitoring is perfect everything in just one rackspace. Talkback, headphones, summing!!! everything and if you can buy it with the Bax EQ and you will hear what happen with a push of a single button. Thanks to my Sale's Engineer Andrew Stryffeler!!!! The Best Period.

THIS IS IT!

Well after being sterred by the folks at sweetwater, I decided to take a plunge into the world of summing. I also needed a monitor because I'm using a converter as my "interface" as it were for PT HD. First off, I wasn't impressed but I figured out little by little how exactly to work this thing and take advantage of the summing. Well last night I finallly got it down and without sounding too redundant like the other reviews this d box made took my mixes to a whole new level of PRISTINE AUDIO QUALITY AND DEPTH! I love it and I know you will love it too. Don't think too hard about it just get it you'll understand why once you begin mixing.

Mixing is fun again!!

Many of these reviews are spot on because they mention the increased clarity and depth, as well as the unit being a great monitor control. This is true. I was surprised because it also sped up my work flow. I was immediately able to pipe in several mixes during the first session and give them the golden touch they desperately deserved.

Great unit. The panning on the unit is fun, especially when recording live masters. I dig being able to plant a stem on 7 and 8 and then pan to add airiness to sections. Replaced the old headphone amp as well. Everything blends much better. Super clean sound. Mark at Sweetwater was nice enough to take a minute help me configure a few things. The summing was the easy part, routing may take a minute to figure out but after that your good to go. Get this and enjoy it. :)

One of the best pieces of Gear for any electronic musician/producer/remixer

I have to say after years of trying to get the most out of the sequencers including DP/Cubase/Logic and even Pro Tools this summing mixer is the absolute best way to mix down. The separation on the channels is just amazing and the overall clean response is thus far in my book just like mixing down on a "real mixing board". I produce/remix dance house music and the d box is an integral part of my studio. It allows me to sum my mix into 3 stereo and 2 mono channels for a total of 8 tracks which takes the hours of stemming your mix out of the equation it saves me time and oddly enough I am able to leave most of my synth work on midi. The response is unbelievable and until you hear it you will not believe. I was and still am totally blown away .I recommend the d box to any producer/remixer.

Now I know what I've been missing.

So I've been using a Presonus Central Station as my Monitor Control and D/A in the Mix Suite at my place for a while now. It has served me well, but I always felt like something was missing. Got the D-Box the other day, and HOLY CRAP, my mixes came alive. Soooo much more clarity and depth, I was really shocked. I knew it was going to be an upgrade, but I'm super happy. Haven't even had the chance to try out the summing yet, but this unit is worth the $$ for the D/A and monitor control alone.

Simply Amazing!

I had my doubts from doing research on summing, but once I had this set up, the right way, I was totally blown away. Insane top end and depth! I almost cried!

I was looking for just a summing mixer but what I got was that plus the most genius monitor control around. You can compare to other sources quick and easily. The switches are awesome cause if you hold down for more than 3 seconds it will go right back to the source before automatically. Talk about efficient, time saving, and accurate.

If your looking for the most cost effective upgrade to any studio, this is it. Alright now I'm crying. It's so beautiful.

You have to buy it. Yes, you have to.

Amazing. Stunning. Superb. Insert tons of positive words here. I've never thought my aging 002 rig could sound THIS GOOD! Scratch that... sound THIS AMAZING! I unboxed it, racked it, and within a short while had a mix that I'm working on playing through this thing, and it was astounding what I heard. The stereo field opened up, clarity and definition were restored to the acoustic guitars and vocals, I discovered these things called drums, which actually came through the mix the way they do on any professionally recorded track. WOW! Make sure you get your hands on this box, and a bunch of XLR cables to hook up your stuff. This came as a suggestion from my Sales Engineer, and I couldn't be more grateful that I'd spent this chunk of my savings with them.... and I can't wait to do it ALL over again!

BUY THIS....trust me! :)

Own this!

I got the D-Box to serve 2 purposes. The first of which was as a monitor controller. Clearly, it does this well - that's what it's designed to do. I also got it to help me with live recordings to create a 2 channel back up mix using the on-board summing mixer. Since most of the recordings I do are live, symphonic recordings direct to DAW, I needed a 2 track backup in case the computer failed on-location.

In this case, I take one of the outputs of the True Systems Precision 8 and go into the DAW. The other 8 channels go into the D-Box and get summed into the Korg MR-1000.

My first trial run of this turned out fantastic! It happened to make one of the best 2-track bounces I've ever heard. The DSD master 2 track bounce far exceeded the quality of the multi-track mix as far as realism, depth, width and overall sense of space and "you are there."

The talk back mic feature turned out to be a real bonus as I had been taking another piece of gear around with me to perform that function - I no longer need it and the rig is that much smaller and more portable now.

The real winner though is the external summing for use in post production. I've done a few mixes including a highly critical project for a famous Hollywood composer where I'd mix down through the D-Box. The mixes are simply awesome! None of the digital graininess that's usually there, a HUGE sound that's closer to the original than anything I've ever experienced, and GOBS of headroom if you need it.

Trust me - if you're looking for a monitor controller, a summing mixer, either or both - BUY THIS UNIT.

On top of that, I've had a few conversations with teh guys at Dangerous since having bought this. They're very quick to reply to e-mails and quite eager to work with their clients.

I love companies like this that stand behind their stuff!

D Box Rules

Let me start with a simple statement of fact. The D-Box rules. Dangerous Music is the real deal and has made a HUGE difference in the way I mix and produce music. Before I go into specifics I would like to rant for just a moment:

Before I took the dive and bought my D-Box I searched for reviews and/or sales people to give me the scoop on this box. I got conflicting information. Some raved about it and some debated if it was indeed beneficial to sum in analog. One salesperson told me that having only 8 channels of summing doesn't make that much of a difference. One said it was the best purchase he ever made. Another wrote that summing analog verse mixing “in the box” was a matter of preference, and then went on to say that if you like your mixes bigger, deeper, wider with more punch than you'll probably prefer a D-Box. That baffles me because it seems to me that bigger, deeper, wider with more punch is just plain better period. Maybe it's just me. I have also heard the argument that you can't A/B your results summing in vs. out of the box because they are two different ways to mix. This is true but it dosn't mean you can't compare them! Do the best mix you can in the D-Box, and then do the best mix you can “in the box.” Then take these two stereo mixes, set them side-by-side and listen. The results are pretty astounding to me. I don't understand the debate. Mixing in the D-Box is “mo’ betta” period; it's a no-brainer. It's been the single most helpful piece of gear I have bought to move me towards a big, professional sound. Now for specifics:

My rig is a Digi 002 with a Black Lion Signature Series mod. A pretty hot rig on it's own I might add. I have the JBL LSR series monitors including the subwoofer with room correction software. My room is fully treated with Owens Corning 705 bass traps wall to ceiling and 703 mid high traps. The room sounds good and is pretty darn accurate. Before I got the D-Box I was using a Presonus Central Station for monitor control.

The Build
Simple, strong, precise and elegant. Great switches, knobs etc. Good feel. Quality, quality quality.

Monitoring.
I took the time to switch cables back and forth from the Central Station to the D-Box to compare the two. This is probably the most obvious difference you'll hear right off the bat. The Central Station is fine and is a good deal for the money, but listening through the D-Box is a different experience altogether. When you listen on the D-Box the sound creeps out and wraps it's self around you; it surrounds you. I'm guessing that's what they call imaging. When you switch back to the Central Station it feels like the music runs back into the speakers like frightened children. Everything was easier for me to hear and place in the stereo field. Another major plus was hearing and feeling the low-end really come through. I don't know how or why but the bottom was much bigger. It's not hyped low-end, it's bigger, natural low-end that was somehow lost before the D-Box came into my life.



Summing
Numerous companies make summing boxes and it's important not to compare a lesser quality-summing box to Dangerous. When you think Dangerous think very high-end, like Apogee, Neumann, or Empirical Labs. The sound is clean, musical but not colored. It's not about sounding “Brown” or “Warm and fuzzy” like the endless array of vintage modeling gear that's out there. It's transparent in it's coloring, but the sonic quality that is achieved through it is tangible and profound. First of all you don't just send your final mix through the D-Box and expect some kind of huge sonic maximizer effect. Summing through the D Box makes a huge difference but again - if you are starting with a song that you have already done in the box it is important that you remix your song (including eq and compression settings) to really hear what it does. What rocks my world about this box is that it has changed the way I hear and mix in a FUNDEMENTAL way. When I mixed in the box I all ways felt like I needed to pull everything back. Things generally sounded noisy, and harsh to me. The first thing I noticed about the D-Box mix was it's sonic clarity - everything had it's place. Then I started pushing my faders harder and reworking my EQ and compression. Another big aha! moment was boosting some low-end and actually hearing it jump out at me. I was like “Where have you been all my life!” I am much more willing now to boost EQ where as before everything was a battle of harshness. It's a real relief to be able to boost the high-end of a vocal and have it shimmer instead of sizzle my eyebrows off. I am also more willing to compress/limit mixes and push volume more. The increased headroom allows me to push faders harder and hear my transients much better. Working faders feels much more fluid/natural/organic to me now that I use the D Box. Be careful not to push your converters too hard going back into your digital rig. I use the new T Rack S3 Mastering plug in to view my RMS signal levels coming back in. I compared mixes summed “in the box” and through the D-Box repeatedly. I did my best on both platforms. The D-Box was bigger, cleaner, deeper, wider and more muscular. As I said before “mo’ betta!” Another way to “get” what the D-Box does is to listen to just the drum pair after summing. Just focus on the kick and snare transients- you'll see what I mean.

Headphone Amp
Awesome. Wish there were more than two.

Talkback
Awesome

Summary
We as musicians and sound engineers who care about sound need a revolution. I'm tired of lousy digital mp3 downloads, tired of an entire generation that thinks it's their god given right to steal our work, and tired of the paradigm that “OK” is good enough. For those who seek to create and listen to GREAT SOUNDING recordings I suggest you get a D-Box. Dangerous is a fabulous company with an exceptional product.

Improvement = Impressed.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when adding the DBox into my setup, but I have to say after a month or so I'm really impressed. Shortly prior to adding the DBox I added the LYNX Aurora 8. These two pieces of gear have taken my studio setup to a whole new level.

If you're looking for analog summing solutions check into this piece of gear. Not to mention the headphone outputs are superb as well as the talkback functionality. Great stuff!