Digidesign 11 Rack--Clarification

When I originally wrote about the Digidesign 11 Rack I complained about the dearth of inputs.

"[T]his unit's cost is in line with 003 line of LE interfaces, although it has only two line inputs and one mic pre-amp."

"If [guitarists] do want ProTools will the be happy with 11R's rather narrow set of inputs?"

"[I]f I am going to drop the required change for an LE interface, even if it comes with professional quality modeling, I want to be able to plug in more than one mic."

Taking another look at the specs on Digidesign's web site, I find this.

"Supports up to 8 simultaneous channels of high-resolution recording up to 24-bit/96 kHz"

In addition to the line and mic inputs it also has digital I/O, which I previously ignored. While this does not bring it into competition with the 003R+ Factory, the separate AES/EBU and SPDIF inputs do mean you can connect other interfaces, A/D converters or mic pre's with on-board converters to expand the number of analog sources into the 11 Rack. The reason I am comparing the 11R to the 003R+ is that while the 11R can work with other gear to bring eight analog sources into Pro Tools the 003R+ has eight of it's own mic pre's and is up to that task (and more) on its own.

So, I sold the 11 Rack a little short. You are not limited to its analog inputs. If you thought you might want to use non-Digidesign mic pre's anyway, this is truly good news.