Latest User Reviews

As stated in the review on this website already: the unit is from the eighties and sounds like the eighties. since the the review is written by me, I need to emphasize that there are (were, back then) of course better and expensive sounding units on there market, but the RVD901 is the easy and straight forward one to got to. You need some authentic eighties gate reverb on you drum machine – take MODE4 and there it is. Even from today´s perspective, if you are not after all the vintage sound, MODE1 offers largest and widest sound. That one was and is still a surprise for me. Go through the review and check one out if it crosses your way. PS: I gave it just a 70% in reliability, since the RVD is pretty young in my studio setup. Since it survived until now, I assume it´ll last and will be stabile.

I have the 3030 without the digital I/O. This is the reason I am selling it, I need digital connections. One overlooked feature of this unit is the compression which allows for some very dramatic reshaping of the reverb bloom.

Some rather wild effects can be had with extreme compression settings. I admit I am not a fan of the reverb sound though. It is thin and doesn’t sit well in my mixes – mostly it gets totally buried. I am a fan of the other effects this unit can do though. The chorus, phaser and resonator are delightful on their own and good for making spacious synth pads.

They also allow for some more creative reverb sounds that are more interesting than the reverb on its own. I find the editing is fairly easy but the resolution of the parameter knob isn’t fine enough and makes for a bit of frustrating fiddling. The unit is also very quiet. If mine had the digital I/O I would keep it. It’s a decent box for unusual effects but for basic reverb duties it has no traction.

I have had 2 of these, both brand new. These units have well documented design problems. First thing I noticed is these units get VERY hot, even after not long being on. You could fry eggs on them. Both units ended up freezing up, or just plain powering off and on by themselves randomly. I returned them. Also the sound is not worth it. Very bland metallic verbs, and editing them did not help much. The older 330 series before them sounded smoother, tho kind of dark and nothing super special. This is opposite of that. My 330 series didnt have technical problems either. For those still willing to chance it on these 3030, there were 2 versions. One with optional digital in/outs called 3030D and one without just called 3030.

Too many people dismiss this reverb and I understand why, the presets suck. If you take the time to really dig in and get your hands dirty, this is a very good unit and very capable. The fact it is 24bit is also a huge bonus as it is generally very quiet. It is a pain to edit, but well worth the effort. The fact they can be picked up off eBay for song makes it a no brainer.

This reverb does not get a lot of love from those that own it, and it is not that it does anything particularly wrong, it is for me at least because it is very uninspiring in use. It does not have the funk of the Roland SRV-2000 or the pristine reverb tails of say the Lexicon 480. In a word, boring.

Over the years, Roland have made some really fantastic outboard gear and conversely dropped a few clangers with some pieces of crap. I’ve bought one of these because it was going so cheap and I really don’t know why I bothered, because I messed around with it for about 10 minutes and put it back in the box. (Best place for it)

For the money but they go for secondhand you can do a lot better. Yes it is nicely built but the UI , is appalling!. Sadly, Roland gave it the SRV prefix, but it’s not in the league sonically or operationally of its predecessors.

When I purchased my Roland SRV-330 and its companion SDE-330 second-hand back in 2000, I kindly declined to buy the third of the bunch, the SDX. What an omission it was! After many years of trawling the internet for one, I manage to get hold of one. Its flanging and chorusing algorithms are really stunning and there is a plethora of them to choose from (I would have loved to find some really *juicy* phase shifters included as well). I find myself going for the simulation of the fabled SDD-320 Dimension D all the time, simply because this emulation is absolutely stunning and authentic-sounding (it’s hands-down the best replacement for an original SDD, and believe me, I’ve had four of these!). The 3D RSS algorithms were, well, idiosyncratic enough to make the 330 series stand out from the rest but honestly, they add phase cancellation problems more often than once and should hence be avoided – it’s nice to have the option but there is no pressing need to use them. If you can find an SDX at a reasonable price, or any other member of the 330 family, don’t hesitate to give them a try.

Gorgeous sound with 3D spatial capabilities still unseen in any other unit. I mean, you can create sounds that bounce around behind you and even over your head using the tilt azimuth controls. The best use of a small LCD ever with a scroll function on function buttons that align with what your adjusting. The Audio quality is sublime and the reliability is Japanese boring dependable. It just works every frigg’n time and fires up instantly which can’t be said for much else in particular around this period. Some great patches that are useful for ambience and the widening ability of it are on par with Eventide and TC but there’s something special about this unit and the user interface, buttons and controls oozes quality. My fave bit of fx gear and I’ve had lots.

Beautiful sound from this truly ‘special effects’ delay. Rock-solid build quality and possibly the best user interface ever on any unit with page buttons and scrolling display to show you all the parameters in a left to right motion. Makes a lot more sense than going deep through menus. The 3D ping pong effects are unlike any other unit out there and the degree of control over every aspect of the sound makes it a very fun unit.

Using the RSS technology its possible to change the position front to back behind your head and below and above your head for some fantastic and dramatic effects. The wild doppler and chorus effects are stunning and as a vocal fattener it’s on par with the Eventide Harmonizer. Had mine since 1993 and I still use it in every production today.

I bought mine back int 2001 and have used it fairly regularly over the years. Very good effects unit with some really good presets. I use it more for its modulation treatments, but the reverbs are good also for certain things. Like most old Roland equipment it has held up well.

Got first unit and was so excited about the sound and particularly reverb algorithms so I bought second unit.