Roland dived into the effects world with a string of great product, the Roland SDE-1000 was their third entry in the world of digital delays, and it brought with it affordability with a great feature set.
- Wide Frequency Characteristic, Low Harmonic Distortion and Low Noise.
- Long Delay Time (Max. 1125ms)
- Highly Accurate Delay Time Display (10.1 ms step indication from 0 to 10mB).
- Memory function retaining up to four different panel settings.
- Modulation Fool Control and Preset Shift Jacks useful for live performance.
- Play Mate Jack that enables delay time setting with the Foot Control.
- The Hold Jack allows delay sound repetition.
- Delay Remote Jack that is useful for turning the Delay effect on or off.
- The Twin Output jacks useful for stereo performance such as Chorus effect.
The Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay uses a 12bit system with a less than CD sampling rate, which yields a lower frequency response than CD and is part of the reason for the sonic signature of the delayed signal.
Roland in fact developed and released the Roland SDE-1000 and SDE-3000 together, and both machines are clearly the exact same electronics in terms of converters and sonic performance.
The difference between them is in the memory capacity, and the SDE-3000 has double the memory, plus the display on the front being more informative on the Roland SDE-3000 and more of the controls are stored in the memory of the SDE-3000.
The Roland SDE-1000 sold for US$499 upon release, and the SDE-3000 sold for US$1099, a hefty price to pay for the extra features.
3 Responses
I still have mine It works great But only goes to -20 DB Pro studio gear goes to +4DB Still gives great delay sounds I got mineUsed in 1989 for $120
When the SDE-1000 came out it was a revelation. It was an amazing piece of equipment for about $350 when Lexicon and others were selling their DD’s at twice the price. Using this amazing piece of equipment was a joy. The chorus was luxurious and the delay was absolutely mind blowing. I didn’t modulate that much so I can’t speak to that but this was the piece of equipment that blew open the venerable doors to fantastic equipment at an affordable price. Kudos to Roland!
Hey I’ve had the SDE 3000a and 1000 for a few years and I just use the mixed outputs, can anyone tell me what and how the send and return feedback loop is for?
Also the playmate output and the modulation CV outputs?
Manuel only says it’s used for a wide variety of effects.
If the play mate output can be used for changing times what kind of pedal do you use etc?
Please help fellow delay enthusiasts:)
Mikeo