Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Being unemployed at the moment, I've plenty of time to sit around dreaming up what gear I ought to start wasting my money on once I have an income again.

Lately I've been looking at the Roland SDE-330, which is supposed to be a 3-D delay effect. Seems like it could be cool, but I haven't had much luck finding any audio samples of it in action. Does anyone here have experience with one of these things? How convincing is the "3-D"? Can you point me to any good audio demos of it? And, are there any other delay units (hardware) that do the 3-D thing?

pricklyrobot wrote:Being unemployed at the moment, I've plenty of time to sit around dreaming up what gear I ought to start wasting my money on once I have an income again.

I know this mental place.

pricklyrobot wrote:Lately I've been looking at the Roland SDE-330, which is supposed to be a 3-D delay effect. Seems like it could be cool, but I haven't had much luck finding any audio samples of it in action. Does anyone here have experience with one of these things? How convincing is the "3-D"? Can you point me to any good audio demos of it? And, are there any other delay units (hardware) that do the 3-D thing?

I own and use a Roland SDE-330 Dimensional Delay (alongside Roland's SDX-330 Dimensional Expander, SRV-330 Dimensional Reverb, RSS-10 Sound Space Processor, and RSS-303 RSS Ambience System).

The Roland SDE-330 Dimensional Delay has 19 on-board algorithms:

1. Simple 3D Delay
2. Simple Delay
3. Stereo 3D Delay
4. Stereo Delay
5. 8 Tap 3D Delay
6. 8 Tap Delay
7. Quad 3D Delay
8. Quad Delay
9. Duck 3D Delay
10. Duck Delay
11. 4 Pitch Shift 3D Delay
12. 4 Pitch Shift Delay
13. Reverse 3D Delay
14. Reverse Delay
15. Mono 3D Non Linear
16. Mono Non Linear
17. Stereo 3D Non Linear
18. Stereo Non Linear
19. Precision Delay

Unfortunately, the Parameter Manual which describes these algos is not online yet. That said, it is not a difficult unit to use, and each of these algos is easy enough to explore.

The RSS effect in the SDE, SDX, and SRV is subtle, but it brings something to the sound field that is unique, and to my ear, pleasing. It is not a primary reason to buy these units - they are instead all well-recommended because of their total sonic nature and usability, aside from the RSS 3D processing itself. I own other, higher-end signal processors that do delay, chorus, and reverb, but these units have found a place among my fx gear and they are going nowhere.

It should also be noted that the MIDI control on these units is excellent and easy to set up. Controlling tap pan spread, feedback, and pitch-shift from a mod wheel is expressive and musical.

I don't know of any online demos. I would be happy to create some, but right now my SDE-330 (along with other gear) is in storage because of a relocation.

If you want a 3D unit such that you can create 3D environment reverbs and move sound sources in a 3D space with XYZ motion paths and doppler effects, the Roland RSS-10 Sound Space Processor can do it. That said, it has no front-panel programming and relies on computer apps for legacy OSes to be programmed, i.e., it is a PITA to use in a "current" studio. The other units I mentioned, the SDX, SDE, SRV, and RSS-303, are all programmable from their front panel.

If you like the sound of Roland gear from 1991-1994, e.g., JD-800/990 and S-7xx, or you like the sound of certain "ambient" artists from the same time period, e.g. The Orb, Thomas Fehlmann, Keiichi Suzuki, FFWD, then my guess is you would like the sound of this group of processors.

Another killer dedicated delay to consider that has a sound and function all its own is the Symetrix 606.

Hope that helps.



cheers,
Ian

Very helpful, thanks for the in-depth run-down. The MIDI control sounds especially appealing. I'm currently using an old Digitech RDS-1900, it's a decent enough unit for the $40 I paid for it, but something with a bit more control would definitely be nice. I'll put the Symetrix on my list of things to check out as well.

I just picked up a Nord Micro Modular, with some money that I had sitting around my PayPal account, so that should be enough to keep me busy (between obsessively checking the Help Wanted section every 20 minutes, for new ads) until the cash starts flowing—or dribbling, as the case may be—in again

pricklyrobot wrote:Very helpful, thanks for the in-depth run-down.

You are most welcome.

pricklyrobot wrote:The MIDI control sounds especially appealing.

Yea, all three (SDX, SDE, and SRV) have great real-time control. You can define the controller and how the range is scaled to the params so if you want the whole travel of a mod wheel to only change something 10% of its own value, you can - and you get 5 of these mappings.

I forgot to mention, all of these units also have per-patch 3-band parametric EQ - very handy for not just gentle shaping, but radical tone shifts to achieve "character" effects.

pricklyrobot wrote:I'll put the Symetrix on my list of things to check out as well.

The UI is not so good (even with knobs), but the sound? Fantastic I think. A twin-engine delay with resonant multimode filters, LFOs, a mod matrix, and feedback paths, all with MIDI control, and because you have 2 engines with LFOs, it does great chorus and flange effects too.

pricklyrobot wrote:I just picked up a Nord Micro Modular, with some money that I had sitting around my PayPal account, so that should be enough to keep me busy...

Congrats. The Nord Mod is a personal favorite of mine, both for what it can do as well as how it sounds. Enjoy it!

I'll wish both of us luck with the jobsearch.


cheers,
Ian

aeon wrote:

pricklyrobot wrote:The MIDI control sounds especially appealing.

Yea, all three (SDX, SDE, and SRV) have great real-time control. You can define the controller and how the range is scaled to the params so if you want the whole travel of a mod wheel to only change something 10% of its own value, you can - and you get 5 of these mappings.

Excellent, I picked up one of those Behringer knob boxes (BCR2000) to go with the Nord Mod, seems like it would be a good match with the SDE as well.

aeon wrote:I'll wish both of us luck with the jobsearch.

Indeed. May both our futures be filled copious amounts of disposable income.

pricklyrobot wrote:

aeon wrote:I'll wish both of us luck with the jobsearch.

Indeed. May both our futures be filled copious amounts of disposable income.

You guys too? :violent2:

This is the first time I have ever heard of this Roland SDE-330 Dimensional Space Delay. It sounds like something out of Robotech. This 3D environment business sounds awesome...or so I mean the concept sounds awesome since I've never heard one.