1980s Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay effects unit. Great working order. Some finish marks from rack screws and use, two missing rubber pads from the bottom.
The Roland SDE-1000 was one of the Japanese company’s first effects unit – a digital delay line. Roland DDLs became fairly common in London studios in the 1980s and were some of the first Japanese-made effects to be found in studios.

Despite being early, cutting-edge devices, these Roland delay lines were great units and proved to be extremely reliable. Sound quality was excellent with a smooth, very analogue sound. Maximum delay time is 374 mS in standard mode (747 mS in x2 mode) and 605 / 1210 mS using the x1.5 rear panel control. The sound of the SDE in X2 mode is quite reminiscent of a slow tape delay, and increasing feedback results in a gradually decaying, dulling repeat – again, like tape. It sounds great

A common feature of early digital delays was the ability to double the delay time (and halve the bandwidth) by changing the clocking. The SDE-1000 goes one better with a hidden rear-panel delay time control which is variable from x1 to x1.5.

Delay time is displayed on a 4-digit blue fluorescent display with an Up – Down rocker switch to alter delay settings. The VCO has speed & depth controls. This can give deep chorusing effects or a gently shifting delay with phasing. Unlike the SDE-2000, the 1000 has memories to store user presets