Conference napalm::guitar

  I have had one of the Digitech Digital Delays since Sept. 1986 and
  have been VERY pleased with it.

  It is the RDS 3600 model, which has just under 8 sec advertised
  delay capability.  According the the delay display on mine though
  I can get just over 8 secs delay (max) out of it.

  I got a great deal on it, around $275, as I remember (It was mixed in
  with some other deals and I have a little difficulty determining what 
  was what...).

  It's very clean and has an led display to show delay time.  I have it 
  in a flight case that's been banged around quite a bit and it's 
  sustained no problems.  As far as the bandwidth, the max delay time 
  is switch selectable for the long delay range and this determines the 
  bandwidth you get.  I believe that in the long (8sec) range the bandwidth 
  is down to about 4 mhz, while in a smaller (1.6 sec max) range it gets up
  around 15-16.  I don't have the specs available right now but if anyones
  interested I can get them in a couple of weeks.

  This one doesn't do sampling, but it will fnlange and chorus with the 
  best.  My only complaint (aside from the 2-3 months I had to wait for
  it) is that the delay speed (within a particular range) is only selectable
  by using a pot.  This makes it difficult to get an exact delay time.  It
  also seems to wander a small bit over time on a particular delay setting.

  But for my purposes it's absolutely fantastic!  I love it!

  Greg

    These aren't necessarily in the $300 range as stated above, but who
    besides those below has 8 second samplers/delays?
    
    DigiTech PDS 8000
    DigiTech RDS 3600
    Roland SDE 3000*    - this seems to be the best of the affordable
    TC Electronics xxxx?
    
    Who else competes in this space?
    
    Mike

    I just talked with a "technical" sales rep at DigiTech.  He said that
    the:
    
    - RDS 7.6 (as in 7.6+ seconds in a rack unit) lists for $299, has a 15KHz 
      bandwidth, and is being discontinued with a replacement unit pending.
    
    - PDS 8000 (as in 8 seconds) pedal lists for $295 and also has a 15KHz
      bandwidth.  I could've sworn that it was 7KHz.
    
    Mike

    Does anyone know if the DigiTech RDS 7.6 comes with a pedal or do you
    have to buy a MIDI pedal?
    
    In case anyone is keeping score:
    
    Unit                 Bandwidth         MLP
    ----                 ---------         ---
    DigiTech PDS 8000      15KHz           $295      pedal
    DigiTech RDS 7.6       15KHz           $299      rack
    Roland SDE 3000        20KHz         $1,095      rack

    
    No pedal, it's not MIDI.

    So I take it that you have to tweak it manually?
    
    Mike

    Digitech just released the RDS-8000 Time Machine.  This is a rackmount
    8 second sampler/delay for under $300.  It does other effects too, but
    I'm not sure how many at once.  No details on MIDI either, but I bet it
    has it.
    
    Mike

Anybody else have any info on the Digitech RDS-8000 or the Roland SDE-3000?
I'm interested in a rack mount digital delay that has these features:

   Responds to midi program change (of course ;^)  )
   Over 2 seconds delay time
   Has infinite repeat
   Has a "mix" parameter with every patch
   High bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio
   Possibly has the capability to set delay time with a footswitch (step on the
   switch twice - the interval between steps becomes your delay time)

I don't care about flange/chorus.  Are there any other units that have most of
these features?

thanks..   /marc

    yeah the RDS-8000 is $600 cheaper than the SDE-3000 ;-)
    
    I think only the SDE-3000 does all you want, plus it has presets.  The
    TC Electronics 2290 or Eventide H3000 might do it too, but those are
    $mega$.
    
    Mike

    Does the RDS-8000 take midi control?  I didn't think it did.
    
    gh