Roland R-880 (1989)

[chrisNova777]

Released: 1989
Quantization: 16 Bit AD, 18 Bit DA
Sampling Frequency: 48kHz
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
Dynamic Range: 90dB
THD: Below 0.015%

http://www.vintagedigital.com.au/roland-r-880-digital-reverb/

[chrisNova777]

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/roland-r880/2205

WITHOUT A DOUBT reverb is the most important effect currently in use in a recording studio. It can make the difference between a good track and a good track, if you know what I mean. And with reverb, as with many other aspects of music, fashion has its place. Ask the purists and you'll be told that current reverb styles have too much top end - hence the inclusion of multi-band sweep EQ on many semi-pro units such as the REV7 and Roland SRV 2000.

For far too long now, the likes of Lexicon and AMS have ruled the roost when it has come to fully pro reverb units - with price tags to match - and while the bottom to mid end of the market has been more than catered for, there has been space for a machine with excellent sound quality at the right price. This appears to have arrived in the form of the Roland R880 and graphic controller GC8.

Description


THE R880 IS a two audio input, four audio output reverb unit with input A feeding outputs 1 and 2, and input B feeding outputs 3 and 4. Inputs and outputs appear as four different types of connectors, namely balanced cannon, unbalanced jack, coaxial digital (SPdif) and Roland's proprietary optical digital. The front panel has 12-segment input level LEDs for each channel, applicable only to analogue inputs, and channel 1-4 output metering of a similar nature. A MIDI channel selector and display, and analogue input rotary are the only other front-panel controls. The rear panel houses the connectors, MIDI sockets (in/out), RRC DIN sockets (for connection to the GC8 remote control unit and daisy-chaining to other R880s) and a unigain switch for level matching (-20/+4 dBm).

Overview


AN R880 CONSISTS of two independent effects blocks, each of which has an audio input (A or B) and can select one of the various main effects modules - namely reverb, plate and non-linear - along with a mixture of secondary units chosen from equalisation, delay, compressor/gate mixer and chorus. The basis of an effect is an algorithm which sets up the units to be included within a block, including their interconnections and various unit levels. There are editable parameters for each unit.

The GC8 is a Graphic Controller capable of controlling all the functions of up to 16 R880s operating on different MIDI channels. The panel of this remote consists of five function keys with a shift button; four brown cursor keys for moving around the display and two white cursor keys for changing to upper and lower levels of pages; a numeric pad; four keys labelled Help, Control, Cancel and Enter; and five unlabelled multi-purpose rotaries. The 255X63 character display will show up to 99 internal memories and card memories (using D256/128 cards). The unit uses software booted up from a ROM card (allowing future improvements to be made).