Some studio boxes are famous; the Dimension D is famous for being invisible. Roland's SDD-320 does not warble or swirl like an ordinary chorus; it uses two synced bucket-brigade delay lines and a trapezoidal LFO to gently widen mono into rich, three-dimensional stereo, without the obvious movement that gives chorus away. That subtlety made it the secret weapon of the early 80s: Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel all reached for it, and it defined the clean guitar, piano and vocal sound of the era. Four mode buttons, combinable, and impossible to make sound bad. Universal Audio modelled it; nothing quite matches the real rack. Genuinely hard to find now.

FEATURES & PROS:

• The Dimension Effect: Two synced BBD delay lines and a trapezoidal LFO create width and depth without obvious chorus warble.
• Four Combinable Modes: Mode 1 is the gentlest, Mode 4 the strongest, and you can stack buttons for in-between shades.
• Mono-to-Stereo Magic: Turns a single source into a sound that fills the whole stereo field.
• Studio Secret Weapon: The early-80s go-to for vocals, piano and clean guitar, used by Eno, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.
• Dead Simple: Four buttons, impossible to dial in a bad result.
• Pro I/O: Balanced XLR and jack ins and outs, switchable mono or stereo.
• Very Quiet: Signal-to-noise better than 95dB for a clean, transparent effect.

THE WORD: Vintage Digital calls the SDD-320 quite possibly the greatest chorus processor ever made, the secret-weapon sweetener behind countless early-80s records. Read more at Vintage Digital.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Year: introduced 1979
• Type: analog (BBD) stereo dimension/chorus processor, rackmount
• Modes: four dimension modes, individually selectable and combinable
• Process: dual synced delay lines with trapezoidal LFO and compander
• I/O: balanced XLR and 1/4" jack, in and out
• Operation: mono or stereo (rear switch)
• Signal to noise: greater than 95dB (A-weighted)
• Control: remote EFFECT/NORMAL switching
• Condition note: vintage unit; may benefit from a service