In modern terms its digital processing inevitably reveals its age, but that character is also part of its continuing usefulness. In my experience, it is nowhere near as smooth or silky as a good modern digital reverb, yet it can sound truly wonderful on sources such as snare drums and brass. Like any reverb, the important question is not whether it is universally good or bad, but whether its particular character suits the sound being treated.
A seriously programmable early digital reverb
The Roland SRV-2000 was Roland’s first digital reverb unit, and its design was ambitious. Rather than limiting the user to a small selection of fixed spaces, it allowed up to 32 complete reverb settings to be stored and recalled. Memories could be selected from the front panel, by footswitch or through MIDI program change messages, making the unit equally applicable to studio automation and live keyboard or electronic instrument systems.
The basic reverb structures included two plate simulations, five halls and eight room simulations. The room size parameter affected characteristics such as reflection spacing, colouration and density rather than simply altering decay time. The Roland SRV-2000 could therefore produce different spatial characteristics without necessarily tying room size directly to reverberation length. Maximum decay extended to 99 seconds, with an Infinite function capable of freezing the reverberant sound and allowing further material to be layered into it.
Roland also provided a Non-Linear mode for gated and other deliberately unnatural reverberation effects. This considerably expanded the Roland SRV-2000 beyond conventional room simulation and made it particularly suited to the processed drum sounds that had become an important part of contemporary production.
More than presets
One of the Roland SRV-2000’s strongest features was the amount of control available beneath its basic programs. Reverb density could be varied, while the behaviour of the early reflections could be altered through parameters governing their level, attack characteristics and density. These controls allowed the user to change the way a reverberant environment developed after the original signal rather than merely selecting a decay time and accepting everything else Roland had programmed.
Much of this deeper programming was accessed through the appropriately named Further mode. Here the Roland SRV-2000 exposed parameters governing the density of the reverb, the density and level of early reflections, their attack curve and their timing in relation to the main reverberant field. This was unusually detailed access for a processor in its price class and provided considerably greater scope for constructing unusual spaces and effects.
There was also a Room Simulator function designed to establish a more naturally balanced combination of parameters for the selected room. It provided a useful starting point, although changing to Room Simulator could overwrite previously entered parameter values, making comparisons awkward unless the original setting had first been stored in one of the memories.
Programmable equalisation
The integrated equalisation section was another important part of the Roland SRV-2000’s architecture. Rather than treating EQ as a simple analogue filter around the reverb processor, the filters were digitally processed as part of the system. The equalisation settings were stored along with the reverb program, allowing an entire effect, including its spectral balance, to be recalled as one patch.
This mattered because frequency shaping is fundamental to creating convincing reverberation. Real spaces do not reflect every frequency equally, and the Roland SRV-2000 also provided extensive high-frequency damping control. Between the programmable equalisation and damping facilities, reverberation could be made progressively darker or brighter and tailored considerably more closely to the source material.
MIDI and remote control
MIDI implementation was relatively sophisticated for a reverb processor of this period. The Roland SRV-2000 could operate in Omni mode or respond to an individual MIDI channel, with its 32 memories recalled through program change messages. This allowed a keyboard patch change, for example, to call up a corresponding reverb program automatically. One limitation was that the reverb output muted during a memory change, so transitions between different programs were not seamless.
Five rear-panel footswitch connections provided additional control. These could be used for preset stepping, switching delay-related functions and engaging the Infinite mode. The processor accepted either +4 dBm studio signals or -20 dBm instrument and semi-professional levels, with mono input and stereo output operation.
Digital architecture and sound
The Roland SRV-2000 used 16-bit linear conversion and 28-bit parallel arithmetic processing. Contemporary testing found its noise and distortion performance impressive, with a quoted dynamic range of 90 dB. Its stereo output was also capable of producing considerable spatial width and front-to-back perspective.
Period testing was not universally flattering, however. Percussive signals could expose weaknesses in some of the Concert Hall algorithms, including audible reflection patterns, while lower reflection density and feedback-like characteristics could become apparent in certain settings. Careful manipulation of the Further parameters, or selecting the Plate and Room programs instead, could substantially improve the result.
Those observations make particular sense when hearing the Roland SRV-2000 today. Modern digital reverbs can produce extraordinarily dense and smooth decay tails, and against them the Roland can sound distinctly early-digital. It is not as smooth or silky as a good contemporary processor, and trying to force it into that role rather misses the point.
Where I find the Roland SRV-2000 genuinely enjoyable is on sources where its character becomes part of the effect. Snare drums can work particularly well, where the more obvious reflection structure and non-linear capabilities can help the reverb cut through rather than disappearing behind the source. Brass can also benefit enormously from the Roland’s character. The result is not necessarily an invisible simulation of a perfect acoustic space, but something with personality.
That distinction is important. No reverb is ideal for every source. A unit that sounds beautiful on vocals may be uninspiring on drums, while something comparatively coarse on exposed material can be exactly what a snare, brass section or electronic instrument requires. The Roland SRV-2000 is a particularly good example of why keeping different reverbs available can be more useful than searching for a single supposedly perfect processor.
Gated, non-linear and experimental effects
The Roland SRV-2000 was especially strong when used creatively rather than purely as a natural room simulator. Its non-linear facilities could produce gated reverberation, while combinations of short decay times, altered attack characteristics and strong initial reflections could approximate a reverse-envelope effect. Period testing found this particularly effective on snare drums, especially when some pre-delay was introduced.
The ability to manipulate density and early-reflection behaviour also allowed deliberately artificial spaces to be constructed. At extreme settings the processor could produce highly coloured, obviously synthetic environments rather than conventional halls or rooms. This flexibility was considered one of the defining characteristics of the SRV-2000, although it also meant that poor parameter combinations could produce distinctly unattractive results. In other words, considerable control brought considerable opportunity to get things wrong. The SRV-2000 rewarded somebody prepared to understand what its parameters actually did.
Operation
The front panel reflected the complexity of the processor. Multiple numerical displays allowed several parameter values to be viewed simultaneously, with rocker switches used to increase or decrease individual settings. Pressing both sides of a switch increased the stepping speed, making larger changes faster to enter.
Despite its depth, the basic operating concept was considered logical. The difficulty came from the sheer number of available parameters and the knowledge required to use them effectively. Sixteen factory programs provided starting points and could be restored if overwritten, making it possible to obtain useful results before learning every aspect of the processor. Heat generation was also noted during extended operation, something worth considering when installing the processor among other rack equipment.
The Roland SRV-2000 today
Judged purely by modern standards of realism and smoothness, the Roland SRV-2000 has inevitably been surpassed. Digital reverb processing has advanced enormously, particularly in reflection density, decay smoothness and the ability to create convincing acoustic spaces without obvious artefacts. But that does not make the SRV-2000 obsolete.
Its value today lies partly in precisely those characteristics that once represented technical limitations. The slightly exposed structure of its reverberation, its programmable early reflections, non-linear effects, EQ and extensive parameter control give it an identifiable character that is very different from a modern software reverb designed to disappear naturally into a mix.
For smooth vocal ambience or an invisible orchestral hall, there are far more convincing modern choices. For snare drums, brass, synthesizers, deliberately artificial spaces and effects that are supposed to be heard rather than hidden, the Roland SRV-2000 can still be extremely effective.
That is ultimately the most useful way to view it. The Roland SRV-2000 is not a modern reverb trapped in an old box. It is an early programmable digital reverb with its own strengths, weaknesses and personality, and using it successfully means choosing material that benefits from those characteristics rather than expecting it to behave like a contemporary processor.