The Roland Space Echo is a line of tape delay units introduced by Roland Corporation in 1974.
Whereas prior tape delay effects used tape reels, the Space Echo uses a free-running tape transport system. This reduces tape wear, noise, and wow and flutter, and made the units more reliable and easy to transport. Some units also feature spring reverb and chorus effects.
Space Echo units have been used in genres such as reggae, dub, trip hop, post-punk and experimental rock. In 2007, the Roland subsidiary Boss began producing Space Echo pedals that recreate the sounds of the original units.
Production
thumb|RE-501 Chorus Echo
In 1960, the Japanese engineer Ikutaro Kakehashi founded Ace Electronic Industries. He began selling tape delay devices, such as the Ace Tone EC-1 Echo Chamber, in the late 1960s. In 1972, Kakehashi founded Roland Corporation. In 1973, Roland released the RE-100 and RE-200 tape delay units, which used a short 1/4" tape loop. Users may adjust the bass and treble levels on the output sound, the number of echo repeats, the length of each echo, and the ratio of the echo and reverb sounds.
The American guitarist Brian Setzer used the Space Echo to recreate the slapback sound distinctive to rockabilly music, and the Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley used it to create "deep, throbbing" echoes. The English alternative rock bands Radiohead and Portishead used the Space Echo's tape speed controls to create pitch-shifting effects.
References
External links
- Inside the Roland RE-201 Space Echo (interactive Blend4Web infographic)