Roland Dimension D In-a-Box

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PmCimini
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Post by PmCimini »

This pedal is a clone of the famous Roland Dimension D chorus. The Dimension D was a rackmount chorus released in the late 70's, part of Roland's Studio series (The Roland Rack), and since then, it achieved huge fame, defining many music styles of the 80's.

If you never heard about the Dimension D, it is a really SUBTLE chorus, something very different than what you would find when playing through other "liquid" choruses, for example. Considered by many the best analogue chorus ever, this effect gives your equipment a wide profound sound. It has stereo inputs and outputs, and it is a must-have in your stereo setup. It may even sound reverb-ish to some, but this is the gear that defined the lush kind of chorus.

The Dimension D is one of the most valuable studio-gems. Using legendary Roland pristine audio technology, you can see this thing get prices over $900 easily (and you won't see many around). But now, you can have it for a fraction of that price, and the best of all, now you can put it in your pedalboard (sorry rack aficionados, but I won't manufacture rackmount versions).

Over the past months, I designed the Dimension D In-a-Box pedal, incorporating all of the original Dimension D's features inside a stompbox. This analogue pedal has an amazing fidelity towards the original circuit, but it also has improved features, such as the better components, better design, and the intelligent true-stereo-bypass, while leaving the audio circuitry unchanged. This is the kind of pedal that you will not want to turn off. It may not seem so shocking when turned on for the first time, but after a couple hours playing, turn it off and you will realize the amazing enrichment that this pedal brings to your sound.

It has stereo inputs and outputs (four 1/4” jacks total), and five switches in the front panel. The first four control the Dimension D's original presets, and the last switch control the “stereo mode”. The “stereo mode” lets you run both audio paths off one single mono input (as in most guitar rigs). The intelligent true-stereo-bypass allows any combination of true stereo-to-stereo and mono-to-stereo true bypass.

There are many circuits that get close to the Dimension D sound, but none actually manage to achieve it. Roland also released a smaller version of the Dimension D, called Boss DC-2 Dimension C. It can (sometimes) be found for at least $250, but id does not have any of the amazing analogue filtering and biasing that its big brother has. There is also an UAD digital plug-in that emulates the Dimension D, but it is not analogue, and the prices for a DSP system may go well over $1000.

But for $215, you can have the real deal. You get the Dimension D In-a-Box pedal, the 18VAC wallwart, and free Priority Mail shipping to continental US. Overseas buyers should contact me in order to set the price.

Production will start after the first 30 buyers effect their payments, so I won't lose any money if no one buys the pedal. ONLY THROUGH PAYPAL. Safer for me and safer for you.

Hopefully I'll get 30 buyers within next week, so I can start production and mailing them before new year's eve. Great Christmas gift, isn't it? :cool:

Image Image
First prototype being debugged and second prototype ready to go (no decals yet)

pedals were already sold!!! 43 left, production starts when 30 are sold.

E-mail me at 'minixeffects [at] gmail [dot] com' if you want to order.

Check more original Dimension D gutshots here
Another eBay auction if you want to check the original rack here

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PmCimini
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Post by PmCimini »

Hello fellow DIYers

I don't know if I am really allowed to post my own pedals in this area, I remember reading a post about classifieds in this forum, but I also don't know where to start a topic to discuss projects that I start on my own. I hope that I'm not going against anything here, and I just want to see if I manage to make things work out :horsey:

Any questions, just ask 8)

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Post by PurplePeopleEater »

Comments and questions:

Comments-

there's no price listed in your ad.

Cool project - the originals sound great.

Questions -

Am I correct in that you want 29 people to pay you in advance without any guarantee of you ever producing them, since you won't start till 30 people pay ?

I would assume they would get their money back if you don't build them, correct ?

Will it be a deposit, or paid in full situation ?

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PmCimini
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Post by PmCimini »

Ok so I guess the formatting ended up messing with the code... And I cant find the edit button, I don't know why :scratch:

Anyways, the price is $215 including the power supply and priority shipping, I just had 3 more buyers today, so I need 20 so i can start production without losing any money. I don't state here, but in the email with the order, I wrote that if there aren't 30 at least 30 people interested in two or so weeks, the money will be returned (without a $6 nonrefundable fee, for the PayPal transaction), and PayPal has many safety and insurance procedures for both buyers and sellers... I didn't read the "buyer protection program", but by reading the seller's one, there are a bunch of things that will protect both sides of the transaction of fraud.

The fees are 2.9% + $0.30, which results in $6.34. You should also know that my PayPal account is a verified business account, so that guarantees even more protection to the buyer.
:mrgreen:

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Post by IvIark »

I don't mind a gamble on an effect but I can't see me ever gambling on whether it will even be built in the first place. No offence but you must have found 10 very trusting customers.
Just post the schematic and we can find out while we're waiting whether we want one
"If anyone is a 'genius' for putting jacks in such a pedal in the only spot where they could physically fit, then I assume I too am a genius for correctly inserting my legs into my pants this morning." - candletears7 - TGP

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PmCimini
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Post by PmCimini »

Image
I'll try to do a PDF later, I can only take screenshots of it right now.

The original Dimension D schematic is widely available on the internet. You can find it on google. 8)

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Post by analogguru »

Interesting idea....
The only problem I see are the toggle switches. As far as I remember in the original unit the (white)pushbuttons were automatically reset when you pressed another button.
Therefore I think that the switches should be replaced by a rotary switch.

analogguru
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Post by bajaman »

The original Dimension D schematic is widely available on the internet. You can find it on google.
After searching 14 google pages, I found nothing :cry:
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Post by PurplePeopleEater »

bajaman wrote:
The original Dimension D schematic is widely available on the internet. You can find it on google.
After searching 14 google pages, I found nothing :cry:
bajaman
Google "Roland Dimension D" schematic

First page :thumbsup

http://www.tasteundtechnik.de/bilder/roland_dim_D.gif

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Post by bajaman »

Google "Roland Dimension D" schematic

First page

http://www.tasteundtechnik.de/bilder/roland_dim_D.gif
I tried and still did not get anything - so thanks for the schematic - it certainly did not appear on the first page.
i am using Google NZ - I cannot access Google.com - it automatically switches me to Google.co.nz - perhaps that is the problem and why I could not find the schematic?? :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:
thanks again
bajaman
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Post by PurplePeopleEater »

bajaman wrote:
Google "Roland Dimension D" schematic

First page

http://www.tasteundtechnik.de/bilder/roland_dim_D.gif
I tried and still did not get anything - so thanks for the schematic - it certainly did not appear on the first page.
i am using Google NZ - I cannot access Google.com - it automatically switches me to Google.co.nz - perhaps that is the problem and why I could not find the schematic?? :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:
thanks again
bajaman
Ahh - that might explain it. Regular Google gets multiple results on the first page. Weird.

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PmCimini
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Post by PmCimini »

analogguru wrote:Interesting idea....
The only problem I see are the toggle switches. As far as I remember in the original unit the (white)pushbuttons were automatically reset when you pressed another button.
Therefore I think that the switches should be replaced by a rotary switch.

analogguru
The thing is that there was a "glitch" in the original unit, where you can press more than one switch at once, and create different choruses... In order to keep up with the original design, I used toggle switches, so you can select any mode, and any combination of modes.

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

PmCimini,
Fisrt of all my compliments for the project. It seems you've put quite some time, effort and $$'s into it already.

Since I'm a cheapass ;)
Would you also be willing to sell your boards in an unpopulated version?
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

http://www.dirk-hendrik.com

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Post by fosnal1950 »

Hi there,

Could post a clip of your box . Sounds interesting

Alf

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Post by unbeliever »

Dirk_Hendrik wrote:PmCimini,
Fisrt of all my compliments for the project. It seems you've put quite some time, effort and $$'s into it already.
I don't get the 'I'm only going to make them if I get a certain number of orders thing'. If his time is valued at anything, he's already got hundreds or thousands of $$s into the project. This seems to me to be an amateur 'smash-and-grab'. Is there any warranty on these units? And a receipt for tax purposes?

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Post by puppiesonacid »

sounds fishy. :hmmm:

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

puppiesonacid wrote:sounds fishy. :hmmm:

So far I mainly regret the total absence of a followup by the TS :roll:
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

http://www.dirk-hendrik.com

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Post by soulsonic »

Hey... I posted a comment in this thread...
now it's gone?

whatever it probably wasn't important. I remember it being something like a warning about digging a hole by collecting alot of preorders without a "proven" production run... I mean, imagine taking all that money and then it doesn't work out... not a good thing!
"Analog electronics in music is dead. Analog effects pedal design is a dead art." - Fran

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Post by puppiesonacid »

idk... maybe we need a reminder that the forum is call "free - stompboxes.org" if you want to peddle your wares... have a link to an offsite web page or something. i thought there was a thread about whether or not to have people sell stuff or not...


i haven't been here in a while though...

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