Eventide BD-980
Little is documented about the Eventide BD-980 broadcast delay. A listing in DB-Magazine (September 1992, p.47) gives the clearest surviving picture of the unit. It was a stereo broadcast delay with 20 kHz frequency response and a maximum delay of 10 seconds. It had dump, wait & exit, and ramp to zero functions. These were clearly aimed at live radio, where an operator could dump offending audio or fade smoothly back to live.
The unit took a standard 1U rack space: 1.75 × 19 × 12.5 inches. At 15 pounds it was notably heavier than the other Eventide delays listed alongside it. The price was $5,495.00, a lot of money for a delay, but this one was built for broadcasters who needed clean, reliable delay with quick recovery functions.
Beyond the DB-Magazine listing, no further documentation, manuals, or period reviews appear to survive in the public record. It seems to have been a specialized broadcast variant in Eventide's lineup, next to the PD860 precision delay and the mono BD955. All three shared the same rack footprint. The BD-980 carried more weight and a higher price tag for its stereo throughput and longer delay time.
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