Eventide H3000 D/SE
The H3000 D/SE is a variant of Eventide’s H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer, the series that defined the late-1980s studio rack. The H3000 line debuted in 1986 and ran through the 1990s, then gave way to the H3500 and later the DSP-series processors. The record on the D/SE itself is thinner than you’d expect for a unit so many studios swore by. The service manual treats the whole line as one family. Even the meaning of the “D/SE” suffix is debated among owners. Some say it’s a D hardware revision with SE firmware. Others insist it’s an SE with a different front panel. Eventide’s own documentation doesn’t settle it.
What is documented, at the series level, comes from the Eventide H3000 Series Service Manual: 16-bit A/D and D/A conversion, user-selectable 44.1kHz or 48kHz sample rates, frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz (+0/-1dB), THD under 0.05%, and signal-to-noise above 90dB. The unit is a 3U rack mount by default, though the manual notes some units shipped in a desktop enclosure — which variant isn’t specified. Power consumption runs 18W–24W. The front panel is a 2-line by 16-character backlit LCD with LED ladders, a rotary encoder with push-switch, numeric keypad, and a Compare button. MIDI In/Out/Thru was optional on early H3000s and standard later; the D/SE’s MIDI status specifically isn’t confirmed in the sources.
The core of the H3000 family was the Ultra-Harmonizer engine: two independent pitch shifters integrated with delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, vocoder, and emulations of the earlier H910 and H949 effects. Eventide’s own history describes the H3000 as the first product line to combine pitch shifting with a full suite of studio effects in a single rack unit. The DSP architecture used multiple Motorola DSP56001 chips, with firmware stored in field-replaceable EPROMs. Studio Sound (December 2001, p.28) noted the difficulty Eventide faced in trying to supersede the H3000 with later products, calling it an industry standard that cast a long shadow.
On the used market, asking prices for the D/SE typically land between $1,500 and $3,500 depending on condition. These are listing prices, not verified sales. One collector source cites an original retail of $4,995, but without a year or model confirmation. Owners on gearspace are enthusiastic about the sound (“nothing else does those pitch shifts”) but blunt about the experience. The UI is “horrendous by modern standards,” programming requires the manual, and the analog inputs can get noisy with hot levels. Common failure points with age include dead EPROM firmware chips, battery-backed RAM losing user programs, power supply capacitor failure, dimming LCDs, and encoder/keypad contact issues. Eventide no longer supports the H3000 series. Third-party specialists have built a small industry refurbishing and even cloning these units.
Known specs (series-level, per the H3000 Service Manual unless noted):
- 16-bit A/D and D/A converters; 44.1kHz/48kHz sample rates
- Frequency response 20Hz–20kHz (+0/-1dB); THD <0.05%; S/N >90dB
- Two analog inputs and two analog outputs; S/PDIF or AES/EBU not confirmed for D/SE
- Delay up to 489ms standard, expandable to 2.4s with optional memory expansion (not confirmed for D/SE)
- 3U rack mount (desktop enclosure possible for some units, variant unspecified)
- MIDI In/Out/Thru (optional on early series units)
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