Sorry to hear this.

No, noise is not normal, and based on what you wrote, you're able to reproduce it consistently on the algorithms you listed, which strongly suggests it is triggered by certain conditions.

I completely understand. A lot of vintage gear, especially digital gear, is very expensive to maintain and most owners put it off.

I recently bought a Roland SDX-330 (~1994) from someone who claimed it was in perfect working condition and that he'd replace the battery. I overpaid for it for these reasons. Well, guess what, the battery turned out to be DOA, so I opened up the case to swap out the battery and found that the power supply filter caps were bulging. Then I realized the front-panel buttons (i.e. tact switches) were intermittent. Turns out those were corroded and needed to be replaced. Poof, $300 in repairs right out of the gate. Amazing.

This sounds like a possible DAC-related issue, perhaps requiring calibration, at least on the surface.

This might seem counter-intuitive, but have you ruled out one of the inputs as the culprit? Many of the H3000 inputs are mono-in, stereo out, while others are stereo-in, stereo-out, and it's possible these may map to the specific algos where you're able to consistently reproduce the issue. You can also try setting the patch-level wet/dry mix to 0% wet to see if you hear anything out of the ordinary on those patches while the converters are active and the DSP is effectively inactive.

It is really important to take into consideration before joining the "cult" that these are indeed about 40 years old pieces of electronics. Even if they were made to be durable and enduring pieces of professional equipment back in the day, it is in a nature of many of the components inside to have a life-span that is usually even at it's best shorter than these units have been in existence already.

Know what you are doing. Pay good money only if you really can afford to loose it at any moment too. If you want to have a unit that works reliably for years to come, either buy a plugin or a good unit for a good price AND budget for a professional to overhaul it for you. The insides is filled with vintage electronics. It's life can be extended by proper maintenance and substituting the failing components with new counterparts. But despite all this, the day will eventually come when it will die.

UPDATE! I disconnected the outputs and blew some air into the right port. Reconnected the cables and some way, somehow I'm no longer getting noise. This doesn't really make sense to me, but I sure hope it sticks.

##
Thank you so much for all of this. I think I've ruled out an input issue as the noise is still present when I disconnect the input cables.

I played around with 110 Dual Digiplex, which clearly has an issue and also has independent L/R wet/dry.

When I reduce the R mix to 0%, the noise goes away entirely. And the signal coming through seems clean and not degraded in any obvious way. Would that still point to one of the DACs? Or potentially an IC?

For what it's worth, I've also found that the noise on some patches is intermittent. It will creep in out of nowhere and then go away. And if I power down on a noisy patch, sometime it's quiet when I power back on.

In case there's a small intersection of people with both an Electra One MIDI controller and an Eventide H3000, I made my initial cut at an editor public. You can edit and save all algorithms except 113 Timesqueeze and 120/121 Samplers.

No support yet (ever?) for the function generator or soft knobs.

Any/all feedback welcome.

If you are generally satisfied with the unit, a trip to Beamish for a thorough "wellness visit" can cure all of your ills for a serious length of time to come.

I've had similar issues that needed some care beyond my scope of practice, sent it in and the unit runs lie new.

The seller had integrity and paid the bill, which was between 600 and 700 if I recall correctly.

I don't work for Beamish or anything, just had some proper, lasting work done there on units that are central to my process.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", so having a clean bill of health will prevent you from getting hung-up at just the wrong time.

A solid H3000 is worth it's weight in gold to some that you may be one of.

I consider myself someone as well.

Enjoy your H3K.

-Adam.

Question for those who have owned both: if I am someone who is more into programming my own effects, experimenting, rather than using the typical presets/sounds etc. would I be happy with the H3000 or would the H8000 be a better fit?

Probably the H8000 because it exposes more parameters to users than the H3000.

The thing that is a bit unique about Eventide effects is a preset IS an algorithm, so the notion of programming your own effects in Eventide-land means programming your own algorithms.

The H8000 lets you get pretty deep with editing existing algorithms (aka presets) because most have a huge number of parameters, however you can only create new ones if you take the plunge and try to learn a pretty arcane thing called VSIG.

The H3000 is much easier to use (IMO), and shares a similar limitation of preset=algorithm. It does have an expert mode that exposes more parameters on many presets, but does not provide the ability to create net new algorithms aka presets because there is no equivalent of VSIG.

Minus VSIG on the H8000, neither are really "programming my own effects" in the usual sense of the term. What you can do is better described as extensively customizing an existing preset, and the H8000 offers many more customization opportunities than the H3000, hence my recommendation.

In general, if you don't *have* to have that vintage sound, the H8000 is the better option. I have both and tend to use the 8000 most of the time. You can do some crazy stuff with the 3000 *_factory algorithms, but given the yet -unreleased 3000 editors, the front panel and arrows are a bit tedious.

If tools like Reaktor are fun for you, getting into VSig is a must. For me, starting with 1000 algorithms, or whatever is in the 8000 plus the multiple pages of parameters is more than enough.

Sorry to ask again,

What H3000 should be the "best" version?

The blue one or later dark D/SE?

I whatever case I would upgrade the eproms to 3500, just to know what base boards would be the best.

Optically I like the blue most. Got too many black racks already...

Either the H3000 D/SE or any H3500.

Both were manufactured until around 2002 when Eventide ran out of parts, so with a D/SE or H3500 you have a higher chance of getting a more recently manufactured unit, and therefore that unit you buy may be less likely to need servicing in the next few years.

The H3000S (the blue one) is a bit older.

All production Eventide H3000s and H3500s share the same components excluding the different sampling board versions in the H3500 models, so the only real differences beyond that are the preset EPROMs as you suggest and the front panels.

The D/SX, D/SE and DFX Sampling have a separate glass display, which is recessed as it is on the Eclipse.
The construction is as you'd expect - A silk-screened metal faceplate with a cut out for the display.

The other models are appointed with one silk-screened plastic sheet over the whole thing with a clear space left over the display.

If you damage that area in any way, the only way to fix that is with a new faceplate front.
These also tend to crack and delaminate around the points where the rack mounting screws add significant pressure.

Look at pictures online and you'll see what I mean - The first ones I mentioned will have a bevel leading to the screen where the others do not.

On the other hand, I've had better outcomes with the models that are housed in a black powder-coated enclosure, as the transformers are dead-quiet.

In others I have heard an audible hum that can become a problem if you've got an open mic in the same room.

Something to consider on both sides.

For the H8000, you can see my 4-Part series here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app...6eSgdQkBcVVW9v

I hope this helps.

-Adam.

Beware of the "all presets" upgrade, it will make your unit sluggish when changing some presets.

A new year is bringing new challenges and new restrictions.

I did finish the basics of an editor for the h3000 for the Electra One platform, but at this point, a lot has to get jettisoned in my life, so I've decided to sell my H3000 Se (standard kitchen sink upgrade, serviced and checked over by Beamish, transformer is quiet). Can't really do FS listings in the middle of discussion threads, but I do want to give folks/enthusiasts here an opportunity first.

Also - I know of at least 2 other editors that are being developed for computer/DAW platforms, so 2025 will bring a new world of easier editing for this amazing machine.

Subscribed. Just received my H3000 back from my tech with a clean bill of health. Can’t wait to get this in the rack.

Thanks for All for your answers.... Happy New year 2025 ! So. I make my décision : I will take H3000 hardware box. I read that newer version (post 2000) could be more reliable.... So H3500 could a wise choice ? Thanks for your help

It is more likely to be more reliable if it is newer, just as a newer used car is more likely to be reliable than an older used car of the same make and model.

Any given unit, including the one you end up with, could be very reliable or could be a lemon depending upon what the previous owner(s) did to it.

Make sure you ask the current owner tough questions about its service history, whether it was stored and in what conditions, whether it was toured, etc.

Same process as if you were buying a used car from someone you don't know.

Sorry, this is random but I remember you saying something about the limitations of the MIDI implementation on the H3000. I am leaning towards getting one and was hoping to be able to make a MAX controller for the params. I looked at the manual briefly and it seems to use NRPNs for parameters? What are the limitations?

The largest number you can send out for MIDI is 16383. The H3000 has some parameters with a range that is larger than that, so their compromise is that often when you send a MIDI NRPN to increment a value by 1, the H3000 will increment the value by 2 or 4 or some other number. Therefore, you cannot dial in some numbers the same via MIDI that you can do from the front panel.

If you're interested in talking to it via MAX/MSP, there's at least one other person that is mostly done with an editor/controller for it using MAXC and there's others developing a stand-alone editor for it (not sure of the base language/OS/etc).

There's other quirks associated with the H3000 and MIDI (especially double converting the sysex messages), but those have mostly been worked out by me and others.

Hey All - I have recently fallen in love with the H3000 sound, and I can't escape it. I've been using the H3000 Plugin MkII which sounds much better to me than MKI but I still am not getting THAT sound...so I've been hunting online for a few weeks and have questions...I make mainly ambient/instrumental post-punk/electro-acoustic type music purely as a hobby. I've got some extra cash saved up and recently sold a piece of gear but I still don't want to spend too much...especially if I don't need to. Do you all think I'd be fine with the D/SX for the type of music I make (treating drums/guitar/bass/synths, maybe even mixes) or should I absolutely go for the D/SE? The prices for the latter have gotten pretty crazy lately...like $3300 for a D/SE that's fully upgraded with all presets. But I could easily snag a D/SX for like $2000 (and I'm not crazy about doing the whole upgrade thing myself). Let me know what y'all think...

Just take the D/SX and you can (read WILL...) do a later updat to a D/SE !
Have fun !!!

I would just get a D/SX if you can get one much cheaper.
And if you like the plugin, you will love the hardware.
Upgrading the eproms is easy, but if you’re still not confident, any tech could do it in no time, shouldn’t cost much at all.

I used to have D/SE for many years, and I have been totally happy with plugin versions. I can use multiple instances so that I have discovered interesting presets other than Micropitchshift.

I can't compare them side by side, so I wonder what the difference is, and which preset makes the major differences. Micropitchshift sounds different?

Folks,

Been digging thru this thread but can't find much. Did anyone ever had H3000 that refused to power up? A friend called me and said his unit is unable to power up. I can't remember reading these units having any problems with capacitors. They aren't vintage 70s device and all the components inside I remember were high end. So I find it odd the unit refused to power up.

If anyone had similar situation feel free to comment below.

The caps are 40 years old at this point. They usually last around 30 years. So yes, caps would be where I would start the diagnostics. After checking that power still actually enters the circuits. Unconductive power wiring would brick it with a greater certainty than aged cap. If it is not receiving power, it would be easy diagnostics anyway. Ensure power, measure the power rails, if out of specs, replace the power supply caps. If still out of specs, consult the service manual.

I have a D/SX and used to have a D/SE. It's probably a random co-incidence but the D/SE had a bad case of transformer hum (even after I got the transformer replaced), and the D/SX is near silent, especially if I run it at 110v instead of 240. I had the D/SE eproms copied before I sold it so the D/SX now has the D/SE presets.

This preset comparison chart will have been linked a few times in the thread already I expect but it's always useful:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...en_US&hl=en_US

I also have an 7600 but if I could only keep one it would be the 3000.

Thanks all! I was actually able to snag a great quality D/SE at a MUCH better price than I had been seeing. I probably just needed to wait and hunt around a little bit. Quite excited to get working with it!

The MKII plugin does sound better than MKI, but now after using the D/SE, I definitely think it sounds better than both plugins. The effect seems to wrap itself around the audio more with the hardware. The MKII plugin has a better converter sound to me than MKI, and you can hit hard for saturation. But it is quite dark (high end roll-off), which, to be fair, sounds to me a lot like the early black H3000s. But the D/SE immediately sounds thicker to my ears. I think it just depends on what you're looking for. If you're working with nicely recorded material, the plugins can sound very close to the hardware. I found myself wanting the converter tone and experience of using the hardware. I will definitely be using the plugin and the hardware!

I had an issue where mine wouldn't power up and it was because a connector had gotten brittle from the heat and it wasn't making contact anymore.

Hello hello dear Eventide lovers... So I follow your advices. I dont go on vintage one like 910/949 I just wait for opportunity to find a nice 3000... Last month there is an auction in France about JL Murat , french singer died in 2022. All his stuff on auction ... I have the chance to win a 1100eur auction, a rack with two DAT...... And a .... Blue Eventide H3000S . They said only a display problems. With tax, vta and shipping that gear cost 1450 euros.... The problem is that the auction people arent pro audio users and they just claimed = a display problem.

First check Of the 3000S = it doesnt boot at all. That the display problem they claimed. I try few power up. Then I have a boot, the power clac and see a preset but I cant navigate.... I open the box and see that this 3000S is full of yellow tantale and socket. I clean and Reseat few roms, like the OS. Then I power up, and bingo= boot, clac and preset ok Can navigate, change paramètres etc... I let the machine on power few minutes when I come back = everything freeze. And then again, impossible to boot , no clac, only the vibration Of the transformer and the empty character on display...

I start read the service manuel. I detect a problem in the power Supply about reset. There is a chip called LM7705 doing reset , looks inopérante. I change the tantale there but nothing better

Is someone already have a reset PSU problem or boot problem ? 1500 euro for a bad 3000S isn't a good bargain.... Anyway, the mission is to save that 3000 for going Out his électronique coma

Cheers,
Peter

You were right. I win an auction Of Clean 3000S from personal home studio collection Of french Singer Star from the Eighties. Its visible on cosmetic that the machine wasnt on touring and only stay in the rack. Im pretty shure that this h3000 was forgotten there and not used very often.... But ... As the direct user is gone on 2022, not easy task to reach him. Need find a good medium to contact jean louis Murat 🤠