Portico 542 500 Series Tape Emulator By: Serial #: Operations Manual
PORTICO 542: 500 SERIES TAPE EMULATOR Thank you for your purchase of the 542: 500 Series Tape Emulator. Everyone at Rupert Neve Designs hope you enjoy using this tool as much as we have enjoyed designing and building it. Please take note of the following list of safety concerns and power requirements before the use of this or any Portico Series product. SAFETY It’s usual to provide a list of “do’s and don’ts” under this heading but mostly these amount to common sense issues.
blend control. In addition to the tape circuit, the 542 also has the variable Silk / Texture found in the Portico II series of modules, which allows the engineer to fine tune the harmonic ratio and tonality on the output transformer.
NOTES ON TAPE Tape Recorders were first used by professional recording studios in the late 1940’s, soon after WW2. They were adapted from the German Magnetofon that had been used by the German Navy to improve security of communications with their submarines. It could be claimed that the magnetic tape recorder was the device that really made the modern music recording industry possible. Before that time recordings were cut on lacquer or wax master disks.
the 542’s tape circuit can significantly impact tone, depending on the position of the saturation control and the drive level on the tape circuit. As saturation is increased, low frequency compensation is decreased, and at a drive level of 5 the soft clipper enters the circuit.
function can be useful on many sources like bass and kick drum to find the balance between a clean, boosted low end (low saturation) and a denser, more saturated low end (high-saturation). 15/30 IPS Selects the pre-emphasis / de-emphasis, record / replay tape characteristic. The 15IPS mode has a significant “head bump” in the low frequencies centered around 60Hz, as well as a more pronounced roll of in the high frequencies.
SPECIFICATIONS LINE AMP SPECIFICATIONS (Measurements with tape circuit disengaged) NOISE: Measured at Main Output, un-weighted, 20Hz-22kHz, Input Terminated 40 Ohms. Unity Gain Better than -100dBu FREQUENCY RESPONSE Measured at +10dBu, trim at unity. Main Output +/- 0.25dB from 5Hz to 60Khz -2dB @ 120KHz MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL 23.25dBu TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION AND NOISE: @ 1kHz, +20dBu output level @ 20Hz, +20dBu output level Better than 0.0025% 0.
30 IPS, Input @ -0 dBu Saturation @ minimum -3dBu @ 120kHz -3dBu @ 10Hz +3.15dBu Peak @ 125Hz Saturation @ maximum -3dBu @ 100kHz -3dBu @ 12.5Hz +1.3dBu Peak @ 110Hz TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION AND NOISE Refer to sweeps on page10 15 IPS, Input @ -0 dBu 0.4% @ 3kHz to 1% @ 175Hz typical Saturation @ minimum Greater than 1% below 175Hz typical Saturation @ maximum 1% at 6kHz typical 0.
FREQUENCY RESPONSE (TAPE OUT) Cyan: No Silk Blue: Silk Blue Max Texture Red: Silk Red Max Texture FREQUENCY RESPONSE BY SATURATION LEVEL: 30 IPS Magenta: Satuation Max Red: Saturation @ 2 o’clock Green: Saturation @ 10 o’clock Cyan: Saturation @ Min 9
FREQUENCY RESPONSE BY SATURATION LEVEL: 15 IPS Magenta: Saturation at Max Red: Saturation at 2 o’clock Green: Saturation at 10 o’clock Cyan: Saturation at Min TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION BY “RECORD HEAD” LEVEL THD % Red: Input 0dBU Saturation at Min (Drive = 2) Green: Input 0dBU Saturation @ 10 o’clock (Drive = 2) Cyan: Input 0dBu Saturation @ 2 o’clock (Drive = 3) Magenta: Input 0dBU Saturation @ Max (Soft Clipping (Drive = 6) 10
PRODUCT WARRANTY Rupert Neve Designs warrants this product to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from date of purchase, and agrees to remedy any defect identified within such one year period by, at our option, repairing or replacing the product.
