New vs. past modules
Posted on September 22, 2006
What makes your new modules different from those you’ve made in the past with the Neve, Focusrite and Amek?
In the years before 1961 I designed mixing consoles for professional use using valves (tubes). Transistors were new, expensive, unreliable and did not provide the performance required for high quality music.
The disadvantage with Valves was that they were large, very inefficient, had a relatively short life, were “microphonic” and had inconsistent performance. Studios were known to have their equipment in pieces prior to an important session to change out valves, hoping to find some that sounded really good!
As the Pop Music Industry began to take shape it became evident that to provide the extensive features that recording engineers were starting to ask for, better technical solutions were going to be needed.
Ca 1964 -65 RUPERT NEVE & COMPANY
The original Neve Modules were custom designed for Phillips Records Ltd. London studio who wanted a very specific type of EQ in order to edit the levels of instruments in a mix that was already recorded. At that time there were no multi-track recorders; the final “take” in the recording session was the “Master”. Any desired changes in balance meant that the artists must be recalled and another session set up. I configured Equalizer circuits with transistors that would have been almost impossible or at least very cumbersome, with valves. Because the performance of professional valve amplifiers was very good, I spent many weeks, burned many midnight hours, in fear and trembling and prayer in the hope that these
transistor designs would be at least as good as the valves.
The results turned out to be very gratifying and my clients soon accepted that the new Rupert Neve & Company transistor designs were actually cleaner and more open than what they were used to.
These designs were configured much like the valve designs that they replaced: they were Single-Sided’, that is to say they were not “push-pull”. A “push-pull” configuration makes use of two amplifying devices where the signal is split into positive and negative half cycles and each half is handled by one device. In the middle of the transfer between the two halves, the signal crosses over. If it can do this seamlessly all is well but it is almost impossible to achieve this crossover without a small “kink”
in the transfer characteristic. Unfortunately this affects the signal at very low levels and the human hearing mechanism is particularly sensitive to the tiny amounts of harmonic that result.
For a number of years we used single-sided circuits until these, in turn, became too large and cumbersome for the many features that had to be crammed in to a modern Console.
Ca 1973 -75 NEVE ELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL
We devised some very good “push-pull” amplifiers using discrete components but they were never quite as sweet sounding as the old single-sided originals.
Crossover distortion is not the only enemy a designer has to wrestle with. Multiple features result in enormous proliferation of circuits. Each one adds its tiny contribution of noise and distortion and limitation of bandwidth.
Ca 1978 - 82 NEVE ELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL
1985 - 89 FOCUSRITE LIMITED
1989 - 2003 AMEK SYSTEMS AND CONTROLS LTD (System 9098EQ. 9098 Console.
PURE PATH R modules)
As the consoles grew in size and features we started to use some exceptionally good Integrated Circuits that became available. Bandwidth was extended to beyond 200 kHz. Dynamic range was superb and distortion was almost un-measurable. But golden-eared professionals could perceive a microscopic difference in the miniscule harmonic content.
I was never entirely satisfied!
More midnight hours of wrestling and praying over the search for perfection forced me to the conclusion that we must return to the simplest possible topologies. The break-through came when I realized that we could achieve the sweet sound we wanted using discrete transistors and new transformers that are smaller and more efficient than those of 40 years ago! (Not surprising, really!)
It was time to put new designs to the test!
With the use of all new discrete op amps instead of IC’s and our custom designed transformers on the inputs and outputs, Portico TM modules will never be as small or as cheap as the products of some other designers, but they give me pleasure when I listen to them as I trust they do to countless others.
-Rupert
In the years before 1961 I designed mixing consoles for professional use using valves (tubes). Transistors were new, expensive, unreliable and did not provide the performance required for high quality music.
The disadvantage with Valves was that they were large, very inefficient, had a relatively short life, were “microphonic” and had inconsistent performance. Studios were known to have their equipment in pieces prior to an important session to change out valves, hoping to find some that sounded really good!
As the Pop Music Industry began to take shape it became evident that to provide the extensive features that recording engineers were starting to ask for, better technical solutions were going to be needed.
Ca 1964 -65 RUPERT NEVE & COMPANY
The original Neve Modules were custom designed for Phillips Records Ltd. London studio who wanted a very specific type of EQ in order to edit the levels of instruments in a mix that was already recorded. At that time there were no multi-track recorders; the final “take” in the recording session was the “Master”. Any desired changes in balance meant that the artists must be recalled and another session set up. I configured Equalizer circuits with transistors that would have been almost impossible or at least very cumbersome, with valves. Because the performance of professional valve amplifiers was very good, I spent many weeks, burned many midnight hours, in fear and trembling and prayer in the hope that these
transistor designs would be at least as good as the valves.
The results turned out to be very gratifying and my clients soon accepted that the new Rupert Neve & Company transistor designs were actually cleaner and more open than what they were used to.
These designs were configured much like the valve designs that they replaced: they were Single-Sided’, that is to say they were not “push-pull”. A “push-pull” configuration makes use of two amplifying devices where the signal is split into positive and negative half cycles and each half is handled by one device. In the middle of the transfer between the two halves, the signal crosses over. If it can do this seamlessly all is well but it is almost impossible to achieve this crossover without a small “kink”
in the transfer characteristic. Unfortunately this affects the signal at very low levels and the human hearing mechanism is particularly sensitive to the tiny amounts of harmonic that result.
For a number of years we used single-sided circuits until these, in turn, became too large and cumbersome for the many features that had to be crammed in to a modern Console.
Ca 1973 -75 NEVE ELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL
We devised some very good “push-pull” amplifiers using discrete components but they were never quite as sweet sounding as the old single-sided originals.
Crossover distortion is not the only enemy a designer has to wrestle with. Multiple features result in enormous proliferation of circuits. Each one adds its tiny contribution of noise and distortion and limitation of bandwidth.
Ca 1978 - 82 NEVE ELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL
1985 - 89 FOCUSRITE LIMITED
1989 - 2003 AMEK SYSTEMS AND CONTROLS LTD (System 9098EQ. 9098 Console.
PURE PATH R modules)
As the consoles grew in size and features we started to use some exceptionally good Integrated Circuits that became available. Bandwidth was extended to beyond 200 kHz. Dynamic range was superb and distortion was almost un-measurable. But golden-eared professionals could perceive a microscopic difference in the miniscule harmonic content.
I was never entirely satisfied!
More midnight hours of wrestling and praying over the search for perfection forced me to the conclusion that we must return to the simplest possible topologies. The break-through came when I realized that we could achieve the sweet sound we wanted using discrete transistors and new transformers that are smaller and more efficient than those of 40 years ago! (Not surprising, really!)
It was time to put new designs to the test!
With the use of all new discrete op amps instead of IC’s and our custom designed transformers on the inputs and outputs, Portico TM modules will never be as small or as cheap as the products of some other designers, but they give me pleasure when I listen to them as I trust they do to countless others.
-Rupert
