Master Bus Transformer

Introduction

For over six decades, audio transformers have been the bedrock of Mr. Rupert Neve’s audio circuit design philosophy – and Rupert Neve Designs’ bespoke transformers are an integral part of virtually every RND product. Packed with these transformers, the MBT provides an incredible array of flavorful options designed to sweeten, enhance, drive, widen, and utterly transform source material, making it the ultimate tool for musical coloration. Equally at home on a full mix, groups, stems or individual sources, the MBT pairs undeniably legendary tonal quality with an immensely flexible set of controls to shape your sound.

Create Tonal Magic with the HPF & Shelf EQ

First in line is a smooth high pass filter with a fully variable frequency selection control. The HPF extends from 100Hz all the way down to 15Hz, an especially helpful area to manage on a full mix that needs to be as loud as possible.

Next up is the all-new 2-band Shelf EQ section - with 3 octave ranges, gentle slopes and minimal phase shifts, this EQ was created with an emphasis on simplicity and elegance. This smooth & musical EQ is excellent at providing just the right amount of tonal enhancement – especially when it is interacting with the other sections of the MBT.

Each band has +/- 9dB of gain control, with the LF EQ corner frequency variable from 30Hz to 240Hz and the HF EQ corner frequency variable from 3kHz to 24kHz. The LF band is excellent at either taming or accentuating low-end to give source material an exacting amount of weight and power. The HF band provides a wide range of corner frequencies to choose from, allowing adjustments to be made from the upper midrange all the way up to the very top end, giving tracks extra shine and clarity.

One exciting aspect of using the MBT is discovering how the different sections can interact with each other. Sometimes the EQ can be dialed in first, other times it can be left alone until the other sections are dialed in. One thing is certain: the MBT encourages experimentation at every turn.

Breathe In New Life with the Color Comp

With an all-new optical compressor design, the Color Comp excels at accentuating the non-linear distortion and “colorful” characteristics of the Opto cell to bring source material a new sense of life and depth.

The compressor ratio can be set to a low (2:1) ratio for subtle & smooth compression or high (5:1) for much more dramatic behavior.

The variable high pass side chain filter removes the low frequencies from the compressor side chain circuit, allowing low-end information to pass through the compressor untouched while the compressor focuses on the rest of the signal. With a sweepable range from 20Hz all the way up to 350Hz, this is a highly flexible tonal shaping control providing the ability to leave the low end intact while taming or squashing the rest of the source material as needed.

The Color Comp also contains a Blend control, making it easy to use the compression circuit in parallel with the uncompressed source material. This can be especially useful when wanting to dial back the harmonic content, dynamic range reduction, and transient squashing from more extreme compressor settings.

The threshold is variable from 0dBu to +24dBu, with a gain reduction LED illuminating when the signal passes the threshold. However, the Color Comp also introduces audible non-linear harmonic content even with just a touch of gain reduction – as such, we highly recommend listening to the Color Comp engaged even when no gain reduction is visible, in order to discern the amount of tonality that it introduces. The pleasing nature of this harmonic content will become even more apparent as the compressor settings become more extreme.

The release is variable from 100mS to 1.5S. By dialing in higher ratios and faster releases it is possible to get the color comp to actively “pump” with the attacks, whereas with slower release times it will operate in a much smoother manner.

Lastly, the color comp has 20dB of Class-A makeup gain. This is not only useful for level-matching the before and after compression signals, but also for driving the interstage transformers found in the Super Silk section for even greater harmonic enhancements.

Find New Dimension with Width

The Width section is designed to increase the perceived stereo spread without losing low-end focus. While inspired by the Stereo Field Editor (SFE) “WIDTH” controls found on our award-winning Master Buss Processor, the MBT’s width section has two key differences: First, the width control on the MBT is additive only, with a greater range for more extreme operation. Second, there is a variable HPF from 50Hz to 800Hz to adjust the width content so that low frequencies remain more centered in the mix as the mids and highs are spread out to create more space. Additionally, there is subtle high frequency tapering of the width content to avoid overemphasizing harsher HF tones.

Control Harmonics Like Never Before with Super Silk

Introduced nearly twenty years ago, the Silk circuit has long been a favorite for Rupert Neve Designs users. First available as a simple on/off switch, then with selectable Red and Blue modes and the variable Texture control, Silk exists to enhance and control even and odd order harmonic content in any source material.

Super Silk is the latest advancement to this beloved technology: featuring independent Red, Blue, Harmonics and Zener Drive controls, harmonic manipulation is taken to a whole new level with the MBT.

Historically, Silk was always applied to a unit’s output transformers. But when designing the MBT, a need was felt to offer even greater control and flexibility – therefore, Super Silk also includes an extra set of transformers to further expand the possibilities of this much-loved circuit. This design provides a way to drive into Super Silk for more dynamic saturation and transient clipping, while also being able to attenuate the signal for proper gain staging after Super Silk by using the Output Trim.

Silk Red accentuates harmonics in the upper mid and high frequencies, adding sparkle and sheen. Silk Blue accentuates harmonics in the low & low mid frequencies, creating more depth and weight. The Harmonics control increases the overall musical harmonic content by saturating the MBT’s custom interstage transformers; this setting will interact with the settings for both Silk Blue and Silk Red, so experimentation is encouraged to find new blends and balances.

Lastly, the switchable Zener Drive is a diode-based asymmetrical soft clip circuit that introduces mostly odd order harmonic content as the signal approaches the edge of the MBT’s headroom to achieve a more aggressive tonality.

Drive and Control Levels with I/O Amplifiers

To maintain optimal gain staging through the MBT, fully drive the interstage transformers, and accurately match the pre / post signals, the MBT includes Class-A input and output amplifiers to manage all levels. The output amplifiers feed Rupert Neve Designs’ custom output transformers for line balancing and isolation.

FEATURES

• Built around Rupert Neve’s Class-A, Transformer Coupled Signal Paths

• Revitalize mono or stereo tracks, stems and mixes with a suite of new controls

• Add that missing weight and power with our new Super Silk circuit

• Add dynamic character with the opto-based Color Comp

• Quickly adjust tone with the gentle and musical LF & HF shelves

• Use the newly designed Width section to create dimension without losing focus

• Drive and level-match the interstage transformers with the I/O amplifiers

5057 Orbit

Launch your mixes to new heights.

Firmly rooted in six decades of console design experience, the 5057 Orbit gives your mixes the legendary tonality, power, and wide-open soundstage that only Rupert Neve’s class-A analog summing can provide. Coupled with Rupert’s famous custom audio transformers and Silk Red & Blue circuitry for variable harmonic saturation, the Orbit launches sterile in-the-box mixes to new heights of tone, depth and clarity – without compromising the recallable convenience and repeatability of your DAW-based workflow.

Born to Drive

When you push a mix buss and output transformers towards saturation, the non-linear, musical harmonics that occur are what truly glue a recording together and bring it to life. Rather than using an external summing solution that offers little more than an ultra-clean representation of the in-the-box experience, the Orbit provides the extraordinary richness, harmonic complexity and depth that only a Rupert Neve console can bring to your mixes.

The Orbit utilizes a highly custom output transformer configuration originally developed for the acclaimed Shelford Channel, which provides both a Main Output and a -6dB Output – the latter of which enables you to fully drive the Orbit to achieve more transformer harmonics without clipping the next device in the chain. This unique transformer drive is a hallmark of the sound of Rupert Neve throughout the years – and the sound of countless classic hit records.

Classic Sounds on Demand

Every mix demands its own treatment. In addition to the choice of outputs, the continuously variable Texture control with Silk Red and Silk Blue modes gives you complete control over the harmonic density and tonality of your mix – or lets you keep it utterly pristine and uncolored. The Silk Red mode accentuates transformer saturation in the high and high-mid frequencies to amplify the vibrant midrange harmonics associated with Rupert’s vintage equipment, while Silk Blue accentuates saturation of the lows and low-mids to add thickness and weight to any source – especially useful for “thin-sounding” mixes. Unlike EQ, these Silk & Texture controls saturate the output transformers, and add highly musical harmonics to the source material according to the amount of Texture applied.

Drive the mix buss hard, choose your Silk flavor, and crank the Texture knob for a rich, saturated, vintage vibe – or disengage Silk entirely for clear, wide-open sonic beauty. The choice is yours.

Build your Dream

While the Orbit is an extremely effective tool on its own, multiple units can be combined through the Buss Link for a higher channel count. The 5057 Orbit can also be used as a building block in an expandable summing system utilizing the 5059 Satellite for flexible summing & routing, and the 5060 Centerpiece for additional mixing and monitoring features. These units create the core of a world-class analog modular console system rivaling any traditional large-scale studio setup.

Channel Separation and Accuracy

With precisely fixed channel levels and accurate mix buss attenuation via high-quality stepped switching, the Orbit’s purist signal path has vanishingly low crosstalk, and channels matched to within +/-0.1dB. This provides your mixes with the widest and most accurate stereo image, the greatest depth, and the most direct signal path, allowing you to hear every single detail of your mixes.

DAW Based Recall without Compromise

Frequent recalls can be a challenge for modern mix engineers. The Orbit’s elegant simplicity and fixed level accuracy provides rapid, repeatable DAW-based recall from mix to mix, while adding the rich, unrivaled sound quality of Mr. Neve’s class-A transformer-coupled mix buss.

Features

 ♦ 16 Channel +/- 21V Class-A mix buss for massive headroom

 ♦ Silk Red & Blue modes with Texture control to precisely dial in the desired amount of classic tone

 ♦ Dual-tap output transformers create rich harmonic character without clipping the next device in the chain

 ♦ Mono switches enable you to precisely center any mono mix elements like vocals, kick, snare and bass 

 ♦ Exceptional linearity and accuracy, better than +/-0.1dB per channel

 ♦ Ultra-low crosstalk for wide open stereo imaging and sonic depth

 ♦ Expandable for higher channel count via buss link to other 5057 units

 ♦ Repeatable, rapid DAW-based recall while adding the rich, unrivaled sound quality of Rupert Neve Designs

 ♦ Robust and compact 1U chassis design with DB25 inputs and XLR outputs

 ♦ Combine with other Rupert Neve Designs summing products to create a world-class modular mix system

Free 3-Year Warranty

Sound Pure stands behind our products. Free three-year warranty on this item. Coverage exclusions live in Terms & Conditions, Section 27.

Level of support and expertise that simply isn't available at big-box megastores. Read the warranty →

Returns

Not eligible for Try Before You Buy or the 48-hour approval period. Standard return policy applies — see Terms & Conditions, Section 18 for details.