On the tail of updating the 5059 Satellite and 5060 Centerpiece summing mixers, Rupert Neve Designs has announced the 5057 Orbit 16x2 Summing Mixer, the latest addition to the company’s family of summing products.
Housed in a 1U-high chassis, the Rupert Neve Designs Orbit features the same summing architecture as its siblings; all of which are direct descendants of the company’s flagship 5088 mixing console. ‘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 company says.
To shape the sound character, Silk Red and Blue circuitry provides full control over the amount of harmonic content and tone of the mix. ‘Silk Red 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 enhances saturation of the lows and low-mids to add thickness and weight to any mix.’
While the Centerpiece and Satellite feature various options to control level, pan, inserts, and monitoring, the Orbit is designed for easy recall and seamless integration with a DAW-based workflow. Sixteen inputs are provided via DB25 connectors, the first eight of which can be precisely centre-panned via front panel switches, and both sets of XLR outputs use Rupert Neve Designs’ custom transformers. In addition to the main outputs, the -6dB outputs – originally developed for the company’s Shelford Channel – are also simultaneously available, allowing the user to drive the Orbit’s mix bus harder into saturation without clipping the next device in the signal path.
Orbit offers precisely fixed channel levels and accurate mix bus attenuation via high-quality stepped switching, leading to ‘vanishingly low crosstalk, and channels matched to within ±0.1dB. This provides the widest and most accurate stereo image, the greatest depth, and the most direct signal path.
To expand the channel count, multiple units can be combined via the Link I/O on the rear panel. The 5057 Orbit can also be used as a building block in an expandable summing system using the 5059 Satellite for summing and routing, and the 5060 Centerpiece for additional mixing and monitoring features Together, they provide the core of a high-end analogue modular console system.
The 5057 Orbit ships worldwide in February 2021, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of US$1,999.
More: http://rupertneve.com
