Rupert Neve Designs has announce plug-in versions of three of its hardware units – the Portico II Master Buss Processor, 551 Inductor EQ and 542 Tape Emulator. Though RND has collaborated on several software products for other brands over the years, these are notably the first plug-ins released by the company itself.
‘These plug-ins are faithful recreations of the beloved hardware that powers thousands of studios and stages worldwide – plus a few added features, because software gives us the freedom to do so,’ says Rupert Neve Designs. ‘We are confident these plug-ins provide the legendary sound we all know and love, and we are proud to make our products accessible to more engineers, producers, and artists than ever before.’
Since its release in 2011, the Portico II Master Buss Processor remains one of RND’s flagship products, and its massive flexibility for precision dynamic range and stereo field control has long made it a favourite of mixing, mastering, and live sound engineers worldwide. The 551 Inductor EQ – the only 500-Series equaliser actually designed by Mr. Neve – uses circuitry originally developed for the well-known Shelford Channel and features three bands of EQ inspired by Rupert Neve’s most prized vintage designs. The 542 Tape Emulator incorporates RND’s unique tape saturation circuit, a soft-clipper to tame harsh sources, and the company’s Silk Red & Blue harmonic saturation.
The three plug-ins were developed in collaboration with McDSP. ‘We have been pretty selective when it comes to collaborative projects – we want to work with a team that knows what they’re doing, and the product needs to be great,’ says McDSP’s Colin McDowell. ‘I am familiar with the sound of many coveted pieces of audio gear, and of course many of them were designed by Rupert Neve: a person with a genuine interest in making quality products for the pro audio market. And Mr. Neve was mighty good at it...quality never goes out of style. When the opportunity to develop some software plug-ins for Rupert Neve Designs came about, we just could not pass it up.’
These plug-ins are compatible with Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Nuendo, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Luna, Reaper, Sonar, Studio One and other DAWs that support AAX, AU and/or VST3 plug-in formats, and run natively on Intel and Apple silicon processors. The plug-ins require an iLok2 or iLok3 USB Smart Key, machine based, or an iLok License Manager account and an iLok Cloud session for authorisation. Each plug-in contains two activations per authorisation.