Rupert Neve Designs 542 Tape Emulator Demo 

Buzz Rocket Media This was my goal, and I’m glad you enjoyed it. I appreciate your feedback; thanks so much!

Agree 100%

Thanks so much, Will! No problem.

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it.

sobhhï You’re welcome!

maneatingseas You’re very welcome!

liveguy 😂 Thank you!

MusicGearNuts Thank you!

You're welcome!

Glad you enjoyed it! 👊🏼

@@GreenbriarStudio just received my 2 542s and put them in my Cranborne 500r8 😱😱😱 it’s every bit of what I needed. Ready to grab an eq now. Thanks again for this video bro

@@vrapitfire So good! Enjoy 😁

Thanks so much!

Riygel Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.

peter Hodson Thank you! I’m glad it was helpful.

Jay Arrington What song was that in the beginning? It sounds so beautiful.

Thank you so much! That means a lot.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

@@GreenbriarStudio I needed 33 seconds :DDDD thx

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you! Glad you enjoy.

The song in the mix bus example is “Silhouettes” by Benjamin Scully 😁

@@GreenbriarStudio yeah, totally enjoyed! I wonder what kind of circuit is underneath that module. Do you think there's a way to find out?

@@DP-hw9uq All I know to do is check their website description: rupertneve.com/products/542

Ioannis Kazlaris Yes, that’s my favorite use for them! Glad you like the sound.

@@jayarrington1600 do you use them for trakcing vocals and reamping busses? Do you still like them?

Werner Zimmermann I haven’t used them on vocals during tracking, but I have during mixing for certain bright/thin vocals. I mix with them on drum buss all the time. Still enjoy them a lot!

Kill Badmashia You’re welcome; thanks for watching!

Congrats! Hope you enjoy.

11 months later.. whats the word?!

@@elbeethrie5140 well…I am going to differ than many on my review. First off. I really like them. However, the tape function IMHO is very subtle and I find myself using other saturation in addition (for me it’s normally the Drive on the SSL Fusion). Of course, I don’t overdrive them like in this demo (maybe I should try again). I don’t care for that distorted sound on my mix bus. Seems to go from way subtle to bit too much quickly. Secondly, I really like the Silk circuit and use it all the time. For me, the silk circuit is the most used. However, I use the tape saturation with varying degrees of success on pretty much everything as well. I just don’t notice it as much as I thought I would. Pretty much using the 542’s on mixbus and occasionally during mastering. Hope this helps!

jorells d 😁 Thanks!

Thank you!

Thanks so much!

No problem!

Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed!

Thank you!

Thank you!! 🙏🏼

Pascal Thank you!

Sebastian Brice You’re welcome!

I only bought it for use with synthesizers. The 842 doesn't just make the synths "dirty" like tube distortion/overtones. You can even put virtual analog/digital synths through it and get an analog character that you definitely can't get with a $300 VST plugin, even if Pulsar, for example, advertises it. The 842 is unbeatable, it's probably the only one that really gets this "analog warmth".

Thank you!

Having only one of these would make me want another one..

Ohh and with red on!

Congrats, hope you enjoy!

Hey friend.Is that good on mix buss?Really worth it?Thanks.

@@MegaSoteris honestly after a while not really lol

Ooo.. Thanks!!

It really is! 👍🏼

@@GreenbriarStudio Do you know if the Red Silk on Orbit sounds the same? On online comparisons it was much more subtle than Red Silk in 542.

@@adamicinec I would think the intent is for them to be the same. I’ve only seen one video of the Orbit, but it sounded right to me.

In general, I think that hardware sounds at least a tiny bit better than plugins, but it all comes down to the question, "is it worth it for you and your specific studio/situation." I enjoyed having the 542s a lot, but I sold them last year to pay bills after COVID hit. They are inspiring to use and have a more noticeable sound than plugins to my ear, but now I'm only using tape plugins and doing just fine.

Cameron Warren Definitely personal preference and case-by-case. Example-if I’m recording drums and the snare doesn’t quite have enough low punch (100-200Hz) to my ear, I’ll add a 542 on 30ips while recording. Also, I often use these across a whole drum buss in a mix; in that case, you don’t really have a choice but to insert the 542s after recording. 👍🏼

SymphonyStudioAZ 8:23 in this video is a good starting point for me if I’m going for some grit. If going for a subtle effect instead, I would try trim at 0dB, saturation at full minimum or close to it, 10 ips, 100% blend, and silk to taste.

I never did directly compare (I had to sell these units a couple years ago), but I do remember finding these to be more noticeable than the J37. There's a significant low end boost with these, especially when saturation is at minimum. I've learned a few things recently that probably would inspire me to use these units differently if I still had them. All that said--I can't say for sure if you'd be happy using these as a true replacement, but I really did enjoy using these.

Lucas Michalski I actually no longer own the 611eqs shown in this video. I don’t think I ever used them in conjunction with the 542s before they were sold. Whether in black or brown mode, the 611 eq was always clean to my ear. I don’t think you’d have any issues with over saturation-if for some reason you did, the mix knob on the 542s takes care of that.

@@GreenbriarStudio thanks a lot, cheers!

facts

If your sole goal is to track the sound...insert your plugin on the input. I want this thing because it flat out sounds bad ass...better than my favorite tape emulator plugins.

David Williams having plugins on your input still isn’t the same as having outboard gear that you track in with🤦🏻

@@aboveapollo3704 Of course it isn't the "same". But if your sole goal is to track your input with effects, this is how you do it...not on the channel.

@@aboveapollo3704 other than the obvious tactile experience of tracking w/ outboard gear, having a UAD interface always you to track with plugins. And with virtually zero latency due to UAD plugins running off of the interface’s DSP rather than your PC’s cpu

As I understand it the Saturation is for the "tape" circuit, and the Silk/Texture comes after that and controls the amount of negative feedback to the output transformer.

There is a point if you’re wanting to have an option for tape saturation sound. The silk is an additional feature to what the 542 is primarily for.

yes but its tricky with the twin. You have to assign 0 alt outs, otherwise output 3 & 4 are reserved for alt monitors.

Lucas Michalski Nice! I usually like putting eq before the 542s, but it is purely preference. Follow your ears. 😊👍🏼

I usually EQ first on my mix bus

Reductive first boosting after :)

ZamaNRaPBanD Thanks, glad you like the video! You can definitely bounce one by one-no rules there. I like to use them during tracking too.

Can you use just one on the mix buss or a pair is required?

@@BoboRenthlei you can use it i think. But it will be mono. For stereo effect you need two of them unfortunately.

I wish it did work like that! Since stereo signal is two channels, you have to have one unit for left and one for right. Technically, you could run the left side through, print it, then run the right side through and print it, but I feel like that process may not be recommended by some.

@@GreenbriarStudio I see, thanks for your answer, nice demo video btw, tasty clips!

@@comwillan You're welcome and thanks a lot!

oblivionwalker861 Thank you! Close mic on the kick was a Shure Beta52, and I believe the snare was an sm57. I alternate between 57 and SM7b on snare a lot, so I’m not 100% sure. 😁 Did you want to know the mics for the other drum examples too? Like drum bus, etc.?

I feel like the 542 has more features and tone capabilities across those sources, but get whatever you think you'll be most inspired to work with!

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I did record with them a lot. Great pieces for adding that "something" on the front end.

I'm not sure I understand the question. You could run single tracks, two at a time, through these units, set them to clip, and then print that audio. Or run a whole stereo mix through them.

You would need a 500 series rack. Some come with PSUs in the rack and some are external PSUs.

Wish I could say, but I have never used that plug-in

I would still use these if I had them! Unfortunately, I had to sell all my 500 series gear to pay bills a few months into COVID.

You can get the same effect with one, but only for mono sources. If you want to run stereo sources through, you have to have two--one for left and right channels. Glad you like the video; thank you!

It depends on what you prefer. Some people like to put the tape first, using the saturation as a natural compression before running into more things (like an actual compressor). Putting it at the end would be more like printing to tape. All preference!

@@GreenbriarStudio Thank you very much.

with the blend knob you can dial in as much OR as little as your tastes like. That's the beauty of parallel processors.

Hey you mind explaining something to me, I ask since you’re a recent comment and I might get a response When using a compressor, or some sort of effect like tape saturation , what is the difference with a piece of gear that is stereo or just mono. Is a piece of gear that is available as stereo simply allows you to tweak both sides at once? If I were to treat a stereo image with a analog tape saturation for example, but it doesn’t have a stereo set up , what does that mean? Does that mean it will only apply the effect to part of the stereo guitars or drums? Is the work around to use that piece of gear once and somehow do it a 2nd time on the other side? Lol I don’t understand this. I’m lookin at getting This and Iv seen people use two I’m assuming for a stereo use but I don’t totally get it If I’m treating a stereo bus or master bus with a non stereo piece of gear , wouldnt the effect be applied to the whole bus anyways? Thanks for any help! Iv been writing for a long time but want to get proper recordings done myself and am trying to learn

Hey There I wouldn’t try and do anything by recording twice with each side mono. I don’t know if that would work out the same as if you recorded both sides at the same time with a stereo unit. A stereo piece of gear has a left and right input so it’s get fed the actually stereo information. A mono piece of gear cannot get fed stereo information simply because it is mono and there is no way for it to process stereo being that it is one mono sound source. I would recommend saving up and getting a stereo unit or two mono units that could work together in stereo rather than trying to run 2 recording through a mono unit to then place together a stereo print.

Ok, that sucks I feel with most things I use stereo, like some vst plugins , I was hoping if it was in a bus I could just apply the same effect on the whole track since I’m not doing anything different in terms of sound altering. I am a newbie recorder , been writing for years so I gotta learn these basics. Thanks alot

Hey There try this experiment so you hear the sound difference. Send your stereo tracks to a mono bus and then run that bus to your mono piece of gear and then print it. Once you do that compare the sound of the print with your stereo track in your DAW so you can hear the difference between how the stereo signal sounds ITB vs your mono print

I used a Heritage OST-10

@@GreenbriarStudio Right on...Thanks!

I used it for vocals a few times, and it was great! Just depends on what sound you’re looking for.

@@GreenbriarStudio something to smooth out and soften the harsh upper transients, tape took care for it. Digital shrill freq stuff hurts my ears

@@zanem9022 What did you find out about this? I'm having a HELL of a time getting rid of the nasty 5K frequencies and up ...transients etc. Just digital shrill. I round it off with EQ massively and use a hard core multi band compressor there but it's still not like my old set up which did that naturally with the op amps built in. Thinking of popping this tape emulator into a box and seeing if it helps me get back that musical mojo...along with maybe an SSL or Neve 500 series EQ as well to create and sculpt the sound. Thanks for your thoughts.

That worked very well for me. I used them for mastering and drum bus a lot.

@@GreenbriarStudio Yeah those in your video sounds really great! I'll buy two and try on my 2bus😍

That's a cool idea! Somebody else will have to try it; I just sold these :(

@@GreenbriarStudio I'm curious... why'd you sell them off?

@@JCalibre Covid brought some significant financial difficulty to my studio. I’m selling all of my 500 series gear to pay bills.

@@GreenbriarStudio very unfortunate. what all are you selling? I'm actually just getting started with my 500 series collection.

@@JCalibre I’ve got a pair of API 550bs and an SSL G Comp still for sale on Reverb