Rupert Neve Designs Portico II Master Buss Processor - Black Reviews

Dynamics,depths with mojo and in your face beautiful sounds. The best buss processor. I have both MBP and the MBT and in my opinion the MBP has the mojo but the MBT has that wow openness. I tried both together and oh my my a different level.

I was looking for analog outboard gear to make my digital mixes sound warmer, bigger and just plain better. There is something about digital that bothers my ears. I record digital and finish the mix with the Portico and it is night and day. I want to really thank Drew Foster from Sweetwater for the recommendation. Drew, who has been my Sweetwater expert for many years. Drew took the time to understand my style of music, my goals, concerns, the differences between the Portico II other similar products, etc. If you put in the time for writing and performance work to create music in a studio, you owe it to yourself to finish your work through the Portico II.

I'd give this thing 10 stars if I could. I have had this for two years and recently added it to another mix and thought I would write a review. I was never a big believer in "glue" I figured it was a sales pitch but after hearing this on a video I decided to try it out for myself and now, it's a piece of forever gear!

Technical-ish: So here's the cool part if you're a nerd like me... As much as I like the SFE I love the depth and how you can drive certain sounds out of this box with very subtle changes. The HPF works amazingly well, it's practically surgical with its compression and the addition of silk. The coolest thing I've been able to do is dial in some pumping effects to some electronic mixes that would take me considerably longer to do with software.

Conclusion:
I see now they've come up with newer stuff that has Red and Blue silk to mix but, I think I'll stick to one or the other for years to come. Worth the money, glad I bought it when I did though!!!

My Sales rep Brady Langefels is a stud. I picked up a Neve Master Buss Processor, and unfortunately it arrived with some damage which I've never experienced before. I was apprehensive at first, but the minute I spoke to Brady, he said "not to worry, I got you" and within 40 minutes, had another email with a return label and receipt showing a new unit was already on its way. 2 days later, as I'm walking out of the house to return the broken unit, sure enough, the new one just showed up. All in all great experience, it really helps when you got a stud like Brady in your corner.

first and foremost I want to thank my sales rep! He is an awesome guy that is very patient with all the million questions I throw at him prior to a purchase haha. Ive had my Portico ii for about 4 months now. tested it on my mix busses and for mastering. all I can say is that you will never look back after using one of these! being able to EQ the Mid and side through the SFE section is amazing! the Compressor can be very transparent or give you beautiful color when engaging the silk blue or red. and it has a limiter! its an awesome piece of gear that I cannot work without now.

I have had this compressor for over a year now and I am very happy to have made the decision to go for it. If you are reading this review you already know what it does. Any thing with Rupert Neve's name on it is worth talking about. This was purchased for mix bus duties and I have discovered that's only part of what it can do. This piece alone has been able to add so much life to any track that passes through it. This was my first piece of Rupert Neve Designs gear and I have awakened to RND's Silk Feature. Once You see what Silk Red can do to your tracks you will never want to make another track without it. The compressor is very versatile and having the wet/dry knob on hardware is a nice modern feature. The MBP can be used for tracking, mixing, and mastering. For tracking I can use it for adding silk flavors and parallel compression on the way in. Paired with RND 542's tape emulators on the mix bus with two silk options chained together has been harmonic heaven. The compressors character is more on the transparent side which is great for the final stage of any chain. The SFE function is a nice little bonus feature. This piece is a big investment but it offers something that just simply isn't the same as the digital world. This is a relationship with something physical and designed by someone who lived, ate and breathed their craft. Turning the knobs and hearing the magic happen to your audio is a feeling like no other. Thanks RND and Sweetwater for making it possible!

AMAZING!!!

After months of research and debating if I should spend my life's savings :).... I decided to pull the trigger. Have to say it sure does give your master chain a colorful sound not found with plugins along with a wider/richer feeling to the synths and vocals. The unit is solid and is easy to learn.

Big thanks to my sales engineer Rob for helping me get this lovely unit.

This unit is an absolute workhorse. I use it on my Master Bus, Drum Bus, Bass Tracks, Horns, Percussion, I basically use it on everything. It delivers the goods as a compressor/limiter with dynamic compression ratios from 1:1 to 40:1, Stereo Width from about 60hz all the way up to 18khz, and a depth boost which allows me to fine tune the high and low ends of a mix. I love how you can link the mix, or unlink a mix and mix the Depth and Width channels in mono. It's not as aggressive as a Distressor, but it's way more versatile than an LA2A, and way cheaper than a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor. Oh and Silk…love the Blue Silk for funk and Beat tracks, Red Silk for Rock and Metal.

As a Master Bus Processor, it gives you compression and volume without sounding like compression. The whole mix comes alive and you hear transients clearly.

There is no plugin on the market that does what this unit does. It really is a brilliant piece of gear. I can't imagine mastering without it. I'm glad I got the Whiteface when the Red/Blue silk was independent on each channel for M/S as opposed to the new Blackface which is either/or now. The SFE is the icing on the cake.

This unit is excellent, it has helped me attain the mix that I have been listening for- for many years. In this box, you get what you pay for! Get it if you can, you will not be sorry.

Thanks again to Tyler Moore and the whole sweetwater team. These guys really know their stuff. Very professional, dedicated and immediately responsive to any questions asked.

When I 1st purchased the MBP I was immediately surprised by the sonics this unit delivers. The options on this processor are limitless once you explore and learn what each one has to offer. If you are looking for a processor to take your sound and make it professional then you should definitely make this an option. The Red & Blue silk buttons are really helpful options that your audio will benefit from. The M/S option on this unit really gives you the control you need to shape your audio. The link button is a must have if you want to balance your signal. The dual mono option is also a much needed option when your audio needs it. This unit handles peaks for you as well as your RMS levels. The Feed Forward & Feed Backwards really gives you options to give your audio the vibe you're looking for. Lastly the ability to pass audio thru the unit with no compression is a treat within itself. If you are in the market for a unit that does multiple things for your audio then this is the one you shield buy. Owning this unit has given my business the boost it needed to compete within the market with confidence. Thank you Alan Finkbeiner for getting me the right information and proper guidance I needed to purchase this unit.

This device is an insert on essentially every mix we do. It's very flexible, but almost any setting sounds good. It's the one thing in our studio we couldn't do without for a day. It's never failed, but I sometimes awake in the middle of the night wondering if we should have a spare just for good measure. And, as always, buying it from Sweetwater was a pleasure. Nowhere else online can you find sales engineers who are this knowledgeable. Even if you know what you want, chatting with one of these guys will help. And as I recall, the MBP was a recommendation we got from Sweetwater.

I have had the original white faced unit for years. As I was building my new studio I used it in my live setup... I was blown away as to what it did to the intimacy of the sound. Everything just sat right in the mix and the detail in the sound was amazing, you truly heard all the emotion in my voice! As my studio was being wired I removed it from my live setup and put it back into my new studio. I tried several "mastering hardware" pieces I had laying around, but the sound stopped being inspiring and our performance was just felt a bit lackluster…. Long story short, I now own two units my original white face and now the new black face one. I can honestly say this is a desert island piece of gear. Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but worth every penny!

Almost impossible to describe how beautiful this sounds and how easy it was to setup and begin to use. Even with no tweaking everything sounds better. But the options you have to improve tracks - whether solo mono tracks, stereo or full 2-buss tracking - this tools is exactly what you need. Highly recommended.

This was the missing piece of the puzzle for me. I don't have a huge, million dollar studio but now I have the sound!
After about a week of ownership I've been remastering all of my old music for release and listening to the before/after of 5 plugins vs one Portico II?...Yeah The Portico II came in with the people's elbow and put the smackdown on those plugins. Big thanks to Cody Kraus and team for the quick shipping and A+ Customer service!

This box is just the best. The mid-side processing alone is worth the price of admission. Not only is this for mastering, but it can be used for tracking and mixing as well. This box is the centerpiece of my mastering chain.

This thing is phenomenal! If I could only keep one of my analog pieces it would have to be this. It does what it says it does well, and it does even more magic when you get creative with it. BIG THANKS to the best sales engineer Erik Bothwell, he made the purchasing experience unforgettable.

Pro; I have been using the MBP on the LUNA main out and it is better than any software compressor I have tried. The addition of 'silk', channel link, FF/FB, RMS/Peak, Limiter, SC, 125Hz HP, and the SFE is a 'must have' for the final image tweak. It will elevate your mix/master.

Worth it? For the hobbyist, no, for the professional, yes. ...isn't cheap but the MBP is the Michael Jordan of compressors.

The Portico MBP makes everything sound great! It is super-intuitive and simple, but it really is a magical device. Sweetwater's sales engineer Shawn Fitzgerald was also very responsive (as always), and really helped to make this purchase smooth & painless. Thanks so much!!

This was worth the investment! Not only does it look good, it takes my mastering to another level! Love this piece!

I've had this unit for about a year and I find that it breathes Mojo and Life into a track. You'll hit bypass and think, "Yes, it's definitely better with the MBP." Although a plugin like a brickwall limiter will make a more dramatic impact on your mix, what the MBP does is special and not possible with a plugin.

The MBP starts off with one of the most transparent compressors on the planet. Your ears need to be extremely well-trained to hear it compress, but it is very flexible. It has selections for Peak/RMS, and the labeled ms markings are for RMS mode but by selecting Peak, the attack times change and can be as fast as .1ms! It also has Feed Forward/Feed Back style compression, a 125Hz HPF sidechain so the lows don't pump, and a blend knob so you can mix in the non-compressed signal. My only criticism with the comp is that the release is slow (minimum .1s = 100ms). Of note, there is no input gain. The output gain is post-comp and feeds the limiter.

The intelligent 1 knob limiter is program dependent. It works on anything and is also totally transparent.

They probably added the silk feature because the compressor and limiter alone, although smooth, are lack flavor. I use the silk a lot, tracking, mixing etc. You'll have fun with that. Who needs a saturation plug when you have 2 flavors of analog transformer saturation?

I use the Width very minimally, but it's nice to have.

The Depth and EQ add a bit of spice to the recipe and are so simple to use. In fact you'll find that you can set them anywhere and it will probably sound better with them than without.

SFE to Comp Button = Mid Side Compression!

You can bypass everything, or bypass the comp only, and also cycle through Red, Blue or No Silk, but I wish I could toggle between the two silks directly and have 'no silk' on a separate toggle.

In conclusion, the sum of all it's parts make the MBP the special unit that it is. I find that even songs that are already 'Mastered', if I run them through this, they generally have more analog magic... more 'feel' somehow, and although subtle, you'll want it back if you hit bypass. I guess it's like putting butter on a nice piece of bread.

This thing is awesome...its great for thickening up a mix, giving it that "fat" punchy Neve sound we all love. It was pretty complicated to get it hooked up and working properly with my UAD Apollos, I had to call UAD support (which was great, they have amazing customer service) but since that's been set, everything is working great. Highly recommended for the master buss, and the drum buss!

I purchased this item for my Master Bus and so far it's performing as expected. Currently, I'm still the infancy stage using this tool. The audio I pass through it makes audio more powerful. So far, I like the SFE section a lot. I would like to provide more comments in the near future, after more use of this awesome tool.