Steinberg is elated to announce the shipping of RND Portico 5033 and RND Portico 5043, two top-notch signal processor plug-ins reflecting the close cooperation between Rupert Neve, Yamaha and Steinberg. Based on Yamaha’s unique VCM technology and approved by Rupert Neve, the RND Portico plug-ins deliver the unparalleled Neve sound that already brought some of the most successful records in music history to perfection.
The RND Portico 5033 is a five-band equalizer with three full parametric filters and one band each of high and low-shelving filters. Whether applied to a single instrument track, the drum bus or the entire mix, the Portico 5033 plug-in will add sonic finesse to your recordings. The RND Portico 5043 plug-in is a high-end compressor featuring two entirely different characteristics, feed-forward and feed-back. By incorporating the punch, warmth and clarity of its hardware counterpart, this plug-in provides uncompromising compression quality for various applications.
RND Portico 5033, RND Portico 5043 and the 5033/5043 bundle are available as boxed version from authorized Steinberg resellers or as boxed and download version from the Steinberg Online Shop. Best of all, both plug-ins are also available as free trial versions. The trial versions come with the same range of functionality as the full versions and may be used without limitations for 30 days.
Watch the exclusive “Behind the Scenes” interview with Rupert Neve and Toshifumi Kunimoto from Yamaha about the early days of audio recording and the evolution of digital modeling technologies.
Here you can download the official Trial version of the Rupert Neve Portico 5033 and 5043 plug-ins: Download Trial Version.
Currently demoing these plugins and they are absolutely amazing I remember the original price was extremely high so I did not even want to demo them but the price seems to be adjusted.
There apparently is no trial version anymore. You cannot find the installers in the Steinberg Download Manager, either. Also, these products are not covered by Zero Downtime. Very strange, indeed. Awesome plugins, but I wouldn’t feel quite right recommending them to anyone at this point.
Edit: It seems there is actually a trial version available. Sorry about the misinformation. See David_W’s post below …
I just noticed the RND Portico plugins are now available in the Steinberg Download Assistant. It’s also an updated version. Unbelievable! Thank you, Steinberg.
I’m really interested in grabbing these RND plugins - but am very hesitant to spend that much money without a trial.
I’ve been through this whole thread following links on links and they always end up in the same place. No trial.
I even tried to contact Steinberg but it takes you to a distributor page…
My guess is that the trial version has been eliminated due to the recent transition from eLicenser to Steinberg Licensing. This is yet another Steinberg product which is caught in the mysterious transitional phase. These are truly great plugins. However, I would hold off if I were you until it is confirmed or denied that they will make the transition to the new licensing system. These plugins are over ten years old. Unbelievably, they are not on the list of recently announced unsupported products …
It has been pointed out a few times, but that list only includes products that were no longer being sold for a while. Not only you can still buy the RND Portico plugins, but they have also been added to the recent Yamaha Rivage PM series of consoles. A firmware update for the Rivage added an emulation of the Portico II Master Buss Processor just last year.
The VST 3/AU plug-in versions were last updated on December 2020.
I know as much about the future of these plugins as you do, but given Yamaha’s relationship with Rupert Neve Designs, I would say that it’s likely that these plugins will continue to be sold for a while longer, even if somehow they don’t make the transition to Steinberg Licensing.
To clarify what this means, when you request Steinberg Zero Downtime, you’re sent a special license (only compatible with a functional USB-eLicenser dongle) that can run all Steinberg products for 25 work hours while your wait for Steinberg Support to send you replacement licenses. For licensing reasons, this special license can’t run the RND Portico plug-ins.
Oh wow … how can this plugin be called an “Exact digital copy of the renowned Portico 5033 EQ” when it cramps near Nyquist? I’m 110% sure the original analog Portico 5033 does not do that.
I remember the original price was extremely high so I did not even want to demo them but the price seems to be adjusted.
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