OR-0021
Tekura
Oregon, USA · 1979 – c. 2001
Ser. Type 1200 · Ser. No. 03014-A
1982 · effect
Issued as VST3 · AU
Restored 2025 from 1982 hardware.
Tekura 1200 — Noise Reference
Tekura Type 1200 · Noise Reference · restored from Ser. No. 03014-A · Tekura, Oregon, USA, 1982
The restorer's note
The plainest thing in the catalogue and among the most useful — calibrated white, pink, and band-limited noise, test tones, and proper dither, all at exact levels. One of Tekura's oldest products, serial 03014, and it still measures true.
Acquisition
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The plate
The controls
The controls.
- Source Pink as issued
- Chooses the generated signal: White, Pink, Band, Sine, Sweep, Impulse, or TPDF Dither.
- Level -100–0 dBFS · -18 dBFS as issued
- Sets the generated signal's calibrated output level, in decibels full scale.
- Frequency 20 Hz–20.0 kHz · 1.0 kHz as issued
- Sets the Sine's frequency, the Band noise's centre, or the Sweep's centre frequency; it has no effect on the other sources.
- Bandwidth 10 Hz–20.0 kHz · 20.0 kHz as issued
- Sets the Band noise's width, or the Sweep's frequency span; it has no effect on the other sources.
- Sweep Time 0.01–10.00 s · 1.00 s as issued
- Sets how long the Sweep takes to complete one pass, and the Impulse's repeat period between clicks; it has no effect on the other sources.
- Input -24.00–24.00 dB · 0.00 dB as issued
- Trims the incoming signal before it joins the Blend; the generated signal itself is unaffected by this control.
- Output -24.00–24.00 dB · 0.00 dB as issued
- Sets the level coming out, in decibels, after the restored circuit and the Mix blend.
- Blend 0–100 % · 100 % as issued
- Blends the generated signal against the input, from the input alone at 0 % to the generated signal alone, replacing it, at 100 %.
- Bypass Off as issued
- Takes the restored circuit out of the path and passes the untouched signal, delayed to match the circuit so nothing shifts in time.
A stored setting is numbered, never named: the trace's overlay reads SETTING 04/09. The thumbwheel's position is the setting, and it applies as it clicks into place; ▲ ▼ step one at a time and stop at the ends. STORE asks STORE NN?, and a second press keeps the present state as SETTING NN. Holding STORE on a user setting asks CLEAR NN?, and a second press clears it.
Listening
Listening
Demonstration recordings, prepared at the bench.
The reference, blended
Pink noise at Level −18 dBFS, Blend at 100 — the reference alone. At eight seconds Blend falls to 50 and the material comes up through the noise; at twenty it drops to 25, the reference now a calibrated bed.
0:00 / 0:30
The source walk
White; Band noise 500 Hz wide around 1 kHz, the centre then moved to 4 kHz; a Sine at 440 and again at 1 kHz; a Sweep on a two-second period; and the Impulse, once a second, to close. Level holds at −18 dBFS throughout.
0:00 / 0:30
A dither bed
TPDF Dither blended at 30 under the material, Level at −18 dBFS. The bed falls away to −40 by fourteen seconds and returns to −18 at twenty — a calibrated hiss.
0:00 / 0:30