OR-0020
Tekura
Oregon, USA · 1979 – c. 2001
Ser. Type 4200 · Ser. No. 00589-B
1985 · effect
Issued as VST3 · AU
Restored 2025 from 1985 hardware.
Tekura 4200 — Distortion Analyzer
Tekura Type 4200 · Distortion Analyzer · restored from Ser. No. 00589-B · Tekura, Oregon, USA, 1985
The restorer's note
An instrument that measures harmonic distortion — and, run backwards, adds exactly the harmonics you specify, to the tenth of a percent. "Clean distortion" is a contradiction only until you use this. Restored from a mid-80s revision-B unit.
Acquisition
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The plate
Listening
Listening
Demonstration recordings, prepared at the bench.
Twenty-five per cent
The chords run dry for five seconds, then through the generator at Amount 25 % — Even and Odd both at 50, Order at 6. A measured warmth; the readout would call it THD, and it would be right.
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The series, in order
Amount rises from 0 to 100 % over calibrated tones. The harmonic series climbs out of the sine, evens and odds together, up to Order 6 — exactly as commissioned.
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Even against odd
Amount at 60 %: the even series alone, then the odd series alone at eight seconds. Order jumps to 12 and the edge brightens; back to 2 — with Even restored — only the octave remains. Bias tips the balance at the close.
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