OR-0017
Tekura
Oregon, USA · 1979 – c. 2001
Ser. Type 5150 · Ser. No. 00318-B
1991 · effect
Issued as VST3 · AU
Restored 2025 from 1991 hardware.
Tekura 5150 — DAT Reference
Tekura Type 5150 · DAT Reference · restored from Ser. No. 00318-B · Tekura, Oregon, USA, 1991
The restorer's note
Sixteen-bit that is almost, but not quite, clean — the faint patina a good DAT machine leaves on a master. This is a finishing tool; every parameter is meant to sit just below notice. Restored to reference spec, which in Tekura's world meant leaving well alone.
Acquisition
Prices are exclusive of tax. Customers in a country that charges VAT or sales tax will be liable at the rate set by that country; the relevant amount is added at checkout to the purchase price.
The plate
Listening
Listening
Demonstration recordings, prepared at the bench.
A finishing tool
The reference pass at 48 kHz, 16-bit Word, TPDF Dither, Soft Converter — in at six seconds, out at sixteen, in again at twenty-two. The difference sits at the edge of notice. That is the instrument.
0:00 / 0:30
Long-play
Rate steps from 48 to 44.1 kHz — a move below notice — then to 32 kHz, the long-play speed, and the top octave is gone. Word drops to 14-bit at twenty seconds and the floor comes up to meet the tape.
0:00 / 0:30
Out of calibration
Jitter raised to 80 % blurs the top end; Converter switches to Brickwall at twelve seconds and rings at the band edge; Dither goes Off at twenty and the quiet detail truncates. None of it is loud. All of it is there.
0:00 / 0:30