When I reviewed the Portico II Master Buss Processor hardware for Tape Op #89 in 2012, I was fortunate to get my hands on one just as I was mastering a modern rock album that I had tracked and mixed. The producer and I were immediately struck by the MBP’s ability to increase the power, energy, and apparent loudness of the masters without sacrificing tonality or introducing obvious distortion. This was a box I could get along with! Over the years, I seriously considered investing in the hardware, but having relied primarily on an in-the-box workflow for almost two decades, I couldn’t quite justify the investment. Still, every once in a while I would think back to that first experience with the MBP. Fast-forward to 2026, when my friends at Rupert Neve Designs whispered to me that they had developed a plug-in version of the Master Buss Processor in a rare collaboration with McDSP. Naturally, I was excited to try it. Spoiler alert: I found the same excitement, energy, and power in the plug-in as I had the rack unit.
When I reviewed the hardware, I was struck by the sophisticated actions of its analog stages. Today, we have come to expect another level of sophistication – and sometimes a little magic – from plug-ins, so rather than revisit every detail of the original circuitry, I’ll focus on what’s new in the plug-in and, more importantly, how it sounds. During the past few weeks, I’ve used it on mixing and mastering projects ranging from indie folk to metal to traditional jazz. In every genre, the Master Buss Processor proved useful, whether mastering a stereo mix, processing a drum bus, shaping and widening a subgroup, or simply adding a touch of Silk coloration to a vocal bus.