Just found a Neve Contact - anybody got questions for him?

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I have just realised an ex-workmate of mine worked at Neve (my offical work base is Cambridge and Neve was just down the road from us)
Somebody mentioned that he worked there a few years back but I totally forgot..
So I sent him an email and this is the reply..
Hi Simon,

I was at Neve from 1981 to 1992/3....

I joined the R&D team which was starting digital audio research for
digital mixers and went through several iterations and was the Systems
Manager for the Capricorn project, which was from around 1987 to 1992..

So I had limited involvement with the analogue systems such as the V
series and various series of radio/broadcasting desks.


Anybody got any questions???????
 
yeah... Two questions:

1) -What does he have against Burnley?

2) -Does he want to buy any Capricorns back from me? :twisted:

(Wouldn't wish that on anybody! :wink: )

Keef
 
Naaaah...

At the time (1992/3) of the AMS takeover of Neve, I was working in Liverpool. We had a large VR60, -the first of the 'Legend' V series to be installed in the UK- which was new and under warranty. we had a couple of problems but nothing too crazy. when AMS announced that Neve would be re-headquartered just up the road from us, I was very pleased! 'Cambilge' (John Lennon) is a bugger to get to from Liverpool if you want a part quickly... Burnley is a mere 40 minute scamper up the motorway.

Anyhow, AMS (in Burnley, Lancashire) bought Neve for two things: the name and the manufacturng facility. Their idea was to migrate all of Neve's production capacity to AMS product (Logic 1, 2, and Logic 3, Libra, DFC etc) and badge it as Neve-related. They saw the Neve digital product as not being the way forward: they were a digital cimpany, they wanted to sell their (AMS's) product, but it wouldn't sell anywhere near as well without a Neve nameplate, so they bought themselves out of Seimens, and bought Neve as well. Seimens were glad to be rid of them as their own plans of Harman-like world domination were ill-conceived in the music area.

So... in order to get rid of all the staff that they didn't want, they were offered the chance to er.... "relocate" .... to Burnley, if they wished to continue being employed by the company. Most Cambridgeshire residents would rather be prison-raped by a syphyllitic grizzley bear, so they declined and left the company... which is exactly what AMS wanted; -getting rid of the people associated with the old Neve product line.

I have a load of Capricorn stuff here... analog in/out racks, mic/line racks, monitor racks, computers.... not the most reliable thing in the world, but later ones were w-a-a-a-y more stable than the AMs product. We had a Logic 3 and a Libra, both of which would wake up normal about 20% if the time, wake up stupid about 30% of the time, and just flat out refuse to get out of bed for the remaining 50%. The local Nickelodeon studios had a Libra that worked occasionally, AMS was telling both of us that nobody else had any problems; when we started talking to one another, it became clear that everyone was having problems...

the Capricorn, (ugh!) the Libra...(triple ugh!) -They really should have built one called 'the CANCER'... :wink:

Keith
 
Ahh - starts to make sense now...
The guy I knew must have joined the Phillips Development Team about that time.
Scarily enough that part of Phillips was hived off to another company (which I joined and Phillips totally owned) and then sold lock stock and barrel to a French firm (of which I am still part of).
And guess what - most of inhouse work was relocated to a new site in Warrington.

Somebody up there really hates us Cambridgeshire residents...
 
We had a picture of Snap, Crackle, and Pop (From Rice Krispies) Taped to the back of our DSP Rack. When we got rid of it, we left the picture on as a warning to the new owners.

Zach
 

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