Bruce Hofer: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:26, 9 October 2023

Bruce Edward Hofer (b. 1948 in Portland – ?) worked as an assistant in the Lab Instruments division of Tektronix while studying at Oregon State University. After graduading in in Electrical Engineering in 1970, he joined Tek fulltime, working on the 7000 series.

Hofer worked on 7000-series time base design, partly with Art Metz, Les Larson.

He later switched to audio, designing low distortion oscillators and harmonic distortion measuring equipment (lead engineer on the SG505 audio oscillator and the AA501 distortion analyzer, and TM5000 plugins).

Unable to convince Tek management there was a market for this, in 1984 Bruce quit and cofounded Audio Precision with Bob Metzler, Richard Cabot, and Bob Wright.

Audio Precision became the world standard for audio test equipment manufacturers. Bruce became majority owner of AP in 2002.

Hofer along with Bob Metzler helped launch Preamble Instruments.

Links

View From The Top: Bruce Hofer, Audio Precision
My Years at Tektronix by Bruce Hofer @ vintagetek.org

Documents Authored by Bruce Hofer

Document	Page	Class	Title	Author(s)	Year	Refers to
Tekscope 1976 V8 N1.pdf	2	Article	Delta Time Measurement for the 7000 Series	Paul Farley • Les Larson • Bruce Hofer	1976	7B85 • 7B80 • DM40 • DM43
Tekscope 1980 V12 N3.pdf	14	Article	Automatic Distortion Analyzer Speeds Distortion Measurements	Bruce Hofer	1980	AA501 • SG505

Products by Bruce Hofer

Model	Class	Description	Designers	Introduced
7D11	Plug-in	digital delay	Carlo Infante • Bob Beville • Bruce Hofer	1972
7B50A	Plug-in	100 MHz timebase	Les Larson • Bruce Hofer • Paul Farley • Art Metz	1976
7B80	Plug-in	400 MHz timebase	Les Larson • Bruce Hofer • Paul Farley • Art Metz	1976
067-0657-00	Plug-in	7000 Series Normalized Ramp Generator	Bruce Hofer	1976
7B92A	Plug-in	500 MHz dual timebase	Les Larson • Bruce Hofer	1976
7B85	Plug-in	400 MHz delaying timebase	Les Larson • Bruce Hofer • Paul Farley • Art Metz	1976
7B10	Plug-in	1 GHz timebase	Art Metz • Bruce Hofer • Val Garuts	1978
7B15	Plug-in	1 GHz delaying timebase	Art Metz • Bruce Hofer • Val Garuts	1978
AA501	Plug-in	audio analyzer	Bruce Hofer • Rush Hood • Richard Cabot • Fred Armentrout	1980
SG505	Plug-in	ultra-low distortion oscillator	Bruce Hofer	1980
PS5010	Plug-in	programmable triple power supply	Bruce Hofer	1982
SG5010	Plug-in	audio signal generator	Bruce Hofer • Bob Metzler • Richard Cabot • Bob Wright	1984
AA5001	Plug-in	audio analyzer	Bruce Hofer	1984

Components by Bruce Hofer

Patents by Bruce Hofer

Page	Office	Number	Title	Inventors	Company	Filing date	Grant date
Patent US 3843873A	US	3843873A	Counter having selective direction and variable rate control	Bob Beville • Bruce Hofer • Bill Peek	Tektronix Inc	1972-09-19	1974-10-22
Patent US 4009399A	US	4009399A	Gated ramp generator	Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1976-02-05	1977-02-22
Patent US 4132958A	US	4132958A	Feedbeside correction circuit for an amplifier	John Addis • Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1977-10-31	1979-01-02
Patent US 4296381A	US	4296381A	Distortion reduction circuit for an inverting feedback amplifier	Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1979-10-01	1981-10-20
Patent US 4302738A	US	4302738A	Noise rejection circuitry for a frequency discriminator	Richard Cabot • Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1980-04-11	1981-11-24
Patent US 4382233A	US	4382233A	Multiple-feedback path filter	Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1980-11-12	1983-05-03
Patent US 4344029A	US	4344029A	Automatic IM distortion test selector	Richard Cabot • Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1981-05-11	1982-08-10
Patent US 4560958A	US	4560958A	State variable oscillator having improved rejection of leveler-induced distortion	Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1984-02-24	1985-12-24
Patent US 4563652A	US	4563652A	Dual-stage filter with feedback	Bruce Hofer	Audio Precision	1985-04-12	1986-01-07
Patent US 4614914A	US	4614914A	Low-distortion transformer-coupled circuit	Bruce Hofer	Audio Precision	1985-04-12	1986-09-30
Patent US 4811395A	US	4811395A	Two-tone test signal method for BTSC calibration	Edward J. Cleary Jr. • Bruce Hofer	Tektronix Inc	1987-10-08	1989-03-07
Patent US 5336989A	US	5336989A	AC mains test apparatus and method	Bruce Hofer	Audio Precision	1991-09-19	1994-08-09
Patent US 7268711B1	US	7268711B1	Method and circuit for amplitude compensation in a digital-to-analog converter	Bruce Hofer	Audio Precision	2006-03-24	2007-09-11

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Person
 |Names=Bruce Edward Hofer
-|Birth date=
+|Birth date=1948
-|Birth place=
+|Birth place=Portland
 |Death date=
 |Death place=
@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 After graduading in in Electrical Engineering in 1970, he joined Tek fulltime, working on the [[7000-series scopes|7000 series]].
-Hofer worked on [[11000-series scopes|11k series]] time bases design (with [[Art Metz]]).
+Hofer worked on 7000-series time base design, partly with [[Art Metz]], [[Les Larson]].
 He later switched to audio, designing low distortion oscillators and harmonic distortion measuring equipment (lead engineer on the [[SG505]] audio oscillator and the [[AA501]] distortion analyzer, and [[TM5000]] plugins).
-Unable to convince Tek management there was a market for this, in 1984 Bruce quit and founded [[Audio Precision]] with [[Bob Metzler]], [[Richard Cabot]], and Robert Wright.
+Unable to convince Tek management there was a market for this, in 1984 Bruce quit and cofounded [[Audio Precision]] with [[Bob Metzler]], [[Richard Cabot]], and [[Bob Wright]].
-Audio Precision became the world standard for audio manufacturers.  Bruce became majority owner of AP.
+Audio Precision became the world standard for audio test equipment manufacturers.
+Bruce became majority owner of AP in 2002.
-Hofer also founded Preamble Instruments.
+Hofer along with [[Bob Metzler]] helped launch [[Preamble Instruments]].
 ==Links==
@@ Line 25: / Line 26: @@
 * [https://vintagetek.org/years-at-tektronix-hofer/ My Years at Tektronix] by Bruce Hofer @ vintagetek.org
+{{Documents|Author=Bruce Hofer}}
 {{Designer|Bruce Hofer}}
 {{Patents|Bruce Hofer}}
 [[Category:Tektronix people]]