Lexicon PCM96

Reviews | Lexicon PCM96
86
L
exicon have been around for a
very long time. When I started
working in my fi rst studio in
1981, they were already
established as the major player in
digital delay and reverb products, and in
hardware terms, they still are. I have
had a real love affair with their gear
since the fi rst time I got my hands on a
Prime Time, one of the original digital
delays, and the Lexicon 224, an 8-bit
digital reverb that graced many an early
1980’s production. I regularly use the
224XL, 480L and 960L every time I go
into a studio that has one as they are
still the gold standard of big posh
reverbs, and you hear their algorithms
every day on records old and new.
Retro respect
The PCM range has also included some
classics so the PCM96 does indeed
have a very fi ne pedigree, and a lot to
live up to! So, how does it fare? Well,
taking it out of the box it looks pretty
professional and straightforward. From
left to right you have input meters, a
reasonably-sized OLED display, a couple
of buttons and four knobs for parameter
changes, followed by four more buttons
and a fl ash memory slot. Simple and
uncluttered and pretty much what you’d
expect if you’ve ever used a PCM unit
before. The back panel is pretty full,
aside from the stereo analogue ins and
outs which are on XLRs, (I don’t like
stereo jacks), you have AES digital I/O,
two FireWire, two Ethernet, MIDI in, out
and thru and a word clock input. Very
comprehensive and in keeping with
Lexicon’s usual high standards.
Connection is made
So, the fi rst thing is to connect it up
using good old analogue and see what
happens when you stick some thing
through it. Well, I’m very pleased to
report that it sounds just like a Lexicon
reverb! That is, big and warm, and as
you move from patch to patch,
alternately bright and sparkling to deep
and dark. Lexicon have a vast vault of
great-sounding reverbs to plunder and
Lexicon
PCM96 | £2,195
So is it hardware or software? Lexicon cover all bases
with one machine that papers over the junction.
Stuart Bruce steps up to the famous plate
WHAT IS IT?
A hardware reverb unit
that also works as a
plug-in
CONTACT
Who: Sound Technology
Tel: [phone]
Web: lexiconpro.com
HIGHLIGHTS
1 Great-sounding, realistic
reverbs and some very
useable weird FX
2 Very good user interfaces
3 Works as a hardware unit
and as a plug-in
Convolution vs Algorithm-based Reverbs
The market is full of great
reverb plug-ins, many of
them convolution reverbs
like Logic’s own Space
Designer or Altiverb. So
why would you want to
buy a unit based on
algorithms given that you
can fi nd IR’s on the net of
pretty much any hardware
unit ever made? Well, it’s
true that you can sample a
reverb unit but you can’t
capture it’s soul. You can
see from the parameters
available on the Lexicon
that you have control over
pretty much any detail of
the sound. It’s that level of
control that you lose when
you make an IR from it.
Now I love my convolution
reverbs. The detail,
particularly in acoustic
spaces can be uncanny,
and I like to make my own
when I have the time, but
sometimes you need to
build the space from the
ground up and algorithms
allow you to do that.
Compare any two plugs
that use the two methods
and you’ll see and hear
the difference.
Another reason why
Lexicon has always stood
out from the crowd is their
very detailed use of
chorus. That’s another very
important element of their
sound, one of the things
that contributes to that
big, broad, Poptastic
landscape that they give
us. And that is something
that convolution reverbs
can’t do. IRs, by their
nature, don’t see
modulation, so you can
get pretty close, but it will
never sound the same.
ON THE DVD
FMU206.rev_lexicon 86 12/9/08 2:35:6 pm