Lexicon MX200

[buryher17]

any opinions? I'm upgrading my studio once again, and this time im upgrading all my mic's and working on vocals.

I was recomended by a studio official recently to get the lexicon mx200 but i want to know what everyone else thinks about it


thanks

[SonicAlbert]

What's a "studio official"?

[altitude909]

Good effects, VST plugin control, good build, good routing, digital and analog i.o.

I love mine and use it all the time. What do you want to know?

[Middleman]

Use it here. Thumbs Up.

[buryher17]

Originally Posted by altitude909

Good effects, VST plugin control, good build, good routing, digital and analog i.o.

I love mine and use it all the time. What do you want to know?

i pretty much wanted to know will it sound good? like is it a cheesy effects processor or no?

like my vocals is the only thing im having a problem with to sound good. And im tyring to make some mroe low end on it and add some nice reverb [ps- i do a lot of scremaing vocals keep in mind]

so i was just wondering how good it sounds and if it's worth adding. or should i be looking at another product.

thanks

[buryher17]

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

What's a "studio official"?

haha lakc of words. wasnt sure what to clal the guy i know. He owns a huge studio in south florida and has worked for disney and all over the place with recording. i just meant someone who owns a professional studio and knows his shit.

[altitude909]

It is an excellent processer for the money

[buryher17]

Originally Posted by altitude909

It is an excellent processer for the money

alright awesome. thanks. you guys definately gave me the insentive to actually buy it. when i get it i'll post on here my opinions to anyone else who may of wanted to know.

thanks again

[Middleman]

It's not cheesy. The reverbs are very lush and rich and some of the sounds rival the Lex top end products. The VST interface works fine but I hate that it cycles through all the settings during autosave in Sonar. Takes about 5 seconds and this is annoying.

It does a lot more than reverb too i.e. stereo pitch shifting, gates, compression all of which are fairly decent but not necessary wow factor. They are meat and potatoes type of sound but the delays and reverbs are definitely wow factor if not bright. This is typical of Lex units.

Combine this with say an M1XL from TC Electronics and you have a really nice arsenal of external verbs.

Also be aware that even though it has a plugin software interface to use in your favorite sequencer, you can only use one instance per project. You cannot use the interface over and over for multiple reverb instances in a single project. The VST interface is just a convenient computer control and you have to set up the sends for taking signal out and then back in you computer.

[buryher17]

Originally Posted by Middleman

It's not cheesy. The reverbs are very lush and rich and some of the sounds rival the Lex top end products. The VST interface works fine but I hate that it cycles through all the settings during autosave in Sonar. Takes about 5 seconds and this is annoying.

It does a lot more than reverb too i.e. stereo pitch shifting, gates, compression all of which are fairly decent but not necessary wow factor. They are meat and potatoes type of sound but the delays and reverbs are definitely wow factor if not bright. This is typical of Lex units.

Combine this with say an M1XL from TC Electronics and you have a really nice arsenal of external verbs.

Also be aware that even though it has a plugin software interface to use in your favorite sequencer, you can only use one instance per project. You cannot use the interface over and over for multiple reverb instances in a single project. The VST interface is just a convenient computer control and you have to set up the sends for taking signal out and then back in you computer.

aweosme, thank you. but i have one more thing, do i have to use it as a plug in? or could i use it with the rets of my rack and just have it as in/out going into my mixer consol???

cause i'm trying trying to make eveyrhting as simple as possible and try and get eveyrthing in my rack and not worry about plug ins and doing things seperately as of now

[Middleman]

Yes, you can skip the whole software controlled thing and just use it as an external send device. It has Analog and SPDIF jacks.

[buryher17]

Originally Posted by Middleman

Yes, you can skip the whole software controlled thing and just use it as an external send device. It has Analog and SPDIF jacks.

sick, thanks.

and the tc electronics m-one XL i was actually suggested to buy from the same guy who told me about the lexicon, and readin mroe about the m-one XL i'm nto sure which one i should go with.... the only thing is, the m-one XL is double the price, and im kinda short in money.... i still have to upgrade 2 mic's and 2 headphones and work on my studio foam plus whichever effects processor i choose.

lol.

[Middleman]

Your are talking dark vs bright reverb units. The TC has great halls and rooms that provide richness to instruments but its not as bright as the Lex which is more magical on voices.

If you are a tech type and like delving into presets to design your own sounds then go with the TC. If you like to set it and forget it, concentrating on creating music, then the Lex should be your choice. Ultimately you will want both to craft some impressive ambiance in you tracks.

[buryher17]

well basically this unit is ebing used 110% on vocals. thats why im even going to upgrade my alesis midiverb3. the midiverb3 isnt doing enough for me right now and my main problem with recording is vocals... so i wana find a nice real sounding reverb and some good eq/compression included.

i personally like to create and play but ill like to go with a preset and go. like once i find a sound i like, i'll keep it and use it for all styles of voice it pertaines to, then when i record another type of singer, i find whats good for that.

but all i've gotten in the last few recordings were screaming and untalented vocals... like there's only so much you can do to a vocal with screaming, i perosnally love it, but you can onyl slap on a light reverb [VERY LIGHT] and compress the hell out of it. i wana start doing pop punk bands/etc so i can make the eq/reverb/compression be worth while. as much as i dislike the music, it's my favorite to record, the options are endless. esspecialyl with drums

[xistenz]

here's a review i did in a previous thread about the mx200:

first off, it's a $200 unit, so i'm not expecting anything mind blowing here. i bought the mx200 over the tc m300 because of the vst capabilities (i decided before tc released the m350 which has usb/vst just like the mx200). i have not used this feature yet, and have only used it as a standalone processor.

the unit is clean and not noisey. very transparent and bright sounding. i like that. the reverbs are nice, from short and sweet to huge and dense. the delays are decent, but very "vanilla". i don't use the modulation type effects usually, except for the chorus which is decent as well. all in all, it's solid for basic reverb and delay.

i've been having an issue with midi clocking however. i work in a 100% synthesizer studio, everything driven with cakewalk sonar, everything clocked to be in perfect sync. while the mx-200 does sync up for delays, something isn't right with the way it clocks. it's always catching up and introducing clicks into the delay (similar to what happens if you adjust the delay time while it's clocked). it will play fine for a bit then the delay will get all clicky as it truncates the sample to bring it back in time (i assume this is the same clock problem that causes the tapped tempo to drift). this makes the delay almost useless, and i will not record it this way. i have contacted lexicon support about this twice (via email) and haven't heard back from them at all.

the other sub-par effect on the mx200 is the pitch shifter. it works reasonably well on sustained sounds, but if you try running drums through it (as i like to fatten up the sound a bit) or any short transient sound even, the algorithm chokes and gives you a clicky, slapback mess (what's with that nasty latency???) it's completely useless on drums, downright terrible even.

the only other complaint i have about the unit thus far is the data values for things like delay time. you have to refer to a table to select delay timing when sync'd to midi, where 13 = 1/8th notes etc etc. really lame. no one wants to consult a conversion table every time they want to sync a delay. i'd be willing to convert milliseconds to note/bpm values too but alas, the mx200 is completely tap based.

overall, i'd be satisfied with the purchase if it weren't for the clicking on the delays. i probably won't get rid of it any time soon, but i think i'll try the tc m350 soon and if it's better i'll say byebye to the m200 without hesitation.

[buryher17]

that hit the nail on the head. thank you. i've made my decision now.