Battle of the Lexicons: Audio clip comparison of PCM90, PCM70 and LXP-15II

[Seeker of Rock]

Well, it's not really a battle because I think all three are winners, but I put together a little drum clip in my home studio and posted samples of all 3, including a dry sample. Before I bought each of these boxes (first the LXP-15II in 2005 or something), I did a lot of reading and opinions were all over the place for each of them.

This is not a scientifically geared comparison and I am a home recordist (but fairly experienced guitar player from the '80s rock music scene) with a decently treated room. Sorry if it (or my drumming ) doesn't meet up to anyone's standards, but that's not why I'm posting it.

The three contenders are: PCM 90, PCM 70 and a Jim Williams (audioupgrades.com) modded LXP-15II. I found the preset names weren't really accurate from one unit to the next as far as the way the preset parameters were set up, so I picked a hall preset (concert hall algos from 90 and 70) from each and proceeded to tweak the parameters of each to get them as close as I could. I set each room size to 39 meters and tried to adjust the EQ of each to match one another the best I could. The 70 is just bright, so I maxed the lows and reduced the highs for the selection I was using (Long Hall). The 90 and 15 are both dark so I maxed the highs and cut some of the lows within the boxes only. Board/channel EQ remained flat and consistent on each audio clip.

Of note:

• The PCM90 is running in stereo through my effects sends/returns, the other two are mono in, L/R out into their respective returns on the board.
• I set the auxiliary return levels HIGH (as I'm sure you noticed). Even an '80s rocker like me would never want that much reverb in a real mix, but I wanted to demonstrate the sound of each box and what it was doing to the dry signal.

 

[mixsit]

The 90 struck me as odd with the lack of snare reflections/chatter. Very much darker than I'd expect or recall. Curious enough to pull up the manual.. but not enough to feed your track in..

Concert Hall
This algorithm emulates a real concert hall. The reverberation is very clean, and
designed to remain behind the direct sound — adding ambience, but leaving the
source unchanged. This effect has a relatively low initial echo density which
builds up gradually over time.

Try 'Ambience (size up to match) or RandomHall either perhaps with the diffusion down some (and/or a bit of the ReflectDealys..) then HighCut' as needed.

..shoot, even RichPlate or Chambers. Different 'shapes and stuff but they can do the reflections' back into the diffusers..
Fun stuff, good chance to review.. Thanks

 

[Seeker of Rock]

The 90 struck me as odd with the lack of snare reflections/chatter. Very much darker than I'd expect or recall. Curious enough to pull up the manual.. but not enough to feed your track in..

Try 'Ambience (size up to match) or RandomHall either perhaps with the diffusion down some (and/or a bit of the ReflectDealys..) then HighCut' as needed.

..shoot, even RichPlate or Chambers. Different 'shapes and stuff but they can do the reflections' back into the diffusers..
Fun stuff, good chance to review.. Thanks

The 90 preset I started with was "Concert Hall" and uses the Random Hall algorithm. I then proceeded to adjust in "go" mode from there.

After thought: One thing I may have done with the 90 that I shouldn't have...even though the in/out settings on all units are set to +4 dBu, the 90 output hits hard (and I left it at 'full' internally) so I pulled the return levels back slightly instead of adjusting the master fader to keep the levels equal. You can hear that there is some separation with the drums, and I believe this is why. All boxes can (and should be) tweaked, but the 90 and LXP both have pretty dark parameters of their presets. I plan to do some guitar and more realistic hall mixes in the future, probably some shorter verbs like plates, too. This is just for now why I had a little time and motivation to do it.