Lexicon MPX-1 help

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klwilbur

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Hello all,

I'm hoping that someone here has a Lexicon MPX-1 and can answer this question. Alternately, if you know a more appropriate forum for this question, please let me know.

I am trying to trigger the LFO to start once the MPX-1 input volume reaches a certain level. Specifically, I am plugging a guitar into the MPX-1 and I would like the LFO to start its cycle as soon as I strum a chord.

To do this I am setting the LFO mode to Gate where the LFO stays on while OnSrc value is greater than OnLvl. Initially, this seems very simple.

Of course, the next step is to then assign OnSrc to a source and OnLvl to a numerical value. Well, OnLvl is easy enough, but I can't find a place to assign OnSrc to the MPX-1 input signal.

When you scroll through the OnSrc sources, you get a number of MPX-1 controllers and then a whole bunch of MIDI controllers. I can't figure out which of these MPX-1 controllers are what I need. I think I've identified all of them except for Mtr1-2 which isn't described in the manual. However, Mtr1-2 doesn't seem to work.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Kelly
 
I feel for ya. I've tried doing some custom stuff like that on the PCM80. I think Lexi' must get a good chuckle out of it too. 'If we build it, they will spend hours and hours actually tryin to do this shit.'
:rolleyes:
Even with the manual, one way is to find a patch that has something similar and use that as a way to sort out how they connect the dots.
Good luck. :)
Wayne
ps This doesn't seem like it would be something in the midi function group though.
 
Page 8-1 of the manual has a chart at the bottom listing OnSrc's as "OFF, ON, any internal or MIDI controller."

I would think you might want to use the Gate as the source. Because you want the LFO to reset for every strum. I don't know if you can adjust the gate sensitivity so just the initial strum gets through and then just rings.

If that fails the other option might be a momentary contact footswitch that you hit every time you want to restart the LFO's cycle.

I know it's not sure-fire but I hope it helps some.
 
c7sus said:
Page 8-1 of the manual has a chart at the bottom listing OnSrc's as "OFF, ON, any internal or MIDI controller."

I would think you might want to use the Gate as the source. Because you want the LFO to reset for every strum. I don't know if you can adjust the gate sensitivity so just the initial strum gets through and then just rings.

If that fails the other option might be a momentary contact footswitch that you hit every time you want to restart the LFO's cycle.

I know it's not sure-fire but I hope it helps some.
Click to expand...

c7sus,

You are right about the idea of the Gate, but if you look at the manual closer, Gate is the LFO mode, not a source option. So you set the LFO to gate mode, then you still have to set a source for OnSrc and a numerical value for OnLvl.

So, I already have the LFO mode set to gate. The problem is what source to pick for the OnSrc in order for it to trigger the gate whenever the OnSrc value gets above the OnLvl value.

If you take a look at page 4-2 in the manual, you can see a whole selection of "patch sources." These are the sources that you can select for OnSrc.

As Mixsit mentioned, the MIDI sources on the right side are not going to be useful. Therefore, you are left with the control sources in the left. Those include:

off, On, Knob, Puls1, Tri1, Sine1, Cos1, Puls2, Tri2, Sine2, Cos2, Rand, Arp, ADR1-2, S/H, Env1-2, Mtr1-2, A/B, ATrg, BTrg, ABTrg, Pedal, Tog 1-3 and Sw 1-3

Many of these controllers are described starting on page 8-1, but some are not. I don't see any of them that match to the MPX-1 input level.

Thanks,

Kelly
 
Okay.

I just noticed there is a note above the chart on 8-1. Says

"In all modes, the LFO completes it's current cycle before stopping. The first press of the TAP resets the LFO's.

I haven't edited down to this level with the MPX-1 so I'm kinda curious about this myself.

Why is the MIDI source not useful??? It's generated internally, you assign a value to it and away you go. If it can be assigned as a controller for the LFO why not use it???

After looking at 4-2 I'd say the gate is still a source option, under the MIDI Patch Sources. We're talking about two seperate gate functions here. One generated internally as a MIDI-note-on gate and the other the gate function of the LFO.

The foot pedal is still an option too, although not a very elegant one.

You also might try the "Trigger" function, it's also listed under MIDI.


Been looking at this some more. One of the sources listed on 4-2 is Mtr-1,2.

Would that be the meters by any chance??? there are a ton of assignment possibilities for the meters. If you can select that as a source to control the LFO I think you'll be set.
 
Last edited:
c7sus,

You are right that I could use the Tap button (or other MPX-1 controllers) or a MIDI note via the Gate or Trig MIDI patch sources, but obviously none of those options allow me to trigger the LFO when I strum a chord with a guitar.

I do agree that I could use a pedal to trigger those controllers, therefore this might be a workaround. I just have to think there is a way to trigger it with the internal volume.

One of the things that make me feel this way is the quote above the chart on 4-2 which says "some sources generate output based on aspects of physical performance such as how loud, houw fast, or how hard you play." Of course, I guess they could just be talking about MIDI instruments.

I keep thinking that there are some presets that trigger on input volume as mixsit suggested, so I'm going to go looking through their descriptions.

I'll report back if I find anything. I also welcome additional responses if anyone has any other ideas.

I did email Lexicon a week ago. The email form on their page had the option of copying me the email I was sending. Well, I never got the copy or the email, so I wonder if there is something wrong with their system. I emailed them again today using different settings and never got the cc message. If I don't figure it out soon, I'll try to call them next week.

Thanks,

Kelly
 
Well, I'm stupid. The answer was right in front of my face. On page 8-5, the Env (1 or 2) internal controllers are explained:

"Env1 and Env2 are two identical envelope followers which create an output that varies with the level of the Src parameter. For each envelope follower you can choose any two audio level as sources."

So here is the sum of it:

I set LFO to gate. I then set OnSrc to Env1 and OnLvl to whatever I want. Then I set Env1's Src parameter to Left input or Right input.

Thanks for all the discussion. I hope it helps others out.

Kelly
 
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