Alex brings the famous Lexicon reverb sound within reach of musicians and home/MIDI studio owners, and throws in chorus, flanging and delay effects for good measure. Paul White, Editor of our sister magazine Recording Musician, enters deep space...

Lexicon reverbs have lead the pack ever since they were introduced, and most competing manufacturers — at least the honest ones — will tell you that the Lexicon sound is what they aim for. Until now, the least expensive Lexicon has been the LXP1, but the new Alex takes a somewhat different approach, which I rather like. At first glance, the Alex looks like the Lexicon equivalent of an Alesis Microverb — rotary controls for Input, Mix and Output with a 16-way selector switch for accessing the various preset effects. On one level that is true, but each of the effects may be edited, albeit in a very simple manner, and then stored back in any one of 16 additional user memories (which Lexicon prefer to call Registers). This might not seem a lot of user memory, but most people will probably call up a preset and edit the reverb decay as and when they need to, because it's so quick and easy to do. There's no MIDI, no multi-layer parameter editing and no long learning curve — just instant results.

In addition to reverb, the unit can produce Chorus, Flange and Delay/Echo effects. The chorus effect has six voices (delay taps really) and can be edited for delay and recirculation (feedback or regeneration). The flanging can be varied for intensity and feedback, while the echoes and four-tap delays can be tweaked for delay and recirculation.

Externally, the 1U package is unremarkable and is powered by a familiar external 9V power supply. All audio connections are on unbalanced jacks with a nominal -10dBv operating level (+8dBu max) and there is provision to connect a dual footswitch (via a stereo jack socket) to access Bypass and to step through the effects in live performance. As usual, stereo signal may be processed but the effects are generated from a mono mix of the left and right inputs and electronically processed to give a stereo output. Mono operation is possible for those who can bear to part with the sense of depth and space that a good stereo reverb unit can create.

Level metering is done via a simple tri-coloured LED and the idea is to set the Input gain control until the LED flashes red only on signal peaks. Green indicates the lowest level, with amber signifying a practical average working level.

CONTROL LAYOUT

Following the Input, Mix and Output rotary controls is the Store/Clear button. Clearing a memory (or should I say register) also means it will be skipped if a footswitch is used to step through the effects. If an effect is cleared by accident, it can be restored by hitting Clear a second time. Needless to say, only the 16 user registers may be cleared — the 16 presets are fixed. When storing an effect, the Store button is depressed and then the rotary effects selector used to choose which of the 16 user registers the effects is to be stored in. Releasing the-Store button stores the effect in the selected register.

The display window shows a minus sign (-) for Clear mode or a plus sign (+) for Store mode and, under normal circumstances, the current effect number. If one of the three parameter LEDs is flashing, as will be the case immediately after adjusting the Parameter knob, then it will show the parameter value for a few seconds before reverting back to the Register number. The three parameter LEDs are located to the right of the display window and indicate Decay, Delay and FX Level, the Parameter button being used to step from one to the other.

The Parameter knob is a continuous controller and all parameters have 16 possible values — they are not continually adjustable. A table is supplied in the manual to show what parameters are implemented for each effect and what values are available, and though this is very clear, I would like to have seen it in the form of a separate laminated sheet as well. As it is, you'll have to stick a photocopy on the wall and make do with that.

In the selector section, the Preset/Register button swaps between the 16 presets and the 16 user registers; a red LED shows that Register mode has been selected. The effects settings are called up by means of a 16-position rotary knob and a complete listing of the effects can be seen in the accompanying box. Though the switch position isn't always clear, because of the small angle between settings, the fact that the effect number is also displayed in the display window makes selection unambiguous. All the reverbs can be edited for decay time, pre-delay and effect level, the editing being done in 16 preset steps per parameter. The step values vary from effect to effect, but the reverb range encompasses 0.15 to 8.9 seconds. In the case of the gated and reverse reverbs, the decay parameter sets the length of the effect.

If an effect is edited but not stored, the Preset/Register button provides a compare function, but as soon as another effect is dialled up, the changes will be lost unless they are stored.

FEEL THE WIDTH

The main concern here must be whether a low cost Lexicon still sounds like a Lexicon. Technically, it's in with a good chance, for the custom Lexicon chip at the heart of the Alex is the same one that's employed in some of their more up-market products. The overall philosophy seems to be that if you have to lose out somewhere, it's going to be on quantity, not quality.

To get the best from this unit, you should feed it as hot a level as you can without overloading, and though the meter LED gives a good idea of what's going on, it's advisable to let your ears make the final choice. While I felt the reverb settings weren't up to the standard of the top-end Lexicon units (hardly surprising, considering the immense price difference), they were comparable with those produced by Lexicon's LXP range of processors and certainly recreate the essential Lexicon character, which might best be described as 'shimmering' and very 'spatial'. Even though the tweakable parameters are very limited, it's easy to get a reverb setting to within 99% of where you'd like it to be, and to compensate for the lack of user-tweakable high frequency damping, a little EQ on the effects returns serves nearly as well.

HOW DOES IT SOUND?

What impressed me most was the distinct character of each effect type and how appropriately chosen it was. For example, the String Hall makes any sampled, synthetic (or even real) string sound take on the character of a symphony hall, while the Percussion Plate is bright and snappy with lots of detail. Similarly, the Tiled Room is a great treatment when you want brash, up-front drums but don't want to go as far as using the Gated setting. The Large Hall is mandatory for all New Age music exponents, and the Vocal Plate produces immediate gratification on most vocal tracks. Indeed, all the reverb types are incredibly well-conceived, and the fact that most work so well as soon as they are called up means that you don't feel too inhibited by the scarcity of editing options. In most instances, simply changing the decay time and reverb return level is enough.

The reverse and gated effects also stand up well, and can be usefully employed on a variety of sounds — not just drums and percussion. For example, reverse reverb produces an eerie effect on vocals or vocal samples while the gated setting can be useful for creating up-front electric guitar sounds or for treating tuned percussion, such as marimbas.

Commendable is the low level of background noise. Though some noise is inevitable in a budget processor such as this, what's there is certainly low enough to live with and, indeed, better than several more costly units I've tried. Once the input gain has been optimised, the background noise when adding typical levels of reverb to a mix is negligible, but a slight whine can be heard when flanging is selected. Failure to optimise the input gain properly leads to increased noise or, if the unit is overdriven, very audible distortion. I still don't understand why input limiters aren't fitted to these things.

"...all the reverb types ore incredibly well-conceived, and the fact that most work so well as soon as they are called up means that you don't feel too inhibited by the scarcity of editing options."

Alex's delay treatments are not dissimilar to other multi-tapped delay effects, though accurate tempo matching of the delays isn't always possible due to the stepped nature of the parameter changes. I felt the chorus and flange effects were particularly musical, the chorus being capable of producing a rather nice hybrid chorus/echo effect, but I missed not being able to adjust the depth and speed of these particular effects. Because the chorus uses several taps, it creates a very rich, dynamic sound with plenty of movement and width, which works equally well on synthesizer pad sounds or bright guitar.

WOULD I BUY ONE?

On an up-market effects unit I might bemoan the lack of MIDI, the paucity of user parameters, the exceedingly frugal storage memory, or even the fact that you can't create simultaneous effects... but even a preset-only Lexicon would be a bargain at this price. In all honesty, the parameter adjustment that is available is perfectly adequate for the vast majority of applications and, because it is almost as quick to edit a patch as it is to call up a new one, the fact that you only have 16 memory slots in which to store your own patches isn't an issue.

Though there are unavoidable compromises in sound quality because of the need to meet a very low selling price, these are not really serious. For example, the effects bandwidth is limited to 15kHz, courtesy of a 16-bit sampling system running at 31.25kHz (quite ample for reverb), and the dynamic range is 85dB — which doesn't leave a lot of headroom. Even so, providing you set up a sensible input level, the Alex is quieter than many other budget units and still manages to produce that desirable Lexicon reverb character that has frustrated the competition for years. Somehow the reverb settings manage to sound big and warm, yet they don't tend to get in the way of the music like some other reverb effects do. Until you've worked with a Lexicon, it's hard to appreciate the beautiful sense of space and detail that their reverb units — including Alex — are capable of creating, but whatever their secret, it certainly works.

The additional delay, chorus and flange effects are a welcome bonus, and these too are immediately appealing. The only problem is that you may never be able to bear to switch off the reverb long enough to make use of them! There can be few recording enthusiasts who won't jump at the chance of owning a genuine Lexicon reverb unit for this low price, but don't all rush at once — I'm at the front of the queue!

Further information

£389 inc VAT.

Stirling Audio Systems Ltd, (Contact Details).