JOE WALLACE: I’m Joe Wallace for Gearwire.Com. I’m here with Kimberly Britton for Lexicon and you have a new multi-effects processor to talk about. Tell me a little bit about it.

KIMBERLY BRITTON: Yes we do. Basically this is our PCM96, and it’s a stereo reverb processor. It’s designed for high-end project studios and also professional studios. It’s a two-in, two-out configuration, and basically the biggest part of the product that we’re talking to people about is the collection of reverbs. We basically take in reverbs that come from a lot of our legacy products, the 960, the 480, the PCM70, and we’ve used those to create all new algorithms that we’ve built into the box. We also have a completely new version of room and a completely new version of hall and mono algorithms as well. So, what we like to tell people is that it really is the finest collection of Lexicon Reverb that you’re going to be able to get.

Also with this product, we recognize that a lot of people have really shipped it over to a purely digital environment in the studio, and so we have a lot of different ways that you can connect the box into your system. You can do analog, you can run it digital, you can run it as a control-only DAW insert so it’ll pop up in your DAW and you can set the parameters and it will be fully automated. We also offer the ability to actually stream audio via the FireWire connection back and forth between the box and the computer where the box is handling the bulk of the reverb processing. So, we’re pretty excited about that and we’re hoping that people will really be able to take advantage of what a true hardware processor can provide in terms of the quality of the reverb but have it integrated into their DAW so they can still have the digital experience.

JOE WALLACE: Now, what rack interface, AD converter, DA converter would you pair this up with in the Lexicon series?

KIMBERLY BRITTON: Well that’s a good question. Actually right now, we probably wouldn’t pair this up with one of our interfaces because the interfaces that we offer right now are really more for the people who are doing home recording, and those products we like to pair (like the Alpha, the Lambda, Omega) up with our MX series, which is a line of processors that we offer for the home recording folks.

JOE WALLACE: Now let’s say that I got a little bit of money to spend, and you got like an Omega or you’ve got a Lambda and you want to get this and try it out anyway.

KIMBERLY BRITTON: Okay.

JOE WALLACE: You just want to drop the cash, you know. You want to take a step up into the reverb department, multi-effects department. How are you going to be able to integrate that or can you, you know, effectively? Or do you really see this fitting into a higher end studio, not so much a project studio?

KIMBERLY BRITTON: Well, obviously because of the different connectivity options that we offer, you can do a straight analog connection, you know, run it as a stereo box in and out through the Omega, the Alpha, the Lambda, any of those boxes, but in terms of really kind of pairing this with the right system in the market, we’re looking at a little bit up market. For the folks who are using the Omega and the Lambda, really any of these products down here in the MX Series. And to be honest, the MX500 is what I would recommend for those folks. It has the FireWire streaming capability so that you can control it through the DAW, and especially for the people who are doing home recording, because the computer equipment that they’re working with, reverb is a very complex algorithm and it’s a hog when it comes to CPU, and so having the FireWire streaming and being able to do the processing on the box instead of in the computer allows you to get that really rich, you know, Lexicon sound without, you know, crippling everything else that you’re trying to do. So, I would say MX500 would be my recommendation.

JOE WALLACE: Now, run down the list of effects, just a brief overview of what you’re going to get when you get the box.

KIMBERLY BRITTON: Sure. Basically, it’s the list that has all the classic Lexicons: chamber, hall, plate, room, chorus, flange, [CHUCKLING], dual delay, random delay, classic hall, resonant chorus. We’ve got some pitch shift algorithms, and then also, as I mentioned before, a completely new room, completely new hall, and concert hall, which is something that we haven’t offered. We’re basically bringing it back from the archives and offering it in the high-end box.

JOE WALLACE: Is this on the market now?

KIMBERLY BRITTON: It’ll be available in about two months.

JOE WALLACE: Thank you very much.

KIMBERLY BRITTON: Thank you.

JOE WALLACE: We’re at the lexicon Booth. I’m Joe Wallace for Gearwire.Com.