THE VENERABLE Lexicon name has been associated with professional processors since the dawn of the digital-audio age. Although originally catering exclusively to high-end studios, the company has made forays into the semipro and consumer markets. Some of Lexicon's budget boxes were less than entirely successful, but others were genuine engineering marvels. The MPX effects processors generally fall into the latter category.
The MPX 1 ($899) and its guitar-oriented sibling the MPX G2 ($1,499) are the flagships of the MPX line. Both offer extensive programming flexibility, feature multifaceted displays, and are designed to take advantage of Lexicon's proprietary MPX R1 Foot Controller. At the low end of the series, the MPX 100 ($199) delivers 24-bit internal processing and an impressive collection of reverb and other effects. Its primary compromises are its limited programmability and its lack of a display. Its bigger sibling, the MPX 500 ($599), offers considerably more features and programmability, and with the V2 software update ($119), it offers new effects algorithms and additional user-program memory slots.
The MPX 200 retails for $399, and as might be expected, it offers more than the MPX 100 (better converters, a built-in power supply, a display, S/PDIF input, more user-program slots, and so on) and less than the MPX 500 (such as unbalanced inputs, considerably fewer adjustable parameters, and no ability to display program names). However, the MPX 200 has a dedicated standalone compressor section that both of the others lack (though the compression algorithm is available as an effect in the V2 version of the 500), and it has a high-impedance input that you can plug your guitar or bass into. Those last two features alone should make the MPX 200 of particular interest to guitarists and bassists who want to add an inexpensive yet high-quality effects unit to their live rigs. The MPX 200 would also make a useful addition to a live P.A. rack and could do double duty as an outboard processor in a personal studio.
CHIPPING AWAY
The MPX 200 uses Lexicon's proprietary Lexichip to produce reverb sounds surprisingly similar to those found in the company's high-end reverb processors. The unit also sports 24-bit A/D and D/A converters, internal processing, and S/PDIF digital I/O, providing ultraclean sound across its 20 Hz to 20 kHz bandwidth. As an added bonus, the digital output can be set to output only the dry signal, allowing the unit to be used as a standalone stereo A/D converter, or to route the dry signal to a recorder while sending an effected signal to a monitor mix.
As its name implies, the MPX 200 is a dual processor, meaning that it can run two effects simultaneously (in addition to the compressor).
Four signal-routing configurations are available: Dual Stereo (parallel), Cascade, Mono Split, and Dual Mono (see Fig. 1). However, in those configurations, you can't create user programs from scratch — instead, you must start with an existing preset and modify it to taste. Not all combinations of effects are available in all configurations, but there are still lots of options.
Along with the unit's more mundane functions, the MPX 200 provides some nice extras. For example, the tap-tempo function can be triggered through audio input, MIDI, and MIDI Clock, which lets it sync to any device with tap tempo, such as another effects unit — you tap the tempo into the master device and the MPX 200 slaves to it. That's in addition to the usual foot- and front-panel switches. A Global Tempo function automatically changes the tempo of a selected program to that of the program selected previously.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Two-thirds of the MPX 200's control panel is dedicated to a six-part display section that uses groups of LEDs to indicate the status for Level, Compressor, Effects, Routing, Edit, and program number. Front-panel controls also include an Input level potentiometer, an assignable Adjust knob, six buttons with status LEDs (Load, Edit, Store, Tap/Cancel, Bypass, and Compressor), and a power switch.
The LED displays are useful for fast editing and for quickly determining a program's type, but unless you have a knack for numbers, you may find the lack of program names a bit challenging. Also, you select the eight edit parameters by repeatedly pressing the Edit button, which cycles through them in one direction. That can be annoying, as you have to push the button seven times to go back to the previous parameter in the cycle — for example, to toggle between Ratio and Threshold when editing compressor parameters.
The MPX 200's back panel sports an ingeniously implemented assortment of I/O options. There are the usual ¼-inch left and right input and output jacks, but they perform multiple functions. Connecting discrete stereo signals to both ¼-inch inputs lets you take advantage of the MPX 200's four signal-routing options, whereas if no cable is connected to the left input jack, the right input routes a mono signal to both internal inputs. The ¼-inch inputs are also hot enough to handle a guitar or bass without using a preamp.
The ¼-inch outputs are similarly endowed. Plugging cables into both jacks delivers stereo or dual-mono output, whereas if no cable is plugged into the left output jack, the left and right output signals are combined into a mono signal at the right output. If no cable is plugged into the right output jack, a stereo (TRS) signal is sent from the left output — and the stereo signal produces enough level to drive headphones. Very cool!
An S/PDIF digital input and output are also provided, so you can patch the MPX 200 into a digital mixer or computer interface without having to exit the digital domain. Additional rear-panel I/O includes MIDI In and software-selectable Out/Thru connectors, a ¼-inch TRS footswitch jack for the bypass and tap tempo functions, and an IEC power cable socket. Thank you, Lexicon, for not burdening users with a nasty wall wart.
GET WITH THE PROGRAMS
The MPX 200's 240 presets and 64 user programs are selected using the Adjust knob, and you can make them load automatically when selected or only after pressing the Load button. There are individual effects programs; Dual programs that combine flange, chorus, or pitch with reverb or delay; and Dual Mono presets that give you two independent effects, each with its own discrete mono I/O. The programs are organized into logical groups, with ten programs in a typical group.
Although each program technically has four editable parameters, three of them — Mix, EQ, and Level/Balance — are the same for all programs. The fourth, Adjust, is linked to the Adjust knob and controls a particular parameter (or group of parameters) within a program. Many of the programs also have a parameter linked to the Tap switch.
Some of the most interesting and useful effects are located in the Special FX bank. Infinite Reverb combines a huge reverb with echo, and has a sweepable bass crossover frequency. Jet Flange is an over-the-top super-swoosher
(audio examples available on the Online Extras page). LowRumble adds, well, a low rumble. According to the manual, Stereo Stage “supplies reverb while preserving stereo imaging in a live stage setup.” To use the program, the MPX 200 must be patched between a P.A. mixer's main stereo outputs and a stereo power amp's inputs, with Mix set to 50 percent. Each musician's channel inputs are then panned to his or her side of the stage.
Now I'll take a glance at the individual effects. Because the compressor is one of the MPX 200's main claims to fame, I'll give it a little more ink.
SQUEEZE PLAY
The digital compressor is an independent module positioned before a program's active effects, meaning that you can engage it as a second (or third) effect. The only caveat is that it doesn't compress the dry signal, only the effected signal. In other words, if you run the compressor and a reverb program simultaneously, only the reverb gets compressed. Of course, if you are using an effect that requires a 100 percent wet mix setting (like Tremolo or Rotary), or if the MPX 200 is patched into a mixer's effects loop on a 100 percent wet setting, that's not a problem.
Another way to compress dry and wet signals is to use a Delay/Echo algorithm with the delay time set to 0 and the mix set to 100 percent. For example, programs 107, 108, and 109 use a parallel Reverb/Delay algorithm to combine compression (the Delay side) with small, medium, and large halls.
Entirely dedicated to compression, programs 105 and 106 have adjustable makeup gain. The compressor has four adjustable parameters: ratio (2:1, 3:1, 5:1, or 10:1), threshold (0 to -32 dB), attack time (4 to 125 ms), and release time (4 to 250 ms).
Digital compressors tend to be clean but not particularly musical, and this one is no exception. It handles basic compression and limiting tasks with great transparency and minimal pumping, breathing, and other typical artifacts — but it was a little too clean when used with electric guitar.
VERY EFFECTIVE
Lexicon's reverb processors are world-renowned, and the MPX 200 delivers reverb sounds with many of the characteristics found in the company's high-end studio gear. Though not as rich and complex, they're clean and pleasant sounding and impart a similar feel. You get six types — plate, gate (including light and dark inverse), hall, chamber, ambience, and room. Many of the programs let you tap in predelay time.
There are 15 delay and echo effects, including mono, stereo, ping-pong, and multitap configurations. You get as much as 5.5 seconds of mono delay time, 2.7 seconds of stereo, and a Dly TapeSlap echo with adjustable tape-speed times of 3¾ to 30 ips. The delays are crisp, clear, and full-bodied.
The MPX 200 dishes up tasty tremolo, rotary speaker, chorus, and flange effects, with five programs dedicated to each one. The tremolo programs offer a choice of five waveforms — sine, rectified sine, sawtooth, triangle, and square — with adjustable phase and tap-in modulation rates. Unlike the rotary speaker programs that are found in many budget effects processors, these are pretty decent, and some of them offer tap-in speed change. The clean and quiet six-voice chorus and multitap flange programs range from nearly transparent shimmers to deep, dense, full-on wobbles.
The five four-voice stereo detune effects range from mild to extreme, and they do a good job of fattening up sounds. The five stereo pitch effects produce various chromatic and fine-interval shifts over a range of two octaves below to one octave above, and they track well, with minimal glitches or distortion.
IN, OUT, AND THRU
The MPX 200's MIDI functions are quite easy to access and use. The unit recognizes Pitch Bend and Aftertouch messages, MIDI Continuous Controllers 1-31 and 33-119, and Program Change messages, all of which can be used to control the eight front-panel Edit parameters (including the compressor), and the Tap, Bypass, and Compressor On/Off functions. Controllers can be easily assigned, and their ranges set, using the Learn mode. (I had the MPX 200 responding to MIDI messages sent from my digital mixer within minutes.) The MPX 200 also recognizes MIDI Bank Select and MIDI Clock messages — and it does the obligatory program and system MIDI dumps.
RACK 'EM UP
The Lexicon MPX 200 is a powerful yet affordable product that should appeal to live and studio musicians. Its effects sound really good, and the vast majority of its presets are usable as is — which is often not the case with effects processors. The unit is generally easy to use, though I recommend reading the manual — which comes in print and CD-R versions — because some important aspects of its operation are not obvious.
I tested the MPX 200 in my amp's mono effects loop, as an outboard processor patched into my mixer (in mono and stereo configurations), and also as a “stompbox” between my guitar and amp. Additionally, I tested it using the handy selection of dry instrument, voice, and ambient sounds provided on the CD-R that comes with the unit. It worked flawlessly in all cases. This little 3-pound powerhouse is highly recommended.
