Lexicon MX400XL 4-in/4-out Reverb/Effects Processor with USB "Hardware Plug-In" Capability and XLR

Ok, so you're looking for a reverb/effects unit but don't necessarily want to step up to the $1000 price range for a spx2000 or similar units... Well, look no further. The sheer flexibility of the MX400 is pretty astounding at this price point. You are essentially getting 2 stereo processors with a great range of reverb, delay, phaser, detune, de-esser, etc. options at your fingertips. It really is a very intuitive menu setup if you have worked with other outboard gear before, with a fairly mild learning curve if you haven't. Parameter editing is right there for you with the A/B/C knobs affecting the most common parameters of a particular effect, and further detailed editing is 2 clicks of the page/select button away. The in/out setup and mix routing offers a way to really blend all kinds of different effects together, do 4 channel surround, or even run 4 mono effects. Now I haven't delved into the usb portion of the unit itself as I run Protools, and would prefer to set it up as an "analog" in/out for my purposes, but if you're running a VST compatible DAW then it might be something that helps sell you on ease of use for the unit. It does only accept 16 or 24 bit 44.1k or 48k digital signals, so if you normally "oversample" to a 96k or some such this might be cause to run it as analog in/out only. As most home studio users do 24-bit 44.1k or 48k in their sessions nowadays anyway, it's not that big of an issue. With all that being said, this unit is GREAT for adding space or mild effects, but not something to create wild affectation of the original audio. Factory programs are decent but not pro studio amazing, however user programs are very easily stored and brought back with just a few button presses. I do wish it had a few more LED's for input monitoring, but at this price not something to complain too much about. Overall, best unit for sub $1000 money (blows out TC Electronic units for sound quality) and fits a ton of uses in your rig! I highly recommend checking out the manual at http://www.lexiconpro.com/en-US/products/mx400/downloads_and_docs for a real look into the huge amount of options this unit will give you!

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Lexicon. Just that one word says it all. Lexicon. The best in the business. As a professional musician and sound engineer for over thirty years, I have never heard a reverb better than or equal to Lexicon. Often, when a company invents something (in this case digital reverb), another company comes along at some point and either improves or equals the product. This can not be said for Lexicon. There is a specific depth and clarity to Lexicon reverbs, and I'm pleased to say they can be found within this incredible unit. The chorus effects are outstanding also. I could go on and on with praise. I've worked with a couple of the PCM units in the past so I'm very familiar with the Lexicon sound. In short, if you want the most incredible lush reverb on this planet, get a Lexicon. You will absolutely not be disappointed with the MX400.

It took me a while to figure out the best way to configure the I/O for this unit, but it is a very capable reverb/delay unit. I mainly have set up some nice detune/reverb patches to richen up my vocals... It works wonders. Just have to be careful not to overdo it. I've set it up so that one send is the input for the detune, and the other send for verb. I run the out into a stereo return for a nice, rich effect.

First, the quality of the effects are better with this unit than others in the below $300 price range. I've owned and used a great many budget effects units. Most of the cheap-o's are fine for live use but in the studio they really muddy up a mix, sound quite grainy, have a noise "floor" that could better be referred to as a desk halfway between the floor and the ceiling. You won't have those problems with this unit. But, a few negatives. One, the VST plug-in to integrate this unit into your DAW is 32-bit only. It will not work in a 64-Bit DAW. I have PreSonus StudioOne 2 Professional (full) version, and it would not recognize the DLLs for this reason. Nowhere on the box, nor in the owner's manual, nor in the product description in any of the online sales listings I've seen do they mention this substantial limitation. When I contacted Lexicon, they did reply promptly and claimed that this "product page" serves as notice of the limitation: http://www.lexiconpro.com/en-US/softwares/mx-edit-mx400-v231-windows. I find that disingenuous, as this page is a page for the 32-bit version of the VST plug-in download and is buried accordingly. And, a brief, buried statement that the 32-bit driver only works on 32-bit systems does NOT convey that there exists no 64-bit driver and the entire selling point of using this device as a plug-in is limited to 32-bit systems. They should include that on the box, in the manual, and in the sales literature that promotes the plug-in feature. Also, I bought the unit in January 2015 and the included CD-ROM would not install on my system, which is Windows 7. I got an error message from the installer that indicated my operating system is not compatible. It would not successfully install in compatibility mode either. Hard to believe they are shipping CDs in 2015 that only support Windows XP-era operating systems. No problem here, really, as you can download the latest from Lexicon's website. But, it just makes you go "hmmmm" and fosters some unflattering perceptions. Second, the USB connection only controls the unit. It does not pass audio. Therefore, if you are going to integrate this with your DAW using the VST plug-in, you are going to have to pass audio from your computer, to the Lexicon unit, and back- either via analog or S/PDIF at a max of 48KHz. This will eat up inputs and outputs in your interface. As such, if you're currently using all of your I/O channels, you'll need to buy a bigger interface. So, this unit's plug-in feature is really not much different than using any external hardware processor with a DAW- only the fact that you can control the effects parameters from your computer instead of having to mess with the front panel of the device. And again, that is assuming that you have a behind-the-times 32-bit DAW. Third, I'm not all that impressed with the reverbs. While they are better than other processors in their price range, you can hear the tail of the reverbs drop off in a very stair-stepped pattern. The decay is not smooth. They also sound a bit dark to me. To be fair, if this weren't a Lexicon I'd think it was quite good for the $ (and it is), but it's not what you used to get from the company's previous mid-tier products. Another thing- none of the effects really blew me away. I much prefer the old LXP-15 II. That unit had a number of patches that would instantly add a WOW factor to a vocal or instrument track. With this model, I can get good results that sound professional and lack that "cheap reverb/amateur studio" sound, but I don't get the wow-factor. Also, as is typical with higher-quality effects units, you don't have as much flexibility to combine multiple effects and fine-control the routing. For example, I have another manufacturer's budget reverb where I can feed into a de-esser effect, route that to an EQ effect that feeds a slapback delay, and in parallel route the output of the de-esser effect to a plate reverb, then sum the paralleled effects together into an exciter that feeds the output. You don't have as many effects or routing options with this one. BUT, that is typical on a unit in this category- your dollars are going toward increased sound quality. Lastly, part of my decision to purchase was that I could use it as two MX200 units in dual stereo mode. Two discrete Lexicon effects boxes in one physical package. The drawback here, is that the two separate units are summed together internally and sent to one pair of outputs. So, you'll have to mix the levels between the two processors inside the Lexicon unit. That means you can't feed each effect unit's output into its own stereo pair on your console and apply channel strip EQ to each effect independently, which I always like to do. On the plus side, the chorus effects are quite clean for a budget unit. Overall, this device is serving a purpose- I needed decent verbs and choruses that won't muddy up a mix or sound cheap for my project studio. I would recommended if you need to fill that need. I expected to love it, but due to some of the shortcomings I view it as a necessary tool in my arsenal like one of the wrenches in my garage as opposed to an object of affection.

after less than 2 years of occasional use (about every other weekend), the display went bad, unreadable, rendering this unit completely unusable as I can't change settings. This has been in a sound box, used indoors, rolled from one end of a room to another, hardly any kind of a harsh environment. Lexicon quoted me "around" $160 to repair. Not worth it. While I was happy with this effects processor when I could use it, considering its reliability I would suggest you avoid this brand. Edit 6/28/17: After going months with the display looking like it does in the attached image, the display is suddenly fine now. I didn't do anything that I normally don't do. Just turned it on one time and the display was readable.

I own this machine and the sound is great, but Lexicon have really mucked up here. When using Cascade mode (serial mode), i.e. putting an electric piano into the l&r inputs of the MX300 and the MX300 out to a l&r input on my mixer, the Effects 1 engine feeds the Effects 2 engine. That is fine, except there is no way to adjust the volume (balance) level of Effects 1 and 2. In other words, you can have a delay in Effects 1 and a Reverb in Effects 2 but if you do not like the volume balance between the two effects you cannot adjust it. This is a massive problem. Of course, you can adjust the wet and dry mixes of both effects from 1-99, but all that does is make the effects or reverb wetter or dryer, it does NOT adjust the volume or balance between the two effects. I wrote to Lexicon about adjusting the balance between effects and their reply is as follows: "The only way to do what you are trying to do is by setting the mix routing to dual mono. Then adjust the send or return level from two separate mono aux sends or returns. The only level control is the one knob on the front of the MX 300." Now, if like me you only have two Aux Sends on your mixer and you already use one for pre-fader and one for post-fader then you cannot use the MX300 in the way Lexicon recommend here. It really does make the Cascade mode pointless when used in Serial mode. Even if I could use Dual Mono as they recommend, that is pointless as each preset I load between songs would then need me to adjust the Aux levels to get the right Effects balance I require on that preset before performing the song. I do NOT want to keep adjusting the Input Level control on the MX300 as this is gain structured to peak at the same time as my Post-fade Aux send and is set perfectly at around 10 o'clock (not 12 as they recommend in the manual). Gain structuring is SO important from mixer to speakers. I also own a TC Electronic M350 and that has two Effects engines. However, you can use the balance knob to adjust between the effect levels and store them as presets. Perfect, but I want to use the lush Lexicon reverbs instead sometimes. Lexicon has really missed the point badly when using Cascade mode. When using Stereo mode, where there is only one effect being used, it is a perfect machine apart from once again not being able to adjust the volume level - unlike the TC Electronic machine.

I use this primarily for electric guitar. Has great sound, and endless controllable parameters within each effect. Easy to learn, easy to use. Looks great in my rack.