Lexicon PCM90 - how's it holding up these days?

[Arpangel]

Ah the joys of looking at old threads!

Have stumbled on a PCM91 and was vaguely wondering if it was worth the dosh.

Good this thread existed - I'll stick with what I have.

I was going to get a 91 a few months back, and also decided against it.
The older Lexicons are superb, but terribly unreliable, I had a 224 up until about a year ago, what a nightmare, but it sounded so gorgeous, I nearly cried the day it went, but it was always breaking down. Now I've got Valhalla Vintgae, and Room, plus a Big Sky, and a Midiverb 11! Between that lot I don't need anything else.
If you want a really amazing, totally orgasmic software reverb get EpicVerb, it'll blow you away, and.........it's free!
I'm on Mac now, so can't use it, as it's PC only.

[CS70]

Haha yes, I’ve been using Bootsie VOS stuff forever. I think epicVerb was my first recommendation on this forum, and it’s still in basically almost my mixes.

Too bad that life (and photography) has got in the way and Herbert shifted his curiosity elsewhere.

[MOF]

I had a PCM91 and sold it once Logic had convolution reverb built in. I spent some time sampling the 91 with impulse tones but have never really used them, I must check where they are, presumably still in the convolution reverb library.
The 91 was kind of semi-pro and semi-affordable, one of the few bits of kit I didn’t lose much money on.
Now I use UAD’s EMT 150 and AMS RMX 16 and the Eventide H3000 plugin plus Komplete reverbs, I like Replika for really long lush reverbs e.g. Soft Clouds.

[Arpangel]

I had a PCM91 and sold it once Logic had convolution reverb built in. I spent some time sampling the 91 with impulse tones but have never really used them, I must check where they are, presumably still in the convolution reverb library.
The 91 was kind of semi-pro and semi-affordable, one of the few bits of kit I didn’t lose much money on.
Now I use UAD’s EMT 150 and AMS RMX 16 and the Eventide H3000 plugin plus Komplete reverbs, I like Replika for really long lush reverbs e.g. Soft Clouds.

The reverbs in Reaktor are also very good.

[ken long]

No love for the PCM60 on this thread?

Real workhorse. Love mine.

[Arpangel]

No love for the PCM60 on this thread?

Real workhorse. Love mine.

Good unit, I had the LXP1 also, for while, amazing.

[Jadoube]

I don't think you can say the word "bad" and "lexicon reverb" in the same sentence. They are all usable. We live in a time of extreme reverb riches.

[ManFromGlass]

Agreed! I even found occasional use for the Alex, but have owned the MPX1, sold it and the LXP1, still love it when I’m not in the box. There are some workhorse presets and some really wacky ear candy presets that I’ve never heard anywhere else. Inspirational.

[ITHertz]

Apologies for dredging up a long-departed thread, however something interesting about the Lexicon reverbs is that the PCM units have some parameters that aren't present on the budget Lexicon models or on most plug-ins. I'm referring to the Shape and Spread parameters. I've heard more than one engineer refer to these as being very important for controlling front-to-back depth.

Cheers!

[Arpangel]

My bottom line.
The gold standard? must be the PCM70, it’s still regarded as the best of the PCM's, and prices are high these days.
Going back further, the PCM60 is lorded over the 70 by some, one man’s piece of gold is another man’s turd.
I wouldn’t buy a 90 or a 91, they’re fine, but I can’t get excited about them.
As Bob said, about the UAD 224, that’s great, I use the UAD Golden which has the same 224 algorithms, it’s a pedal, but it’s more than great to me.
It’s capable of 224 style dense canyons, Blade Runner here we come, or very realistic spaces, from rooms to halls,
I owned a PCM70 in the early 90’s, and I loved it, the only reason I sold it was to buy an Eventide H3000, another completely different vibe.
Doesn’t Hugh have a PCM90? maybe a 91, I seem to remember him mentioning one or the other at some point?
IMO, there are many alternatives to the 90/91 these days, at cheaper prices, that will get you in the same ball park.
I’ve owned many hardware reverbs, and even something like the Behringer FX2000 is not to be sniffed at, if it was around at the time of the release of the PCM90 I’d probably have chosen the Behringer, that’s how far things have moved on, especially regarding value for money.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Doesn’t Hugh have a PCM90?

I do. Bought S/H from PW. Tiz a lovely sounding thing but it doesn't get used much these days as I tend to use plugins instead.

[muzines]

Apologies for dredging up a long-departed thread, however something interesting about the Lexicon reverbs is that the PCM units have some parameters that aren't present on the budget Lexicon models or on most plug-ins. I'm referring to the Shape and Spread parameters. I've heard more than one engineer refer to these as being very important for controlling front-to-back depth.

Quite a few good reverb plugins have them. Firstly, the Lexicon 480 emulations - the UAD version and Relab's version, with Reverb Foundry's (LiquidSonics) HD Cart also in there (and their Tai Chi also has a spread control which does a similar thing, and is inspired a lot by the modulated Lexicon reverbs). Relab's Sonsig also has a three position "Character" parameter which does a similar thing, affects the initial build up of the reverb.

Valhalla's Vintage Verb also has a shape section, to control size and attack, again, for similar effect.

Lexicon's own PCM Native reverbs also have those Lexicon algorithms with shape and spread controls. You can read the manual for Lexicon's own description of what those parameters do and how they work.

Shape and Spread
The Shape parameter is closely tied to the Spread parameter. Shape controls how energy is injected into the reverberator. A low value means that sound enters the reverb at the beginning of the spread window. A high value means that most sound moves into the reverb at the end of the spread window. A value somewhere in the middle means that sound enters the reverb evenly across the spread window.

Tip: Shape will not have this effect if spread is at its minimum value. But even then, it can make a difference. In this case, it affects reverb timbre and density. Higher values of shape may be both darker and denser, although the effect is subtle.

Spread is a window of time during which a signal is injected into the reverb. Shape controls just how the signal is injected during this window. Together, the two parameters create an envelope for the early portion of the reverb, as shown in this illustration.

All these reverbs are excellent and highly recommended. There may be others, but those are the ones I'm most familiar with and come to mind...

[Arpangel]

My Eventide H3000 had a "front to back" parameter, a little person appeared in the display, you could move the symbol towards the stage or away from it, I think the software version has it too.