Lexicon LexiVerb.
TDM plug‑in for Pro Tools
Reviewed: Mac version
Lexicon's hardware reverb units are among the most sought‑after units in professional studios worldwide, so this plug‑in version for Digidesign Pro Tools systems has a lot to live up to! The LexiVerb's main window has a large 3D frequency‑response graph in the central position which you can drag laterally to view from any perspective — a useful practical application of Apple's QuickDraw 3D. This graph has three bands which show the reverb's amplitude (loudness) and decay time in the low, mid and high frequency bands, and is a great help when setting your parameters. One word of warning here, though. Quickdraw 3D allocates its memory from the System's allocation, so you will need extra RAM to accomodate this: I have 64Mb installed and still encountered a warning message telling me I was low on system memory.
Immediately below the frequency‑response graph is a 'soft' row of pop‑up controls for the extended parameters of some of the algorithms, while at the bottom of the window is a diagrammatic representation of the signal flow through the selected processor algorithm, again with pop‑up controls to let you set the parameters visually. You can also switch the display to show the Macro Editor; a Macro is a fader that can simultaneously control as many as four parameters, and you can create up to six macros per preset, which will then appear in the 'soft' row of controls.
One of the beauties of TDM plug‑ins is the high level of automation which plug‑in designers are able to incorporate into their software. The LexiVerb is no exception here, allowing you to apply dynamic automation to virtually all LexiVerb parameters. You choose which of these parameters will be recorded by Pro Tools, enable one of its automation modes, hit Play in Pro Tools to begin recording — then start making your moves. You can only move the plug‑in parameters you have enabled for automation one at a time using a mouse, of course, so you may find yourself wanting to buy a hardware controller of some sort.
Of course, what really matters are the sounds you can get out of the LexiVerb — and you will not be disappointed here! With careful programming you can get great results, although it could take newcomers quite some time to learn how to use all the parameters to their best effect. Thankfully, then, there is a comprehensive selection of presets. The presets menu has folders for Chambers, Gates, Inverses, Plates and Special Effects, each of which contains 20 to 30 descriptively named presets such as Drum Cave, Vocal Gate, Stutter Echo, Clean Guitar Plate and Chaos Engine. This is a much better selection than you will get with any other reverb plug‑in for Pro Tools TDM right now — I know, I've tried them all! And the great thing about the LexiVerb presets is that so many are usable, just as they are, for a wide variety of applications.
I tried various of the presets one evening on a fairly dry recording of a drumkit to see how the LexiVerb would handle percussive sounds — always a good test. I immediately found several presets with very usable reverb settings for my dry kit. Then I started on the rest of the presets... and then it was the morning and I realised how much fun I had been having! The only thing I didn't like is that it is too easy to accidentally set any of the pop‑up controls to a different value when you click on them, but change your mind about editing them. All in all, however, LexiVerb is the Rolls Royce of reverb plug‑ins for Pro Tools TDM systems, with great reverbs and effects to suit most applications. Mike Collins