Lexicon MX500 Owner's Manual page 28

Effects Descriptions
Hall Reverbs -
Stereo
Small hall, large hall, vocal hall, drum hall, Surround hall
A Hall reverb is designed to emulate the acoustics of a concert hall – a space large
enough to contain an orchestra and an audience. Because of the size and character-
istics, Halls are the most natural-sounding reverbs, designed to remain "behind" the
direct sound – adding ambience and space, but leaving the source unchanged. This
effect has a relatively low initial echo density which builds up gradually over time.
Vocal Hall and Drum Hall reverbs are specifically tailored for those uses. Vocal
Hall has as lower overall diffusion which works well with program material that has
softer initial transients like a voice. Drum Hall has a higher diffusion setting which is
necessary to smooth out faster transient signals found in drums and percussion instru-
ments. In addition to general instrumental and vocal applications, the Hall program is
a good choice for giving separately recorded tracks the sense of belonging to the same
performance.
The MX500 proudly offers a true Surround Hall reverb, the first in its class. The Sur-
round Hall uses all of the MX500's DSP horsepower to provide an immensely lush, en-
veloping reverb that offers two routing options: stereo in/surround out and surround in/
surround out. The stereo in/surround out routing is for use with stereo input sources.
Both stereo output pairs are used with the front (output pair A) providing a wet/dry mix
control. The surround in/surround out routing is for use with a true 4-channel input
source and both front and rear output pairs each have their own wet/dry mix control for
precise control of dry audio and reverb adjustments in the surround field.
Plate Reverbs -
Stereo
Small Plate, large Plate, vocal Plate, drum Plate
A Plate reverb is a large, thin sheet of metal suspended upright under tension on
springs. Transducers attached to the plate transmit a signal that makes the plate
vibrate, causing sounds to appear to be occurring in a large, open space. The Plates in
the MX500 model the sound of metal plates with high initial diffusion and a relatively
bright, colored sound. Plate reverbs are designed to be heard as part of the music,
mellowing and thickening the initial sound. Plate reverbs are often used to enhance
popular music, particularly percussion.
Room Reverb -
Stereo
Room produces an excellent simulation of a very small room which is useful for
dialog and voiceover applications. Room is also practical when used judiciously for
fattening up high energy signals like electric guitar amp recordings.
Chamber Reverb -
Stereo
Historically, recording studio chambers were oddly shaped rooms with a loudspeaker
and set of microphones to collect ambience in various parts of the room. Chamber
programs produce even, relatively dimensionless reverberation with little color change
as sound decays. The initial diffusion is similar to the Hall programs. However, the
sense of size and space is much less obvious. This characteristic, coupled with the
low color of the decay tail, makes these programs useful on a wide range of material
- especially the spoken voice, to which Chamber programs add a noticeable increase
in loudness with low color.
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