Lexicon 960L
Multichannel Digital Effects System
by Larry the O
  Lexicon’s 960L multichannel digital effects system is the long-awaited successor to the flagship of Lexicon’s line, the now-venerable 480L. The 960L features extensive surround capabilities, up to 96kHz sample rate, a fancy new remote head, digital I/O, and more processing power and growth potential in its thumbnail than an SUV crammed full of Lexicon’s old 224s and EMT 250s. The unit also incorporates new algorithms resulting from the latest research of Lexicon chief scientist David Griesinger (inventor and longtime primary architect of Lexicon’s reverbs) as implemented and extended by senior software engineer Michael Carnes.

The Layout

Click image for larger view
The 960L ships with a single DSP card filling one of the mainframe chassis’ four slots. Since the release of Version 2 software in January 2001, the 960L has been capable of hosting an optional second card, which doubles the available processing and allows cascading of machines between the cards. Software upgrades for the 960L are installed using the CD-ROM drive also found hiding behind the front panel. Accessible on the chassis’ front panel (even when closed) are a Standby button and indicator, and a 3.5-inch floppy drive (remember them?) for offloading user presets.

The rear panel is somewhat more populated, being dominated by five module slots. Three slots are used for audio I/O (eight channels per card) and one for synchronization and control. There are three audio modules: balanced analog input (eight channels on XLR connectors), balanced analog output (eight channels also on XLR) and AES/EBU (eight channels). Each DSP card provides up to eight channels of processing, so the stock 960L supports eight channels of I/O at a time (any combination of analog and digital), and the optional second DSP card supports another eight. Version 2.20 software, which was in my review unit, supports up to 16 channels of I/O, but the only way to have 16 discrete channels is to install two AES cards. Fortunately, it is easy to split inputs and combine outputs between machines.

The control module contains MIDI in, out and thru; wordclock in, out and thru; and two Remote connectors for LARC2 remote heads. Only one head is necessary to control the 960L, but two could be useful in large film mixes, especially when there are two cards in the mainframe and four or more machines running. The fifth slot is currently unused and could be employed for either an audio or control card in the future. Finally, there is a mysterious, blank Option panel to the right of the slots, behind which lie even more expansion capabilities.

The rear panel also holds the IEC power connector and, unfortunately, the power switch—not my ideal choice, but the front panel Standby mode helps. This is also Lexicon’s first hint that the mainframe is intended to reside in a machine room. The second hint would be the enclosed 50-foot cable that connects the mainframe to the LARC2. (The mainframe supports cables up to 100 feet, but use of an external power supply plugged into the back of the LARC2 enables cables up to 1,000 feet to be driven.) The final clue is the rather noisy fan situated on the rear panel.

Back in the control room, at the other end of the long cable, is the LARC2 remote. The LARC2 houses eight touch-sensitive, motorized faders, a joystick, and buttons, buttons, buttons: 10-key pad, arrows, increment/decrement, seven mode buttons (Program, Register, Bank, Store, Edit, Control, Machine), Enter button, eight “soft” buttons (known as the “V-Page”), two mutes (Mute Machine and Mute All), two enables (joystick and Fine Adjust) and a big fat Compare button bearing the company’s name.

Above the row of soft buttons lies the 2.25x6-inch color LCD and, above that, three LEDs per input to show signal present, -6dB below full-scale and overload. The LARC2’s rear panel sports a contrast knob for the LCD, aux port for a PS2 keyboard (used for naming and commenting presets), the host port for the control cable going to the mainframe, external power for those extended runs, Reset button (resets the LARC2 only) and strain relief for the external power cable.



Reprinted with permission from Magazine, June, 2001
© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved


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