Lexicon Omega

Compact desktop unit. Physically well laid out with two mic inputs and 4 line inputs, including an input designed for electric guitar direct insertion, plus a coaxial digital (S/PDIF)in/out as well as MIDI in/out. It is possible to record a maximum of 2 separate mic input plus 2 other line inputs (e.g. electric guitar/bass and keyboard etc) simultaneously. LED audio level and peak indicators. Plastic construction (although fairly tough) means that the unit is probably not suitable for very much moving about. However, it seems robust enough for my home studio purposes. At this stage it's had only limited use, so this review is based only upon that. Having read some of the other reviews, I'm hoping that I won't experience some of those problems, but only time will tell.

Works on USB 1.2, but is fully compatible with USB 2.0 computer inputs. Apparently USB 1.xx is sufficient for all its purposes. I record at 24-bit, 48000Hz, which is supported by this unit. Latency with my hardware is comparable with my other soundcard (Echo Mia).

Sound quality (preamps) seems very good indeed. The unit provides allegedly 48v (switchable) phantom power for mics. The separate power supply (wall wart) probably helps here. I understand that interfaces without direct mains power may not provide the full 48v, which condenser mics need to operate properly. Having said this, the mics I am using (SP B1 and Rode M3) seem both to need max gain level setting on input channels to generate a hot enough signal at the input bus (which makes me wonder if the full 48v is actually being delivered). Electric guitars can be plugged directly into the instrument channel (Hi-Z), which produces a signal at an appropriately strong level. The sub-mixing capabilities of the Omega are good, with a send/return connection (which I haven't yet used). One headphone out, with direct monitoring capability and easy to use.

AC powered. As discussed above, not 100% sure if the full 48v phantom power is being delivered. I will test this if I can, but until then I'll give it the benefit of the doubt in the rating.

The main complaint that has been raised by other reviewers is driver compatability. I have installed the software on a PC Win7 32-bit system. Intially there were real problems with the drivers supplied, but the latest downloaded Lexicon Vista ASIO drivers have worked, once installed, without any issues (so far). I'm not sure when Lexicon released the new drivers, but I'm very glad they were available when I bought the Omega unit, as it seems it would not have been usable without them. I wonder if the other reviewers who had driver issues have now been able to try the new drivers. If not, it might be worth a try. My rating is based on my experience with the new Vista drivers to date.

The bundled software (Cubase LE) works pretty well with the Omega. I have used Cubase in the past, but I have switched to Sonar, which I prefer. It works fine with Sonar and with guitar amp plugins such as Amplitube and Guitar Rig. The included Lexicon Reverb plugin is excellent, and one of the best reverb plugins available in my opinion. No turntable input. Adequate instruction booklet covers the essential ground for operating the unit.

The Omega has worked well for me so far and has met my expectations once the correct Vista drivers were obtained. My only real worry is whether the thing will continue to operate or will die unexpectedly as other reviewers have unfortunately experienced. Because of this, and because of some concerns about the robustness of the unit's (plastic) construction, I would probably spend a little more on another make (perhaps Edirol) if I had to replace it. Having said that, I look after all my gear very carefully and very rarely have any trouble with anything, so I'm hoping that will not be necessary. Overall, based on my experience with the Omega to date, I can say that it works well, delivers very good results and represents reasonable value for money.

Essentially as described in the previous review.

When it's working, this thing's fine. However, I've had huge, huge numbers of problems with it in the couple of years since I bought it and I'm finally giving up on it. I keep waiting around for Lexicon to fix their f***ing awful drivers, but each successive release seems to fix nothing at all. I honestly don't know what they're spending their time on.

The specific issues I have are as follows.
1) The drivers refuse to install 80% of the time. The installer is usually convinced you've not yet plugged the thing in.
2) As may be suggested by the fact I've been able to quote a figure for that, I've had to install the drivers an absolutely massive amount of times.
3) The drivers often crash with no warning, whether or not you're pushing them. This sometimes requires reinstalling, hence 2).
4) The box itself sometimes crashes, and you have to fully reset it, not just off-on.
5) Just recently the latency has got unusable, and I have no idea why.

There have been other problems as well, but those are the recurring ones. The large majority of the time, I cannot just turn my computer on and start recording. The Omega needs coaxing, reinstalling or resetting almost every time.

These problems are not just on my end. I've used my Omega on other computers, generally with exactly the same results. In addition I've heard a lot of people complaining about similar issues.

It is however a nice little standalone mixer, which is what I plan to use it for when I get a new interface. This is the reason I'm giving it 4 and not 1.

In summary, if it decides to work for you it's a nice interface, but it's honestly not worth your time and effort to get it to work in the first place (if you manage it at all).

USB 2, serves its purpose.

Preamps are fine, nothing special.

I would advise you to avoid this. If it works it's good; but there's no way that it's good enough, if it works, to outweigh the reliability of pretty much anything else on the market. Just cross it off your list.

This is a review of the Lexicon Omega USB recording interface. It is a desktop, portable unit, not to be rackmounted.

It does have LEDs for input and output as well as clip indicators and I believe it has a soft limiter.

No onboard DSP to my knowledge, everything is done in software. Plugins are standard VST.

Plastic case, might be suitable for portable use, but certainly not heavy road abuse.

Has physical volume/trim controls as well as volume/trim controls in the included Steinberg Cubase 4LE software.

No other physical mixing surface other than volume/trim controls and no onboard hardware processing.

This is version 2.0 which supports USB 1.1 and USB 2.0. The unit included a simple USB A to B cable (similar to what you'd find included with a desktop printer). No additional ports for daisy chaining.

Preamps seem fine so far. I'm using this unit to Mic acoustic guitar and 2x12 combo amps as well as to record direct from the guitar instrument jacks. Sound quality is fine. It does have a dedicated guitar instrument jack. It has S/PDIF coax connections in the back as well as 1/4" unbalanced and XLR jacks. Midi In/Out. Stereo Sends and returns (1/4" unbalanced). No surround sound mixing capabilities. Unit has one headphone output jack.

Unit is powered via wall-wart AC adapter. No batteries. Does have Phantom Power for mics (labeled 48V).

Supports ASIO drivers and proprietary Lexicon Omega driver as well as direct monitoring.

Unit came with Cubase 4LE as well as Pantheon VST plugin. Cannot operate independently (at least as far as I know). No lift switch, no turntable input or grounding post.

OK, here's the thing with this unit, or *things* with this unit, and let me preface this by saying, I've been playing guitar for 16 years, this is my very first recording interface. I'm not however, new to computers, tweaking, etc. For the time being I'm using this on a Dell Inspiron 1505, core duo 1.6GHz, 1GB of RAM, XP Pro SP2 and a 160GB 7200RPM HDD. Cubase starts up fairly quickly, recording quality is good enough for me, considering all other recordings I've done were on 4 tracks or crappy free software. Latency is the issue as is drop outs. BUT, this unit will drop out reliably, that is, lose connection suddenly when you push it hard OR you use certain VST plugins. Not all plugins work the same as the rest of you probably know.

So for example, I wanted to record a guitar direct and add distortion. I looked around and found Studio Devil. It sounds decent I guess, but the latency.... makes it practically unusable. With this unit you can adjust your mix between direct sound and processed sound easily which is great, but setting it to 50% wet/dry ideally, you'd want the sound to be spot on, or with as little delay as possible. I'm running at 9.99ms delay with the Omega driver which pretty much sucks. Another example is Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3. When using that, and switching presets, amp settings, it's very easy to get the Omega to drop out and lose connection.

To remedy this, I just go to Device Setup in Cubase and then switch from the ASIO driver and then back to the Omega driver. I really shouldn't have to do that, but I do and I live with it. Again, I'm new to recording so I didn't have extremely high expectations beforehand.

So basically, if you use the unit stock or are VERY good or very picky about which VST plugins you use, and how, and when you use them, you can probably use this unit without too much frustration. I've had it lock up completly on me ONE time in 200+ recording hours of monkeying around. And it seemed to lock up hard that time because I was trying to use the BBE Sonic Maximizer VST. In all I'd say the unit is usable, probably not the greatest, certainly not the worst but does leave a bit to be desired. Last and final gripe is the AC adapter. It takes an unusual amount of force to unplug the jack from the unit. Yes you read that right, that tiny little jack, if you try to unplug it, at least on mine, it feels like I'm going to snap the thing in half. It's bizarre. Never had a jack like that on any piece of equipment. Ever.

So bottomline, the recorded sounds (direct and mic'd) are good, good enough for me for the time being, I can live with the dropouts now and then, if they become more prevalent, I'll return the unit or sell it. All other software and stock plugins including the pantheon seem to work fine, it's when you add the additional crap on top that starts killing things.