Lexicon MPX500 - Dual Channel Processor

Extremely easy to use. Spend a few minutes with the manual to get a general map of the system. Then as you get used to navigating its simple layout explore the unit deeper. For instance, you can set up the presets to load automatically as you turn the dial; or have the selected preset load by preseing the "load" button, while keeping your existing preset intact. This unit seems a perfect mixture of tweakable parameters- not too many, not too little. You can concentrate on making music instead of studying the manual. Thats not to say that getting into the editing sessions does not have its joys.

The sound quality is excellent. While the presets are impressive, its always best to go in and create your own for maximum use. Once in a while with a few presets you will get some hiss. I have found that rolling off the highs in the edit mode rids of this. The reverbs are top notch. I own an eventide eclipse and the lexicon is equal to it in quality, but of a different character. The Lexicon is thicker and dark, compared to the transparent and sparkling eventide eclipse. Add a little chorus and eq to the Lexicon and you imitate the eventide for a fraction of the price...about $150 on ebay, give or take. The delays are also great. From simple repeats, to complex rhythmic delays. The pitch shift is excellent. Some reviewers were not impressed, but I think its because they did not explore them in depth. I have been able to create super-otherworldly sounds with it that imitate and go way beyond the Digitech Space Station XP300. I have used the Lexicon PCM series in the past. I really cannot tell the difference in sound quality- especially when you start tweaking. I run my Godin Solidac through a Mackie Onyx 1620. The Mpx500 is connected to the effect sends/returns. Then the signal goes to the monitors. No amps in my setup- just the pure sound.

Original models sometimes had a problem with the dial selector for dialing in presets. It would skip and be erratic. lexicon addressed this problem with the V2 chip upgrade. It is available free of charge if you have certain serial #'s on your machine. Mine happens to have this defect, but it has not caused any headaches, and I have not gotten around to contacting Lexicon for the chip because it really is very seldom for it to happen. Other than that its been great.

Lexicon is the only company that has ever responded to my inquiries besides Cakewalk company. One was a general question about their products and the other was a technical question. And the response was punctual and informative.

I play mostly deep ambient music and also delve into some psychodelic jam/blues stuff. This unit has served me better than the eventide eclipse with its ease of use and sound quality. I would definitely get another and am actually thinking about getting another to add to my setup. Their is no sacrifice of sound quality and the price is unbeatable. The only thing I wish about it is setting up the decay times on some of the reverbs. You can only select increments- not specific times. But the range from milliseconds to decays over a minute long, so the options are many and most proccessors would never allow over a minute of reverberating bliss.

I've been using this processor for about 5 years. There was somewhat of a learning curve on the System Pages, but after some trial and error, it's no problem to use.

I bought a $50 upgrade EEPROM in 2000 which added compression. Easy to upgrade, but honestly don't use the compression feature very much. I suspect the release of this chip may have been a response to "overload" complaints from customers who were typically running too hot of a signal into their 500.

Currently, it's running through the FX loop of my Eden bass amp. I've used it in many configurations, including the SPDIF port for home studio recording and it's very quiet. If you have noise problems, it's probably an impedence mismatch with the rest of your rig.

Excellent Chorus and Flange. Pitch shifting is sub par. Reverb, as you might have guessed, excellent. Stereo Delay, excellent. Looping is good, but I would have liked a bypass setting that would allow me to play beside the active loop.

Highly reliable! I flew to Europe with this thing and a baggage guy dropped my rack out of the plane. The MPX500 was severely dented but continued to work. Very impressive workmanship. I'd like to put an 11 in this category.

Good support for $50 compressor upgrade.

Play indie, alt, blues, anything. It's a good clean effect unlike some of those hip-hop boxes that are out there. You've seen them, neon yellow with names that start with "Phat". MPX500 is a very high quality instrument. Just wish I had enough cash to buy their new PCM81.

pretty easy...although making a small change to one of the user programs and saving it as the same program means you get kicked to the first empty user program. then you have to dial down to the user program you were on to 'replace' it. kinda dumb...

i have an ibanez rg-something into a pedal board with a tuner, wah, volume pedal, chorus, plus an a/b switch to switch between the delays and clean (no delay) sounds. this goes into the mpx and an old boss analog half-rack delay that i LOVE (they rule!). it finally ends with my mesa DC-5 combo. the mpx isn't noisy if you turn it down on the master volume 'system' setting. i use an old ibanez chorus instead of the mpx chorus because sometimes i want to use delay and chorus at the same time, and i can't do that with the mpx...the delays are great BUT - and this is my biggest gripe with this thing - if you're using a MIDI pedal (i use a MidiMouse - great pedal) to change programs, the 'tap' speed doesn't change with the program! it changes when you use the mpx's front panel knob, but not with a foot pedal. i've called and emailed lexicon, and in the end it turns out you just can't do it...STUPID!!

it works fine, just the tap thing boils my blood...

great. all emails answered within a day, phone guys were nice...

as soon as i can find something else, i'll get it. although the tap thing is pretty common at this price range - TC Electronics has a unit that has the same limitation and i've resigned myself to this limitation. anyone know a good delay/phase/chorus rack unit that lets you change speeds?

Very Easy to configurate and to edit sounds.
Don't need manuals

Music Man Silhoette-Effect Board-Alesis Compressor-Engl PreAmp-Digitech Harmonizer HM4-Rocktron Hush SuperC-Lexicon MPX500-Alesis Midiverb3-Engl Poweramp Stereo-4x12 Cabinet
get great sound like Lukather and Beck!
the time to load the sounds by switching the midi pedal could be some
miliseconds quicker.

When you plugg in a mono jack into the bypass switcher it mostly leads to reset the whole setting...

I was some years a day before christmas - german lexicon service was
great!!

I am playing for 23 years now - different styles of Rock, Fusion,Jazz etc.
I would buy the same thing cos it sounds like the big brothers PCM 70/80 for less price!!

This is a followup review. I know this isn't a chat area, so I'll bve brief.

I finally decided to contact Customer Support about the spastic master dial (patch changer). They wrote me back right away and said there was a fix. I sent them my serial number and they said the fix was in the mail. It was a new rom chip. Came with easy to follow instructions, antistatic strap and a chip puller. 20 minutes to install it, and yes, the dial works correctly now. Apparently the chip takes care of some other problems too.

Wish I'd contacted customer support earlier.

Pretty easy to use. There are better/easier layouts, but not awful. Nice amount of control without being too time consuming. Manual is same way - there's better/easier, but it's alright.

Setup: Les Paul and/or Ibanez RG-760 -> Rocktron VooduValve -> MPX500 -> Alesis QuadGT -> BBE -> Marshall 50/50 tube power amp. [Other setups tested... see below]

The good: Absolutely great sounding reverb and chorus for the price. I was finally able to get that Robbie Blunt guitar ambience (early, post-Zep' Robert Plant). It does color tone more than say TC or Roland units, but not unpleasant. Worried I might miss my own sound after a while though.

The bad: Noisiest piece of equipment I've ever owned. Horrible noise even for this price range. Hear all sorts of digital hash and "blips" when the unit is sitting idle in an unbalanced guitar rig. Usable I guess, but too annoying for my tastes. It's noisier than any of my tube preamps/amps! Tested with several combinations of gear, but always and only obtrusive noise when MPX500 was in the chain. Advertised (and manual states) 100dB+ dynamic range, but the noise floor is around -84dB balanced, and -72dB unbalanced. That's with the unit in dry-bypass mode, input terminated, MPX500 output connected directly to the test gear, and yes, with the I/O level set correctly for +4dBu/-10dBV too. Also of note: there's a lag when changing presets, so not good for live guitar rig unless just switching bypass on/off.

Bottom line: great sound, but not much use if I have to wade through noise to get to it. OK, I'm not paying thou$and$ for a PCM series, but c'mon, it's way noisier than most other gear in this range. Maybe the published specs matched the original prototyped design, but certainly doesn't match the junk they're cranking out of China. Sadly, Harman International is trading Lexicon's former reputation for some fast, short-term cash.

Didn't keep unit, so no telling. Main selector knob does feel light as other reviewers stated, but I didn't have the program skipping problems some noted, at least while I had it. Chassis is very light-weight, loose-fit, mostly plastic. Feels like you could crack it open bare-handed.

Actually, better than many. They answered all of my emails, usually within 24 hours. Was annoying that they never seemed to read beyond the first few lines, and never remembered what was said earlier, despite case# and attaching previous email text, but hey, I'm long-winded anyway.

I've been playing acoustic and electric guitar for about 15 years, dabbling in all kinds of styles. Use moderate effects, mainly chorus/reverb. Monkeyed with a bunch of sub-$1000 effects boxes over the years.

If it were stolen, I'd of bought something else with the insurance money. Instead I returned it for a Roland SRV-3030D, which sounds beautiful, quiet, transparent, and is $85 less (OK, because it's on clearance)!

Wish MPX500 had better analog section so it didn't color tone so much, or have so much noise.

If the noise wasn't gnawing away at me like a starved coyote at the liver of the last Plains buffalo, I could really of gotten into some song writing with those effects.

Moderately straightforward to program. The master knob initally was a pain, but there is a fix, read on....

Good. Definately the "Lexicon sound". Compaired to my TC M-One, it's different. I wouldn't say better or worse, it's different. For the same reasons I have a Meek and a Focusrite, I have an M-One and a MPX-500. The early reflections seem more pronounced on the Lexi. For my use (Vox and drums) the noise level is unnoticable in the mix.

No problems so far. Seems well built.

Incredible! Answered my e-mail the next day. Sent out the software upgrade at no charge. This fixes the master knob issue!! See their web site for more info. The EPROM is straightforward to replace (they even included an EPROM puller and a grounding strap).

For the money, it gets a 10. I use mine strictly for recording and the results are very good. I've read some reviews that say the unit is noisy, but in my (real world) expierence it "sits in the mix" quite well and noise is not an issue.
If I had it to do over, I'd probably buy this unit again - although I would prefer a PCM-91 (who wouldn't) but I had to consider that I'm recording to a D-160, so would a PCM make a whole lotta difference. Probably not $1600 worth.

Very easy to use and to program.

For the price it's sound amazing. Very close to high end studio quality.

It seems solid. Except the master dial...

They answered my email the next day.
I also called them for a quick question, they were very helpful.

For the price, it's a fantastic value. I would definitely buy another if it was stolen. Fot an incredible low price, it bring professional sound to your mix.

Pretty easy to use.

Good quality. I have a PCM 81 and it's not in that league, but it is very respectable.

I'm disapointed in the built quality. The first one I brought home had a faulty master dial. When I changed patches it jumped backwards and forwards spastically, so I took it back and got another one. Less than a month later it developed the same problem or perhaps it was already infected, and I hadly use it since I have the PCM 81. I should have just bought another PCM 81. I just don't have the time to mess with problems like this. It's very frustrating, especially from a company that sets the standard.

Well, if I'd spent the time sending the unit to be repaired instead of writing this review it might have been fixed. Perhaps I'll send them a sessage on thier site.

Nice sound quality for the price. I chose it over the TC Electronics unit in the same price range, because it's a Lexicon, con, con.

The mpx 500 sounds good for the price I think that the reverb is the same as my Lexicon G2. So if you are looking for a good reverb unit this is the best for the price.

I use this with a Lexicon G2 into a Mpx 500 then into a alesis 3630 compressor. So this would be for a guitar setup. But it also work well with any setup. Although it is for a guitar. I use this as a direct sound precessing unit as well.

It is all basically digital which is more reliable than most units. You would be better off using these effects live.

Lexicon always answers all their e-mails with in three week days. It is also fairly cheep to do a full reverberation on this unit. It costs $90 or so to have it fully repaired regardless of the circumstance.

It is the best FX for the price as far as reverb but the effects are best used as a 2nd processor....

v1.04 processor and manual very simple to understand.

overall,its great processor for all styles of music. good sounding with rich textures. has a strong collection of fx: plate,gate,hall,chamber,ambience,room,tremolo,rotary,chorus,flange,detune,pitch,delay-echo,etc.. I wish it had a distortion effect and a stronger flange, but overall its great for the price

solid and rack mountable. only problem is the jumpy program dial.

never had to call

overall,this processor is great for sound quality and affordability. it works well with all styles of music. only complaints are no distortion and touchy program dial

This is very easy to use compared to most rack effects.

I use this in a full rack setup it sounds great. This unit only uses two effects at a time but it sounds like it using six or seven at once. To sum it up the reverb is better than any other fx unit in it's class, easily. It truly has pristine sound quality.

yes, it doesn't get hot I have left it on for hours. You could easily use it on stage.

? dont know never used it

I play metal and soloing 80's stlye. I have been playing for 3 years.
this unit is bad ass get one.

This Machine is really easy to use, I was editing and storing patches within about two minutes. The display helps a lot.

Great, especially the ambience effects - I thrash these. They are subtle but powerful - you don't really notice them when they're there, but as soon as they're switched off the sound goes from 3 to 2D.

I have owned a number of Lexicon Products (including the Alex and LXP-5 and like those I have never had a problem with this unit)

Don't know, never called.

Great machine, sounds rich, subtle, understated, I use it all the time.

THIS UNIT IS VERY EASY TO USE. THE ONLY THING I DON'T LIKE IS THE PROGRAM KNOB IS VERY SENSITIVE.

THE REVERB IS THE BEST, ALL THE OTHER EFFECTS ARE GOOD TO I AM USING THIS WITH A GUITAR SETUP. I PLAY BLACK METAL/HEAVY METAL. BUT FOR ANY PLAYER THE SOUND IS VERY IMPRESSIVE

THIS UNIT IS PERFECT FOR STAGE PERFORMANCES.

DON'T KNOW YET? I HAVE HAD THIS UNIT FOR ONE YEAR. NO PROBLEMS YET.

THIS UNIT IS THE BEST FOR THE MONEY I PAYED,LEXICON MAKESTOP QUALITY PRODUCTS. SIMPLY THIS UNIT WILL WORK FOR KEYBOARDS/GUITAR/AND VOCALS PERFECTLY.

Regarding the distortion that someone else wrote about. In the manual, it tells how you have to set the Output level to match your system level. On the System edit page, you are supposed to set the output system parameter to -12db for a -10db type system. The unit defaults to 0db, which is too high for a -10db system, which causes distortion. I know, it happened to me as well.

this unit is very straight forward when it comes to getting a particular sound

I use a digitech 2120 and this lexicon mpx 500 for guitar. I play mostly black metal and acoustic styles. This unit is a lot better sounding than my digitech 2120. I only use the digitech for distortion the effects on the lexicon are far surpassing the digitech unit. The lexicon mpx 500 has no distortions so therefore this unit is good for adding effects to your desired tone.

It is fine to use in any application you want.

I have not had to deal with lexicon yet.

I would defiantly prefer a mpx g2 but for the price I paid its defiantly worth trying out.

This is the most interesting processor I've ever used!!
It has excellent sounding reverbs, delays, and the choruses sound superb!!
It has the best rotary speaker sound I've ever heard!
Patch editing is a breeze!!
The manual is of detailed, and easy to understand.

I'm using it with a guitar set-up, but I'm sure it would be excellent for PA use.
It has no noise!!
All effects are pro sounding, and excellent quality!
The reverbs and delays are great!!
This unit has pitch shift (harmonizer) and great chorus and flanger effects!

I would use this unit in a professional touring situation.

I haven't had to deal with Lexicon.

I think the Lexicon -500 is an excellent unit, with lots of great reverbs, delays, choruses, flangers, and harmony effects.
I've been playing guitar for many years, and compared it to other units before I made my purchase. It knocked me out, with true stereo reverb and delay effects!!

I wish it had an output trim knob on the front panel, but it's still the best multi-effects processor out there!

The unit is impossible to work with!!
As soon as I hooked it up there was a great deal of noise.
I tried using it with both PA, and guitar applications , (before the pre-amp, in the effects loops etc.) but couldn't get rid of the noise.
The Choruses and flangers totally suck, thin and weak sounding.
The reverbs and plates are good, (over a third of the factory programs seem to be reverbs.)
The pitch shift, and detunes are useless, It has no intellegent pitch shifting.
Editing the patches are difficult compared to many mult-effects units out there. There are no references in the manual, or on the lexicon website regarding parameters, so you don't really know how the tweak the unit. The manual is vague!!

This is the noisiest unit I have ever used!!
Only the reverbs are useful, and Lexicon's higher end pieces surpass the MPX-500's reverbs!!
Again Choruses and Flangers are terrible!

I wouldn't use this unit in a pro situation.

I have e-mailed Lexicon three or four times with questions , and have gotten little help!!

The one time I got a response, I was told you have to basically use the factory programs, my questions were about tweaking your own programs.

I'm a Rock musician, I've been playing over twenty years, I own a lot of pro effects units. In my opinion, Digitech's Studio 400 is a far more useful unit, easier to tweak, and better sound quality for the same price. It has a better harmonizer, and much better choruses and flangers.

DON'T BUY THE LEXICON MPX-500 IT'S A PIECE OF !@#$%^&*!@#$%^&!!!!

A lot of thought has been put into the user interface. The edit knob system works very well and the midi program change was easy to set up with my Promix. The one parameter "master tweak" knob for each patch is a great idea and works well. Simple but concise manual - however lacks info on the actual editable parameters... you can work out most of them but this info is a glaring omission from the manual.

I've never spent a great deal of time comparing effects but I'm pleased with the sound - some very natural reverbs. Most of the default settings are quite tame but by editing paramiters you can get plenty of strange sounds, I have already stored more patches than I planned because it's so easy to tweak.

No problems yet. The edit knobs seemed a little flimsy to start with but they appear to be getting better with use. I have a Roland TD-7 which has a very small edit knob... it feels good but everytime you try to advance 1 notch slowly it often goes in the wrong direction... very annoying. I've only had the MPX500 a couple of weeks but I haven't noticed this problem... but I'll be watching. Everything else seems quite solid.

I use the unit for home recording. I prefer the acoustic styles - you can easily reproduce some convincing rooms. It has the the best user interface I've used for a product like this. Unfortunately the manual lacks some detail on the parameters but 95% of the functions can be worked out very quickly. The display can be a bit chunky but they've done a good job cramming the info into the limited space.

Presets are easy to use.
Programming it is easy, BUT, there is NO description of the ANY of the editable parameters in the manual or on Lexicon's website. Furthermore, if you call them and ask them about the parameters, they are relucant to spend time with you, and you actually feel like you know more about the unit than they do anyway.

It sounds fantastic, which is why the rest of this is so frustrating.

It has bugs, for real. If you change programs via MIDI program change, the tap tempo value stored with each program is not recalled along with the program. The tap tempo value is only recalled when you change programs from the unit itself. I called Lexicon, they said it was a bug which they have re-programmed, but not implemented yet. So, they will not say whether it will be a free fix, or what. It could be that after a certain time, they will sell ones that work and the current ones never will. If you ask me, anyone who doesn't like the unit has grounds to return it, wherever you bought it. It doesn't do what it is advertised to do.

Poor. I called them and they wouldn't explain how they plan to fix their bug, and they wouldn't go over the editable parameters with me (since there is no description anywhere). Best bet is to e-mail them with questions. They will probably only partially answer them, but when you call them, they don't have the unit in front of them and basically can't explain anything. I felt like I knew more about it than they did.

Should be a 10, but with the bug, the poor manual and poor support, it only gets a 4. Oh yeah, one other thing, if you are used to a processor which works instantly upon changing programs, this one takes 3 seconds, which sucks live. The best it can do is provide a dry bypass.

Unit is very easy to use. Knobs are the digital endless rotatry type. Manual is small and only give you the Need To Know information. I have firmware ver 1.04

I can only speek about using the MPX500 with synths and samplers. The reverbs are alittle thin for a Lexicon. If it had another manufactures name on it, I would not have thought twice about this, but I expected better, fatter, less sterile reverbs from Lexicon.

The delays are wonderful and quiet even with generous amounts of feedback. The pitch shifter is good for an effects type shifter.

The flanger sounds a little weak, I've heard better in this price range. The unit follows MIDI clock very well for tempo parameters tied to MIDI clock.

The quality of the (24 bit) converters is good, a little better than you would expect in this price range. The unit can function as an extra stereo A/D (44.1 or 48K)with SPDIF out.

All I can say is the knobs feel solid and the power supply is built into the unit (+).

This would be a great unit for playing live! In the studio, it's just another average to good effects box. The sounds do complement my DP/2 rather well, so I'm keeping it.

It is easy to edit the mpx500. Up to sixteen parameters can be edited for each porgram. There are four knobs dedicated to that purpose and an "Edit Pages" button lets you flip between the four sets of four parameters. The display shows the current parameters corresponding to each knob. When on page one, the leftmost of these four knobs is referred to as the "adjust" knob. This is very similar (if not the same) as the "adjust" knob on the mpx100. Whereas the other knobs edit specific parameters, the "adjust" knob modifies several parameters at once. The parameters it modifies depends on the program being edited. As the manual indicates, an example would be that on several room and chamber programs, the "adjust" knob modifies the "liveness," which means it modifies decay, EQ, and early reflections all at once.
The manual lists the preset programs, with a description of each type, with some history around the type. For each program, the manual lists what the "adjust" knob does, in name only, (see below,) and what the tap button is set to. Some examples of what the "adjust" knob is set to: "Livenes" (as stated before); "MidRT" (no description), "Walls" (no description), "HighCut," (self explanatory, but no specifics). The manual states that a description of the "adjust" parameter pops onto the screen (where the other parameters normally are) when you turn the knob, but all that happens is that part of the screen goes blank. I hope this can be corrected with an OS upgrade, or at least Lexicon could post some descriptions on their web site. There is not a single reference to any of the other editable parameters in the manual either. You have to just go and fool with the unit to see what the parameters do. If this lack of information is intended, it seems there can be two possible reasons: Lexicon assume(s) the user already knows what they are, being familiar with Lex Lingo, which seems unlikely, this being a step down from most of their other units; OR, Lexicon figure(s) the user doesn't want to bother with details, and just wants to tweak and have fun. The latter seems more likely, as there are only 30 user programs, so if you want to get deeply into the parameters, you will only be able to have 30 at a time on the unit. This limit probably won't bother most people, myself included. I can always store them on the computer if necessary. It does seem ironic though: so easy to edit, but only 30 places to store those edits. It would be nice to be able to program the "adjust" knob to the parameters you want. This can be taken care of with midi though.
It is also quick and easy to go to a particular program. First, I wuld like to say that I like the navigation on the MPX 100. One knob to select the program type, and one knob to select the specific program. The mpx500 has just one knob, but it serves the purpose of both the knobs on the mpx100. You can twist the knob to go to the next program, but if you push the knob, you skip to the next program type. Quick and easy. The knobs are small like on the MPX 100, but have the definite detentes of the more expensive Lexicon units.
The mpx500 is geared to respond to midi CCs. All of the editable parameters, "adjust" included, plus Bypass and Tap can be programmed to respond to CCs. It is real easy to do as well, there being a "Learn" mode. You can also use midi for changing programs.
Setting the rythmic parameters of the MPX500 is real flexible. You can set the tempo with a discernable audio beat, or with midi clock, or you can tap it in directly. The current tempo is displayed on screen.
The System page allows you to configure the mpx500 to your own preferences, and it is very well thought out. Some highlights: You can set the "Mix Mode" (efx to dry signal ratio) to either global or each program, meaning if y

As to the programs themselves. The mpx500 has 240 presets, half single algorithm, half dual algorithm. the single program types are as follows, with the number of each program type in parantheses: Plate(9); Gate(10); Hall(10); Chamber(10); Ambience(10); Room(10); Tremolo(5); Rotary(5); Chorus(5); Flange(5); Detune(5); Pitch(5); Delay, Echo(15); Special FX(15). As to the Dual programs: the routing on the dual programs is fixed, that is for eaample, on the Flange - Delay bank, the first six programs use Dual Stereo (parallel) and the remaining four use Cascade (serial). You can adjust the amount of each effect in the program with knob three. As in the single programs, there are up to sixteen total editable parameters available. The Dual Program types are as follows: Flange - Delay(10); Pitch - Delay(10); Chorus - Delay(10); Delay - Reverb(10); Flange - Reverb(10); Pitch - Reverb(10); Chorus - Reverb(10). (For the preceeding dual program types, the first six programs have dual stereo routing and the remaining four programs have Cascade routing.) The three remaining Dual types: MonoSplitDly(15); MonoSplitRvb(20); Dual Mono(16). The routing for these types is self-explanatory.
The "environmental" reverbs (hall, church, etc.) sound very smooth and realistic, and there is much flexibility in all the programs so you should be able to get just the effect you want, given the algorithms available. Very low noise, but there is a slight "tick" sound when the bypass button is pressed, though I had to turn things up above unity on the mixer to hear it. I wouldn't worry about it. Also, comparing this to the TC M-One, I noticed a slightly higher noise floor on the MPX500, but it doesn't seem too significant. It was really a torture test, just to compare the two.

VERY solidly built, in the People's Republic of China, for what it's worth. Internal power supply. If I ever gigged, I would not hesitate to use it without a backup. My experience with Lexicon products has been flawless.

Haven't dealt with them.

I play a mixture of stuff, classical to modern. It works with everything. I have a variety of synthesizers that this works with, through an aux send on a Mackie 1642 vlz pro. I also own a TC M-One, and they each have some positive features over the other. The MPX is more immediately editable, and has 240 preset programs, compared to 100 for the TC. The MPX is a bit more flexible in its system configuration. The TC, however, has a much more flexible routing and programming configuration, and 100 user programs, compared to 30 for the MPX. There is a difference in algorthims, where the MPX has Rotary, and the TC has Compression, limiting, EQ, and de-essing. The other algorithms are basically the same... I also could compare it to the Roland SRV 3030. (I have a review of it here at Harmony Central also.) Except for the reverbs, I think I would prefer the Roland. It has some unique algorithims for this price range, and is just as editable. But since my preferred feature is reverbs, I favor the MPX500. But personally, I may return the MPX500 and buy an MPX-1. It has the dual engine design and is much more editable, but is it worth the extra $200.00? And those knobs on the MPX500 keep speaking to me, "turn me, it's easy..." Oh, the agony of choice...

This unit is very easy to use. Four realtime knobs for editing parameters, and a button to scroll through the various pages of parameters. Think of it as an MPX-100 on steroids. The Lexichip is the same, but there are tons of parameters to tweek, but the only downfall is that the knobs are not as smooth as the "Adjust" knob on the MPX-100. But you can set the knobs to CC# and get a smoother result off of a different unit. All parameters are displayed on the screen as well as BPM, effects routing and more! The manual is a typical Lexicon manual, very easy to read and understand.

I use this processor primary for keyboards and drums with excellent results. The unit runs 24 bit in and out so there is no noise whatsoever. Reverbs are very clean and have a lot of the parameters you would find in the MPX-1, so you can really tweak out those verbs. However, it's still not quite the MPX-1, but if you can't afford that, the MPX-500 will not disappoint.

I have only had this unit a few days. I am pretty sure that they just came out, so I really can't comment on this too much, but given the quality and reliability of their others products, I can imagine you can expect the same from this unit. I would have no problem at all taking it out to a show, and not even think twice about it malfunctioning.

When this unit was announced at the AES convention, I called Lexicon to inquire about it. The person I spoke to was very helpful, and gave me some info on the units operation. Shortly after, I called back again to find out where the first ones were being shipped out to, they told me and I picked one up right away. Not bad at all!

I mostly play ambient music, but do venture out into other various styles of music. For me this unit is a must have! I have the MPX-100 as well as the MPX-1 and they all sound great together. I intially was planning to sell my MPX-100 for the MPX-500, but I am glad I didn't. The only reason I say that is that the edit knobs are not the same as the adjust knob on the MPX-100. I compared this unit the the new TC Electronic M-One, but personally, I thought the MPX-500 was way better. For $500 I think it's the best unit on the market today! Go buy one now!!