Lexicon Vortex

Well its time that I write a review about this magnific product.
How easy it is to tweak?
Well it is easy and quick to edit a parameter and it is also easy to get good random sounds. But if you want to understand the Vortex or get a special sound you will need a long time.
Why is it so? when I read the reviews I see that most did not even come close to understand the Vortex as they treat it as ONE effect. It is NOT ONE effect!!! It is several effects and routings in one box! In fact its 32 different routings of some effects so every parameter, even if it has always the same name will show different changes. I d say this unit is almost as hard as tweaking a complete FX path in studio and it isabout to be impossible to make it out without the manual which is very short (for me the explanations in the manual could be a bit more. Of course it would have been possible to fill 200 pages or more about the vortex). The manual of the Vortex is still available on the URL of Lexicon. If you dont have it get it first. Perhabs I should explain it in another way. The Vortex gives you effects paths containing modulations and delays to get the most amazing effects. How easy is it to tweak such path out? Well it is clear that it is NOT easy. But the effects are between hypno and blow your head!

One more thing,
if you dont want t spend a lot of time to understand the Vortex...
DONT BUY IT!

if you want simple default effects...
DONT BUY IT!

if you dont like to spend time on tweaking...
DONT BUY IT!

if you give up easyly...
DONT BUY IT!

Attention! The Vortex presets are mostly high dynamic! So dont expect that presets from others to match on your gear directly. Use these as a base and go for the details yourself! Mail me if you want to share your presets! THX!

OK... Due to such thing cant be easy to tweak such thing out I d give a 7

I like the guitar of Pink Floyd (Dave Gilmour) and generaly I use a power Strat on a HiWatt with Fane Speakers which isnt 2 bad ;)
But lately I cant use these due to my dougther (3) and I found out that I get a good sound when I plug my guitar directly in the Vortex and listen with a headphone. I should add a comp (a comp is one of the few effects the Vortex doesnt offer) before the Vortex.
In general I dont like digits at all and I try to avoid them due to their cold and quickly boring sound. I dont know why but the Vortex isnt cold and boring at all. The unit is not noisy at all. If there is no input the unit is quiet like switched off. Of course keep away your guitar and cables from TV, Monitors, Neon light, celular phones but that all should be well known already. Of course you will need to avoid humm loops either, but that aint new (even if some reviews seems as if these matters are new to some ppl). OK the bypass is a crap and you should spend a looper to get a propper bypass but if I add the costs of all equipment needed to make Vortex's sound (exept what you can do with the morphing due to here the costs would explode up to be impossible to be reproduced) with the quality of Vortex sound, a Vortex + a looper is a gift! Anyway I give a 10 here. 10 and a small - for the bypass.

Well it seems build like a tank. But on the other hand it was a cheap product by Lexicon. I d say yes. A backup would rather be interesting to expand the few places to store presets. I had no problems at all even if my display shows up a light damage in the red plasic of the screen which, of course, doest affect the sound.
Due to I read a lot about the Vortex I know about some problem these units have and I m happy that mine doesnt!

They seems good but I never dealed with them.

First of all I want to thank all those who dont and dont want to understand the Vortex due to they made it possible that I got mine that cheap! But... (see *)

Well if stolen, lost or broken I ll miss it a lot and for that case I m already looking for a backup. I think the Vortex cant be compaired to anything else on the market. Of couse there are many things which could be improved like add more pedals (real time tweaking on more than one value), more storage space for presets and, what I personaly miss last if the first 2 issues where solved is MIDI. Of course MIDI could solve the 2 beore.

* Unfortunately there is no big brother of the Vortex. This may be caused due to the Vortex is highly missunderstood and there are not enought customer estimated who would buy it.
What a pitty!

Best freature? MOPHING!

One more thing. There is a nice site for the Vortex just google for it (no it is NOT mine) and dont hesitate to mail me if you have cool presets you want to share. THX!

some terrific, unique patches(#10 choir a terrific reverb-short delay: much nicer than straight reverb for vocals). Editing requires patience and the manual.

I use this as my primary effects for recording. I like the way it sounds. A bit noisy for some of the mod effects.

This is the second lower range lexi product that has died (the first was a Reflex). Lexi tech support guy basically said, 'hey, these things are over ten years old and, given their price, you have gotten a good life from them." Lexi no longer services them -- NO REPAIRS ARE AVAILABLE unless you know something that I don't (please email me if you know of a repair tech lead). There is a guy in new england, a former lexi tech, but he only works on the higher end pieces (PCM, etc.) and his website stated that he does not want to be othered with inquiries about repairing the cheap stuff.

Here is what happened to my vortex: random crackling for 10 minutes, followed by a weird rhythmic low level beep (a digital timing fart I guess). I turned the unit off, waited 5 minutes, then powered up. Error message on display and overload LED is permanently on.

the Reflex also crapped out with a rhythmic, metallic noise.

BE MINDFUL OF NO APPARENT REPAIR SERVICES -- these things do break...

see above for the bad news...

great, distinctive sounds. throw it away when it breaks.

ok agreed can be fiendishly complex but perseverance yields etc..
RTFM Many times.....and then Again..... then you begin to get the picture.......manual so so...Editing complex but patience rewards.....ok sometimes seems to have mind of its own......not always a bad thing tho.....serendipity etc.....

pretty clean and noise free......watch out for repeat echo loops ..
use it all over guitars,vox,main mix buss.....good on evolving pads/ambience.....never less than interesting......

still going after 10 years...no probs....can get hot on occassion...
yeah stands up to gigs/beer/spikes etc OK.....no worries on the whole.....power supply can be weird/loose....watch cable run on gigs...i.e. leave some slack in line.......

never needed to............

cover most styles and this unit is very useful, if sometimes unpredictable....tho i tend to favour this unpredictability....throws up some fascinating scapes .......tap tempo delay cross limked with Mod's...Excellent creative tool.....great partic for Dance/techno chaos....but generally will find a place on most mixes...either judicious use or total trance out......

The Vortex is not your ordinary multi-effects toy. The processor is set up with an odd effects configuration where every preset has some combination of modulation and delay, but don't expect to find a simple Chorus-Delay patch like on the MPX 100. Here's how the manual describes the preset Mosaic 6B; "Mosaic B has four modules arranged in series. Modulation and echo effects are accumulated as signals progress through this configuration." The entire manual reads like that.

Editing is tricky, especially when you first try tweaking the presets. (For some reason, user patches are called Registers.) Even hardcore gearheads will have to check the manual to be sure what they're adjusting. You get one knob to select among 16 parameters, and one Value knob for tweaking. There is an Input knob, but you can't store the Input level as part of a Register. The display is a 2-digit LED, so all your parameter values go from 1 to 64. There's a Mod FX LVL, and an Echo FX LVL, so you can zero out the modulation or delay effects while you experiment. You'll really need the manual to understand what Envelope does to each preset; some of the other controls you could set by ear, but get the manual, if you don't have one. Some presets, like Choir, sound normal enough, and you tweak away without getting too lost; others, like Bleen, wander right off into space, or self-oscillation.

The manual will also tell you which presets are Dual Mono, True Stereo, etc., which will help a lot if you use the Vortex in stereo. You'll miss out on a lot of the sound if you run the Vortex in mono. The manual also explains how to use an expression pedal with the Vortex. I give the Vortex a 6 for ease of use because it takes some getting used to, and you really, really need the manual to get into the Vortex.

As always, a PRS Santana SE, into a GT-3 and some delay/loopers. When I use an amp, I use a JC-90.

The Vortex isn't really noisy, but some of the effects can get out of control. There's an Input knob, but no Output knob, unlike most of Lexicon's rack gear. There's no Mix knob, but Mix is one of the parameters you can set for each Register. The Input doesn't overload as easily as some other Lexicon boxes, like the MPX 100. The preset 15 BleenA tends to overload, or self-oscillate really easily. The manual suggests that the Bleen presets are good for short percussive sounds, but I like using it for sick ring modulator guitar sounds.

Among my favorite artists; Fripp, Frisell, Vernon Reid, Spiritualized, Stereolab, Residents, Slapp Happy/Henry Cow. I don't know if any of the artists I listen to are using the Vortex.

The Vortex tries hard to be unique, so the sounds are a real mixed bag. There are a few "normal" sound effects. Choir sounds like a lush Chorus/Delay, Orbits tries for the rotary speaker sound, Deja Vu is a delay/looper with just under 2 seconds of delay time, which isn't much for guitar looping. Aerosol seems to be an all-purpose modulation effect. Then there are things like Bleen and Fractal, which are very hard to describe. (Actually, Bleen A and Bleen B are different effects configurations that both manage to produce weird mangled sounds.) On almost all of the effects, setting the Resonance values high will take you right into space.

I give the Vortex an 8 for sound quality because it's just clean enough, unless you go for extreme settings.

My Vortex is nearly ten years old, and still weird, thank you. It would be hard to find a backup, and nothing else really does what the Vortex does.

Lexicon's customer support people are some of the best, right up with the folks from Godlyke. Lexicon manuals are expensive, and so are the Lexicon footswitches. (You can get the same footswitch for less, without the Lexicon logo, under the name Sili Spares; you want the Dual Momentary Footswitch. Sorry, Lexicon.)

I play experimental guitar, which means I'm trying to create new sounds, as well as new music. Some of my music could probably be considered structured noise. The Vortex allows me to do some really twisted things to my sound that other effects processors just won't do, but it's not something I use all the time.

I've been playing since before BBD's, and my mainline rig is a Boss GT-3 into a chain of delay/loopers. If something happened to my Vortex, I'd try to find another one, because it really is a unique box, in spite of some limitations.

I love the Morphing feature; with an expression pedal assigned to Morph, you get a whole new range of sounds. I can't say that I really hate anything about the Vortex, but Lexicon clearly left out a few things, like MIDI, to keep the Vortex under $500. Morph is probably my favorite feature.

There's not really anything to compare the Vortex to. For weird sounds, there's the now-extinct Digitech Space Station, but it doesn't really sound or work like the Vortex. The Vortex is kind of a freak box, especially when you add a couple of footswitches and an expression pedal. Combined with the GT-3, I get an incredible variety of sounds.

A couple of things the Vortex could have used; MIDI ports, and an Output knob. While I can see where it would have been hard to design a patch editor for the Vortex, electronic musicians like to back up their data, even if we have to settle for bulk dumps. If you really get into programming your Vortex, once you fill up your Registers, you're out of luck; the only way to save more patches is with an old-school patch data sheet.

The Vortex has given me some sounds that I wouldn't have been able to get from my GT-3, and it fills out my sound toolbox, but I can't say that a sound from the Vortex has ever led me to create a piece of music. It's a strange box, and you have to dig in, past its limitations, to really make it happen. The weird preset names, the oddball architechture and the 2-digit display probably put off a lot of potential buyers. Whatever the cause, the Vortex didn't seem to be a big hit for Lexicon, which is too bad. The Vortex is a complex creative tool; I'm glad I got mine before they vanished. I give it an 8 because it may be a great tool, but it was pretty expensive by the time I'd gotten a second footswitch and an EV-5. Maybe you should change the rating to "Fantastic Product" instead of "Fantastic Value."

If you find a used one, make sure it has the right AC adapter (they're really hard to get, otherwise), try to find a manual, and get at least one footswitch. Manuals are somewhere around $17, plus shipping, if I remember right. If you order the footswitches from Lexicon, they'll cost around $30 each, but the Sili Spares are closer to $20. A Roland EV-5 expression pedal works with the Vortex, and that's another $55. IF you like the Vortex, you'll love it with the expression pedal. There's also a Vortex Database web site, with patch data, and other useful info.

This box should have been made as a desktop or large stompbox format. The manual is a must for understanding the programing. The presets are only OK at best - sort of a hint of what this thing can actually do. There is no MIDI control or sysex dump feature. Only memory for 16 pairs of user programs. You have to push a panel button or footswitch each time you change a patch to tell it what parameter you want the pedal to control.

When I first got this, I put it in the effects loop of a line mixer used with synths. It was kinda OK, but not fantastic. DOH! Most of the presets are amplitude envelope sensitive, and are looking for a percusive attack - great for drums or guitar, fair with synths.

Plugged right into the board, or into a tube preamp, this thing sounds great with electric & acoustic guitars. The presets are so-so, but you can program some whacked sounds - for instance, a panning delay that decays into ring modulation & pitch bend. Delays that morph into a solid throbing soundscape. Reverb that morphs into syncopated delay. You can program some realy cool and unique effects.

Beats me. Hasn't exploded yet. If it died on a gig, I'd do something else. I'll give it a ten because it's always worked fine for me.

No idea.

This is great for unique effects, spacey soundscapes, visitations from the bizzarro world. You wouldn't use it as your basic reverb & delay unit. I would definately replace it if I had to.

I listed a lot of shortcomings with this unit under the ease of use header. Even though it isn't all that it could be, what it is is still well worth it if you like to play with weird effects, especially for this price. IMO, Lexicon should update this with more user program space, desktop/stompbox interface like pod or adrenalinn, MIDI sync, patch change, and sysex dump capability, and reissue it.

Still, for the ability to have your sound morph into outer space, this thing can't be beat.

not very easy. this unit requires a bit of "get familiar" time. twisting the parameter knob and tweaking and selecting a new parameter and tweaking......setting up some "customized" patches could take an afternoon.

a bit of noise. the effects (themselves) are sometimes very subtle and never "outrageously" radical.

no problems. had it for years. i DO wish it had a dedicated ON/OFF button. i hate units that lack this feature.

very friendly people.
parts are almost ALWAYS available.
repairs and parts will cost you a LARGE handful of greenbacks. bummer.
still, if you own a Lexicon and like the sound of your Lexicon,..you (like i've done) will fork out the cash to restore brainpower to your beloved Lexi-rack effector.

this is a misunderstood beast. it will not wreak sonic havok on your signal. there are no reverbs. the chorus and flange and delay seem fairly tame (on the surface). after ALOT of tweaking,...and alot of "get familiar" time,...you can create some wobbling, vibrating, rotating, swirling motions and delays that dance back and forth in the stereo field. you can create two seperate effects and use an expression pedal to "bleed" back and forth between them. nothing is too over the top,..although with EXTREME tweaks you can get the Vortex "talking". i think this unit works best (and is MOST usuable) by sonic "texture" experimenters. run a distorted and heavily delayed guitar into it.......send a vocal track into the Vortex, use an expression pedal and send the output into your reverb unit. the Vortex begs for experimentation. it is like an exotic spice or herb in a dish....on it's own it might appear less than useful,...but add a few other ingredients and your sonic meal is kicked UP A NOTCH. good stuff.

6 So far even with the manual I am disappointed

fernanded sustainer -into pod- into fender ultimate chorus- vortex in fc loop- dl4
To my ear too electronic-too digital...although i have only had a week so far
I do notice a noise floor in the unit

too soon to tell

they emailed me info the same day I asked for info!!!

WOW

I love Michael Brook, Bill Frisell, U2, David Torn
I was looking to augment my set up with what I thought would be a cool boutique piece so far it is a major disappointment
any advice would be welcome
email me

I find it extremely easy to use, but Im a very experimental player and not a programmer. All I know is how to twist and this baby will get you to some wild places if you twist right. :)

Sounds awesome to me. I have not noticed any extra noise or hum. Seems very useable in recording and live situations.

no problem for 2 years

not sure

the vortex is a very unusual beast and there isnt much like it. Its amazing that it didnt sell that well, kind of like Emu's Morpheus synth where people just didnt understand the concept of dig it.
I love the polyrhythmic stuff you can do with morphing all thruout betweeen 2 totally different FX. Its 2 in one FX processor, but linked synced morphable and triggerable in very exciting ways. Hard to really describe how cool this is. It is a REAL groovebox, no doubt about it and somehow it has slipped thru the cracks. In other words, way under-rated !!! EASY 10 for innovation and for sounds that will amaze you almost every time as long as you twist your way into the "sweet" spot, you do do a lot with this pup.

The Vortex is relatively easy to use but it can also be very complicated if you start tweaking aimlessly. The presets are vdery good, probably among the best for a multi effects units. Many of the presets are very useable. You do need the manual once you become brave enough to modify patches, or registers, as Lexicon calls them.

I'm running the Vortex through the effects loop of a Peavey Ecoustic 112 along with a JamMan and an MPX 100. I use a few different Tech 21 pedals going into the front of my amp (Acoustic DI, CompTortion, TRI OD) to add distortion and warmth. The Vortex is (as all Lexicon gear is) very quiet and the effects can be in your face to subtle and all points in between. The flange and swirling rotary, vibrato, & temolo effects are outstanding. The chorus is also good and the rhythmic options for delays is way cool. They can be straight delay or polyrhythmic and up front or in the background. Once you learn how to manipulate the patches, you can experiment with the many features of the Vortex. Even if you stick with the presets you have a plethora of sounds to choose from. There doesn't seem to be a reverb in the box although you can get the impression of that type of ambience. The morphing feature is also way fun in a trippy sort of way.

I've had it for close to four years with no problems. The same can be said for my JamMan and MPX 100. It should be noted that I have rarely taken out of my studio. The footswitches are small and plastic but if you take care of your gear that shouldn't be an issue.

They have always been prompt and considerate the few times I've contacted them.

I play psychdelic, jam-based, acoustic music and the Vortex is very psychedelicized. I don't really like it as a dedicated chorus, but the chorus is good (the MPX 100 is better). What it is especially good for is textural modulations and undulations along with polyrhythmic delays. I have (or have had) tons of gear over the past 25 years and I have never once considered selling or trading the Vortex (or JamMan). That's saying something considering what a gear junky I am. I'd have to think twice about getting another one only because you can only find them used and they're overpriced. I'll keep this till it breaks as it's one of my favorite pieces of gear (along with my JamMan). There aren't many products to compare the Vortex with so you could use this easily with other multi effects units. There always seems to be a couple up for grabs on e-Bay, just don't pay too much for a used peice of gear. Peace

Easy to get a good sound, easy to mangle it beyond repair
editing patches is easy, understanding what your doing is harder.
the manual explains what it does, even gives some hints how
modifing a parameter affects the sound, but explaining sound with
words, is only a little easier than explaining color with words :)
you pretty much gotta already know what thier talking about

My toys, I don't make a living with them, include a
Gibson V, washburn bt4, custom nonfender tele w/sustainer, marshall jtm30 w/ibanez pt5 pedal
art sgx2000e, rocktron piranha, peavey rockmaster, digitech ips33b, ensoniq dp2
the Vortex, a wireless, midi an audio patchbays, carvin ss poweramp, Cerwin Vega bin

considering how wacky it can get, its suprisingly quiet, even on flange sweeps
luckily, i got the manual with it, trying to program it without knowing the
fx routings might be a pain. the fx aren't 'crystaline' or 'warm', the verb
won't place you in the 3rd or 30th row, but I'd think I could gig with this
as my only FX unit if I needed to. Its a pain trying to control without midi,
but theres a whole bunch of stompboxes in there !
detune, chorus, flange, trem, panner, and delay, but these aren't your fathers FX
the resonance filters, modulators, delays and feedback paths that lie at the heart of
those FX are recombined using some combination of mad logic and magic
(ie: i don't have a clue what thier doing
but theres opportunities for weirdness in there)
O yeah, theres this "Feature" called Morphing ... wild, crazy, maybe even useful,
but if it is, its still hit an miss. Your NOT gonna dial up a couple of patches
an then KNOW their gonna sound good Morphed

the first time I pluged into the Vortex, I thought, so this is what Pat Travers used...
anyway, my favorite artists are anybody who arena rocks, the more melodic the better, gimme a hook

it still works, its original wall wart still works,
but I'd never do an important gig without backup, if I had a choice

no contact, but they HAVE put the Manuals for even OLD products
like the Vortex online, thumbs up.

its a wacky fx unit that can go from tame to freakizoid
I'm no where close to mastering it, it was a budget unit for lexicon,
but its still a lex. Getting good sounds is pretty easy,
getting crazy sounds is easy too, some of them are even useable :)
main drawback is its not midi and trying to use its pedals is a pain.
its modulation, time, an pan fx are way cool
I'd get it again, unless the MPX1 is a better Vortex

ps: its my first review, gimme a break

Well it's not to be understood without the manual. Though you can't really be confused about 4 knobs and 4 buttons. It has a very analogue feeling while editing the sounds, that is, because you have to know what you're doing. Just like some old analogue synth. Don't get this if you dislike knobs. (Thats why I have it, I really am a knob admirer.)

It has 32 patches, in 16 pairs of related settings. Patches are always combinations of 2 echoes and 2 modulators, which can be edited in 16 parameters. Modulation sources are 2 LFOs and envelope. Depending on the patch used there are additional feedback and resonance parameters, but they behave different in every patch. There are plugs for 4 foot switches and one eypression pedal.
I use it as the only effect gear after my Oberheim OB-8. Inlined. There is no noise. Just care about the right input gain. Sounds are brilliant, and I am especially excited about this morphing thing. That means, you can morph any effect into any other just by button tapping in a previously defined time, or even by foot pedal. This really makes a great difference, you can add dramatic effects on your solo play.
Sometimes there are, however, nasty overload distortion sounds when morphing certain sounds into another. I noticed it when morphing the Aerosol A sound into Aerosol B, both of them edited. Seems to me thet there is some internal problem of the morphing procedure, for this ocurs only if I use some real extreme settings. No Problems ever with the pure effects.
Plus, I used it one time on a fender rhodes, and with the cycloid A effect and some special editing I had exactly the rhodes sound of Pink Floyd's 'Sheep' on 'Animals'. (Did anyone know that Stakka Bo used sequences of this great intro in some dance remix?) It simply uses a stereo filter with ping-pong cutoff frequency modulation.
Also, this gear has envelope in every effect. I got a great rhodes sound when using a vibrato effect with frequence moduation on volume, i.e. faster vibrato at louder tones. Really great.

No prob until now.

I love this for it's unusual sound molding properties and for it's analogue feeling. I placed it on my analogue knob monster and it just does feel the same.

4.5 Some preset have to work in serie and others in parallel, so you can't set the machine at last...! We less MIDI, of course. Moreover some effects are dangerous for u and the other dsp unit bcause some peaks are very strong. U need a compressor tu use it correctly. The manual is good, but not easy.

I usually use a les paul custom to play it. The Vortex is a little noisy, but it's enough for the year of construction and the price i get it. Some possibilities are great, (try register 13A...), no machine on this earth can do what it does, (may be the Eventide Orville, but i have to check it out. However u can buy it at 4500$...)
Some effects are too much similar each other but, I repeat: buy it if u need a 'different' low cost sound possibilities.

If u use pedals u r ok, great freedom of playing your favourite loops or gigs. But Lexicon should make another upgradated version, this is sure, w/ midi, new converters and new outputs. At the same price, of course...

I play a punch of psychedelic, Vortex is great. I have been using it, with a Jamman, for 2 years. I'd buy it again in everytime. Morphing its my favourite feature. A lot of musician didn't undertand the way to use it, what a pity! Overall a great, littele difficult, machine. Stay tuned!!

The interface is easy enough to understand, though it requires lots of knob spinning. Like any decent processor, getting the most out of it takes some work.

One feature I haven't seen mentioned in the reviews is the Vortex' ability to channel-switch an amp. The idea is you have one effect for clean and another (or the same one altered) for drive, and the amp and the effect footswitch together. Works great; and it's a snap to set up.

I think this is a great sounding unit. I disagree with other reviewers who think it isn't for everyone: I've used it as my only processor many times and I've always been more than happy. No, it doesn't give you your average dimestore chorus and flange, and OK, the reverb -- well, it doesn't do reverb. But who wants dimestore effects? Who would rather have, say, typical flange when organic flangelike ecstasy is available? Are you kidding me? I'll never use chorus again; I have CHOIR. The delays are great, the tremolo is to die for, and those workaday effects are just the beginning. Go as deep as you want, as bizarre or sublime as.... Well, you get the picture.

You will need reverb, however. And I've noticed a quirk or two: I can see why some people think it sucks tone, especially those who give it 30 seconds of audition. I found that when I run it in the loop of an amp I need to have the mix control maxed or I get some strange sort of phasing sound -- a clash that disappears completely with the entire signal going through the Vortex. And yes, it would be nice to have true bypass. That ought to be a law.

No idea why anyone would complain about noise. Maybe theirs is defective.

It's never quit, but it's behaved exceeding strange a number of times. Sometimes the wierdnesses even persist through reboot, which maybe tells me it's supposed to behave that way. I don't know, but it's the kind of thing that gives you the creeps at a gig.

I'm presently using the Vortex in the loop of my new Yamaha DG60 combo, which has nice reverb, and I can't imagine a better match. In the past I've tended to include it in my racks, running the signal straight through, eg, preamp>Vortex,etc.>power amp, as opposed to using the preamp loop. Any way I hook it up, rack or combo, stereo or mono, it always sounds just great.

At a gig a few years ago I actually ran into the guy who designed the Vortex. This was around the time it was being discontinued, and he seemed to be rather bitter about the whole business. His reaction to my use of his box was to sort of roll his eyes and allow as how toggling between delay and choir was hardly a thorough implimentation of the technology. Fair enough: the Vortex is capable of marvels that are just a bit beyond the ken of your typical strummer, which is why it flopped. But even at the preset level it's one of the best processors I've ever heard.

Once you understand the basic concept of the Vortex, using is a 'snap'. Setting parameters is quick and easy. Don't' bother will the manual. Close your eyes, turn some knobs, and the effect will open to you. I've used the Vortex with bass and keyboard. In both instances, setup and use was not a problem. The two switch pedals that Lexicon provides (same as Jamman) are not the best. If you have big feet, you will want to find a substitute. However, if your fingers are feeling especially sensitive, you can make use of the envelope control and forgo the pedal.

Due to the nature of the effects of the Vortex, it would probably not be an effect for everyone. If you want a selection of cool distortions, flanges, and echoes, don't buy this. If you want a set of effects that you can vary in intensity, this is your piece of gear. Effects can be very subtle or overpowering. The Vortex works best in true stereo, so it may not be the ideal choice for guitar and bass players. However, many of the effects in mono are still quite unique and worthwhile. I've never experienced any additional noise from use of the Vortex. Whatever instrument you are using, you will want to invest in an expression pedal. This will allow you to control the rate of change between effects, and the difference in sound is phenomenal.

I haven't had any problems. However, the Wall Wart stinks.

Lexicon is only providing limited support for the Vortex (according to their web site). When you purchase one, you may want to ensure that the condition is good.

Limited support from Lexicon is a little disconcerting, and the Wall Wart is an abomination. However, the construction seems sturdy enough. Just place it in a rack and don't worry.

all knobs,...a LOT of knob "twiddling" required to edit sounds,...but i LIKE THAT. easy to use,...requires a bit of "familiarity" with the functions but it beats those "@$&%!#!" menus (and subsequent SCROLLING) any time!!!!

sounds great. keep your ears on the gain and you're fine. this unit can add crystalline sparkle or lurking murkiness,...it's all in the knob twiddling. you won't find the world's most "devastating jet plane flange" here or the earth's most "mirror-imaged delays",...but what you will find are extremely musical variances in modulation and delay that "encourage" inter-mingling with sound sources and signal lines and,...and...........well,..this module is the "spice" that can turn a bowl of boring soup into an interesting and exotic meal,...IN THE RIGHT HANDS. the "morphing" concept (especially with an expression pedal)can unlock infinite "sound doors".

never had one problem.

called Lexicon on several other issues. always helpful,..but will not hesitate to pop you with a huge repair fee to fix glitches.

this effect is not for everyone. upon first inspection a person might think that there is "not much under the hood". it IS NOT midi-able,..and there is no graphic display screen. BUT,...it should appeal to those of the "analog knob-twisting/tweaking" mentality. if i lost it i'd immediatly seek out a new one.

Interface is awful - seeing as how it is only a few years old.

Having read other reviews on this product I did have second thoughts - several times. However, the sound quality is suberb - with no noise floor increase added to my setup - used in a Send/Return Roland GP-100 system.
I was also expecting something that might be too "whacky" - however the sounds are lush and as subtle or as over-the top as you like.

No comment - just bought it used.

I have other Lexicon rack units and have found their customer support second to none.

It will definitley be used within my sound most, if not all of the time.

I bought mine used, but luckily it came with the manual. Without the manual you'd be programming pretty much blind. The manual is good and explains alot. The preset names are cool, but can be deceptive as to what they actually do;"Fractal", "Bleen", "Centrifuge"? You can't program your own algorithm, but you can edit most important parameters. It is essential to use this unit with an expression pedal.

I am using my Vortex with a Line 6 Pod, a Gibson SG, a Korg Prophecy synth, Yamaha TG77 synth, Technics WSA1R synth, Behringer 2004A mixer, and a Pentium 2 computer with an Echo Gina soundcard. I have the Vortex permanently routed to my mixer's insert points, so I just attach it to the channel I want. I sounds great on both guitar, bass and synths. Using an expression with the morph feature is like using a suped-up wah pedal on steroids. The sampling rate isn't that great (32kHz) and really should be at least the current industry standard (44.1kHz). There is a bit of noise as this is by no means a super clean multi-effect, but rather a maker of extreme cool weird noises. Polyrhythm delays are interesting and experimental.

I do mostly studio work, so whether it can withstand me kicking and smashing it has yet to be tested. The value knob skips sometimes. Aside from that I haven't encountered any problems.

I make weird sonic landscape sound textures and the Vortex is an essential tool for this. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who doesn't have a use for the morphing feature or the polyrhythm delays, as aside from these features, other machines in the price range are just as good. If you make sound structures, or want to hear your guitar solo whirl down a hole and then morph back up into a ring modulator, this is the effects rack for you.

Ease of use is a big problem. I can't help but think that a better user interface could have been included. My biggest problem is that the parameter settings, don't neccesarily control what they say they do. Ex. depth 1 controls a filter cut off frequency in one preset, and something completely different in the next preset. With out a manuel, this would be impossible to program. If anybody needs one, let me know.

For the record, my setup is: Ibanez 885 5 string bass>Mesa Boogie M-2000 bass head> parametric eq> DMC GCX 8 loop switcher w/ several pedals> Lexicon Vortex> BBE 262 Sonic Maximizer> back to the M-2000> out to a SWR Goliath III and Trace Elliot 15 cab. Noise wise, at first I thought it was awful hissy, then I tweaked the input gain, and everything was nice and silent. The effects are great, morphing and envelope control are everything I dreamed they would be and more. Effects are very full, smooth, and lush. Much more natural sounding than any other rack effect I have tried, ie. Intellifex, Replifex, Digitech, Nightbass, etc. It sounds like it's all analogue vinyage pedals. All the other rack mounts sounded very digital, harsh, and processed to my ear, the Vortex is the complete opposite, all the effects sound "real" for lack of a better term.

Seems like it shouldn't be a problem. Nothing that looks like it will break now that it's in the rack. It does seema little flimsy though.

No idea, I haven't needed it yet. I may contact them and find out what I'm doing wrong when I'm trying to set a expression pedal to control the A/B morph.

Overall, it's a incredible peice of gear for the price. It's inspired me to try a lot of things I otherwise wouldn't have. It sounds amazing, it's cheap, and it does things that nothing else can even approach doing. BUT, it is a pain in the butt to program, and it isn't midi controllable. If it had a better user interface and midi, I would consider it perfect. I hope Lexicon re-releases these someday with midi incorporated, I would be camped out waiting for the music store to open waiting to get one.

First of all: people who wrote reviews on this processor should let us know what rig they're using it through and what it is they normally play because I see two complaints here: ''it sucks my tone'' and ''it's noisy''. Depends on what rig you use. If you have a cheezy strat copy with microphonic single coil pickups, an MXR distortion + and a Crate 12 watt practice amp you will get noise no matter what you do - you get what you pay for. On the other hand, my rig is a lot more elaborate and so serves as the preable for the ease of use issues. I'm using this processor in the effects loop of my Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp. It is very noiseless in many respects, using full on distortion as well as clean tones. I've processed guitars, keyboards/synths, drums, voices and much more through the vortex and it is very easy to get a good sound out of it. Editing patches is a breeze - I'm a computer person though, so if you're not computer oriented maybe this is hard for you to figure out. The manual is actually very good. Firmware? Who knows - the LED display consists of a two digit display with two leds and two other leds on the front panel. It's even got a feature that will switch the channels on your amp for you when you go to a certain effect - that is a very cool and almost unmentioned feature of this box. The morphing effect is great, but you can do stereo looping, chorus, delays, flanges, effects that I can't even name. It's a good all purpose box that is simple to use.

This thing really gives a smooth, warm, non-tone sucking, almost analog sound quality. Guitars: Jackson neck-thru soloist and Heartfield EX-2 (with EMGs) into the Mesa preamp and the Vortex is then inserted in the FX loop of the Mesa, then out into a power amp or a Roland JC-120. Those who claim this thing "sucks their tone" must be on drugs or have low-end setups because the sound is really corpulent. Noise floor is very low (unless you're standing under a flourescent light with a Univox strat copy with microphonic single coils) - you can hear the VCAs kind of burbling a bit quietly depending on whatever signal you have on it. The one thing I'd change is that the effects are a bit on the conservative side in terms of source to effect ratio - crank those effects up so you can hear them. Being conservative, audio-wise gets you nowhere. Editing the presets are a must (see my Lexicon Vortex page at this URL http://www.waste.org/~crash/index.html and click on the Loop link) in order to get the best out of this unit. The coolest thing about it is that after you get used to editing it, you can get very Eno-esque sounds for pads. The A version of the chorus with lead guitar fattens the tone somewhat and gives you a faux Les Paul tone. The B version gives this delayed Leslie effect that is killer. The leslie like patch from A to B is particularly impressive - you can hear the rotors slowing down and speeding up proportionally. Some of the first few effects are great for heavy metal guitar. Some of the others work great on synths or voices. The sound quality is so good that you can put a stereo drum machine through the unit, then use the tap tempo to create a complementary counter-rhythm and the sound quality is the same as the input signal and it makes your drum rhythms sound much more realistic - more like a real drummer. Try it! I also have a lot of custom patches I've made myself. Since I was in a two guitar band, having some textures that would give a faux keyboard sound was very welcome and you can go to mars with this effect. On one CD project someone asked me "who played the synthesizer?" It was my guitar through the Vortex. One of the effects even gives you the exact flanging tone on Frank Zappa's "Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch" (studio album version). Some of the looping effects are great for creating an eerie, Eric Johnson kind of mood where you can solo over the backing loop. Plugging my $90 Casio keyboard into the thing it actually made it sound like it was worth ten times what I paid for it - really amazing. If you have a synth with a B3 sound the Orbits rotary speaker emulation will blow your mind.

Well, the effect itself is made of metal and plastic. It's screwed into my rack. It uses a wall wart power supply with a tiny, thin, spindly jack. I'd beef that up if I were them. It comes with a tiny, plastic footswitch with two different momentary switches that is just begging to be glued to something heavy since it's very light and probably easy to break. Maybe a better third party switch is warranted. Also, to get the most out of the thing you need a pedal capable of sending out a control voltage to control the morph yourself - I do not have one as yet. The ultimate system would be two 2-position footswitches and the pedal to get the most out of the effect. One nice thing - it seems to weigh under a pound - really lightweight so you're not lugging around a giant, heavy piece of gear. Using it without a backup? I suppose, I only have one but this thing does things that no other effect does. I suppose if I played live with it and it went down I could do some of the delays with my Boss DD-3 but many of the time-delay effects that use modulation are just so unusual that nothing else does 'em. This effect sadly didn't sell, probably because guitar players are very conservative and if it sounds WEIRD they won't like it.

Never dealt with 'em, although one of the main customer service guys shows up on the Looper's Delight mailing list from time to time so it wouldn't be hard to get a hold of them.

I play eclectic instrumental music. In order to introduce variety and keep interest, having many interesting tones is a necessity. So having this thing available to create many interesting, warm, usable tones is a great bonus. Some of the effects are nothing that you will ever hear. Others are more conventional. Used in conjunction with other effects will probably break your brain so be careful. It's also great to do demos with the drum machine now since the counter rhythms produced by the tap tempo delay make it sound much more like a real drummer. All in all, one of the best effect purchases I've ever made (and I've made a lot). If you have a Vortex, check out my Vortex page at: http://www.waste.org/~crash/loopage.html.

This is what I percieve as the typical inner-dialogue of a first-time Vortex user:
Plug it in. Route signal through it. Turn the knobs. Listen. "How interesting! Now, how do I program it or 'morph' effects? Uh, where's that manual?"
You cannot easily decipher this unit without the manual. However, you can quickly and easily pick presets, and jack around with their parameters. The manual is extremely helpful. I got mine used, without one. Fortunately, a friend of mine lent me his manuals, and I Xeroxed them shamelessly.

I find the quality of effects to be stunning, but there's an unforgiveable noise floor that I haven't been able to eliminate. I bought the Vortex for possible guitar-experimentation, but mostly as a studio effect. The noise is tolerable in my studio, but unacceptable in even the simplest guitar signal chain (guitar, Vortex, amps). Also, it sucks the sweetness out of my strat's tone. I had thought to maybe retire my old stinky Quadraverb in favor of the Vortex. Not likely. I may use it as a special guitar-effect someday, but I doubt it.
Now for some good stuff: In my studio, I have become attached to 2 of the Vortex' presets: "Choir" sounds amazing on background vocals, especially with the delay tempo tapped-in correctly. I think the other one I use (more sparingly) is "Centerfuge," which can nicely freak-out an otherwise "normal" sounding track.
I'll provide separate ratings to qualify the arbitrary single number I chose below.
As a studio effect: 8.5 [superb quality, but slightly noisy.]
As a guitar effect: 3 [interesting possibilities, but VERY noisy, and a tone-killer]

I have not had any problems with my Vortex, so I cannot complain about it. But I have had other Lexicon scares in the past. I bought an Alex that had to be repaired within a year, and a JamMan that was bad right out of the box. Neither has given me a single problem since. The Vortex seems to be made with the same (good or bad, I don't know) quality-standards. I would be confident enough to use it without a backup.

I have found Lexicon to be courteous and helpful in the past. Haven't dealt with them on this one, though.

I am a long-time admirer of Jimmy Page's work in Led Zeppelin, more for his creative expression and unusual arrangements than his sequined jumpsuits and heroin addiction. All that aside, I use maybe 3 digital effects- delay, rotating speaker-simulation, and an occasional flanger. The latter of these two are supplied by my Quadraverb, and I hoped to replace THAT glitchy noisy thing with the Vortex. It ain't gonna happen, folks. The vortex is FAR noisier as a guitar gadget. Also, I don't care for its foot pedals. The appeal of "morphing" effects could be better satisfied if you didn't need 2 two-button pedals and an expression pedal. That's alot of floor space to absorb for one rack-gizmo.
I doubt I would replace the Vortex with another Vortex. Yes, it does cool stuff, but I'm not married to it (unfortunately, I AM married to my Quadraverb). I wish the Vortex had a better signal to noise ratio, better foot-contollers, and less destruction of guitar tone. I believe that it can be used very creatively, nonetheless. It's a shame Lexicon discontinued it. I think some minor modifications could have made it a truly breathtaking effect-unit. As a piece of studio gear, it does some really interesting things, and has superb sound quality. Studio users might love it. I predict guitarists would be disappointed.

Turning knobs will get you into some interesting places, but if you don't have the manual, it's uncharted territory. The manual is well-written and quite thorough, however, so the lack of a detailed display is not a terrible handicap.

Signals that go into this box can come out sounding strange and wonderful - but always musical. Think of it as the Industrial Light & Magic of effects: it's a special effects box that can do everything from light ambience to Warp 10 wierdness. If you keep in mind that what it is NOT (i.e. reverb), you will be a happy knob-tweaking camper. Noise is not a problem. I originally bought an Alesis Nanoverb for my keyboard, but it drove me crazy with metallic ringing. I traded it in the next day for the Vortex and found out where Lexicon got its reputation. (The questionaire asks if one can achieve the sound of a favorite artist. Answer: Yes, Timothy Leary after four tabs.)

I've had it for two years with no problems at all. It has had an admittedly easy life, but it feels solid enough. I could do without the wall wart.

No problems thus far.

Considering what I paid for it, this box is a great value. After reading the other reviews, I am going to get a volume pedal for it and have some fun morphing between registers. If you already have a good reverb, this box can add the spice you have been missing. Just don't expect it to fill a role it was never meant to fill, i.e. standard reverb/chorus/delay/etc.

Getting a good sound from the Vortex is easy - the presets are very cool. Editing is fairly easy (With three knobs, how confused can you get?), but the really interesting controls are all hardwired. You can't, for example, set the decay time to be controlled by the amplitude of the signal, unless the preset is set up that way to begin with. I haven't seen this feature in =any= FX processor, but IMO, it would have definitely set the Vortex apart from other units. Also, a power switch would have been greatly appreciated. If you're buying this used, make sure you get the manual.

Very nice. I've run guitar, vocals and synths through the Vortex and they all sounded great. My one wish was that more esoteric effects like Bleen had been included. Several of the presets, although great sounding, are not that different from effects on a standard unit. With headphones you can tell that something interesting is happening, but with only 32 presets, I think Lexicon should have gone all-out in terms of unique sounds. Adding an expression pedal really really really helps get some good sounds out of the Vortex. The combination of real-time control with the organic-kinda way the unit works (A lot of effect paramaters are dependent on input volume or some other variable) can yield some good possibilities.

Everything about this unit seems well built, except that the preset switching knob needed to be replaced by the time it had come through the mail to me. Apparently this is a relatively common problem, but it was still disappointing. In addition, the patch switching pedal button only cycles through the user patches, so if your knob is broken, all the presets are inaccessible.

Lexicon support was quick to respond, but their quoted prices were outrageous. I had a great local electronic tech fix my patch switch knob for a third of Lexicon's quoted price - US$~90. If you need your knob replaced, buy the component from them and have an independent tech do the installation.

I make mostly gothic/industrial music, and patches like Bleen add a nice amount of uniqueness to the songs I use them on. For the average used price, I'd take the Vortex over the two Boss pedals I could get for the same price any day. Musicians of non-electronic styles should probably think twice if they're even considering getting one of these, but industrial/gothic/darkwave/techno/dance/rave/et cetera types of people should get good mileage. If you are after some interesting effects to add to your sound, and can find a Vortex cheap, I'd say go for it. Don't depend on it as your main effects processor, though - for me the Vortex is a special occasion, add something interesting device. And definitely spring for an expression pedal. I got my Vortex about a month before my pedal, and it totally makes a difference, especially for the morphing effect. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason about the strange territory in between two unrelated effects, but it's definitely a cool place. With a sweep of my pedal, I discovered a totally strange vocal effect that turns anyone's voice into the speech of Satan, or one of Saberhagen's Berserkers on a bad day. Totally approved for creating Trinity channel propaganda >=).

It's easy to get a good sound but it's pretty impossible to get the sound you want ! Editing offers a lot of possibilities, and controlling one of the parameters with a footpedal (stereo) opens a new world in FX ! Amazing. Get the manual or throw the box away !. Then learn the manual by heart. And take time to experiment or throw the box away !

NO COMMENT ! (9/10 because there's a little shhhhhhhhhh)

It's Lexicon, so... (but nobody's perfect...)

Personally I love it, but I think that most guitar players would hate it. I would recommand with product to keyboard players and drummers. I bought it after having read all the stuff on Internet. Thank to all the people who wrote about it !

If you're used to using stompboxes, this unit is going to be a nightmare for you as you have to read the entire manual in order to work it properly. This is probably the one area that kept this item from becoming incredibly popular. To Lexicon's credit though, the manual is very helpful.

The sound quality of the effects itself is excellent, although I have to agree with a previous comment that the Vortex does not have good bypass. As most of the best sounds from this unit have to be used in stereo, it probably won't be used live much, as carrying around two amps is a real pain. Some of the panning sounds are unbelievable with two amps though, especially when it sounds like it's rotating around you. As for the comment of this unit being comparable to a two meter square floorspace of 70's effects pedals, I would have to say that I would prefer the 70's effects pedals to this unit, as I am an ELECTRO HARMONIX fanatic. The Vortex may actually become a much sought after item, as it is out of production and the sounds it can achieve are quite surreal. No noise.

I'm not sure about it's reliability since I haven't had it that long. Like I said before, I probably won't use this item live, as the bypass is weak and the effects sound much better in stereo. Maybe someday, when I get used to working this unit!

For the kind of music I play, this unit is really neat. This is the first rack-mount effect I have ever purchased, and I only heard about this company because their JamMan unit is so talked about, even by people who hate rack effects. This is a great sounding effect, although the difficulty in learning how to use it will definitely make you contempla