Lexicon Vortex
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The Vortex is a true-stereo processor, where the left and right inputs are processed independently in most effects. The Audio Morphing feature allows user to change between two existing patches. Morphing is a complete parametric and algorithmic restructuring of two independent effects, rather than a simple crossfade and user can morph between any two effects. Morphing can be triggered with a button (the time of the morph between effects can also be set), or controlled with an expression pedal in real-time. Effects also have built in Dynamic Envelope Control that gives control over one or more effects parameters. The unit comes with a total of 32 effects, arranged in 16 A/B register pairs. (It is these A/B pairs that determine which effects user can morph between) The effects in these pairs can be similar or totally different.
User Reviews of the Lexicon Vortex
- Submitted by Mark from Streator, IL (10 points) on Jul 23, 2010
- When the Vortex first came out, we owned a very high end pro recording studio in Chicago called The Control Room. Being the kind of exotic gear freaks that we were, the Vortex was a must! (so we bought three.) The studio was well-known for its recording techniques that were, shall we say . . . far in excess of extreme. Their motto was "The Control Room . . . For the unfair advantage of outrageous overkill!"
With that said, try blowing the outputs of two Vortex units (using hand assembled patches that took weeks to tweek) throught the eight spokes of a counter-rotating Shephard function generator, while using the third Vortex to incorporate the summed outputs of the first two, to feed the controller input of a VCS3 vocoder, which then (through a side-chain function) generates the CV time sweep pulse codes to drive the erratic rotation of the Shephards clock. Then, take the eight channel output product from the electronicall deranged Shephard function generator and gently assemble a final mix through a 360 degree hemispherical holophonic playback system. Just think of what we could have done with 4!
The Vortex is one of those rare and absolutely Outside-Of-The-Box processors that insists that everything you know . . . IS WRONG. There is no human that has enough life left to figure out all of its variables. On top of that, the EXACT same input will often generate a widely variable, unpredictable and totally non-reproducable output. (Depending on how well you program it) It's like rolling dice made of nitroglycerine, and that's precisely why I love it! and it's in my top three favorite processors of all time. The first two are indescribable one-of-a-kinds that I built. - Good Points: Sadly, the Vortex was of an extremely limited run. My impression was that Lexicon lost their asses on it because nobody (who wasn't asylum-bound could measure the tremendous power of what they had in their hands. The good news is the braindead kiddies who ran out and bought them are still braindead, and they're selling them off almost daily on Ebay. BUY ONE! or two . . . or three . . . or . . .
- Bad Points: It's the only processor that ever scared me!
- Price Paid: US$200.00
- Purchased At: Gand Music - Northbrook, Il.
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- Submitted by Dave from Minneapolis, MN (48 points) on Mar 12, 2007
- This is one of the coolest modulation/delay boxes EVER. It doesn't do reverb, or backwards effects, or many other typical/obvious things. What it DOES do is respond to input in a unique, organic way. First, it is very patch-oriented. Rather than having the usual compressor -> chorus -> delay -> reverb serial approach, the patches are mostly combinations of delays (two) and modulators (two) sitting in each other's feedback loops. Delays get panned, echoes get modulated, delay A feeds back on itself while delay B is in series and also feeds back to delay A, etc. So input tends to change and get more effected as it bounces around. Second, each patch uses an envelope follower somehow. Delay feedback gets modulated by input, or oscillators speed up or slow down, or signal balance changes between sections - amazing things can be done with input dynamics. The Vortex LOVES percussive input and rewards dynamics with weirdness. Third, patches come in A/B pairs, and the Vortex can morph between them, either at an automatic controlled rate (very fast to very slow), or dynamically via expression pedal. The A/B pairs can be any two effects patches, not just fixed pairs or variations of a single patch. Did I mention the expression pedal input? It can generally be assigned to all sorts of parameters - not just morph rates, but LFO speeds, delay feedback, etc. This allows you to do things like an expression-controlled looper - capture what you want, loop it, and play over it, then replace when you want to replace. On the other hand... it's hard to understand and learn. It's an instrument in a way, rather than an effect. It's much happier with percussive sounds than with drones. It doesn't speak MIDI and won't sync to your other MIDI gear or MIDI clock. But mostly, it's just weird and prickly and obtuse. Either you'll love it or you'll quickly get frustrated.
- Good Points: Unique sounds not available in ANY other processor (even from Lexicon). Morph control works better than anything before or since. Envelope follower means all effects are dynamically driven, making it very organic and responsive to your playing. Excellent sound quality (don't let specs fool you). Cascaded and parallel delays with dynamically-controlled interactive feedback loops! Also, delay times are subdivisions of the beat, so relative delays (like 3 against 2, or 7 against 15, etc) are easily programmed. Tap tempo and non-MIDI expression pedal control.
- Bad Points: Totally different from any other effects box you've ever used. Or is that a GOOD thing? No MIDI. Limited patch storage. Very limited display. Manual an absolute must for programming. Slightly frail mechanically. Unbalanced line level I/O, not completely friendly to either guitars or studio environments.
- Price Paid: US$200.00
- Purchased At: don't remember
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- Submitted by andy from Norwich (6 points) on Jul 2, 2004
- All the echoes, flangers and phasers you'd ever want to use at one time. Go to www.andybutler.com/vortex for patches and info. The modulation effects can be very deep, and will go just fast enough to produce ring modulation. Not only can it produce extreme sounds, but with an expression pedal you can start with a "normal" sound, then twist it exactly as much as you want. Or set up 2 noise sounds, and get something even noisier inbetween. No other product to compare, more analog sounding than comparably priced multi-FX.
- Good Points: Capable of some quite unique effects as it's possible to set up any 2 different sounds, then "morph" seamlessly btween them. Good rich sound.
- Bad Points: Needs manual for best use. Factory presets are disappointing. Has 32k sample rate, which means the very highest frequency sounds (above 15k) aren't processed, although for most use this isn't a problem. It's a line level device, so the output is generally too hot for a guitar amp.
- Price Paid: US$273.00
- Purchased At: UK, (higher cost)
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- Submitted by Adrian from Raleigh, NC (274 points) on Mar 14, 2002
- An interesting box. It's basically a couple of time domain based effects. But, not the typical effects. Most of the presets are delays and modulation effects tied together in unusual combos. Stereo delays feeding back into each other, dynamic controlled tremolo, etc. One of my favorite uses is to create two feedback loops, but include one side of the vortex in each loop. Since many of the vortex sounds bounce signals left to right, it makes for an interesting way to intertwingle two signals. There are alot of sounds in the vortex that are hard to duplicate with a standard dsp. The morphing can be interesting as a way to randomly munge a signal. It basically slowly changes all the values of one preset to another. The manual can be useful, if you want a specific sound,and to get some idea of what the presets are doing, since it can be hard to tell by ear. But knob twiddling is probabaly the best approach. It doesnt include any of your standard noise effects (distorsion, ring mod, pitch shift, etc) but its great for munging ambient sounds, or turning ryhmnic noise into interesting sludge.
- Good Points: sounds hard to duplicate any other way. Great way to munge two signals together. Fair amount of realtime control. The morphing effect can be a lot dramatic and interesting than just tweaking one knob at a time. effect and preset changes happen with no loss in signal
- Bad Points: input can be very sensitive and easy to overload, some of the effects can be fairly subtle, the delay lengths are always a function of the "tap tempo" so can be hard to duplicate
- Price Paid: US$150.00
- Purchased At: ebay
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- Submitted by K. from Sealy, TX (532 points) on Feb 25, 2002
- A small, simple rack processor w/ an amazing array of user adjustable effects. The main selling point of the Vortex was its audio morphing capability, which allows one effect to "transform" into another, at varying speed, at the touch of a button. This feature is kind of fun to play around with, most interesting w/ very dissimilar pairs of effects, and w/ footpedal control you're able to "hold" the effects between morphs for some really strange hybrids. Bending the presets to your will is fairly easy, but you're best off making adjustments and listening to the results as trying to make any sense of the manual is useless. Most effects in the Vortex are of the spatial variety - delays, panning, etc...- and are of limited use for harsh noise, but for more ambient or experimental excursions it's fantastic. Of particular note is the ability to connect 2 different signals to each of the inputs and process them simultaneously, much possibility. Great experimental processor for the low-keyed crowd.
- Good Points: odd effects which you can warp to your heart's content, audio morphing, simultaneous processing of two different signals
- Bad Points: Not well suited for extreme noise
- Price Paid: US$99.00
- Purchased At: Guitar Center
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