Lexicon PCM70

[Seeker of Rock]

And some things I've learned about the PCM70 in my reads (mostly here):

It's noisy (until you adjust the output to +12db)
It's reverbs are considered thick by some, grainy by many, and metallic to some
Tiled Room preset on V2/V1.2 is popular/Rich Plate is popular
The algorithms are similar in ancestry to the 224/224X/224XL
Some people consider it (along with some other units) the last of the true "Lexicon sound"
It is mono with L/R outs
You can sysex V2 presets into V3 into the user registers
V3 added Inverse Room algorithm

[africantigercow]

I have a 300 and a 70 and I can say that I find the 70 generally just works whereas with the 300 I find myself doing more tweaking (though the 300 is far far easier to edit/tweak on).

The 300 is much more versatile but there is very little that the 70 irritates me on. I don't find noise to be a problem with either...

I find myself using the 70 more. It's very rare that a lead vocal doesn't get the tiled room slapped on it.

[bKoxx]

Hi Seeker,

I read many of the posts on the PCM70 and got one awhile back. I was looking for something to add subtle room ambiance to drums and guitars.

It's growing on me a little, but it honestly doesn't knock my sox off. So far, I always prefer the tone of my tracks with it unpatched...the verb sounds good but the subtle tone shift bums me out. I wouldn't go so far as to say it sounds metallic...but it does sound "more metallic" or than the original raw signal.

That said, I do probably like it better than the MPX1, TCM3000 and the LXP1 I've tried.

Coming to grips with the fact that I may just not be a big fan of reverb...or at least I haven't made a love connection yet.

[Seeker of Rock]

Originally Posted by africantigercow

I have a 300 and a 70 and I can say that I find the 70 generally just works whereas with the 300 I find myself doing more tweaking (though the 300 is far far easier to edit/tweak on).

I had read that it is a bit enigmatic to program and tweak, so this is more support of that.

Originally Posted by bKoxx

That said, I do probably like it better than the MPX1, TCM3000 and the LXP1 I've tried.

Cool. And since it didn't give you a big wow factor, I'm wondering how much of the hype is just hype. Of course, if you take a crowd of 100 people and have them try a gourmet mayonnaise or something like that, probably 1/3 will not care for it, another 1/3 will think it's o.k., and the remaining 1/3 will say it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, so maybe it's just personal tastes with different people. I was surprised at how many people just raved about it on my searches, though, one after the other and defended it when compared to other equipment, especially Lexicon models.

I'm guessing the pro studio owners who still have them probably keep them around for variety, and maybe in case someone specifically requests one on their drum or vocal tracks or something, idk.

[Babaluma]

I had a PCM 70 for a couple of years, and loved it. However, after playing with Valhalla Room and Shimmer for a while, I sold it and have never looked back. No, they are not the same at all, but for my purposes it became redundant. There's also the fact that it's going to be about 30 years old soon, and full of unobtanium chips...

[Seeker of Rock]

Yeah, I've seen the term 'doorstep' used in a few of the posts. Of course my PCM90 isn't a Spring chicken, either.

[mowmow]

I used to love PCM70. If I remember correctly, it was the rich chamber or something like medium room using for drums to enhance room ambient. It had really warm and rich sound. I would use it if I have it even today.

[RiF]

To my ears, the PCM70 has a pretty familiar sound. Just like it has bern said before, it just works. Presers like the TiledRoom or RichPlate must have made their way onto countless records untweaked. The mono-input never bothered me, it creates a very wide sound out of everything.
But I need 3 of them, one for plate, one for room and one for the weird delays.
I just noticed that I did not answer any of your questions... :-/

[Seeker of Rock]

Originally Posted by RiF

I just noticed that I did not answer any of your questions... :-/

Quite alright. I have a PCM70 coming after reading all of the hype, and I'm just trying to bias my opinion some more before it arrives. I'm curious to put it against the PCM90 and Jim Williams modded LXP-15II on some drum tracks and generally play around with it and see how much of the hype is legit and whether it blows the 90 away and all of that. If I like it I'll keep it, if not I'll sell it. They are only tools, but from what I've read about it as an effects box I'm curious to hear it matched against the others.

[Seeker of Rock]

This particular PCM70 is well worn after spending its life on a touring rack. It is V1.2 which should have the same presets as V2 (I think) with the famed Tiled Room since that is one that seems to be pretty popular as a preset.

So the guts (chips and capacitors) have probably seen a lot of use in addition to its age. Not sure how much, if any, this will factor into the sound in my comparison. I guess the 90 and 15 have pretty old caps, too, just not as heavily used units.

[Seeker of Rock]

Originally Posted by mowmow

I used to love PCM70. If I remember correctly, it was the rich chamber or something like medium room using for drums to enhance room ambient. It had really warm and rich sound. I would use it if I have it even today.

It came, but unfortunately had some internal issues. I had a chance to hear some presets, though, and Rich Plate and Rich Chamber (I think that was it) were pretty sweet. To me, Tiled Room was good, but nothing PCM90 couldn't do better. Again, to my ears. But the Rich Plate and Rich Room (I think those were the names...one was on level 3 and the other level 4 or something like that) sounded pretty good.

The internal issues seemed like maybe something loose (I was hooking it up to effects send/returns on my board and resting it on the wood desk, not racked) and as I would move the unit slightly tipped from side to side it would produce this metallic clunk and then weird sounds following that for several seconds until I set it even. Eventually those would subside if I kept it still long enough, and I could hear some more of the presets. But then, even being still, the metallic clunks would come in and I would hear squeals and screeches and noise until everything calmed back down.

Anyway, first impressions of the sounds themselves to me were pretty good. Unfortunately I had to send it back to the seller since it had some issues. I really wish it would have been in working condition, though, because the price was $450 which I thought was o.k..

[Seeker of Rock]

Oh yeah, although I didn't get a chance to truly A/B with the PCM90 and Audio Upgrades LXP-15II, I would sum it up (generally speaking) that the PCM70 is a great box, closer in character to the modded LXP15II than the 90. The 90 (on some presets) has a richness and intensity that is pretty hi-fi sounding to me, and hard to match sonically with these 1U rack devices. The 70 had some really neat vibe to it, much the same as the vibe Mr. Williams got going on my LXP-15II, and I would have loved to have A/B'd the LXP-15II and 70 side to side with clips.

[Seeker of Rock]

The PCM70 impressed me enough that I bought another one (from audiogroove here at GS) after returning the one I got from ebay (had some kind of random noise in the input section). It really is a cool little box with a fantastic sound. I wasn't sure how much was hype and how much was legit about the sound, but now I know.

I quickly a/b'd the presets of Tiled Room and Rich Plate between the 70 and my 90 the other night. Two different sounds, though I'm sure a lot of that has to do with how the presets are written. At some point, I'm going to post some clips of the PCM70, PCM90, and JW-modded LXP-15II on the same drum track (snare, probably) just to quickly show the character differences between them.

[Empire Prod]

I still use my PCM70 all the time. It's a workhorse no doubt.

[smackmastering]

Love my PCM70. Use it all the time on mixes. Great on drums (Titled Room) and also love it on lead voxs.

[lovespirals]

Same here. I use my 2 PCM 70's, along with the bricasti on everything I do. I hope my 70's live for ever. Nothing sounds like them.

[seancostello]

Can someone describe to me exactly what Tiled Room brings to the mix?

I have a PCM70, and can dial in the Tiled Room preset, but tend to prefer the Concert Hall algorithm to the Rich Chamber algorithm that Tiled Room uses. The modulation adds a LOT to the Concert Hall algorithm. I'm pretty sure that the 224XL uses modulation for all of its algorithms, so the 224XL Rich Chamber would probably be more to my tastes.

[lovespirals]

i'm with you sean. i've never really found a use for the tiled room and the other room that most people seem so found of. i'm into the modulated halls and concert wave algos. might explain why i'm also into vahalla shimmer.

[Jeff Hayat]

I own both. To me, they are different units. They are both very high quality, tho the 91 has more algos, including some from the 480L. I prefer the 91, but that's just me. Take away the extra algos, and just looking at quality alone, it's kinda like comparing a BMW to a Mercedes. Is one really better than the other?

Cheers.

[Seeker of Rock]

Originally Posted by lovespirals

i've never really found a use for the tiled room and the other room that most people seem so found of.

The first defective one I got I was pretty impressed with Rich Chamber and I think one of the halls, and still am. The tiled room seemed o.k. then on some guitar rhythm tracks and then some drums (overheads, snare and toms). A couple of days ago I put it just on snare and soloed the track and it sounds really, really good. Much bigger and thicker sounding than when I bypassed it, and in a really nice way (nothing sounded "forced"...more of a pleasant gelling with the snare sound).