elambo

I'd characterize the 96 as very typical Lexicon character, and similar to the 960, except that it seems to inherently have more character. It seems more dense. If you've used a 480, then you'll know the type of color I'm referring to. I find the 960 to do a good job of hiding, just as you said, and it seem that be more pure than a lot of other verbs. Hit a snare and a long reverb will ring without much added personality. While that might sound negative, I don't mean it that way. I'm actually a big fan of the 960, especially for acoustic and orchestral music. Reverbs that coat the source are very useful, other times you want verb to stand out more.

But with tweaking, the 96 can get you 960 sounds, and it can get you 480 sounds. Or it can be something new. It's very flexible.

You've asked directly - what does it do better than the 960.. it's better at saving you money. It's more flexible and under FW control using the plugin window it's incredibly easy to manipulate, and you'll get a total of 4 channels. If you use plates (I use them every day) you'll notice a new character from the 96. I can't say that they're "better," but I think that I prefer them to the 960's plates.

Honeslty, it's not easy to describe. I do think it would be well worth your time if you demo one while your client is there and able to listen. I have a feeling that you'd end up keeping it.

I now keep my 96 at home and the 960 stays at work. I can move sessions between either place and it's pretty easy to find an equivalent verb that matches regardless of where the session started and where it ended up.

Hi,
Thanks for your response to my question. I was somewhat reluctant to put this up on GS only to avoid all the usual static and utimately time wasting opinions that something like discussing the 960 seems to bring out from a lot of people that don't like it, don't own it etc. All the enthusiasm that manifests itself on GS when a new product like the pcm96 arrives only seems to approach reality about a year after the introduction and until then the BS tends to dominate so I really wanted to communicate with someone who has direct, daily experience with both.
I, also have owned a 960L for several years and initially found it somewhat bland and it seemed to disappear so easily into a mix that I thought maybe I had made an expensive purchase that was, if not a mistake, at least not the best use of my money. Well, that phase passed and after much time spent in the edit window I began to get the 960 into a machine that really works for me. Please pardon all the back story, just want to explain my 960 feelings....these days I love it and would be hard pressed to mix without one.
OK, I've got an album mix coming up and it's kinda old school Beatles and the client is a GS "lurker" and is thinking the new pcm96 would be really cool on his mix.......although he also has worked with me many times and the 960 and is very happy with it. So, since this fellow is one of my really good clients I thought I'd look into a PCM 96.

OK. here's the question.
Is the PCM 96 so different from a 960 that it brings something special to the party? If it does, can you kinda give me an idea what it does better than the 960?
I don't really have an opportunity to bring one in to try it so that's why I'm trying to get an idea from a user.
Thanks for your time and any insights you have.
Rick