The Lexicon Vortex

The Lexicon Vortex is a fascinating little effects box. As on June 1996, Lexicon dropped this device; if it sounds interesting from the reviews, try eBay and check out loopers-delight, a resource for people who are interested in loop-based composition and performance.

If you see one hiding in a used-gear shop or a dusty corner of your local music store, grab it and try to maintain calm.


Left-brain review (Joe McMahon)

The Lexicon Vortex is a very simple box. Sixteen effects, with an A and B version of each. Sixteen user register pairs corresponding. The effects algorithms are fixed, in that you can't mess with their signal topology. However, what makes this box shine is the real-time controls. Four knobs, five buttons, two digit display.

The first knob is input level, which lets you set the level of the incoming signal (interesting distortion effects are possible by overloading the input). A green light shows when input is present, and a red one when overload is occurring.

The second is parameter, which lets you set the parameter to be edited, and the third is value, which changes whatever parameter is currently selected.

The last one is register/preset, which allows you to select the algorithm which is currently active, or the register pair to be used.

The front-panel Pedal/Tap button does the same thing as the TAP footswtich, so we''l talk about that when we get to the footswitch. Store and Clear let you erase and save algorithm configurations in the sixteen registers. A/B swaps between the A version and the B version of a preset, or between the two algorithms in a pair of registers. (A/B also activates a relay on the back panel that could be used to switch something else like between one amp and another, etc.) Finally, Register/Preset selects whether a register pair or a preset pair is active.

The Vortex comes with a dual-trigger footswitch (and a nice long cable to go with). This is essentially a headphone cable with a 1/4" male jackon both ends, so it's easy to extend this. The footswitch can either be set up to do a BYPASS/STEP function (cut the Vortex in and out, or step through the presets or registers) or a TAP or A/B function, which is how I'm using it. The Vortex comes with nice stickers to label the switch.

The trigger switch, as I'm using it, can be used either to set the tempo of the Vortex's internal clock, or to cause the Vortex to switch from the A to B in a given preset or register. The tempo setting is used by the two echo effects in each patch, in conjunction with the "divide" setting on the front panel, to set the division of the beat to be used by the echo effects. This makes it perfectly possible to set up 1 against 2, 2 against 3, anything up to 64 against 64 (more on this later). The A-B switch
doesn't just change the setting; it does a crossfade using the equal-perceived-intensity trick, so they seamlessly blend together. This may not seem like such a big deal, until you realize that the user registers can contain two DIFFERENT algorithms. Seamless crossfades from (say) a Fripp-style looper to a rotating speaker effect, keeping the beat going. Awesome.

In addition, it accepts a control-voltage continuous-controller pedal as well. My Ensoniq one, which is built like a tank, works fine. The control pedal gives you realtime control over any one parameter in a given A/B pair. The controls are:

  • Mix - Wet to dry signal level
  • Output - Output level
  • Mod FX lvl - Controls modulation portion of effects. Varies in each effect.
  • Morph A/B - Speed of switch from A to B. Varies from 10 seconds to .01 second.
  • Envelope - Controls sensitivity to dynamics of input.
  • Feedback 1 and 2 - Amount of feedback in echo delay lines.
  • Rate 1 and 2 - Internal LFO rate, from .1 Hz to 100 Hz (AM anyone?)
  • Depth 1 and 2 - Amplitude of LFOs
  • Resonance 1 and 2 - Various resonance aspects of the mod FX.

Generally, the best thing to do is to try fiddling with each of the parameters in each effect to gauge what they do. Simply plugging the box in and trying it will not show you the incredible things this machine is capable of.

When the control pedal is plugged in, the TAP switch has two different functions. The first one is used when the parameter selector knob points to either of the division settings. Tapping twice on the TAP switch sets the tempo for the internal clock. In any other position, tapping once on the TAP switch enables pedal control of the parameter in real time. You can, if you're close enough to the Vortex, move the parameter knob, tap, set one effect parameter with the pedal, move the knob, do it again, etc.

The Vortex's effects are much different from standard effects, so much so that Lexicon elected to simply give them interesting short names and just give up on trying to be descriptive. With the vast number of possibilities opened up by the 16 parameters times 64 settings times 2 alternatives, there are a lot of very strange effects available. Oh, and don't forget tempo, too. I suppose you want to hear the names anyway.

REFLEXION       ATMOSPHERE      ORBITS          CENTRIFUGE
AEROSOL         MOSAIC          MAZE            DUO
DEJA VU         CHOIR           SHIMMER         SWEEP
SHADOW          CYCLOID         BLEEN           FRACTAL

Drawbacks: no standard reverb. Everything is essentially an echo effect or a modification thereof. You can get pretty close with high divisions of the beat, though. No MIDI control of anything; tempo via MIDI clock would have been very nice. Having it NOT contribute to MIDI headaches might actually be an advantage, though.

Price: $229 bucks from Washington Music in Wheaton MD. [Note: now selling for as low as US$149. Look around.] Value: Immense. I plan to add a nice cheap but fairly quiet distortion pedal to this combo (EWI+Vortex); I expect to be able to peel the paint off the walls. :)

Postscript: I've come up with a configuration of BLEEN which plays a gorgeous fat ascending chordal arpeggio when I power the EWI off. The transient "pop" does it. (Remeber how I said overloads could be cool?) I love this box.

Post-postscript: it's May 2001, and I still have the Vortex. I've been exploring the possibilities of setting up a controlled feedback loop that sends the Vortex's output (suitably attenuated) back into its input. The effect is mindbending in the extreme.

Caution! Doing this without a lot of care to control the amount of signal fed back will be bad. Fried equipment no Vortex bad. Be careful! If you try this and if you toast something, it is all your fault and not mine. I take no responsibility for either hardware damage or psychic trauma.
That said, here are some settings that I've found particularly interesting:
REFLEXION A (1A)
MIX             39      FEEDBACK 1      18
OUT             64      FEEDBACK 2      2
MOD F/X         64      RATE 1          64
ECHO F/X        58      DEPTH 1         64
MORPH           64      RESONANCE 1     64
ENVELOPE        63      RATE 2          1
ECHO 1          12      DEPTH 2         64
ECHO 2          8       RESONANCE 2     64
REFLEXION B (1B)
MIX             48      FEEDBACK 1      21
OUTPUT          64      FEEDBACK 2      27
MOD F/X         64      RATE 1          15
ECHO F/X        10      DEPTH 1         64
MORPH           64      RESONANCE 1     35
ENVELOPE        64      RATE 2          17
ECHO 1          2       DEPTH 2         64
ECHO 2          3       RESONANCE 2     34
I can't describe it adequately in words; I hope to have some mp3's available at some point. You can literally improvise for hours using just the front panel of the Vortex, changing the amount of signal you're letting through and fiddling with the various parameters in realtime.

You can even add a pedal and do the morph thing between two different setups. I really love this box.

Right-brain review (Mike Metlay)

... there has been a lot of reply mail on this, including a marvelous summation of the unit's features and capabilities by my esteemed co-moderator. So rather than rehash all that dry left-brain stuff, I thought I'd step out of character for a moment and go totally right-brained. Please bear with me for a moment....

Ya HEEEEE!!!!!

You MUST own one of these boxes. It has no MIDI. It uses a wall wart. It's a royal PAIN in the ARSE to program ("twiddle, twiddle....poit... twiddle, frob....forget to push STORE, lose everything....scream...cry... repeat as needed"). This does not MATTER. You must own one of these boxes. If they are really and truly going out the door for under $200, there can be no excuse not to own one of these boxes. BLEEN for $149!

I got one of the early ones. Paid a bit over $200 for it. Would have paid $500. It's awesome. Don't use it as much as Joe does....too much of it tends to fry my brains. It needs MIDI, at least for tempo sync, and a better front panel. This will never ever EVER happen. Lexicon says so. The Vortex was a FAILURE! It challenged musicians to think, to create, to experiment, to break out of the mold, and it didn't give the lazy fat slobs a way to use a computer to create random patches until something sounded good. Ergo it had to DIE. So take advantage of the idiocy of the sheep out there. BUY ONE and AEROSOL!

I have problems with mine. I do not breedle effectively with my feet. Ergo the realtime control is non-pleasant. This requires a DIY project! I shall build a leetle teensy box with a knob and four buttons on it that gives me pedal control, tap tempo, A/B switching, bypass, etc., that I can mount someplace easy to reach. I have no time to do this. I suffer. Roland EV-5 is the recommended pedal; it costs more than a root canal and is almost as fun to use. The dual switch Lex gives you is only useful if you play barefoot. How can one CYCLOID while barefoot? It is a mystery, and most queer and disturbing to my head.

No reverb. Who gives the posterior of rattus norvegicus about this? You can buy any of 4.6 billion available products to give you reverb. In fact, you can do this and run the Vortex through it. Or run it through the Vortex! Which is worse, a huge hall full of ATMOSPHERE or a MAZE full of faux EMT plate? My mind boggles. The Haas Effect is bottled up inside the Vortex. Make tiny little narrow monophonic thingies suddenly EXPLODE outward in stereo scattering bits of ones and zeroes everywhere and staining the rug! This is good. Aieeee YES!

I am in control of my faculties. I make sense. I urge the esteemed members of this list to dare to try a Vortex before the blowout sales are no more and this precious lil' box is gone gone GONE for ever and ever. Do not reward slickness and cute features. Reward POWER and ORIGINALITY. Burn your CD-ROM beat loop libraries. Cover vanilla sample players with analog HOT SAUCE and digital CHEESE. Away with General MIDI and sound cards full of cliches! "What sells" is EVIL-- make what is GOOD...DEJA VU and Richard Basehart! Cause serious harm to established modes of thought! Will you be part of the problem, or part of the solution? Be part of the problem, and make 'em tremble in your presence! FRACTAL MOSAIC!

Ah YEEEEE!


mike

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Last updated 22-Jun-96 solutio@solutio.com