By Jarrah Saunders
PSP Audioware recently released the long-awaited update to their Lexicon PSP 42 plugin, almost 20 years after its first release, with a host of new features and more precise modelling of the analogue hardware on which it is based.
The year is 1981. The first Delorean has just rolled of the production line, Donkey Kong and MTV are brand new pop culture phenomena, Pinochet has been installed as dictator of Chile following a CIA-backed coup, Charles and Di are newlyweds, Jessie’s Girl is top of the charts… arts… arts… arts… arts… and that’s the sound of the Lexicon PCM42 digital delay storming onto the scene in a swirling maelstrom of grainy early-digital repeats.
A versatile rack-mounted processor with innovative features aplenty, the PCM42 quickly patched itself into the hearts and minds of engineers and live performers the world over. Building on the success of its predecessor, the PCM41, the PCM42 doubled the total delay time to 2.4 seconds (or up to 4.8 with optional added memory) and incorporated two stages of limiters on the input to help prevent overloading. A multi-waveform modulation section enabled sweeping, doubling and chorus effects, while the infamous “x2” button doubled the delay time by halving the sample rate, massively decreasing the bandwidth for a sound akin to tape echo. It’s been used on countless classics from Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” to Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories”, and is favoured by revered mix engineer Andy Wallace, who’s rumoured to love driving the limiters and using it to double guitars. It was also popular among looping artists for its clock-sync capability, footswitch, and infinite hold mode, which allowed you to overdub musical phrases on the fly.
Read the full review at Mixdown Mag
