Lexicon PCM 92
A 1U hardware reverb with 700 presets and a knob you can actually grab, from a time when plug-ins were already doing the job.
Overview
The PCM 92 is a 1U multi-effects processor that leans hard on reverb. The number to know is 700. That's how many factory presets ship in the box, and many of them come from the classic Lexicon algorithms that became ubiquitous in studios. A contemporary review opened with the reviewer admitting that his first reaction to a new hardware reverb in the age of plug-ins was to ask why it existed at all. The unit won him over on ergonomics, palette, and the sound of its reverbs.
The architecture is more flexible than a single-engine reverb box. The PCM 92 can run as one processor or as up to four processor "machines," arranged in mono, stereo, cascading, or combined configurations. Sample rates run from 44.1 to 96 kHz with 32-bit floating-point math. The unit can be networked over MIDI or Ethernet, so it can sit inside a larger, remote-controlled effects system.
I/O is generous for a 1U box. Analog and AES/EBU digital connections are both on XLR, with quarter-inch analog I/O alongside. A large twist/push "Select" knob anchors the front panel. Smaller "A, B and C" twist/push knobs sit beside it and give direct access to the first three parameters of any given preset. The review called out pre-delay, room size, and an EQ point as examples. Push one of the smaller knobs and you drop into the deeper parameter layers. The most-used controls stay on the surface and everything else is one push away.
The preset organization is built for browsing. The unit offers 16 categories, including Halls, Rooms, Chambers, Plates, Reverse, Delays, Modulation effects like chorus and flange, and Pitch effects. Most of the reverb presets come in five variations: regular, dark, light, band, and notch. With those five sitting next to each other, you can audition flavors of the same space instead of rebuilding one from scratch. The reviewer's verdict was that the PCM 92 covers more ground overall than anything else he'd heard, and that every preset sounded like something he could use on a song. He also name-checked a pile of competing reverbs that he liked.
The price needs a clear head. Pro Audio Review (December 2010, p.38) put the MSRP at $2,699, and noted that a street price near $2,000 buys a lot of plug-ins that sound as good or nearly as good. The review aims the PCM 92 at a small, discriminatingly professional slice of the market. That means people who mix outside the box, who'd rather have a stack of pre-tweaked reverbs at the ready than dial their own, whose installs or live shows need networked control, or who simply want to twist a knob instead of click a mouse.
Pro Audio Review (December 2010, p.36) mentioned a free firmware update for the PCM 92 and its surround-capable sibling, the PCM96. It focused on networking improvements, expanded MIDI capabilities, and driver flexibility rather than the effects themselves. The reviewer didn't install it, so there's no report on what changed in practice. It does show the unit was still being supported at the time of the review.
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