I discovered your channel a few months ago and have been really enjoying it. I especially like the look at older rack gear. The PCM-81 videos have been great because this was a unit I wanted so bad back in the 90's but couldn't afford, I simply ran out of money getting the other gear in my rig. This shows what an amazing unit it was. I really wanted to pair it with my H3000 D/SX which I still have. If you keep this vintage rack gear search going it would be awesome to see you get ahold of a TC 1210 & 2290 and one or more of the older Eventides like the H3000 D/SX or D/SE. I would love to see what the GTR4000 was capable of. Oh how I also wanted that one back in the day. It killed me seeing it Petrucci's rig :) He always had the latest and greatest Eventides back then getting the 7000 after the GTR4000 then I think the 7600 before moving to Fractal.
Because of this video, I had to go out and buy the PCM81 and the Dual Effects Card! I won't tell you what I paid for them, Too much! Anyway this is my 1st Lexicon unit and I am BLOWN AWAY! RUclips does not do it justice with the compression. The silkiest and smoothest delays and verbs I have ever heard. I have learned a considerable amount just watching your videos. Please do more videos about the PCM81 and its effects and algo's as you increase your understanding of this amazing unit. Hopefully you make it a regular feature of your channel!
you're welcome! I'm glad he busted out the Strat at the end especially, I don't have a Strat but THAT was the sound I had in mind for that "Eric Johnson" SCF vibe...turned out better than I thought it would!
That was brilliant ,.... Thanks Leon ,.... I have the pcm 81 ,... you have inspired me to take a deeper look as apposed to just going with presets ,.... good man !!
I'm curious, with the Lexicon PCM series rack units still being sold today in the form of the PCM 92 and 96 variants, they just never seem to be discussed much with people always longing for the PCM 70, 80/81 and 90/91 units. Is there something missing from the new units that the predecessors had that the current units don't or is it possibly that not much has actually changed in the current gen units and thus going after the 70, 80/81 and 90/01 is just a more affordable way of getting into the Lexicon PCM rack world.
I believe the 9x series are specifically reverb oriented units in that they have dual reverb engines. Which is nuts, but the 8x series were more delay monsters that still have killer reverb available.
@@LeonTodd suhr ml pickups!!! Excellent choice. I had my strat stolen many years ago. I was going to do exactly that. Thank you for getting back to me brother. I’m nursing my Saint Bernard at the moment he is very poorly with a leg infection. Your channel and others help me for a brief moment. 🙏
Ducking Delay isn't Dynamic Delay! A ducking delay has been around forever in radio broadcasting, way before digital technology and was done using a simple compressor or two for stereo program content whose sidechain input(s) was/were fed by the speaker mic signal. So the program would go thru the compressors and the speaker signal would reduce their levels to "duck the music away". A Dynamic Delay is something more complex as defined for the first time by the TC2290 where you would be able to control several aspects of your delay with your signal. So what are the differences? Dynamic Delay can include ducking but they are not the same thing or definition... Dynamic means so much more! On the TC2290 you can control the modulation speed, the panning speed and the delay level, this last also in inverse way, making your echoes sound louder instead of softer. So that's much more than just simple ducking a signal level. BUT... ducking an echo level is a serious biz in terms of really making it sound musical. What I hear isn't that much of what it could be. The main problem with ducking delays is how to properly shape the envelope that will reduce the echo level and then release it up to normal AND all of that in a time that makes sense in relation to delay time.... AND avoid "pumping" a typical compression artifact that should be banned like pest. Now a clean guitar signal is much stronger than a distorted one as the second has a lot more compression and attack transients are much weaker. The main control parameter there is THRESHOLD, that is the level point at which ducking starts lowering a signal and above which it'll release it. An AR Envelope is a simple function generator borrowed by synthesizers where you design the Attack and Release times of a curve; here we miss the Sustain value which would have helped in creating a more natural ducking effect... you get that on an Eventide. So, Threshold needs to be properly set for a clean gtr signal AND needs to be changed for the same guitar being overdriven. Two different animals. The attack and release times should avoid the pumping fx which is an abrupt killing of the delay signal (attack) and a fast release of it (release)... or it would sound comical and unnatural. These are effects that need to be perfectly customized beyond a preset values as everything needs to be adjusted ON the signal being used. The quickest way to do that is to have the PCM knob patched to THRESHOLD so tha one can quickly adjust the sweet point of duck/release intervention according to setup levels, playing touch, the personal aspects of the performance. Once attack and release are set to generate a *gentle* curve... everything will be taken care of, with a simple knob quick adjustment. TC2290 set the definition of Dynamic Delay but there's much more you can do with a PCM! Why just limiting the DYNAMIC intervention to level? Boring like a radio speaker! How about modulate the delay and change the speed and rate so that loud repeats are more animated than softer ones? And how about panning? That's dramatic! More... get to change the filters too so that brightness change with level in any direct or inverse way. Now that you have combined DYNAMIC control of level/modulation/panning/filtering... you are in real DYNAMIC DELAY land... not just ancient radio techniques. And you can do more, depending on the algorithms characteristics... like making the released delays longer in time and in feedback... or psycho-acoustic panning by altering the filters in inverse ways but these are another story not for today. Remember though... all these tweaks need to be musical and are STRONGLY tied to the delay tempo, the mix density, the tone you use, how light or heavy is your touch, etc.... Nothing sounds so shitty like a ducking delay that jumps up when you stop playing. That's ugly like sin. You should create an ambience of ducked echoes and a release of discrete taps, from undefined diffused texture to defined taps.... -PCM70 and 80/81 work differently and you can't really make one sound like the other unless you have them, side by side. Diffusion in the two PCMs works differently both in time, transients energy and number of allpass delays used. The 70 is much thicker and gentler... wider. More musical! -Pandly sounds wrong! I can't hear the center tap at all. Maybe it's there but using the PCM70 settings makes it sound wrong as they do not work in the same way. I would never create a preset replica of something I do not own. Lesson learned many years ago. It doesn't work that way. -And no, Todd, Plex delays in your Fractal were fully stolen from Eventide, not Lexicon, which never had the guts of doing such ripping off operations. There was a time when great companies like Lexicon and Eventide were friends and respectful of each other inventions and each one would keep their own things different, even when an algorithm was similar in both platforms. Try Lex BandDlys and Eventide Band Dly and you'll hear huge differences. It was an age of big development and great respect for intellectual property... different from now... a time in which everybody is stealing from all in a shameless way. Companies should innovate not replicate... as a copy of a copy of a copy will always sound and look worst than the original. It's been like that since the beginning of art!
Thank you Leon GREAT, i like them rackfx 90' and 2000 like digitech tsr12/24 or studio quad v2, midiverb IV or yamaha fx770, oberheim gm400/1000 can you demostrate a couple of this or much more? ...I would be grateful
LESSLY INSANE GAIN!
Could you consider renaming this Lexicon PCM 80/81 MBand+ Rvb Algorithm and patching tutorial? Great work, many thanks, and much respect (now subbed)
Those delays are so detailed and rich.
I discovered your channel a few months ago and have been really enjoying it. I especially like the look at older rack gear. The PCM-81 videos have been great because this was a unit I wanted so bad back in the 90's but couldn't afford, I simply ran out of money getting the other gear in my rig. This shows what an amazing unit it was. I really wanted to pair it with my H3000 D/SX which I still have. If you keep this vintage rack gear search going it would be awesome to see you get ahold of a TC 1210 & 2290 and one or more of the older Eventides like the H3000 D/SX or D/SE. I would love to see what the GTR4000 was capable of. Oh how I also wanted that one back in the day. It killed me seeing it Petrucci's rig :) He always had the latest and greatest Eventides back then getting the 7000 after the GTR4000 then I think the 7600 before moving to Fractal.
2:58 sent chills down my spine like some guitar ASMR lol!
Leon Todd: The Guitar Whisperer
Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion unobtrusive. TY LT! 😊
Because of this video, I had to go out and buy the PCM81 and the Dual Effects Card! I won't tell you what I paid for them, Too much!
Anyway this is my 1st Lexicon unit and I am BLOWN AWAY! RUclips does not do it justice with the compression.
The silkiest and smoothest delays and verbs I have ever heard. I have learned a considerable amount just watching your videos.
Please do more videos about the PCM81 and its effects and algo's as you increase your understanding of this amazing unit.
Hopefully you make it a regular feature of your channel!
Great video Leon. Shout out to Ryan. His presets are incredible!
Absolutely!
Where can I try / download some of Ryan’s presets please ? I got in a pcm81 yesterday!
Love to try some
@@DaveyWoodford try the rack forum over on The Gear Page.
Well done LT! Thanks for sharing Ryan! Very Cool, Dig the Strat Too!
Be Well All!
you're welcome! I'm glad he busted out the Strat at the end especially, I don't have a Strat but THAT was the sound I had in mind for that "Eric Johnson" SCF vibe...turned out better than I thought it would!
15:45 steve lukather setting, combining pan delay with Circular delay in parallel without reverb to get a huge lead sound
Came here from the Gear Page Forum. Thanks for doing a video on this! We need more for this beast!
Thanks! I just got a dual fx card for it so there's more to come
Absolute magic
That was brilliant ,.... Thanks Leon ,.... I have the pcm 81 ,... you have inspired me to take a deeper look as apposed to just going with presets ,.... good man !!
I think your videos are so good on these rack units that you have been driving the prices up!
New to this channel. Absolutely love the content and presentation style - learning loads! Ace stuff, Leon.
Another fantastic demo. These dinosaurs are capable of producing massive tone enhancement.
Informative for real!
Wow. Many thx for insight into ducking. It’s no wonder I couldn’t get it together!!!!!
What the hell, $800 AUS is like free. I'd buy this unit for 500 € any day. The expectation is paying that AUS $ amount in euros.
Great u it to master, really wish they’d make a modern alternative
Leon, Todd here...subscribed! beautiful work, man
Awesome, thank you!
Good stuff! A quick Fractal / Lexicon shootout would be cool 👍
I'm curious, with the Lexicon PCM series rack units still being sold today in the form of the PCM 92 and 96 variants, they just never seem to be discussed much with people always longing for the PCM 70, 80/81 and 90/91 units. Is there something missing from the new units that the predecessors had that the current units don't or is it possibly that not much has actually changed in the current gen units and thus going after the 70, 80/81 and 90/01 is just a more affordable way of getting into the Lexicon PCM rack world.
I believe the 9x series are specifically reverb oriented units in that they have dual reverb engines. Which is nuts, but the 8x series were more delay monsters that still have killer reverb available.
Sounds fantastic! Did you ever get your MPX-1?!?!
Beautiful . Pure class. I’m interested in your guitar. Pickups? Setup etc?
77 Strat. Suhr ML pickups. Axe-Fx III for the amp tones.
@@LeonTodd suhr ml pickups!!! Excellent choice. I had my strat stolen many years ago. I was going to do exactly that. Thank you for getting back to me brother. I’m nursing my Saint Bernard at the moment he is very poorly with a leg infection. Your channel and others help me for a brief moment. 🙏
Ducking Delay isn't Dynamic Delay!
A ducking delay has been around forever in radio broadcasting, way before digital technology and was done using a simple compressor or two for stereo program content whose sidechain input(s) was/were fed by the speaker mic signal. So the program would go thru the compressors and the speaker signal would reduce their levels to "duck the music away". A Dynamic Delay is something more complex as defined for the first time by the TC2290 where you would be able to control several aspects of your delay with your signal. So what are the differences? Dynamic Delay can include ducking but they are not the same thing or definition... Dynamic means so much more! On the TC2290 you can control the modulation speed, the panning speed and the delay level, this last also in inverse way, making your echoes sound louder instead of softer. So that's much more than just simple ducking a signal level. BUT... ducking an echo level is a serious biz in terms of really making it sound musical. What I hear isn't that much of what it could be. The main problem with ducking delays is how to properly shape the envelope that will reduce the echo level and then release it up to normal AND all of that in a time that makes sense in relation to delay time.... AND avoid "pumping" a typical compression artifact that should be banned like pest. Now a clean guitar signal is much stronger than a distorted one as the second has a lot more compression and attack transients are much weaker. The main control parameter there is THRESHOLD, that is the level point at which ducking starts lowering a signal and above which it'll release it. An AR Envelope is a simple function generator borrowed by synthesizers where you design the Attack and Release times of a curve; here we miss the Sustain value which would have helped in creating a more natural ducking effect... you get that on an Eventide.
So, Threshold needs to be properly set for a clean gtr signal AND needs to be changed for the same guitar being overdriven. Two different animals.
The attack and release times should avoid the pumping fx which is an abrupt killing of the delay signal (attack) and a fast release of it (release)... or it would sound comical and unnatural. These are effects that need to be perfectly customized beyond a preset values as everything needs to be adjusted ON the signal being used. The quickest way to do that is to have the PCM knob patched to THRESHOLD so tha one can quickly adjust the sweet point of duck/release intervention according to setup levels, playing touch, the personal aspects of the performance. Once attack and release are set to generate a *gentle* curve... everything will be taken care of, with a simple knob quick adjustment.
TC2290 set the definition of Dynamic Delay but there's much more you can do with a PCM! Why just limiting the DYNAMIC intervention to level? Boring like a radio speaker! How about modulate the delay and change the speed and rate so that loud repeats are more animated than softer ones? And how about panning? That's dramatic! More... get to change the filters too so that brightness change with level in any direct or inverse way. Now that you have combined DYNAMIC control of level/modulation/panning/filtering... you are in real DYNAMIC DELAY land... not just ancient radio techniques. And you can do more, depending on the algorithms characteristics... like making the released delays longer in time and in feedback... or psycho-acoustic panning by altering the filters in inverse ways but these are another story not for today. Remember though... all these tweaks need to be musical and are STRONGLY tied to the delay tempo, the mix density, the tone you use, how light or heavy is your touch, etc.... Nothing sounds so shitty like a ducking delay that jumps up when you stop playing. That's ugly like sin. You should create an ambience of ducked echoes and a release of discrete taps, from undefined diffused texture to defined taps....
-PCM70 and 80/81 work differently and you can't really make one sound like the other unless you have them, side by side. Diffusion in the two PCMs works differently both in time, transients energy and number of allpass delays used. The 70 is much thicker and gentler... wider. More musical!
-Pandly sounds wrong! I can't hear the center tap at all. Maybe it's there but using the PCM70 settings makes it sound wrong as they do not work in the same way. I would never create a preset replica of something I do not own. Lesson learned many years ago. It doesn't work that way.
-And no, Todd, Plex delays in your Fractal were fully stolen from Eventide, not Lexicon, which never had the guts of doing such ripping off operations. There was a time when great companies like Lexicon and Eventide were friends and respectful of each other inventions and each one would keep their own things different, even when an algorithm was similar in both platforms. Try Lex BandDlys and Eventide Band Dly and you'll hear huge differences. It was an age of big development and great respect for intellectual property... different from now... a time in which everybody is stealing from all in a shameless way. Companies should innovate not replicate... as a copy of a copy of a copy will always sound and look worst than the original. It's been like that since the beginning of art!
If you had to take one pcm to an island, which would you take?
@@0megalul309 The 81.
@@italoop7850 If you could only take one rack unit, would it still be the pcm 81? Or something like an eventide hd 3/7/9xxx?
@@0megalul309 H8000FW
Patch at 8:50 sounded stellar.
Hey Leon, big fan! You should listen to All The Best Tapes
Awesome!
Thanks!
Thank you Leon GREAT, i like them rackfx 90' and 2000 like digitech tsr12/24 or studio quad v2, midiverb IV or yamaha fx770, oberheim gm400/1000 can you demostrate a couple of this or much more? ...I would be grateful
Some awesome suggestions on there - onto the wish list they go!
@@LeonTodd iüs
Leon, any advice on a LOW watt stereo amp for the home studio to use with FM3? Monitors are not doing it for me and Matrix is way too loud
Demo starts at 1:58
Is the SELECT knob an innie or outie? Now you can't unsee it! Buuahahahaha!
Aaaaah now I can't unsee!!!
Please reupload your video of NUX MG30 ;)
What does PCM stand for?
pulse code modulation?
Pulse Code Modulation, a seminal technique of representing an analog signal in digits... used in audio sampling. Your CDs use PCM!
Perfect chorus and modulation