lexicon 480l vs. 960l for stereo recording. ??

[gergele]

did anyone use 480l before 960l release and upgrade to the new model?
i'm wandering about a couple of things:
how do the 480 algorhytms(with the latest software version) sound comparing to what 960l offers?
i assume that the lion share of the leap from 480 to 960 price is consumed by the surround reverb option. mainly.
what i'm after are top of the line stereo effects but the prospect of spending 8 to 10 grand just to have surround option i don't use seems a bit excentric. it simply sucks!
if the latest 480 software should offer the same cathegory of reverbs( same thickness) what would be other reasons to get 960 if only stereo reverbing considered?

greg

[DAS]

This is a tricky question to answer because of how subjective it is. Yes, part of what makes the 960 cost what it costs is the surround stuff, but it's really a whole new processor from the ground up. It does not sound the same as a 480. It "can" sound pretty much the same as a 480, much like the 480 could sound like the 224, but it goes beyond that, even on just the stereo verbs. Of course the user interface is totally different, and much, much, MUCH better in my opinion.

Also, how certain are you that you'll never use the surround stuff? If you plan to hang on to it for more than a year or two (which would make sense for this type of investment) I speculate the surround capabilities could become more relevant than they appear right now.

[gergele]

the best would be trying to reverb the same protools sesion on both of them. that'd pretty much answer the doubts about whether to invest some additional10 k or not.
some say 960l alone is not a solution to the problem either if you aim at a very wide spectrum of top of the line stereo algorhytms. a famous european recording studio called rainbow( oslo) uses both 960l and system 6000 by tc electronic. they record the majority of ecm productions and in my opinion they do some boss reverbs on their records. simply fairytale sound. worlds that don't exist. pure beauty
i guess the solution is to spend 30 grand on both competitors' products and sleep safe and sound.

greg

no cheaper alternatives in this business, however,
i'd gladly read some other comments on this one

[David Klausner]

Manfred Eicher refers to the reverb rack at Rainbow at "the Fjords", as in "run that signal through the Fjords a little more". I'm a big fan of his production techniques as well, but you do raise a good point about the 960L and M6000 coexisting in his rack. These reverbs will have a different sound, and may be appropriate for different situations. As a really rough description, I find the TC stuff to be more realistic natural spaces, but the Lexicon tends to have a sparkle that I really like, especially on vocals (and a lot of what I hear in the ECM sound is Lexicon). I also like the Eventide 'verbs, which to my ears are quite thick (great on guitars, for example), and the venerable Quantec Room Simulator maintained enough popularity to warrant its re-issue (kind of) in the Quantec Yardstick (not a lot of control, so you'd better like the presets, but the thing sure has a sound to it...).

[Diggety77]

I heard there is a 960SL in the works which is a stereo version (no surround):banana:

[gergele]

i know. it's about two grand down. different software. same upgradebility.

greg