Hi I posted this but realized it may be better here. Is there anyone who has made or is working on editors for the lexicon lxp 5 or 15? I have a lexicon mrc I can use for them but it’s a clunky device to say the least. Would love to simplify and have the electra on hand for it
No hard promises of course, but …
if you are willing to be a beta tester (or send me an LXP-5)
and have some patches saved as sysex dumps
and have some type of screen capture/typed notes about the actual parameter values of those presets (maybe from a computer editor)
than I might be able to gen up something to get things started.
Since the LXP-5 does not have any display, I need some way to correlate the data in the sysex to the actual values.
I would be up for beta testing for sure!!! I do have 2 LXP5’s…I use them all the time though. How much time would it save you if I shipped you one to do the testing on? I have one that works flawlessly and one thats a little more temperamental…
It depends on the other points.
If you (or someone else) can supply the sysex dumps with some amount of matching values then I don’t really need the LXP-5 here … but it will require some back and forth on our part (I post a beta, you download and test it, give me feedback, etc)
Actually, once the very basic “press this button to get a patch” is working, then it’s mostly a matter of capturing the return dump and letting me know some values as we go.
Shipping an LXP-5 (and power supply) could mean the device is out of your hands for an extended period of time (like weeks/months).
your call on which way to go.
Would you just need a sysex dump from a few patches or would you need the sysex documentation?
The sysex doc is in the manual.
If there is a separate doc with more details, that would always help.
The main thing is this - I can parse a sysex dump. I can determine that some hex value in the dump is for the parameter known as decay time. What I don’t know is what the actual value is ** if a user would see it on a screen **
So, is it 2 ms is it 20 ms, is it 2.57 ms? See my point? Displaying 0-127 (or whatever) is not generally useful in the long run for a user.
The manual does document some things, but if there’s a computer editor that can display the current patch values, that would make things go quicker.
I know there is an editor for cubase made for it but I don’t have cubase. There is also an editor midiquest made but I could never get it to work at all.
I could mail you one of my lxp 5’s sometime next week if that would really speed things up on your end
Since I have no idea how much time I’ll be able to spend on this, just let me know when you get the Electra One and we’ll take it from there.
1 Like
noted. thanks so much! Your PCM 81 preset was the main draw for buying the controller. Going to save me an ungodly amount of time!
OK, it’s still a beta and there’s still fundamental things like saving a preset, but I’d be interested if anyone with an LXP-5 can give this a quick test. I’ve had one dedicated guy that’s been testing a lot and he needs a break. 
NOTE: the early Lexicons actually use the MIDI channel in the sysex so it has to match.
If you changed it from channel 1, go to page 3 (globals) and change it at the bottom.
Amazing! I’ll be able to test this in a few days when I’m home. So grateful. That lexicon MRC is so clumsy to use
When I had the MRC, I thought it wasn’t any better than the PCM 70 front panel. Then I used a Peavey PC 1600 and other controllers and kept looking. They were better, but still lacking.
Martin has done a great job coming up with a controller with enough power under the hood to handle large and complex two-way MIDI streams.
2 Likes
Assuming all is good with the preset, maybe I can get rid of my MRC, although the MRC does support the LXP 15 too, which I also love. I dig the grittier pitch shifting of the 5 and 15 compared to the PCM. Way more aliasing artifacts etc.
The adjust encoder on my LXP 15 is pretty shakey, with values jumping around a lot so that is quite annoying, so maybe I’ll just keep the MRC for the 15 until an electra 1 preset is made for it 
The LXP-5 preset is small so it will run on a Mk I or Mk II just fine. Note that I do not own an LXP-5 so I do need actual owners to eventually confirm/deny that each control is doing what it is supposed to do.
I did add an Electra port number control to the bottom of the Globals page in case people are using port 2 instead of port 1. Saves you from having to edit the preset and resave it.
I’m still debating whether it’s useful or not to add my standard “edit the name before saving” controls since you don’t have any display on the LXP-5 to see it. To add to the hassle, each character position is a separate sysex message - there’s no “send the entire name” sysex, only an “update this character” message. Also need to consider whether it makes sense to grab all the user patches and save the names off so each time you start the preset you have the names. This will be hard to implement without having additional data from actual users.
Lexicon seems to have a ‘shaky encoder’ issue across a lot of their product lines from that era. I’ve managed to improve the PCM encoder behavior, but it was tricky, tedious, and not for people inexperienced with electronics repairs. They are not back to perfect, but they are better. Basically I unsoldered them, took them apart, cleaned them, reassembled and tried to tighten the enclosures as much as possible.
Great! Thank you SO much. I am really looking forward to trying this as soon as I get home. It sounds like adding the ability to change/save the patch name is a lot of work for you, and tbh, not something that is very important to my workflow. Is there a way to just save the patch in the electra one, return to it when needed and then send it to the LXP 5? Please forgive my ignorance. I am just reading through the manual what little downtime I have and won’t be able to get to the unit until Sunday.
Before I begin testing your editor, would you be willing to clarify a few things for me? Can you help me understand how the numerical values on the patch/save page correspond to LXP 5 parameters/what that page does? Also, how difficult is it to have the delay values shown in time values rather than 0-72/0-127? Please pardon my ignorance as I am totally new to this and have no idea how complex implementation of these things is for someone who knows their way around coding/sysex. The LXP 5 also only has pitch/delay and delay/reverb algorithms. However, it looks like there are 3 algorithm options on the first page of your preset draft. Also, is there a way to set the LFO modulation destination somewhere in this preset?
I am also a bit confused about the differences between the delay/pitch/reverb parameters in the globals patch sources group and the ones on page 4.
Last thing I wanted to mention, It looks like your PCM 80/81 preset does not have the ability to change the port on the global page. Is that something that would be fairly easy for me to add? I have 2 PCM 81’s, so it would be super useful to be able to have one hooked up to port 1, which will go to my MOTU midi router, where I have a PCM 81 patched in and another PCM 81 hooked up to port 2. Right now my 2nd PCM 81 is hooked up to the midi I/O of my Focusrite interface, which I use mostly to just send sysex dumps of patches.
Once again, thank you SO much for taking the time to build these things out and being so consistent in your communications. I can assure you that your work will go to very good use in my art. Is there a quicker way than e-mailing you are willing to use to communicate as I am beta testing your LXP 5 preset? I thought maybe we could correspond on whatsapp or fb messenger. Let me know.
Best,
Andrew
Note that because there’s family in town, I’ll basically be off-line until Monday, so take that into consideration when waiting for an answer.
I really don’t like spending a lot of time on the computer and my free time is miniscule and very valuable. Queuing up comments and bug reports via email is the best way - I will not work in real time on a hobby task. I’ll get to things when I get to them.
Some answers - Page 4 is a “none of your business” page.
It’s where I store the controls so I can dynamically display each algorithm. That page is now hidden
There’s actually 3 algorithm choices - the two you know plus Bypass (see the LXP manual).
When you actually load data into the preset, you’ll see real values for everything that might have some.
The LXP-5 documentation only shows a minimum and maximum for a lot of values and a generic “linear, logarithmic” for values in between. Since the LXP has no display, a lot of the values you will see are my best guess.
The LXP manual explains the difference between the global patching and per-preset patching.
The LFO is available as a patch source (as explained in the manual).
There is a way to save a work in progress on the Electra One. Someone that has done it a lot might be able to give a quick explanation of how and what exactly is saved. I never do it.
I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get the LXP preset working, so time on the PCM 80 has been 0. I’ll get around to it eventually. There’s still a lot of updates/tweaks to be done on it (some of which I’m waiting for the 3.7 OS to be released so I can take advantage of some of those updates).
2 Likes
Hi Thanks so much for your prompt reply. I’ll read the section on global patching vs per-preset patching today. I always have just used the MRC and messed around until I get something I am happy with. What I may use the MRC for now is a way to store presets, as I can just quickly plug it into the LXP 5, request a patch dump and save things there rather than solely on the device itself.
I’ll have to go back and revisit the manual today and revisit the global patching and per-preset patching. Honestly, doing any sort of patch source modulation of the fx via the MRC is such a huge pain in the ass that I’ve always avoided it. I’m really looking forward to exploring that side of the lxp 5 now due to your electra one editor. I’ll spend some time with both your PCM preset and this on Monday and report back any successes, failures, etc. Once again, my sincerest gratitude for your efforts.
Best,
Andrew
Just got done with the manual. Wondering what FSW mode is. Is that related to footswitch use?
Also, you had mentioned page 4 was hidden but it looks like the values on page 4 correspond accurately with what is laid out in the manual and the global patch sources values are all 0-72. Are those meant to be global patch destinations? Sorry for all the questions. I just am traveling atm so have time to sit here with manuals and want to get a hold on all of this before beta testing so I can save as much of your time as possible. Thanks again!
Updated to version 1.7.
Patch save is now there.
What it does is still a slight mystery since I don’t have an LXP-5.
The sysex looks correct. Remember - it is a beta release …
1 Like