How To Creatively Use The Dual-Engine Configurations On The LX480

At the heart of the LX480 is a unique and powerful Dual-Engine Reverb.

The LX480 Dual-Engine Reverb is the only emulation on the market to include the Dual-Engine routing capabilities of the original hardware.

This powerful feature allows you to use two LX480 algorithms at one time in your choice of 4 unique engine configurations.

With Dual-Engine routings, the creative possibilities increase exponentially. It is essentially like having two plug-ins in one.

Here are just a few of the setups you can achieve with just one instance of LX480.

• Reverb into a Stereo-Widening Effect
• Twin Delays into a Reverb
• Two hard panned mono Reverbs fed from the same send
• Dual Reverbs (in series or parallel)

The Dual-Engine allows you to chain two different effects together in new and exciting ways, more so than simply using two instances of a plug-in.

Dual-Engine functionality makes it easy to create a unique sense of spaciousness and envelopment.

To find the current engine configuration, simply press the Setup Button, and then click on the Config Tab.

You can switch between each engine's settings by using the E1 and E2 buttons.

By default, the LX480 Dual-Engine Reverb is set to a single configuration.

This means audio will only be routed through the currently selected engine. In this instance, only one engine will be active.

Note

Presets in the LX480 save the configuration of both engines, as well as any global setup parameters affecting the audio. This means that your favourite effects chains can be saved for quick recall later.

The Four Dual-Engine Configurations Of The LX480

The configuration section controls the routing of the effects engines in the LX480.

There are FOUR routing options:

1. Single
2. Cascade
3. Mono-Split
4. Stereo-Split

Single Engine Mode

This is the default mode.

Only one engine is active at any time and acts on the stereo input.

To choose which engine is active, use the E1 and E2 buttons.

Cascade Mode

Most of the time single mode will suffice, but it can also be useful to chain different effects together. LX480 can do the work that would alternatively be a chain of 2-3 different plug-ins.

This chains the two engines in series. It passes the output of Engine 1 into Engine 2.

This is great when you want to heavily effect the output of another effect. Some suggested use cases are:

• Twin-Delays into a reverb (for softer/washed out delays)
• Reverb into Panorama (for increased stereo-width)
• Two Random Hall HD (for ultra-long ambient style effects)

Mono-Split Mode

The left input signal is processed by Engine 1 and the right by Engine 2. Each engine has a stereo output and these resulting signals are then summed. This is useful when creating a unique and sometimes unnaturally wide stereo field.

• Use the same algorithm in each engine but with slightly different settings to create a larger-than-life image
• Use on double-tracked L-R panned sources to create unique reverbs for each source

Stereo-Split Mode

This routing passes the stereo signal to both engines and combines the output from both, giving you parallel effects. This capability adds a massive amount of flexibility to the LX480.

Many contemporary mixes utilize several blended reverbs in a mix and can be useful in several situations:

• Stereo-split is great when you want to use two reverbs with identical inputs on a single send
• Have an ambience and a reverb together without sending the ambience into the reverb
• Create a denser reverb sound by mixing the same reverb algorithm with a different room size setting in each engine