Lexicon PSP42

Great-sounding with lots of good presets to show you what it can do.

This sounds great on spacey big songs but does a job on single instruments and voices, too.

I like to put it on the tail of reverb at the end of a verse or song, with feedback creeping up to let it hang there, echoing forever.

Nice phase on this, too, and flange, and the GUI is one of my favourites - really nice, distinctive blue and looks very real, somehow. Something about Lexicon always makes me feel that I am processing my sounds through a real, heavy, metal box.

You can get nice random repeats if you want mayhem, or link it to your DAW's clock to be all perfectly in sync. It handles both well, and while some delays can get messy in a mix, I can always pick this out, moving through the mix or panning, without screwing other things up.

PSP make marvellous delays and this is one of their very best.

They, of course, are famed and loved for the warm, fat sound of their other plug-ins, and Vintage Warmer and Old Timer really can be relied on in most situations - just adding PSP plugs to a track or whole song can give it a dirty, warm, analog glow.

Record a clean, straight Strat playing chords, then place one of those two on it, and hear a plain recording of guitar suddenly acquire an amped-up feel and a bit of juicy buzz.

But they also give a real bit of clout and authenticity with their delays - if you want the sound bouncing all over the place, morphing as it does so, their 608 will do that.

If you want old reggae dub style stuff, their Echo does that.

But the Lexicon captures a certain vintage style and sound (and look). Guitarist and singers will love that little extra it adds, and it's not just a delay effect by any means.

I had a few delays before, but I never go back to them now. Lexicon is in some ways simple, which encourages me to go straight for it, but I also never feel I'll have more processing work to do on a track once I have added it.

So it's pretty complete, and is highly recommended.