The MPX100 is the first in a range of processors based on Lexicon's new Lexichip III reverb processing engine, an extremely powerful custom device capable of running Lexicon's famous high‑quality reverb algorithms without cutting corners. Lexicon have ventured into the budget effects market before, notably with the Alex and the Reflex, so affordable Lexicon effects are no longer unheard of, but the MPX100 offers a few refinements that could make it attractive to anyone searching for decent‑quality effects on a shoestring.

For a start, it differs from its predecessors in that it has 20‑bit input and output converters running at 44.1kHz. Combined with an internal 24‑bit signal path, this gives a dynamic range of over 95dB using the analogue output, but Lexicon have also included an S/PDIF digital output that extends the dynamic range to better than 100dB.

Lexicon's new unit provides reverb, as you'd expect, but also adds a wide selection of non‑reverb effects, from delay and chorus to rotary speaker simulation and pitch shift. The control system hints at the well‑worn Alesis Microverb/Midiverb arrangement, where the user simply picks one of 16 variations on one of 16 preset effects themes, but there's actually rather more to it than that.

The MPX100 gets very close to a big Lexicon sound for very little money.