Lexicon PCM 81 - REV 2 - Go or Pro; Modes of Operation; Navigating a Matrix; Section 2: Basic Operation

2-2
Basic Operation
Lexicon
The PCM 81 provides a wide range of control over an extraordinary
set of reverb, delay, pitch and modulation effects. All of the controls
are easily accessed from the front panel and are described in detail
in this section.
MODES OF OPERATION
The PCM 81 has five basic modes of operation, each of which is
selected by pressing a front panel button (Program Banks, Register
Banks, Edit, Control and Tempo). Each of these first four mode
buttons has an LED which lights when the mode is active. The
Tempo LED (unless you elect to have this function turned off)
flashes the current tempo. When Tempo mode is active, no other
mode LEDs will be lighted.
• Press Register Banks to access a bank of 50 memory locations,
called registers, where you can store your customized effects.
Memory cards can be used for storage of additional banks of
registers. When a formatted memory card containing stored
registers is inserted, pressing Register Banks repeatedly will
cycle through all of the available register banks.
• Press Edit to access all of the available parameters for the
currently running effect.
• Press Control to select system parameters, MIDI, card
formatting, etc.
• Press Tempo to set tempo-related values that affect the delay
time and LFO rate parameters of the currently-running effect.
This is an exciting feature which is unique to the PCM 81, and
which will be described in detail later in this chapter.
NAVIGATING A MATRIX
All of the controls available in a mode are arranged in a matrix of
up to 10 columns (numbered 0-9) and 10 rows (each numbered
.0-.9). This arrangement allows any one of as many as 100
parameters to be selected simply by using the SELECT knob and
the Up and Down buttons to select a position in the matrix.
GO OR PRO
The PCM 81 offers a choice between two levels of Edit mode
parameter access. We call these Go mode and Pro mode.
Go mode makes use of an extra row in the edit mode matrix called
the Soft Row, where you can assign as many as 10 effect
parameters for easy access. Selecting Go mode (Control mode 1.0)
limits the action of the Edit button to displaying only the Soft Row
parameters assigned to the current effect.
The PCM 81 always operates in one of these modes.
Here, the lit LED indicates that Control Mode is active.
The five mode buttons give you the first level of access to all of the
functions and parameters in the PCM 81.
• Press Program Banks repeatedly to access six banks of factory
preset programs. Each bank contains 50 programs.