Lexicon Multi-Channel Desktop Recording Studio, 2x2x2 (2-Input, 2-Bus, 2-Output) (Alpha)

Once again I have to give it to Amazon for their lightning fast shipping. I ordered at ~2:30 on a Saturday and the device was on my doorstep by Monday morning. :DThe Lexicon Alpha audio interface works as advertised using the well known ASIO4ALL universal device driver. I uninstalled the included Alpha driver because as soon as my system accessed the sound device my CPU usage shot to 100% and nothing short of a hard restart would resolve the issue. This was repeatable and does not occur while using ASIO4ALL. YMMV.My DAW of choice is Reaper. Software monitoring with VSTs like Guitar Rig is very responsive and I am very satisfied with the latency. A few plugins I've played with introduce a small amount of noticeable latency but most that I have tried cause no problems.The Alpha adds no noise to the signal and when I dial my guitar's volume to 0 there is absolutely no activity visible in the mixer. My first audio interface was a Lightsnake, which added all sorts of pops and noise to the signal. You can actually see/hear the blinking light on recorded tracks, so while the Alpha may not be the quietest/best interface it is miles above the Lightsnake which is just $20 less than the Alpha.The Lexicon reverb VST included with the Alpha will only work with the bundled Cubase LE. I hear good things about Lexicon's reverbs but since the driver won't load in Reaper I can't really comment on it. While Cubase is nice, I prefer Reaper since there are no restrictions on the software. Cubase LE provides a lot of functionality but ultimately it is (very respectable) starter software and I don't plan on purchasing the full $500 version anytime soon. Reaper is just $60 for personal use.In short, if you are looking for a way to record vocals, or keyboard, guitar, or bass you could certainly do worse than the Lexicon Alpha. I wish these had been available years ago!

As a music teacher I bought this to educate myself on the possibility of recommending the Lexicon Alpha to my students as a great way to start learning the recording process without breaking an arm and a leg monetarily and I was more than pleased with the results. For the price, it is definitely a great find. You better believe that I already am telling my students to get this if they are interested in learning how to record.If you've got the money, there are definitely better products out there, but for the average musician who wants to start recording at home with a limited budget, this is the way to go. It comes bundled with Cubase LE5 which to be honest I haven't even used yet, but since it is a Light Edition of the popular Cubase 5, I can't imagine it being bad. I have been using the Lexicon Alpha with Reaper, (which I prefer over Cubase) and it has worked great. It worked right out of the box and I haven't had any problems with it yet.My computer is set up to dual boot between Windows and Linux, so I can say with certainty that the Lexicon Alpha works perfectly fine with Ubuntu Studio. I've been using it with Audacity (Linux recording software) and it also passed the test with flying colors. As opposed to Windows, as soon as I hooked it up and rebooted my Linux box, the proper drivers were immediately found, downloaded and installed, all in the blink of an eye, and I didn't do a single thing. Right away I was able to record with it.Again, I'll repeat what I said, buy the Lexicon Alpha and get ready to begin your journey into the world of music recording! You won't regret it.

I have an Apogee Rosetta AD interface that I paid $1500 for used in 2001. There was no better ADC for audio back in the day. But it is not USB (this was before USB became prevalent), an AEC/SPDIF to USB converter does not exist, a serial to USB converter for the control channel is pricey, apparently, and USB is really the only protocol used anymore for both functions. So it is frustrating that I can't use my top-of-the-line interface anymore, but this one does a pretty good job. I can't A-B it for quality with the Apogee (since I have not heard that one in a decade) but I have no issue with the ADC quality; it seems to have no audible flaws. I want the Apogee Duet, but I also want to hang on to the $600 that would then be missing from my wallet. But it could be that the ADC technology has improved since 2000 enough so that there may be little difference between that and this new one anyway.My only real nitpick is that there are separate pots for R and L, and they are touchy; it is difficult to adjust both to precisely the same level for recording. I do like that they co-opted a garden-variety stereo pan pot so there is one control for balancing headphones against speaker outs. Ergonomically, the design is pretty clever, and a step up from most interfaces in this price range.If you are recording only one track at a time for a multitrack DAW, this covers about every need, line, mic, and instrument. Also works as a D-to-A for monitoring or if you want to hook your laptop to a PA system. There is an 8-channel version also from Lexicon that is probably on par with this one. No audible noise in the output; quiet as a church mouse.I can't comment on the bundled Cu-Base and Pantheon reverb, because I am using Logic Pro X which means I won't need either of those, but the reverb looks pretty good for an algorithmic digital reverb, at least according to the manual. It is a Lexicon product, after all, and their rep is pretty sterling.I did have an issue with my unit (not that unit) though, after about a week I started to get crackling in the headphones and speakers, which was not traced to anything other than the Alpha. But I sent it back and got a replacement the same day from Amazon with no hassle. Amazon is really good about returns/replacements.Here's a late edit: It's hard to find perfection in a $60 ADC, and there is one annoying issue in that the USB often drops out when the computer sleeps, and I have to unplug/replug it to reinitialize. Its a small bug, but a bug just the same. Noticed this on both this one and the previous one, so possibly endemic to this product. For the stellar performance I am getting for $60, I can hardly complain about that, tho.