Sound On Sound Magazine review Lexicon's new Firewire Audio Interface, the IONIX FW810S

With a wealth of features – including dbx high-voltage, ultra low noise mic pre’s, Pantheon II reverbs, and a powerful software mixing board with dbx dynamics and hardware monitor reverb – the Lexicon IONIX FW810S is more than just an 8-in, 10-out FireWire audio interface. It’s a pro recording studio contained in a single rack unit. Sound On Sound Magazine has the first review.

“The mixer is an absolute doddle to comprehend on account of its traditional-style control layout and absence of tabbed pages…”

“In terms of sound, this (dbx) preamp is nice and clean, with a low noise floor and little obvious colouration, which make it ideal for general purpose use…Further dbx input processing follows the A-D conversion, and comprises (in order) gate/expander, compressor and limiter for each of the eight inputs. All of these processes are fully featured and well behaved in practice. The gate/expander works very effectively to reduce background noise, and the wide ratio range lets you fairly easily adapt the effect to different sources”.

“As you’d expect from Lexicon, these reverbs are very satisfying, adhering well to the dry sound in a way that really helps mixes to blend. There’s little sign of any of the unpleasant metallic colorations that blight small-CPU-footprint algorithms, and I have to say that I was extremely impressed with the sound on offer”.

“Add all this together and you end up with an attractive package which does away with much of the need for external mixing and processing hardware during tracking”.

To read the full review, pick up the June Issue of Sound on Sound Magazine (Volume 24, Issue 8). The Lexicon IONIX FW810S is available now at £879 RRP.