http://www.lexiconpro.com/en/products/mx200
 
I just can't live with the built in EFX on my little Yamaha MG82 mixer. Your sort of stuck with what every they thought you would need. The Reverb is OK, but the Delay is Labeled Karaoke which say's it all.
So this starts yet another quest for the perfect solution. 
 
Yesterday I brought home a TC Helicon Voice Live Play to try out. Same issue where the reverbs are excellent but the delay is out of your control. The tap tempo option is a bad idea for a person who is trying to sing, play the guitar and not fall over. Cool harmonies but another distraction from my quest for good delay. 
So I took it back and traded even for a Lexicon MX 200. Just a quick demo at the store and ,,wow, what a difference.  Lexicon certainly wrote the book on good reverbs. I've used the Sonar version since day one. But this is sounding even better. And the good news is the Delay is logical to operate. Ya! quest over .. So I think I'm well equipped for live now. I might even go back to midi sequencing for song by song patches. 
Meanwhile back at the studio- 
I bought this primarily for live audio, but if it does turn out to up the ante on the Lexicon Pantheon then why not use it instead.  
It has both SPDIF and USB connectivity. 
The SPDIF would allow inserting it as a hardware effect unit without conversion. 
The USB allows the unit to interact with your DAW as a VST plug in via software you download. I'm on the road so will be a few days before I can try this.
So my question is, has any body successfully used this unit, or any hardware effects for that matter, inside Sonar as a vst plug in?? . it's 32 Bit   ;(    
I won't be disappointed if the USB system is a bomb as I would be just as happy to link it with SPDIF which I already understand how to initiate.
I seem to remember a Lexicon audio interface that had bad drivers from years past. 

I have not tried this unit, but sounds cool.  The idea of allowing a hardware processor to work as a VST in a DAW is something I had wished for a long time ago.  To bad that software or something like it isn't available for universal use.  That would allow the focus to remain on a monitor rather than stretching, leaning or moving to the hardware rack just to make some or one tweak of the dial.  Awesome!
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

Well actually reading the manual it say's it shows as a regular vst plug in,
All parameters can be tweaked and stored as a pre set too.
Only the USB cable connection makes this different than ITB effects. All processing is done with hardware relieving your CPU. It all sound good on paper, so I'll cross my fingers untill I get home and can fire it up.  
What this will mean to me is if I use Sonar as a playback DAW for my live show, then it will automatically recall the pre set for each song. 
There will be no latency issues either. 
I will also use it for tracking vocals. Not only can I add some reverb without printing it, There is a compressor which I'm crossing my fingers is good enough to work to buffer overs from clients who have bad mike habits. 
 
So looks like your dream came true. A few years ago. The manual was printed in 2005. This is old technology, that's why I bought it..       :) 

You may wish to seek out some of the interviews with Michael Carnes.
 
He's the former head of effects programming at Lexicon.
 
In one of the interviews he tells an anecdotal story about having spent a career assuming that dedicated dsp hardware would always outperform Windows OS or Mac OS based CPU processing... until he finally made the time to compile some of his favorite algorithms for desktop processing. He explains that he was more than surprised to learn how much power a desktop had, and he realized that his most intensive hardware based processes only took up a tiny fraction, often less than 1%, of a desktop's resources. He explains how this has been liberating and that he has been able to use desktop CPU implementation to further advance his craft while compiling processes that are beyond the capability of the dedicated dsp chips found in hardware reverb units.
 
The point being, the idea of using hardware dsp for reverb to supplement DAW has become an anachronism.
 
 

Thanks Mike that's good to know, I'll be interested to compare the Panthleon to the hardware Reverbs latter this week and I'll post what I find. Like I say, I didn't buy it for the studio initially. I bought it to use live.
I'm trying to retire my Yamaha 01v from the studio. It's pretty old.  Mostly for adding reverb to the cue mix while tracking vocals. I was using the compressors up until like a fool one day I realized that any compression added after a A/D is pointless. 
I am going to buy this next spending spree. 
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/threeQ
 
It is interesting how forgiving the Yamaha's pre amps are. I've been using them for 25 years and have rarely had an audible clip in any input running through them.  I find the Focusrites pre amps are way to picky. They are super prone to clipping with a very nasty artifact.  So I use the Yamaha and SPDIF. 
 
 
 

This is an old thread, but I just purchased a (used) MX200 (being shipped today).  Does it really work like they say, "plug in USB and use like a VST?  Or, is it better used as a "reamped" style device?
 
Thanks/Jack

I still have one that I bought several years ago for live gigs. I remember hooking it up to my DAW just to check it out and it worked as expected but I really can't remember much other than that. It does have some very usable reverb and delays when used in a live situation. May I'll dig it back out one of these days.

I have the Lexicon MX200, however, I used it as a Hardware insert within Sonar Platinum.
I mainly wanted a way that I could change the reverb (in the headphones) for vocalist when recording their songs.  It works well and I even have it saved as a template for my VOXCUE bus.
 
I've had the unit for several years now and it works great.    I have to say that I never tried the VST approach, however, their was a Sound on Sound article about the MX 2000 and about using VST.
 
Read the SOS article here.   LEXICON MX200

Thanks for the SOS link.  I'll have to work with it after I get it. It will be great if I can get it working as a VST.

I have its bigger brother the MX-400, and it works the same way. I haven't used it as a VST within Sonar for quite awhile, but I did in the past and recall that I thought it was a good implementation and worked as expected.