Preamble
I bought this second hand on a bit of a whim. I didn't have any real use in mind, just thought I'd like to try it out, and it sat idle for quite some time. Again, mostly because didn't have a real need for it, and it had some operational problems.
I was sold it with an inadequate power supply, so it often crashed. That was easy to solve, the manual specified a 9 Vac 1.3 amp supply, so I bought one. That fixed most of the problems.
And it developed a bunch of intermittent problems (erratic controls, signals coming and going if you rapped on the box, etc). It's from the early ROHS era (early 2000's) when lead-free solder was mandated. I've continually had to deal with masses of soldering faults on a variety of ROHS manufactured equipment over the years (bad from the get-go, or having a very short life-span), and this unit was no exception. I've reworked the soldering on it a couple of times, firstly on every bad joint I could locate, then a mass desolder and resolder a year later. The ribbon connector between boards was a particular problem. I had to trim the end off it to get wires uncontaminated by lead-free solder before any new solder would take. Once that was done, it's been nice and reliable.
I only have one more fault to fix. It'd obviously received a whack before I bought it. There's a dent in the metalwork, and the rotary encoder on the far right push-in switch has been damaged. At the moment it's been braced back together, and I've found a replacement to go in when I feel like pulling it apart again.
I might guess it was sold because it went bad. But anyway, on to how it works.
What it is
It's mostly a reverb unit. There's a plethora of reverb presets, as well as adjustments for your own setups. With a few delay-based effects, such as chorus, flanging, phasing, and some basic compressor features. I've really only played with the reverb effects, I didn't care much for how the other effects sounded and my instrument (organ) has most of the effects I'd want built into it, and I have separate compressors.
It has what it thinks is a Leslie simulation, but it'd have to be the worst attempt at it that I've ever heard. My organ is some 15 (or more) years older, and its fake Leslie effect does a better job just phase and amplitude modulating the sound through some quite basic bucket-brigade-device ICs between two speakers on the corner of the cabinet. My organ's tiny dual-spring reverb, on the other hand, leaves a fair bit to be desired.
Essentially it's four effects devices. It's set up as a two-channel stereo device (two ins, two outs), with two two-channel effects processors that can be paralleled or daisy-chained in four ways between them.
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Dual mono
Channel 1 input through both inputs of a stereo effects processor with both of its outputs going to channel 1 main output, and channel 2 input through a both inputs of a stereo effects processor with both of its outputs going to to channel 2 main output output, both effects processors are independent from each other.
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Cascade
Left and right stereo inputs into the first stereo effects processor, its left and right outputs into the second stereo effects processor, and its left and right to the main outputs. This might be used to first do a sound effect, then add reverb to it.
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Dual stereo (parallel)
Left and right stereo inputs going to both stereo effects processors left and right inputs, the left outputs from both effects processors going to the left main outputs together, the right outputs from both effects processors going to the right main outputs together. This works rather nicely for complex reverb combinations.
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Mono split
Channel 1 input going into both inputs of one stereo effect processor, channel 2 input going into both inputs of the other stereo effect processor, the left outputs from both effects processors going to the left main outputs together, the right outputs from both effects processors going to the right main outputs together.
There's a separate mono-output mode, which sums the left and right outputs together when set.
It's a combination digital/analogue device. There's digital (RCA coaxial electrical connections) S/PDIF inputs and outputs, and analogue (¼″ balanced/unbalanced TRS sockets), with digital processing internally. You feed analogue or S/PDIF audio in, and get audio out of both the analogue and S/PDIF connectors (both with the same effects, or it can do S/PDIF dry and analogue with effects when using an analogue input), it's not a datastream plug-in for a DAW. It's main uses would be for live sound, or patching into analogue post production. Though I have fed audio out of computer audio editing software, into the MX200, and then back into the computer, because it's reverb sounded better than any that the editing software had.
The reverb on this YouTube clip of The House of the Rising Sun was done that way (recorded live through multiple mikes onto separate tracks, two overdubs of banjo done to replay, and the vocals replayed through the MX200 to separate reverb tracks). And this YouTube clip of The Streets of London was done similarly. They were recorded in a moderately dead room (my lounge/dining room), with dual reverb using different settings to try and emulate a larger and more complex space. Not Phil Spector levels of reverb, but to take the deadness out of the original sound. Speaking of him, if you want that kind of wall-of-sound effect, it's multiple overdubs of the same instruments, and more bass going through the reverb than people usually have.
There are USB and MIDI connectors, but they're just for remote controlling the MX200. And there's a ¼″ jack for remote bypass switching. I'd say it's from the end of the era where computers were just used as sequencers in audio production, with mixing and recording being done with real audio equipment.
There are no menus, it's all buttons and knobs, no menus. You can call up presets, you can save your settings as your own presets. But having knobs and buttons means that you can easily adjust for what you want while you listen. It's not a case of enter options, activate them, listen to what it did, rinse, lather, repeat. Well, it can operate that way, it can be set to a mode where you call up presets and they don't engage until you press a button, or it can run in a mode where they engage immediately as you dial through them. Either way it's quicker than plowing through menus step-by-step. And the manual parameter tweaking knobs have immediate effect while you adjust them.
As you tweak the knobs, the two-digit display gives you a numerical reading of the knob's position. This is handy for jotting down notes about what you're doing if you don't want to save presets at the time, or want to keep a written backup of some settings you like in case of accidents.
There are some pre-recorded test sounds built in that you can trigger off by pressing the audition button. A drum stick click, snare drum, kick drum, female vocal “doo,“ and an acoustic guitar strum. You can set it to always play just one of them, or it'll cycle through each one every time you press the audition button. It gives you something to try your effects settings as you tweak, as well as a quick test that you've patched things up correctly.
There's two basic modes for using it.
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Parallel mode
It being fed from the effects feed from a mixing desk, through the MX200, and back into the mixing desk's effects return.
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Serial mode
It sits between two things, such as an instrument into the MX200, and then going to an amplifier
The only real difference between those modes is the wet/dry mix settings in the presets. But unless you're using unmodified factory presets, it really doesn't matter what mode you use it in.
The output is relatively quiet, it doesn't seem to have the self-noise chatter that some reverbs have. The specifications list full audio bandwidth (20–20kHz), low distortion (0.007% THD+N), 24-bit 48kHz A/D converters, +4dbU nominal +20dBu maximum input and output with 108dB dynamic range, 20kΩ in balanced or 10kΩ in unbalanced ¼″ TRS, output impedance wasn't listed and is balanced or unbalanced ¼″ TRS.