Alesis 3630 _ Bad Rep.. But Can It Do 'Normal' / Techno ?

[winston]

Sadly, everything here is like double the price. New or second hand. What compressor would you recommend instead?

I bought the 3630 for the pumping effect, i didn't even look into what else it done or what compressors do in general (i understand it now though, in the whole) so i'd be no use in recommending another compressor. Software wise i use Waves CL-76 and Tube-tech CL-1B plug ins, as thats what i used when learning about compression.

[Críoch]

Just to through another spanner in the works.. Theres a reference by Dave Clarke in this interview about the 3630. Said he was using it & people like Nilz (!!) & Daft Punk were asking him what he was using.

http://www.thepublicstand.com/tag/techno

Steve.. You know Dave? Does he spin a yarn?

The Nilz thing I could easily believe.. But (even though he doesnt suggest it..) could Dave Clarke be responsible for pointing Daft Punk towards tge 3630?

Now that would be cool & funny

Edit: just re-read the interview., hmm. But unclear as to whether it was before the DP homework phase.

Dave Clarke: It makes me feel good, I can’t explain it. When I first started making records I came across compression by accident. I came across the Alesis 3630, I think it was. And everyone was saying: ‘Oh you’re record sounds so loud, people like Nilz (RIP). And he was like: ‘Wow, you got it really loud and you got it really clean.’ And even Daft Punk were asking me what compressors I was using.

Rolf Mulder: They were known at that time, for their sound level ans compression.

Dave Clarke: Yeah.. It was like a whole thing of.. I mean even that guy that left a very very strange review on Radikal G on your website, that ITCHY guy…

Rolf Mulder: Oh yeah, I’ve heard of him yeah…

Dave Clarke: He came up to me and he actually said: ‘Oh your records are so loud, what’s the secret? So hardware compression has been with me from quite a long time ago. And the thing is I like… they all have their own intrinsic little sound. And the SSL compressor has his own sound, the Avalon has his own sound. The API has his own sound, the Distressors have their own sound. They all have their own sound!
Look at you smiling: ’I’m getting information about technology’.

[Lost to the Void]

I'm not even going to try to work out wether clarky is talking ass or not.

But I can tell you that nilz comments about "wow, you got it really loud"

Was probably him politely saying "Jesus, you murdered the shit out of this stuff"

I love clarky, but he's never a man I would ever refer as a good producer, at least not back then.
Good tunes, for sure, good production.................

[Lost to the Void]

Regardless, you can pick up these things for less than 50 quid.
I've seen em go for 40 jib, it's pretty hard to not find a use for something at that price.

[Mslwte]

It's not what you have but what you do with it that counts

You could have a studio full of high end gear and make bland music, or you could have a fair amount of cheap gear and make great music.

Techno was about accessible back in the day. Cheap gear = raw sound

[quest]

Yep. I started with a 3630, got one DBX 166 along the way, and then another 166 at which point I said "I don't need 3 compressors in one space" and moved the 3630 into a smaller second space.

In terms of the projects I work on in each space, I did move the 3630 away from where I'm doing techno and into a space I'm doing downtempo/chiptunes kind of stuff. The 166's handle all the hardware compression I need for techno, and it's nice having two variations on that model for different busses as I can set them to "default settings" together and then tweak each for unique character (generally a tougher setting for low percussion/bass group, and an easier setting for higher frequency percussion group.)

Does that mean I didn't use the 3630 for decent enough results for the time I used it for techno? It depends. I definitely felt that the results I got, no matter on the settings, was overall a bit "dirtier" than what I get from the 166. This was great when I wanted the sound, but less convenient when I didnt.

With one 166 and one 3630, I couldn't get two clean group mixes like I can now. It was one clean one dirty, or two dirty.

Judging from better sound quality in more recent mixes in general, this change worked in my favor (I'll post the latest EP in members music section, compare it with older stuff on my soundcloud and judge for yourself.

All in all, if you have a patch bay and want access to a heavy, gritty compressed sound, go for it. For most of the more "real" techno, you generally want at least one dirty rhythmic group in there to get some texture into the mix.

If you want to hardwire it to specific equipment to again get the character sound, go for it.

But if like me, you want compressors you can hardwire into your mixing chain and want to get a broad gamut of compression outputs in terms of sound character, a gamut that includes clean compression, maybe steer clear.

It's a decent compressor to start with, better than ie a Samson S-Com4 (I have one of those too but only use it for gating), just be wary that it might be hard to get fairly clean audio going into it to come out the same way, but compressed.

[gabe DM]

I have one, I bought it some years ago because I wanted a hardware comp to play with and understand actually what a comp does... I still don't have it clear but I can feel some kind of presence on the compressed sound.
I don't have any solid technical base so I use the thing by my ears but maybe it's true that doesn't have a strong character.
I can tell you it's usefull because for the price of one comp you get two (dual channel) and you can actually see the reduction in dbs etc etc so I think because it's so cheap and classic maybe go on and try it.
I then have a pedal comp which really squeeze the sound far more, so the 3630 it's a soft compression but it defines the sounds in a good way... it depends what you looking for.

actually mine has one channel broken after one year of use so it's not really ethernal.

[Críoch]

I got a Focusrite Compounder recently.

I know I'm hitting it too hard, but - FuCKKKK!!!

[Markus Wolf]

This has got to be one of the truest and wisest words ever said on Techno/House music production ... I knew this already but I wish someone had told me sooner, before buying gear........

It's not what you have but what you do with it that counts

You could have a studio full of high end gear and make bland music, or you could have a fair amount of cheap gear and make great music.

Techno was about accessible back in the day. Cheap gear = raw sound

[Mslwte]

Just came across this topic again via Google..

Thought I would add that I modified both of my units and it has massively transformed the sound.
After I modded the first one i liked it so much I hacked the second a bit more and added a few extra mods and different op amps for a different sound.

https://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/b ... essor-mods

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... =15&t=5716

http://karg-music.blogspot.com/2015/10/ ... d.html?m=1

I used a mixture of info from the above links. Definitely worth a go if you want a very useable cheap as chips compressor.

[WOLF!]

I've heard some things about DBX clones by Behringer (in the 90's stuff).
I'm looking for a DIY project so I might go for an old Behringer comp.
Anybody got any recommendations? Must be thru hole and not SMD.
Something for parallel compression on the drum bus.

[Ben Kohonays]

I've heard some things about DBX clones by Behringer (in the 90's stuff).
I'm looking for a DIY project so I might go for an old Behringer comp.
Anybody got any recommendations? Must be thru hole and not SMD.
Something for parallel compression on the drum bus.

You want to be researching the MDX 2000 and 2100 compressors. And it's a Drawmer, not a DBX that it's based on.

Also worth looking at if you're researching budget comps is the DBX MC6, it's a little desktop thing in a similar price range.

[Ben Kohonays]

My apologies, I forgot about the MDX 1000 which IS based upon a DBX. Typical, I actually have one kicking about that isn't wired up at the minute. Much like me.

[WOLF!]

For what I found on the net (and that could be interesting for other users):
MDX2000 is based upon a Drawmer 241.
MDX1000 is based upon a DBX160(X) (but 160X is 1 channel and MDX1000 has 2 channels)
I dunno if anybody has some info about the two mentioned MDX models?

I've recently bought MJUC (software compressor) and I guess that some better spent money (I was looking for something to go on the master bus).