Alesis 3630

I

iancl

New member
How good is this unit as a compressor, and how good is it as a gate? I would be using it on drums.

I've done a bit of research and it seems some people think it has a very bad reputation as both.

I notice as a gate though, it only has threshold and rate controls. I assumed the rate was pretty much an expander ratio, but it seems to be a release time. Do gates not normally have a hold time as well, or is that rarely used? It wouldn't be a problem on drums would it? It also doesn't have a Range control, so it will completely cut off the signal. This wouldn't be a problem wither would it. I've heard that going -20 instead of -infinity can increase the opening time - would it on this unit?
 
if you open one up, the circuit boards will say what revision they are. revision D (or 3630 blahblah D) are somewhat dramatically improved over older revisions, and fix many of the most obvious problems with 3630s that most complain about. However there are still many mods that can be done to improve the unit's overall sound quality. I'd say you could get one now, learn to use it to it's best advantage, and once you finally start finding little quibbles with it's overall tone you could mod it for $50 to $150 (plans available on prodigy-pro.com, use their search tool) and end up with a better comp right up to a really amazing sounding compressor, depending on how much work and money you put into it.

if you don't have one, it's a cheap way to get into it, and more moddable than the competitor's versions (behringer for example).

By the way, I think all new ones are revision D, which is a good thing. lots of used ones are too though, and you can often find a used one for $50 to $80.

Cheers,
Don
 
by the way, I probably should have said http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum

that /forum part makes all the difference...

and on a site like that (where they know their stuff and don't suffer fools), I'd search and read as much as possible before posting questions, you'll probably find that anything you need to know is already answered somewhere. lots of 3630 stuff on there.

Cheers,
Don
 
iancl said:
How good is this unit as a compressor, and how good is it as a gate? I would be using it on drums.

I've done a bit of research and it seems some people think it has a very bad reputation as both.

I notice as a gate though, it only has threshold and rate controls. I assumed the rate was pretty much an expander ratio, but it seems to be a release time. Do gates not normally have a hold time as well, or is that rarely used? It wouldn't be a problem on drums would it? It also doesn't have a Range control, so it will completely cut off the signal. This wouldn't be a problem wither would it. I've heard that going -20 instead of -infinity can increase the opening time - would it on this unit?
Click to expand...

There are a couple of modifications that are supposed to make noticeable improvements. Tape OP had an article on them. If memory serves me right, it is the gate circuitry that causes a lot of the issues with the unit and in fact the Tape OP mod basically jumps out the circuit. I have the article laying around here somewhere but you should be able to do a search and find some references.
 
I have two Alesis 3630's sitting in my attic. Well, that's not true. One is torn apart on my desk awaiting some new OP amps and whatnot. At any respect, I have used both for gating / compressing drum tom tracks before sending them to tape. That was a big mistake. The gate side wasn't bad, but the compression side sucked, although I think the issue was moreso from me having the release time too short more than the actual unit's performance. I used them for some scratch vocal recordings and it worked decently well.

I am definitely doing some modding to the one and doing some A/B'ing. I do have the D revision boards, btw. And, my ART VLA Pro does perform significantly better but it does not have a gate.
 
Its pretty much the one piece of gear that is universally hated by engineers. I have never known any piece of hardware or software that so many people hate.

For compression take a look at the FMR audio RNC compressor. A really solid tool for less than $200 new.
 
Well, last time I said I liked 3630's I got shot down in flames.

I have been using them for years, I have also got good results over the years.

Funny enough I did a live sound gig the other day for the first time in ages, I took my portable rack that has 2 x 3630's and used them on the 2 vocal channels. The act was 2 acoustic guitars, violin, and vocals. The show was outside. People in the crowd came up to me after the gig and told me how much they liked the mix and how well they could hear the vocal (lyrics).

Gate wise I don't use the 3630 as a gate except sometimes very mild, slow gating if there is a noisy source on the channel.

I would never use it on bass guitar its crap for that. I have used it on kick and snare (in hard knee peak mode) but if using a cheap compressor on snare I prefer the Behringer composer.

My first choice on drums, buss compression or Overheads is my TL audio Fat Man and second is my RNC.

However, If I could only afford a cheap compressor I would get a Behringer Composer.

If you want gates why not just by a unit with 4 gates in it? Many brands out there.

Cheers

Alan.
 
I have never used a 3630 so I won't comment on its performance but if you are looking mainly for gating purposes (or expansion, which will be better for drums anyways) you should check out a DBX 274 Project 1 quad gate/expander. It has 4 channels of gate/expansion which gates but manages to stay musical on drums. I had one a while back when I was still working on outboard gear and it always came in handy. They usually sell for under $100.00 if you can find one. Just my 2 cents.....
 
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