Alesis 3630

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Antz_Marchin

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Is the 3630 a good compressor?? How much should I pay for a good used one?? Is this a better compressor/limiter than the Behringer 2200 for the same price (used)?? Thanks ......BJ
 
Antz_Marchin said:
Is the 3630 a good compressor??
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No...


Antz_Marchin said:
How much should I pay for a good used one??
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The seller should pay *you* to take it off their hands!


Antz_Marchin said:
Is this a better compressor/limiter than the Behringer 2200 for the same price (used)??
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Not that I'm a Behringer fan, but you'd be better off with it than the 3630....!
 
if i remember correctly

the 2200 is the composer pro, i have never actually worked with one but many people on here seem to like the results they provide for the price. I think they are around 99 new and ive seen them go for as low as 40 bucks used on ebay.
And like everyone before said, stay away from that 3630, its trouble.
 
OK, sorry I don't know much about which effects are good and which are bad......Well I know which are GOOD but my budget is very limited so I'm looking for something that'll sound good and not cost me much at all. Any other suggestions?? These were both going for around $50 used....I'd like to spend around that....I know it's not much to work with.

Well another question then........since i have Software Compressors on my comp, this would be for live. Is there really a need for a compressor in an acoustic guitar/vocals Bar/Coffee House through a PA type setup??? Thanks again very much....BJ
 
The reason the 3630 is going for around $50 is because people don't want them after buying them. Mine is used as a gate strictly, no compression what so ever. IF your pinched for money, just save your money until you get about $130 to $200. I know its a long wait and its painful, but getting an RNC or even a DBX 166 will be great. Spending $50 on the 3630 would be like lighting the money on fire and trying to put it out with your tongue. If you get an older 3630 before the chinese offered to use cheaper opamps then you might get luck in getting a compressor that useable.
Id rather spend $50 at Taco Bell.

SoMm
 
Oh come on guys... The 3630 was used on alot of great albums such as.........

















Hmmmm..... :o
 
Son of Mixerman said:
The reason the 3630 is going for around $50 is because people don't want them after buying them. Mine is used as a gate strictly, no compression what so ever. IF your pinched for money, just save your money until you get about $130 to $200. I know its a long wait and its painful, but getting an RNC or even a DBX 166 will be great. Spending $50 on the 3630 would be like lighting the money on fire and trying to put it out with your tongue. If you get an older 3630 before the chinese offered to use cheaper opamps then you might get luck in getting a compressor that useable.
Id rather spend $50 at Taco Bell.

SoMm
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SoM, I don't disagree with you often, but man, this is too much! :)

I would take a 3630 ANY day or night of the week over a dbx 166!!! The 166 is about the most worthless compressor I have ever heard in my life.

I have some great sounding recordings that I used the 3630 to compress things such as bass guitar, kick drums, snares, and even acoustic guitars and electric guitars. Long Wave Studio, another member of this bbs has a very nice facility in England and has them installed in as I recall, all 4 mixing rooms.

The 3630 is a decent compressor at it's price point. If you get one that works, it will work great! But like so much of the recent "budget" gear, QC seems to be a little shakey.

I actually would recommend the 3630 over the newest Composer Pro's. I like the original Composers, but the Pro's have been mostly a disappoint to me.

Just my opinion. I will get around AGAIN to posting some great sounding mixes that used the 3630 on the stuff I listed above. The last "label" CD I mixed I used 4 channels of it on various things.

Ed
 
come now, the 3630 is great for us home recordists. after all our stuff is just as good as "pro" studios and we don't need your snobby boutique equipment to get a pro sound. You are all big phony's and just dump on home recording equipment so people can come in and see your big fancy expensive equipment and be oh so impressed. we record the TRUTH and the 3630 is perfectly fine no matter what you say. so there!
 
Yeah, that's a good point. It seems quality control might be a bigger issue than a lot of people on this forum would seem to give credit. It seems like ANY piece of low priced gear has some duds, some more than others. It is the only way to explain the sometimes contradictory views on the same pieces of gear. For example, 95% of everyone who has used it really likes the RNC compressor but there is a small percentage who think it is a noisy POS. A good explanation would be that there is a percentage of them that function, but not fully up to specs. It just doesn't sound bad enough for someone to think there is something wrong with it. I think that they're probably genuinely defective, like a lot of these low cost units. Some people will swear that this certain cheap box works great, well maybe they just got lucky and got a good one. So I guess you're paying for QC as well as anything else with a bigger price tag.

A bit of advice, if you're buying a super-cheap piece of gear, get it new and keep the receipt because you may need it. Don't get it used because the guy might be getting rid of it for a reason.

esun127 said:
Skip the compressor. You don't need it.
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I'll have to go ahead and disagree here. A compressor is EXTREMELY useful in this kind of setup when you don't have a sound engineer. Definitely will help make your voice sound more like the recording. It really helps to bring the soft passages up as well as limiting. I would recommend you insert it on your vocals and guitar separately. If you have more than one vocal, then insert each side on a vocal channel.
 
Antz_Marchin said:


Well another question then........since i have Software Compressors on my comp, this would be for live. Is there really a need for a compressor in an acoustic guitar/vocals Bar/Coffee House through a PA type setup??? Thanks again very much....BJ
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You would be much better off picking up an ART tube MP for your live acoustic setup. (trust me) For the vocals- learn to use a microphone! :D
 
sonusman said:
I would take a 3630 ANY day or night of the week over a dbx 166!!! The 166 is about the most worthless compressor I have ever heard in my life.
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Not sure if you're talking about the same comp, but I have a pair of 166XLs and there's no comparison between them and a 3630.... not even close.... and they work rather well!

So I gotta disagree with ya on that one!
 
sonusman said:
SoM, I don't disagree with you often, but man, this is too much! :)

I would take a 3630 ANY day or night of the week over a dbx 166!!! The 166 is about the most worthless compressor I have ever heard in my life.
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Too much? What is moderation?;)

I use the 166 on drums and it works pretty good. Your going to have to come by and pick up my 3630 and fix it. Maybe its just my 3630 thats the problem. To tell you the truth, it worked fine at one time, then one day bad things began to happen.

1)The gate wouldn't operate, powered it down, came back the next morning..it worked? Its happened several times since.
2) Had a guitarist in 3 weeks ago, it kept cutting off the tails as if I had a ratio of 20:1...I had the ratio set at less than 2:1.

Ed, your entirely right...If you have one that works and I have one that did and now rarely does...its a quality problem. If its it is hit and miss with getting one that works, what are the odds of getting a used one off E-bay for $50 that works? Maybe thats why the keepers aren't on E-bay. Im always willing to give any piece of gear a fair shake and I find a use for almost anything at some point, but I can't spend money on something thats not consistant.
I bought the 3630 in a pinch, the 166 isn't mine its on loan from another studio because I haven't been a compressor user for the most part. The most Ive ever used a compressor was on an API, and 2:1 was as hard as I'd squeeze it.
Im looking for a new compressor to replace the 166, I want something thats does a good job...with repeatable performance.

What would you buy?

SoMm
 
3630 are FIIINE. i think you guys have more quality control issues about it. ive used it on a few things without any problems. i know plenty of engineers here in UK who've used it on music in the charts right now.

im sure some of you must have seen a program called the weakest link...

the entire music for that show was mastered through a behringer composer.


ahem.
 

Im looking for a new compressor to replace the 166, I want something thats does a good job...with repeatable performance.

What would you buy?

SoMm [/B]
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Man, in the cheap price range, I would be looking for an older Composer used if you can find them. Did you know that the original Composer sold for $700 when it came out? Of course, the circuitry and design was an exact rip off of an older Drawmer VCA compressor that sold for about $1000 at the time. How the prices came down in a hurry!

A used Composer, NOT the Composer Pro is a worthy purchase.

QC really IS a big issue these days. Man, many years ago, when I was doing the "budget" route, I got in on the beginning of the "budget" market, which at the time meant components that cost less than $1000 each!!! Now, budget means less than say $250 each for comparable gear (so they say). Indeed, the circuit designs are probably just as good now (maybe a tad better in many cases), but I have noticed a disturbing trend in the actual construction of this "budget" gear! It is horrible. You can easily bend the boxes with your hands!

It isn't about "investment" anymore. It is about getting it cheap. This demand for cheap product in the audio world I think has hit the point where the cuts made to keep product costs down has effected the long term use of most products. Low prices are driving down quality in terms of construction. Too bad.

Products that I used to recommend based upon my purchase of them when those product lines first came out have almost always suffered from poor QC lately. Makes me look like an ass. :D I have NEVER had a problem with any of the ART MP's I bought 6-7 years ago, nor the Composers I bought shortly after than. Nor the 3630's from that era. NO PROBLEMS. Many others who bought back then havent' had any problems with those products either.

Oh well.

Ed
 
So, what would be the overall consensus? Which compressor is the best in the $100-$150 price range, that people haven't had any QC issues with.
 
It turns out that the three songs I have posted on NoWhereRadio all in fact used the up to 4 channels of the 3630 on them.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2270&alid=349

I don't know, these don't sound too bad to me.

BMW used in on kick, snare, bass guitar

Secret Heart used it on the acoustic guitar and bass

This Is My Cut used them on the kick, snare, bass, and one of the keyboard tracks (as I recall, the Rhodes)

Both units were purchased back around 97-98. Never had a problem with either.

Ed
 
Look at any equipment purchase this way. The gear you buy should either improve your sound and/or make your recording easier and more enjoyable.

A 3630 will do none of the above.

However in comparison with a RNC, it does excel as a toothpick! ;)

Don't fall for buying something because it is cheap, even if your budget is tight.

A turd on a stick, is still a turd on a stick no matter how cheap it is!

Wait and save your pennies for something that is usable. :)
 
I see pundit, so the 4 channels of compression I paid maybe $300 for sounds pretty bad on those mp3's? ;)

Ed
 
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