Alesis 3630 - are they REALLY that bad?

[Christopher Woods]

So after reading (and laughing at lot) at the GS thread about the 3630, I'm wondering - are they actually as bad as everyone's making out?

Reason I ask is that first of all, I've not heard how these comps behave (not had the chance). I have been offered the chance to grab up a couple of these for £40 each - if they're absolutely dire then there's no point buying them whatever they cost, but I'm interesting to hear opinions from people who've used a variety of gear and are actually familiar with the 3630's sound.


Anyone? Trev? (you MUST've heard them at some point :P)

[TrevCircleStudios]

Yes. They really are that bad... Of course that doesn't mean there is nothing you could use them for. I mean, you might have a door that needs to be held open, or maybe some papers that need held down...

[Christopher Woods]

Funny you should mention doorstop. I was mulling over doing the rubber foot mod - what better way to express your audionerdiness than by having a real life functional (arguably) compressor as a doorstop?

Or perhaps modifying it to be one of those coatracks that hangs from the top of a door, and take off the pots to replace them with hooks? I've seen designer stuff like this that costs more than £40...

[EdRyan]

They are very cheap and cheerful units. Very hit and miss on the type of material is works well on. We had one in uni that's never used. For a giggle I patched it in one day and ran an 808 kick drum sample through the 3630. The result was less then pleasing. Even on moderate ratios and attacks it robbed the kick of any life (instead of sqeezing the life into a shoebox) and generally sounded worse. It faired better with some keys and acoustic guitar.

The odd thing is that there are people out there using them. Daft Punk & Alan Braxe are the two that I remember knowing have them.

Its not just the Alesis. Generally, all of the cheap hardware compressors I've encountered have suffered the same sonic fate. Its one of those devices that you do really get what you pay for. I'm not too fond of cheap DBX compressor's either. Same with Behringer etc.

The worst compressor I've ever come across though was a Drawmer from the 1960's. It worked on absolutely nothing. Hard to explain the effect. You could hear it, but it never sounded good.