KVR Audio

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:15 pm

Hi,
Im looking for a good budget compressor / gate for around £150 or under.
I've been looking at a few but not sure what would be the best out of the lot.
I'm only looking for using it in my home studio.
The ones Ive been looking at are:

Behringer Composer Pro mdx 2600

Behringer T1952

TC Electronic C300

Alesis 3630

Presonus Bluemax

DBX 166XL

Any recomendations from the list above or maybe something Ive missed?

amarule · Post by **amarule** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:56 pm

Nothing Behringer is worth it's weight in spit IMHO.

Same with the Alesis, total junk. The Presonus Bluemax is about 1/10th of a step up from the Alesis.

The TC isn't bad, nor is the 166XL, but neither are anything great.

What do you intend to do with it? the TC and 166XL are ok budget comps for live stuff, but I would recommend investing in plugins vs one of these modestly ok comps.

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:13 am

As I mentioned above, I want to use it in my home studio for recording via cubase. As far as vst's go, I am trying to avoid using as many as I can due to my old aged computer. Because I have a newborn on the way, buying another is simply not an option.

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:21 am

how old the computer? many of todays software is optimized for cpu use. anyways it would seem to me.... ( although I know nothing of computer code and how it works ) but I am willing to guess, that many payware compressors do not use more cpu than freeware ones. Infact I imagine, a payware compressor might even use less cpu than a freeware one. I see very small cpu footprints being made by things like chorus' flangers, and compressors

hi cpu use, seems to reside in synths. and verb, and delays. but filters, and compressors.... they seem pretty cpu light to me.

anyways, Lets hear more about your set up. it could help us to give better advice.

cheers

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:24 am

if you are really so strapped for cash why don't you buy the compressor someone has in the marketplace for $25 and be done with it. I don't think it will kill your creation process with the cpu it takes up.

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:41 pm

ATS wrote:if you are really so strapped for cash why don't you buy the compressor someone has in the marketplace for $25 and be done with it. I don't think it will kill your creation process with the cpu it takes up.

I'm not that strapped! I'm just looking for a half decent budget compressor. I'd rather buy new than buy something from say, ebay. At least I will have a warranty and I know it has'nt been knocked around. Plus if I just buy anything for $25 (or here in the UK £12) then there's no point me asking this question?

As far as my set up goes, It's mainly hardware with 3 keyboard synths / one rack module, Focusrite Saffire Pro 10 sound interface, Behringer V-verb + Virtualizer Pro with 2 x Edirol midi interfaces.
My pc is a Advent 3214 AMD Athlon 2600+ (2.1 ghz) with 1G ram running XP. Its about 7-8 years old now.
I do have software synths and effects to. My plug ins are (which I purchased) are:
PSP Nitro, PSP Vintage Warmer (yes its a compressor but it's just really heavy on my cpu, excellent though!), PSP Stereo pack plus a few other reverbs etc.

sinkmusic · Post by **sinkmusic** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:53 pm

Hi
I asked myself the very same question some months ago, after my Art TCS died.
- I have read a lot of good reviews about the Samson S-com4 (which includes a limiter, a de-esser, etc).
- I have read only bad stuff about the Behringer composer series.
- THere seems to have a positive consensus about the FMR RNC (but it seems best for guitars, pianos, vocals, acoustic stuff than for drum smashing).
- The Alesis3630 is renowned to be gritty as hell. So if it is what yo'ure after, go ahead, it is damn cheap, else you should try something else.
- But what the most people told me is "why bothering with a budget hw compressor when nowadays, even the free ones in vst are waaay better ?".
So, if you don't plan to use it onstage, most people around might recommend you to go for a plugin (like Reacomp, ReaXcomp, Buzroom, BlueCat, Stillwell, etc. The first ones are free, the other ones are rather cheap and work very well).

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:05 pm

sinkmusic wrote:Hi
I asked myself the very same question some months ago, after my Art TCS died.
- I have read a lot of good reviews about the Samson S-com4 (which includes a limiter, a de-esser, etc).
- I have read only bad stuff about the Behringer composer series.
- THere seems to have a positive consensus about the FMR RNC (but it seems best for guitars, pianos, vocals, acoustic stuff than for drum smashing).
- The Alesis3630 is renowned to be gritty as hell. So if it is what yo'ure after, go ahead, it is damn cheap, else you should try something else.
- But what the most people told me is "why bothering with a budget hw compressor when nowadays, even the free ones in vst are waaay better ?".
So, if you don't plan to use it onstage, most people around might recommend you to go for a plugin (like Reacomp, ReaXcomp, Buzroom, BlueCat, Stillwell, etc. The first ones are free, the other ones are rather cheap and work very well).

Thankyou for your reply. I just find vst's are a little taxing on my cpu. Its ok when you've got one or two but when you have a few soft synths running as well, such as Korg's analog legacy and z3ta, it really shows. At least with hardware you don't get that problem. Thats why Im looking more towards a hardware compressor/limiter.

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:58 pm

Hmmm.
Kjaerhus ClassicCompressor doesn't need much CPU as far as I know from the past, and it is a quite good one.

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:10 pm

PeterL wrote:Hmmm.
Kjaerhus ClassicCompressor doesn't need much CPU as far as I know from the past, and it is a quite good one.

Thankyou I will check out their web site and reviews.
Judging by everyone's comments, which I am greatful, it seems that everyone agrees that software is the way to go as far as compressors! Surley, there must be someone out there that uses hardware (comps)!!!???

khanyz · Post by **khanyz** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:25 pm

Try Joemeek mc2. I had an older rack model which sounded good.

Also had a dbx one which was great.

amarule · Post by **amarule** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:22 pm

Why do you feel you need a compressor when tracking?

Unless you are dealing with an artist with absolutely no clue about dynamics, you don't need compression when tracking.

When mixing, you can always bounce a few tracks with plugins. Then if you want to revert to the uncompressed track you can. Once you have committed to compression tracking, there's no undo, you are stuck with it.

Unless you can afford a really good hardware compressor, I highly recommend you do not go the cheap route, and stick to the shortest recording chain possible, mic-cable-pre-AD.

khanyz · Post by **khanyz** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:36 pm

I would agree that when you don't know what final sound you want, then record as dryly as possible and then you have the blank canvas to work with.

However, when I'm recording songs that I've played live, I know the sound I want and recording with effects in the analogue domain sounds better (even with the increased noise it introduces).

As for the artist. I've recorded (bass mainly but some guitar) in studios all over the world and on my best days, I DI all the way. On other days (which are the majority as it's no coincidence that recording and drinking are both called sessions), when my strings are a little too new or old, or I can't quite hear the monitor mix properly or I'm playing badly, then compression can be the difference between wasting my time and not.

Recording Vocals and Drums is another story entirely.

Also you need to distinguish between Compression and Limiting. In most cases, Limiting is a band aid for poor preamps and preparation.

Ultimately, I don't rule anything out and let my ears, a meter and a spectrum analyser decide.

Cheers,
Nigel

sinkmusic · Post by **sinkmusic** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:33 pm

Mikelo wrote:Thankyou I will check out their web site and reviews.
Judging by everyone's comments, which I am greatful, it seems that everyone agrees that software is the way to go as far as compressors! Surley, there must be someone out there that uses hardware (comps)!!!???

I do.
I am using both.
I too like to have hands on knobs, and the fact that once it is recorded, there is no way to tweak and modify the settings (with software, i tend to edit/modify/tweak hundreds of times).
(But i am using very cheap compressors in order to get the maximum of gritty artifacts from them, so i am not thinking in terms of hardware being "better" or not...).

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:10 pm

Again, thanks everyone for their valuable input. It seems each to their own devices with no set of rules, or at least not gospel when it comes to compression, be it hardware or software.
Again, thankyou all for your time. Its great to know that there's good people here to help

Looking for a good budget compressor