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Post by littlesicily on Oct 8, 2013 17:22:37 GMT -6
C'mon... give me the real scoop please.
I'm not expecting it to sound like a STA or 1176, but *if* it's cool, what is it like and what is it great on?
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Post by popmann on Oct 8, 2013 17:28:38 GMT -6
I had one for years...you know decades ago...honestly, I don't see the point NOW. It's going to sound like any digital compressor with a VCA design only (likely) not as good. I mean I used it on whatever I had to compress going to tape...vocals, bass--anything that would be too dynamic to fall under the tape hiss.
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Post by littlesicily on Oct 8, 2013 17:33:03 GMT -6
Gotcha. So it was just a cheap useful comp, nothing more than a dbx I guess.
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Post by mobeach on Oct 8, 2013 18:11:22 GMT -6
I use one in my bass rig. I mainly used it when I was slapping to give me good string balance but now I use it to clip the top a little.
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Post by tonycamphd on Oct 8, 2013 18:14:18 GMT -6
I know there are some simple mods for it that are supposed to really improve it?
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Post by littlesicily on Oct 8, 2013 18:50:25 GMT -6
I know there are some simple mods for it that are supposed to really improve it? Yeah, I heard that Tony. "Improve it to what?" is my question, I guess. If it doesn't have a "sound", then a plug will do. Even my dbx 163 (old one with the "more" slider) is "cheap" but def has a cool sound to it. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2013 19:20:41 GMT -6
The circuit of the 3630 is good.
Not so the supplied wall wart and the parts used in key positions of the compressor.
You can easily mod the 3630 to sound as good as any decent VCA compressor.
Mods are easy to do and even cheap. The 3630 suffers from a much too weak wall wart. Get one with 1.2-1.5 A. This alone stabilizes operation.
Upgrading the power supply electrolyte capacitors and changing the 3 quad opamps of the main board (not only the 2 in the audio path!) to good audio quality like MC33079 or the obvious Burr-Brown quads make them sound like a completely other unit. I used the more expensive OPA4227 and liked them, but e.g. OPA4134 or others may give different flavours you might like. Socket them so you can experiment, this special circuit's sound is very dependent on these opamps used.
With these easy and cheap mods it is a perfectly usable analog VCA compressor that surprises many audio engineers that might know the unmodded units (crappy -> decent!).
It has a very versatile handling, that makes them good allrounders.
Best regards,
Martin
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Post by svart on Oct 9, 2013 6:46:58 GMT -6
Didn't we just have this discussion?
Again, in addition to what Smallbutfine says, the early versions had a mistake in the design that caused the "3630 sound" that everybody loves to hate. the later versions fixed the problem and work a lot better.
The design is pretty much the DBX reference design other than that.
So yes, it's perfectly usable for what it's intended to be as long as you have a late unit or a fixed early unit.
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Post by littlesicily on Oct 9, 2013 7:11:30 GMT -6
Didn't we just have this discussion? Again, in addition to what Smallbutfine says, the early versions had a mistake in the design that caused the "3630 sound" that everybody loves to hate. the later versions fixed the problem and work a lot better. The design is pretty much the DBX reference design other than that. So yes, it's perfectly usable for what it's intended to be as long as you have a late unit or a fixed early unit. Sorry, Svart, if you've already covered this elsewhere and I missed it. |
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Post by svart on Oct 9, 2013 7:24:29 GMT -6
It's ok, I think it was buried in a thread that wasn't originally about the 3630. Probably hard to find at this point.
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Post by dandeurloo on Oct 9, 2013 9:43:49 GMT -6
Seems like kind of a waste to me at this point. I would DIY something way better or buy a 160x and mod it a little or buy the pico 500 series comps. All are nice sounding and affordable options. If you really want something that can do anything then I would consider the Great River PWM 501! www.greatriverelectronics.com/product.cfm?ID=33&type=0 |
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Post by littlesicily on Oct 9, 2013 10:25:09 GMT -6
Seems like kind of a waste to me at this point. Yeah, the time/effort it appears to take doesn't seem worth the results, considering what is currently available. Thx for saving me the trouble  |
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Post by mobeach on Oct 9, 2013 13:12:29 GMT -6
Yeah it's only $1000 more, why not step up a level  |
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Post by dandeurloo on Oct 9, 2013 17:16:49 GMT -6
In most cases if you are not willing to spend some cash on outboard you might as well use plugs. There are some things that are cheap and great like the 661 but in most cases there is a threshold that needs to be crossed.
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Post by tonycamphd on Oct 9, 2013 18:35:15 GMT -6
Yeah it's only $1000 more, why not step up a level mo, an aphex 651 kills on bass, they can be had for 1-150$ on craigs |
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 9, 2013 19:24:49 GMT -6
I'm finding, these days, there are A LOT of things that I'm fine with using plugs on. I'm really, really digging the UAD mkII plugs and Slate.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2013 5:49:26 GMT -6
You are right, John,
plugs sound right nowadays, in many cases.
Still there is an unbeatable point in still using, buying and servicing analog hardware - it is future safe.
You will be able to use it until its end of days or when you do not get any service parts for it anymore, which is likely in far away future.
The plugin technology will last only until the next standard of DAWs and consumer media.
Or, say...dongle lost? Ooops! In fact, others decide, how long you can use your software plugins.
Analog hardware can always be used with the future generations of media, converters and DAWs. Most probably in 20 years still...and still sound the same (well, except dried out capacitors maybe)...
BR,
Martin
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Post by popmann on Oct 10, 2013 9:09:31 GMT -6
I completely agree with that assessment of value, Small....up until we're talking about a low end VCA compressor. I don't see ANY reason to print that. So, if there's no need to print...ANY DAW's "basic compressor" is just as good. Or the Akai DPS24 I just sold--have 32 channels of them that actually were nicer sounding than the basic "VCA like design" in the DAWs. It's just the model for all digital compressors. Which is why the RNC I find just hilarious that so many people buy them and use them---I've never met a compressor that sounded more like a generic VCA digital compressor. I mean if I were mixing on a desk, I'd have a whole RACK of those little guys to patch in as needed--for $180 for stereo? All day. But, working in a DAW where next to no CPU gets you just as good of a compressor? Ehh. Maybe it's that I came from tape--where VCA comps were a necessary evil. There's nothing musical about them. Nothing euphonic about most (save maybe the VU line of DBX). They're to control gain and gate in a day when you were fighting to get above tape hiss and mute it on playback and "transparently" control volumes of tracks without automated boards. None of that is needed now, IME. That whole paradigm has been rendered antique by the DAW--ANY DAW, hardware or software. Hey-=-OP, is this related to their being one on our local Craigslist for $40? |
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Post by littlesicily on Oct 10, 2013 9:30:16 GMT -6
Hey-=-OP, is this related to their being one on our local Craigslist for $40? Nah, I've just seen around for years and always wondered. |
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Post by mobeach on Oct 11, 2013 4:43:48 GMT -6
Yeah it's only $1000 more, why not step up a level mo, an aphex 651 kills on bass, they can be had for 1-150$ on craigs I'll check them out when I'm in the market again. |
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Post by jazznoise on Oct 13, 2013 5:29:04 GMT -6
Don't have a 3630, but I've used a 3632. Works just fine!
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