Alesis 3630 Compressor/Limiter/Gate

This 3630 is fairly easy to use, you can get a great sound out of it in no time at all. Gating is especially easy once beginners figure it out.

I use the alesis 3630 when mixing vocals and guitars in my recording studio. Anyone who has said that the sound quality is lacking or it clicks has set it up wrong. (which is almost impossible to do if you know what you're doing) It gives great warmth and depth to anything especially vocals. With the right technique and a good ear you can easily have this making perfect sounding music.

I do not use this compressor for live applications so i do not know how rugged it may be on consisten moving and such, i usually keep it in my rack at all times for studio use. I have owned for a little over a year now and it is still going strong.

never had to deal with any

I record almost anything from rock to hip hop to metal and blues, this compressor does it all and makes it sound awesome. Bringing vocals to life, it pretty much keeps you from compressing tracks after the recording and using up your resources. For the price that you pay for it, it is definately worth buying! Get you a good preamp and mixer and a fast computer and you'll be making great sounding music in no time. The only thing i wish the compressor would have would be some kind of lighting on the face panel, although the leds are nice, the knobs are hard to see in low light, which is how i like to record.

If you would like to hear tracks i've used with this mixer, visit me at www.myspace.com/substance1 and check it out for yourselves!

For novice users a great machine, for me a little to much, lots of knobs, my beringer has less.

The compressors were used in a club and for recording my MD's.
For working in the club, these are not suitable, too much sounds, pops and clicks for this application.
For recording MD's they did do it well, but not superb, my behringer is so much better.
We tried to use them for a small radiostation, but they failed the test. Sound quality is not great but good enough for home use.

Have them for 6 years, stacked up in a rack and never had a faillure.

Never had to call or sending mail to them

A great piece for beginners, but for broadcasting, mixing or clubs too poor. There are better compressor/limiter/gates.

About a ssimple to use as any other compressor, only problem is it has the function descriptions in dark grey color on black background. Impossible to see at low light what knob I am at! Takes a litle while to get familiar and remember the knobs layout. When you have 20+ units in the rack it's not easy to rmember where each knob is.
Apart from the all controls are well responsive.

I guess athtis lower price range I can only compare it to DBX (266xl whuch by the still cost more). The DBX has much better sound quality, it's cleaner an crisper. But that's where it ends because of other problems it has which you can read reviews on other pages.
The 3630 sounds a bit flat, without dept to it, is slightly cut on top end and has some hiss to it if was I compare to the DBX 266xl which is much better in that respect. The clicking.....yes it has some but less than the DBX. Still a pain though! Controls response is better and also has better metering than the DBX. Gate is good. Sometimes I use other compressor but use this Alesis for gating only.

1 year, still works the same.

What I like about it that it is a decent compressor for the money and it is quiet usable for input recording but forget it for mastering. It'll just"brick wall" the music too much like the DBX 266xl. For mastering get a real vintage DBX or spend more at least a grand for something new because under that price the'll be always some damn compromise.
I don't like the clicking but it's not as bad and can be worked around. I wish it had a true bypass and also
wish it had more top end to it, that way one could cut the top down to lower the hiss.
Overall it is better than other units that cost even more. I do have better sounding compressosr, not particularly better functioning ones
but still use this one often. It's pretty much a general compressor that'll do it all ok without being crappy in some ways.
If I'd lost it I'll buy it again unless I want to spend a lot more money for something better.

Great device! Works almost with all kinds of music and instuments. Used it for guitar, bass, vocals and DJ mixer limiting, it does the job!!
Very easy to get the right setting in a few seconds.

For such a cheap comp it sounds great, don't expect BSS or TC quality though.
I use it with Midas Verona and Sound Projects FOH system. (www.soundprojects.com).
4 cabinets with 2" + 2x12" and 4 cabinets with 2x15", all self powered.
This is a great sounding system and for budget reasons I cut down on the compressors and effects.
The two 3630's are a addition to 4 DBX 1066 comps.
They sound better of course, but the 3630's come damn close.

Have them for 2 years now and use them twice a week. Had no problems yet.

No experience.

Great machines, perfect for live aplications with any source.

As easy to use as any other compressor with the same functions. Plus for nice metering.

The 3630 sounds pretty bad. It makes most sounds dull and lifeless (nope, I didn't set it wrong) even considering the price. I still use it on occasion when I need that last 2 channels of compression, but never more than 3-4 dB reduction and always on background instrument in a mix. Gate is decent.

Metering has been broke since I bought it.

Good for beginners, so they can learn the function of sidechain and layots of controls that might be new to them (Threshold, ratio etc). If you like it now, you're gonna want to step up sooner or later. Either by dropping this piece on the bottom of the river, or as I did, leave it in one of the racks for that moment when a bad compressor is better than none, and all your other compressors are hooked up for the moment.

Manual isn't needed but is well written and easy to understand.
The unit is fairly easy to use and at any setting it is difficult to actually get a bad sound out of it. I use it for recording "in", it's somewhat foolproof for this application. The led display is accurate and easy to read. The only thing I don't like about it is that the unit box isn't deep enough. I don't use racks and normally stack my rack equipment on the top of the other. Not being deep, I can't stack anything on top of it but off course this has nothing to do with it's performance which is great. Another "personal" think I didn't like when I started using it was the grey lettering. In darker studio it was hard to see where the Treshold etc buttons are located till I got used to the unit. No big deal but with lots of gear things can get confusing in the dark specially if things get moved around from time to time.

It is easy to get a good sound out of it even with settings that might not be appropriate. For example using settings for drum mix to record vocals will still come out sounding quiet good. It is hard to go wrong with it specially if RMS and Soft Knee is used. Very forgiving unit.
It is the best ever compressor I've used for recording "in", sound is clear and crisp. I have also tried it for mastering. While it doesn't do a bad job, I do prefer my DBX for this application. I must stress that I do rock music. After a quick trial I feel that the Alesis might be more suitable for mastering of cleaner sounding music such us dance or even country music to get the "middle of the road" sound without adding it's own sound like DBX does. It's mainly personal preference when it comes to the final sound color.
About the pops and crackling, I did have crackling at first time of use but than I found there is a switch at the rear for -10db and +4db. Once I've set it to +4db to suit my tube preamp, there's not more crackling. So check yours if you got problems.
Just a word about wall wart power supply which lot of people don't like. I a studio azpplication the wall wart is much better choice than a power cord because it keeps the mains out of the way of the equipment which in turn means minimizing interferance such us hum. So I much prefer the wall wart for the studio but can see that simple power cord would be less cumbersome for live setups where interferance isn't as critical.

Had for couple of months so far but can't see anything that would indicate weakness in design.

Great! I've emailed the regarding the crackling and they responded fast and even send me suggested settings I've also asked for.

This is not a toy like the rest of the compressor in it price range , I'd rather not mention brands but you know should what they are anyway if you've been doing music for a while. It is a real, full on proper working compressor that can be used at any level of "professionalism". Sure the price doesn't suggest that but this unit has been in a production for years and in the early days it used cost a bundle. At it's price nothing else comes even close.
Oddly enough many music shops here in Australia (or at least Sydney)don't bother stocking the 3630, instead they have their shelves stacked up with crap that makes them 100%+ profit. And they won't even tell you about the 3630 unless you ask, ...sad really. When I was shopping around for the 3630 some of these SCUMBAGS quoted me prices near double of what I payed for it till I've found a decent shop. Sure they all need to make profit but some take it to the extreme hoping that you're not-knowing idiot.
Just ring around and make them an offer (for anything musical you're buying), eventually you'll find a shop that is willing to negotiate a reasonable price suitable for both you and them.

This was my first compression unit and I had no problem using the 3630 after giving the manaul a quick glance. The manual was very helpful in many ways. Generally speaking I think this is the easiest to use noise gate I have ever seen and it can be used to create some interesting drum effects if heavily used.

I think the sound quality is great if used properlly. I have not had any probelms with clicks at all after a year of use. I run it through a tube preamp and into my Delta 1010 and it works all the time to get me a more focused and crisp sound that is superior to what it would sound like without it being in my rack. For the money it can't be beat.

It has never failed me after a year plus use.

I liked the manual but haven't needed any customer support.

I think this is a great budget compressor thaT sounds very good and is easy to use. The rating I have used keep its very low price in mind. This is not a top[ of the line 10 compressor. It is simply great for those who can't shell out thousands of dollars.

I bought this product for the noise gae function. I needed a noise gate to go with my insanely distorted Peavey ultra plus half stacks. I knew nothing of how compression works.. It took about an hour of playing with the 3630 and about 10 minutes of reading the instruction book to fully understand how this thing worked. Which is not so bad.

It seemed to bring out the mids in my sound.. not very much though. I havnt heard any "clicking" or anything such as this.. The noise gate works well. I cant really compare this to any other gate/compressor since this is my first. I am running out to buy an EQ to take the mids down.

Im sure most rack mounts are reliable.. I wasnt worried when i bought it and it hasnt stopped workin yet =)

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Once agaion, I use this as a pretty lookin noise gate to impress my band and keep my feedback down.. I use a gibson SG standard and those gibson pickups are noisy.. I also have an SG with an EMG system going thru it.. works well with both guitar setups.

The Alesis 3630 is very easy to use, if you need to tame it, sustain it, limit it, you will find it in the 3630 it's that simple.

The Alesis 3630 is very quiet absolulty emmits no electrical noise whatsoever. Everthing works like Alesis intended it to work, Compresses Limits and kills noise like 60 cycle hum or any kind of electric or ground induced static.

Will last forever unless your one of the idiots who insist on droping and abusing every peice of equipment they have.

Alesis is known for making quality products for the Pro or Novice in a price range that suits every budget. It's your money you could pay more for something else but you would just be paying more for the same quality.

Very simple and logical control layout!

Now, this machine is definately one of the best when it comes to pumping upp electronical/beat type music. The sound quality is not equal to that of a, let's say, Neve or SSL circuit. But for around $100 u couldn't expect it to be.

Haven't called alesis....don't need to :)

If you are wondering how to compliment anything from your analogue multitrack setup to your desktop digital productionsystem don't hesitate to get this compressor! As soon as you plug it in, it sounds great and adds a little extra 'funk' to your beats. TRUST ME!