Alesis 3630 Compressor/Limiter/Gate

Everyone who complains about clicking either:

A - Cannot use a noise gate (Gates that click! Whoooh! Never heard that one before!)

or:

B - Is overdriving an unbalanced insert return at the +4dB output level (your input meter on the mixer will still look green though!)

They should learn to use the gear properly! Its EASY to use with BIG meters.

If you like French House music you will have heard the 3630 on LOADS of records pumping up the drum samples.

These records have had sales success without people noting the 'rubbish compressor sound' as other people have here. It sounds fine. It doesn't sound expensive but has a character to its processing.

If you make the 3630 sound bad, it is probably YOUR fault, not the machines.

Does not weigh enough to worry about transport damage. Its fine. If it breaks buy another one. They are CHEAP.

Nothing wrong with this one. Someone else noted its a CHIP based device, but Alesis know what they are doing.

Some of these are really old now and still seem to be going so have fun using it and don't worry.

If using a 3630 is make or break for your music, your music must be rubbish in the first place.

Simple and straight foward, if you cant figure this out idk what to tell you...

This guy down here is hating on this thing. This thing makes house/electro/hip hop tracks sound great... hes just an elitist who obviously has access to overly-expensive equipment.

If you make any kind of electronic music using synths, or samplers i highly reccomend this piece. its $100, and does a nice job on a variety of sounds, i love running my drums thru this thing it adds a nice punchyness and teh fact it cut some frequencies is a good thing when you want that lo-fi type sound.

never failed me yet, in 2 years. i have 2 of them!

never had to deal with them

great for hip hop/house/electronic type of music! makes drums punchy and crunchy, love how my synth sound thru it... a great addition to any studio and beats any compressor ive ever used. This is for us, teh home studio type of guy who dont need/want $1500 compressors, you know how much equipment id rather buy!?

hello ... i ve been a sound engineer for thirteen years i have tweaked a lot of the different stuff out there (compressors) from a drawmer and manley all the way down to compressors like the dbx 166 and 266 etc ... and there is nothing nothing like an alesis compressor ... see there is no way you can achieve any kind of professional quality with this ... some of the reviews i just read make me a litte upset because i can belive that people actually recomend stuff like this this thins is really a pice of crap .. one of this reviews says that after all our ears are not that sensitive to dyamic change ... WHAT ? hahahahahah you have got to be kidding me if our ears were not that sensitive everybody would buy alesis compressors and not draxmers or manleys costing above 4,000 dlls !!!!!!!

the sound quality is very poor the dynamics are just not handle buy this compressor all it does is cut out everything and it does not even cut the sound on all the frequencies !!!!!

NO no never go to a show or a live performance or recording expecting this thing is going to help the best thing you can do is spend the 100 dlls you are going to spend on this compressor on burgers for the musicians !!!!

i ve never dealt with the company

i record all kinds of music from maricahi music, rock, salsa, cumbia, norteno, classic, jazz etc ... and that's exactly my point this is good for nothing a good compressor is something that is adaptable to any style of music because its a dynamics contoller nos destoyer .... dont get me wrong any compressor will destroy your music if you dont know how to use it ..... but there is not a single point where this compressor will perform or deliver any kind of quality if you have a couple of hundred bucks go get yourself a dbx !

I would say hard to set up to get sounding 'good', if indeed possible at all.
And yes, the colour scheme on the front panel makes it very hard to read what you are trying to adjust.

I find it loses some top end / high frequency of the sound running through it.

Haven't had it long, so can't really say.

No experience.

I bought this recently partly on the strength of the quite 'rosy' reviews here.
However, after about a week I have to conclude this is a very poor budget compressor for my uses, which is mainly running a radio type mix thorough it featuring speech and music. It also only really seems to perform acceptably at mild to moderate compression.

You can try your best to set it up to handle 'generic' music and you might get it sounding okayish some of the time, then you will suddenly hear unattractive 'clicking' or 'pumping' if the beats per minute or EQ of the track aren't to the 3630's liking.
Might be ok for compressing individual instruments as part of a mix if you set it up very carefully each time.

I would say, save a 100 or so more notes and buy a better compressor. Generally I would suggest don't consider the 3630 even if you are quite desperate for a compressor.

This is my first real compressor, and I figured it out right away. I've been playing for about 15 years but still.

It makes my old weak quiet guitars roar like little lions, it does more than what I thought it would. I'm using it with a 1957 Framus hollowbody and a 1959 Fender Bassman.

I just got it so I have no idea...

I think that any guitar player or musician who really wants to sound like a professional needs to understand how valuable compressors are and also how often they're used on albums that they love, even the filthiest Misfits albums use them. They allow me to focus my tone to do exactly what I want it to do. It allows my Fender Blender to still sound completely out of control but not hurt my ears. I'm a vintage gear collector so it helps to give me an overall more consistent sound.

Its dark grey small letters on a black front make it loose some points here, apart from that it 'll be up and running in no time if you know what you're doing

Got this unit second hand. actually got two of them fo 100 Euro; that's practicly giving them away. I've used them mostly live and they are extremely good at keeping the dynamics within a certain range. I've even managed to go up to 5/1 ratio's on a laney wedge monitor without feedback although, this required a lot of tweaking with an EQ and the built in gate. (place the eq behind the compressor in the chain unless you're sidechaining) this alowed both whispered as well as shouted vocals to neatly sit in the mix. exactly what i was looking for. actually bought it for the gates to use on drums but I ended up using it on vocals. that just about says it all. If you're going to extremes with it you might experience squeeqs and clicks and feedback upon opening and closing of the gates (in live applications) and also when reducing dynamics you might also bring up the noise floor but you can't really blame this unit as it's just a consequence of pushing down peaks and bringing the average levels up to extreme. these extremes can't usualy be achieved with the more costly vintage compressors so I can't see it as as real flaw. Just don't exagerate (although it IS fun I must admit) Don 't forget that our hearing isn't at all that sensitive to changes in dynamics.

I got them second hand, but the storeowner still said i'd get my money back if they 'd fail me the first year. the ones i got seem to to have been used a lot; still they work is if they were new. since it 's an electronic unit without easily breakable parts (like valves or so) I don 't expect any problems. but since I have 2 I 'm not at all concerned about one breaking down.

Don't know if alesis still exists as a brand, as i've heard they're now in a third party's hands...

haven't contacted them yet, but they keep a nice website, and manuals and info are ready for download

Hope they discontinue this product... so that in a couple of years it 'll become one of those vintage thingies of it's own. OK it's not a tube or opto compressor, but it's got an inherent quality i like a lot. it also got sensible knobs, all with a function and it's verry tweakable (even more than most of the genuine vintage units) I'm happy with the unit as it is even if its not flawless.

really easy to use if you know how to use a compressor... i haven't read the manual. no click type pots - all smooth makes tweaking easy.

great sounding compressor... really warms up vocals and brings them to the front of the mix. the gate is very good - you can easily tell when it's open/closed.

i bought it off of ebay... no idea how old it is. works great.

great compressor with all the features you need for a great price. great for live anything - i haven't used it for recording. I'm definitely going to buy another 2 or 3 of these babies!

I use the 3630 live and agree with an earlier review in saying that the lettering is too dark, and due to the fact i havent got around to buying a rack light, makes it difficult for me to execute compression effectively enough, however other than this the 3630 is the best compressor in it's rang, no doubt.

Great sound quality, however, as i engineer metal bands 80% of the time, im dealing with alot of guitar signal, which, in my opinion the 3630 doesnt enjoy, so iv'e started using the old 300G rocktron for them.
No problem with anything else.
Impressive gates conisering the minimal controls aswell!

Geat reliability, i always keep the behringer on standby, but don't feel i'l ever need to use it.

Overall, a great tool to have in the live sound rack, if the gate had more control, this would possibly be the best comp ive used under ??1,500.
Dare i say its better than any drawmer or dbx i've used in the last 5 years.

Same as any other compressor but lettering on the face is way too dark and you can't see what you're doing in darker enviroment.

Not really made to record with. While it does sound much better than it's more expensive competitor DBX 266XL it does have serious issues with clicking when compression engages. This can be heard most with the bass guitar which in fact this unit can't handle at all as it also distorts the bass. Ok for vocals if always in red. Vorks well in live situation for PA or instruments which I guess is what it is made for. All this said, you can still get a decent studio recordings out of it if used carefully and for my money it is the best compressor in it's price range and still better than some more expensive ones.
If you're looking for serious studio work don't expect anything decent under $1000 and that's it. I had many below that price and none qualified eccept for some of the vintage ones.

No problems

No reply to my clicking queries.

Good compressor for the money. Adds a bit of 70's tone when used for track recordings which I like but you might not, does not have true bypass which makes it pain disconnecting it when I don't want it inline because it does alter sound to a degree in it's bypass mode and adds a little hiss too.

Basic compressor unit, no auto features. Easy to use if you know how to use compressors. Bad thisnk is that box is blac and function lettering is in dark grey - can't see where is what when room is dark. For this I give it lower rating because it shits me specially when in rack with bunch of other gear.

Sound quality is good if used for recording tracks. Has somewhat subtle 70's sound to it. I am happy with it "now". I bought it a year ego and thought I could do better so bought DBX266XL. For next six months I could figure out why my I can't get my mix and masters sounding right. It was the crappy 266XL, it brickwalls even at minimum settings and adds too much thin top. Alesis doesn't brick wall if you don't want it to, it's pretty gentle. So anyway I dumped the DBX and use this Alesis and music sounds good again. I can't buy much better for this money infact for less than $1000 so it's fine enough.

Stil works fine.

Good, answered all my questions ok.

Good basic very usable compressor for very good price.

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 =)

N/A

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!

The easiest divice ever

The thing I love about this gear, it tames the vild dynamics, without coloring the sound

Sofar no probs, 3years

I have a project studio, but use this with my effect rack. Dont care much for using outboard gear thru AD/DA. But as I said I use this in the signal chain in the live rack, my effects there are digital and I have to keep the levels down to some degree, otherwise the digigear would start distorting on me(and the listeners).
I've seen people flaming the 3630,as being essentially a box of lights etc etc. For those people, if you dont hear this thing working, you have no business in the music business. It does exactly what it's supposed to and it can even go to extreeme without pumping. Pumping is for disco or something, not music.
Of corse you can get better comps, but for a helllot of more money.

Easy to use.

Might be OK live. But DO NOT BUY this to record with. It's much to noisy and there are many better units at this price.

Had it for about 6 months. No problems.

Alesis had great support before they were bought out. I'm not sure about now.

I most engineer Pop, R&B and Jazz records. I had this unit for about 6 months before I sold it. It's probably it OK unit for live work but it's much too noisy to be used anywhere in the recording chain...

To be honest, it's been so long since I bought the thing, I have no recollection of the manual. But it's a compressor...you either know what it does or not.

Regarding this "clicking" thing, this seems to be a possible problem for any lower end compressor. Reviews of dbx's units make this case. Gotta wonder if it's the incoming signal.

I use the 3630 in a bass rack. GK pre to the 3630-->BBE 462---> back to the GK. I use the gain control on the GK to get the signal up to around unity (using the input LED's), and THEN set the remaining controls. Anything less and I gotta wonder why even bother compressing. I will say it is difficult to get this unit to increase sustain much, or to pump (if you want that effect) compared to dbx's units. I've never noticed any noise, and the gate is very usable for me. Got me out of some potentially embarassing 60Hz situations.

Reliablity seems good. The power switch on mine screwed up a few years ago. Takes repeated attempts to power up if it's ever shut off (my kids like to push buttons). I just leave the thing on so when my rack powers up, it's already on.

No experience with Alesis customer support.

I think this is a good unit to have in an instrument rack. I see these things in LOTS of project studios, but they are usually only used for bass or drum leveling.
Overall, good for bass/guitar/drums...probably not for mixing.

Using this compressor is a breeze; it's no different from any other compressor. If one you can't use it, it's because you don't know how to use a compressor. The input/output meter is a big plus for a compressor in this range. My only major complaint is the lack of a sidechain bypass switch. With my current arrangement with these units permanently racked, the sidechain feature is completely unuseable because the it is activated by the presence of a 1/4" plug in the sidechain jack. Not ideal for ducking or triggering effects.

I have two of these boxes that I use in my project studio. I just bought it, but have already used it on bass, vocals, and a DX7 all with good results. I find that for a compressor of this price range, the compression is really gentle. The gate is actually useable too. The attack is preset, but sounds ok. The threshold and decay settings are actually enough to make it acceptable. As far as sound quality, though, I do have some gripes. While it does operate at +4 and -10 dB, it's I/O is unbalanced. With a 15 foot round trip from my board, to the patchbay, to the 3630 and back, this does add some noise. Also, as another reviewer noted, the piece does not really handle anything close to 0 dB full scale while in +4dB mode. It just seems sort of strange. The I/O meter only goes to +6 dB, where as 0 dB fullscale is actually 18-20 dB. However, you can very easily workaround this by adjusting the incoming level while watching the input meter. I can usually even achive close to true +4 dB by adjusting at the output. Anyway, despite all of these reservations, I am very pleased with these units for the price. By the way, Alesis 3630 totally stomps on the DBX 266 XL. The 266XL DEFINITELY clicks. However, I'm not sure if it did it at first. But, in any case, despite what another reviewer had stated, I can't here any adible click when the compression kicks in on the 3630.

When I bought these two units, they were both completely dead. I was able to fix them by replacing the two 1000uF 16V capacitors on the power supply (on the mainboard, not the wall wort). I suspect the failure of these caps was due to the units being left turned on for 9 years straight. Anyway, since the repair, both units have worked very well.

Never had to deal with Alesis, but I hear they filed for bankruptcy. I would expect that might negatively affect customer service. But, I don't really have any personal experienc.

I am a studio owner with no particular allegance to any genre. But, for all of the rock, folk, rap, metal, punk, etc. that I've used the 3630 on, it has exceeded my expectations, though low they may be. I'm not going to put this unit up against an 1176, but honestly, it really is a steal for this kind of bread (especially used). It definitely sounds better than equivalently priced DBX crap. Don't get me wrong; DBX has some good stuff, but their bottom end isn't too great. To compare the 3630 to the 266 XL, the XL has no I/O meter (which is a major drag); the XL is "clicky"; the XL has envelope settings labeled "slow" to "fast" (what in the hell does that meen?), as apposed the the 3630's use of ms; the gate on the XL is worthless because it has no envelope settings; the 3630 has both rms AND peak detection (nice perk for such a bottom shelf piece). The only distiction that the 266 XL has over the 3630 is its balanced I/O. All in all, I would have to give the 3630 a positive review.

Knobs and plenty of LEDs to tell you what the unit is doing. If you know how a compressor works, they don't get any more intuitive than this.

Works well on vocals, we use it live in a club. Too much leakage to use the gate, so no comment. Since I started using the 3630 in the inserts of the vocal channels, the monitors have been clearer with almost zero feedback and almost no complaints from the singers.

I tried using bass guitar on the 3630 - doesn't work well, even in peak mode. The Furman compressor sounded better with bass guitar. The 3630 didn't work well on program material either - the FMR RNC worked better. Haven't tried it with drums or percussion.

The 3630 isn't the highest fidelity compressor nor does it add much coloration - thus it's good for vocals. If you want compression for coloring the sound/dynamics of bass guitars, drums, percussion, and vocals then go for the tube compressors.

Zero problems so far.

Make sure you have the 10VAC wallwart, not the 9VAC wallwart. A lot of clubs have poor AC wiring and they're less than 120VAC - I found some that are 90VAC (thank you Furman for the PL-Plus!!!). The 3630 can "brownout" and wreak havoc because 9VAC is barely enough when the line voltage starts dipping below 120VAC.

Useable but no one compressor does everything.

I like the LEDs, I can glance at it quickly and tell it the settings are set right. In a dark club it's easy to use.

BTW, I'm using with an Allen & Heath board which is +4dBu and the 3630 works fine. Remember, get the 10VAC wallwart.