Compressor/ compression questions

I was thinking of buying a compressor. I could get an Alesis 3630 for $200, or a Behringer Composer Pro for about $160. Thing is, I have Waves plugins and I know many producers rate them highly. I have two drum machines, a sampler and a synth, so do you think one of these outboard compressors would be worth putting out the $ for, or should I just record straight into logic? I don't know much about compression, but I do know I won't get far without it. Any insight would be appreciated.
BTW, I know there is lots of info about compression in mags and on the web, but I still thought that if someone wrote specifically a techno compression manual, related, perhaps, to the emulation of some popular producers, and including settings, of course, for things like individual hits/kicks as well as for drumloops and basslines, that such a educational resource would be invaluable for everyone who comes to this site asking about compression. I know I'm not the first, and we know I won't be the last. Perhaps, such information should be guarded if giving away such knowledge is like giving away trade secrets, but I don't know. If its OK, maybe it could be a sticky ("techno compression: start here").
I know there is lots of valuable info in posts on this site, and people can always ask, but I just thought I'd throw it out as an idea. Thanx

I've got a composer pro and it's got a dead harsh cold sound to it, i'd steer clear of that one if I were u.

yeah, id get a dbx 266xl - they are about the best cheap ones i think....i just dold one for 70 quid

Yeh Id agree on the dbx 266Xl they sound very nice for the price, you can pick one up new for £99.

can you? god, i ripped someone off!!

I appreaciate the nudge towards the dbx 266xl. I'll definitely price out this unit around here. Still I'm curious, with respect to the Waves plugins. Would the sound results of the 266xl equal or surpass the waves plugins? Can they be compared to one another? Again, thanx to everyone.

Berhinger one is a pile of poo compared to the Waves software. I've had a few cheap compressors (Alesis, RNC, Behringer ..) and the only ones I've not sold on are a pair of Urei LA-4's. Record it into Logic, the 100 quid is best spent elsewhere.

the waves plugs do surpass the sound of the dbx, but it sounds like a question of functionality...recording entire tracks of outboard midi equpment into your sequencer just to compress it is gonna suck ass....the dbx is fine for general compression

dbx 266 all the way

Cheers for all the help here

266xl? I had two and both had an annoying click at fast attack rates. I contacted dbx about it, The compression was nice,very clean sound quality and a nice gate, but i had to get rid of them because of the click.
click click :cry:

if you are using it for compressing the whole mix t la ivory is hard to beat got my first about 3 years now and still one of my favourite things in my studio, bit more expensive than a dbx though about £350 now i think but not sure.

yeah, that is the way to go but i think this guy on has a couples hundred $$

my personal compression rant

I know money is an issue for poeple and I lucked out on my compressor even though it was a lot of money. Getting a compressor that's under 2-300$ (sorry I don't have my currency converter handy *L*) seems like a waste to me unless you are going for the un musical lifeless squashed sound of a behringer or an alesis compressor in that price range. To get the cool effects of most techno production I would suggest some sort of tube compressor (I think Joe Meek makes a resonably priced one, not sure about UK availablity though, http://www.joemeek.com/) For the lower end price range i think everyone is in agreement that DBX is a safe and solid way to go.


For people that are willing to drop some serious money on a compressor read on... (worth the cash if you ask me)....

If you are planning on running your entire mix for some squashing effects I would suggest a tube compressor for sure (ie Dave Clark/Marco baily esque squashiness over the entire mix).

For individual sounds, or for some interesting tight effects, you could take it a step further and go for an optical tube compressor.. These work great since they are fast acting since they react to light levels based on the voltage/volume of the music. I have a Manley Vari-Mu which didn't come cheap (and I got it at wholesale),and I can't imagine buying another compressor, other then an ELOP (Manley's Electro-Optical compressor) for other effects for individual sounds.

To get a nice and punchy sound I like to limit my loops with a fairly low threshold and a high ratio but set the attack to a higher range/ms. This intensifies the transient or the initial attack of the sound to give it some accented punch. Also good for claps especially when you crush the hell out of them.

Same holds true for kicks, but it's also good to let the release out a bit so you don't get toomuch pumping of the kick when the compressor releases it's effects on your sound. Pumping comes in handy though when you are running your kick with a gated reverb and you set the release a quarter note behind the initial attack. This accents the effect of the gate on beat to the music. Kind of Dave the Drummer/Liberator type kick etc...

I guess it all boils down to what type of effect you are going for...

Might be redundant info, but my humble 2¢

Donovan

djdonovan, Im really interested in hearing the results of your compressing using tube compressors rather than normal compressors, I've gotten out of compressing tracks (as it did more bad than good) but for the intentional pumping drum sections it may help. Do you have any samples on the web i can hear of an example of tube compression? on most of the bailey stuff, dude over does it a bit on his techno tracks :) but i love it.

Essential information Donovan, especially for peeps like myself w/ limited experience and knowledge.
Another reason I posted about the budget compressors was that I had read an interview with daft punk and those boyz said they used the alesis 3060 for almost all compression jobs on their first two albums (around the world, I think). Of course, they're not making techno, but still, who would have thought they used a $200 comp? They said, of course, its not what you got, but, well, you know.
If I can achieve near to or equal (dream?) results from software, I'd be better off spending my bags of money, er, student loans, on other studio essentials at this time. And for a guy who knows near zilch about compression, presets are super cool. Still, if the difference between an average techno sound and an awesome techno sound is the price of a hardware compressor, then, of course, there is mastercard.