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.