Ableton Forum

I have to buy a stere hardaware compressor. any suggestion for a low/mid budget?

Behringer composer pro does a decent enough job for me. Use it live as a group insert on my bands drum group. Makes things gell and snap a bit better

joe meek do some really nice compressors on a budget

why do you ' have' to buy it?

For clean compression: FMR audio RNC1773
Focusrite compounder (might be out of range for your budget, how much do you have)
I have an Alesis 360, dirt cheap, you can pump it prety hard i wouldn't use it for a mix.

FMR's RNC and RNLA are both highly, highly rated by various audio peoples. seriously cheap too ($199 in the US, i think).

joe meek's entry level stuff is more characterful, from what i can gather (not having played with one yet).

also might be worth scouting around for second hand Drawmer of some description.

I like the rnc. is small and I want something that I can bring with me on travel and use on live set up. and it's cheap. thank's a lot.

the joe meek vc3q is a great comp/pre-amp and very cheap
ive got one and use it all the time

+1 RNC

especially if you are portable.

What are you planning on using it for?

Basic insert dynamics shaping, PA limiting, sidechain pumping, PA compression? I'm assuming not for mix use unless your after something a bit out of the bargain basement category?

Personal favouritte for general all round use for anything from insert on synths, mics etc to ovverall mmix compresions, limiting, noise gate, sidechain submix pumping etc is the dbx 1066.

The only downer (if you dont like what it adds) - like alot of dbx compressors is adds a character of it own especially on harder compression settings, so not exactly the most transparent around, but then I quite like what it adds for what I mainly use it for - stereo insert expander+compressor on pianos and synths, overall gentle mix compression and of course hard kick pumping on submixes etc.

I find a great mix processing combo is the 1066 following by an SPL Mk2-T vitalizer.

presonus bluemax,
very cheap on ebay, 16 presets, sounds great.
edit: 9,5", insert possibilities
one bad: no balanced outs

Khazul wrote: Personal favouritte for general all round use for anything from insert on synths, mics etc to ovverall mmix compresions, limiting, noise gate, sidechain submix pumping etc is the dbx 1066.

+1 I owned a 1066 for years, and loved that thing.

+ me for rnc. 175 from mercenary.

+ one on dbx 215 eq and 166XL comp/lim/gate

abort wrote:+ one on dbx 215 eq and 166XL comp/lim/gate

i'd grab the 1066 over the 166...