Thank me later…
Seriously though, I’m heading down the same rabbit hole as @AdamJay. OT and AH together cover just about every base.
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not to be an asshole…im a little burnt on Elektron too. having had ALL the boxes at one point [which was ridiculous for someone like me] I kinda want to have as little playable gear as possible.
have a synth or two, and a beat box or two. but having mass gear like I’ve had was just plain stupid [in my case] less playables…replaced with some sound modifiers is how I wanna go.
HW: reverb, delay, comp, eq etc. I know software is almost as good. but having SO much shit to play with is also killing me. SURE…I can limit the plugs I use, I have. but there’s that little tug to, while sucking which I DO do often, try some other plug…“ya that’ll fix it, I was using the wrong plug” 
. remove all that and have NO choices might be best for me.
anyways…I feel that will work best…for me. and ive ALWAYS wanted a comp when ill be able too [if ever]
so which type would you pick if you could only pick one 
thanks man, and all that reply.
[gentelmen/ladies…ive GOT to apologize for my typing. its SO bad. I just read what I wrote, WTF…made no sense. ive fixed it…sorry about that]
VCA
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reason? and you use it for…?
[dont have to answer. reply already appreciated]
Sorry, then! I’m a little hopped on on caffeine, we’re not on the same wavelength.
VCA, for sure. My favorites have always been VCA. RNC/RNLA/Compounder/DrawmerDL241.
They just work! And usually no matter what you throw at them.
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- if you only get one, you need versatility, hence VCA
- with VCA you can get high quality for the most reasonable price.
- @Fin25 said to get an Alesis 3630 which is a VCA.
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I’ve got an old Drawmer DL221. As I understand it, it’s a lot older and shitter than the 241, but I like it, though it’s definitely not the most transparent. It’s buggered at the minute, needs a bit of tender loving solder on the right input.
Cost me about £40 I think, so can’t complain.
I quite like bargain compressors, I’ve got an Ashly CL52e knocking about that I have a real soft spot for, even if I’ve only been using it for limiting for the last couple of years.
I have also got a 3630. Absolute garbage, but the gate has come in handy once or twice.
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Same here! I think I gave my Ashly SC-50 to @tr909 when he took some omnirax rack mount furniture off my hands. That thing was great on mid-range forward mono sources. It got a couple of weird looks from people coming into the studio to record, but it never let me down.
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I love the CL52e. It’s super transparent, but if you push it just right, it fucking sparkles.
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good info gents. appreciated 
check this…
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I don’t know very much about hardware compressors, but I’m always hearing great things about Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor.
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Alesis 3630…worst compressor of all time?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsc2wNlvZMw
thanks dude, ha ha ha ha
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It really is dogshit.
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reading up on Warm Audio dual VCA
and Drawmer L241
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luckily i have a horrible ear for compression. i have a 3630 and use to put it across the stereo buss all the time. i liked what it did (for techno).
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dbx 160 variations always seem to do nice things too. though again i think i’m just making it louder, not better.
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Just stopped by to give Dbx160x a shout. It’s what J-Dilla used on much of his songs.
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Early DJ Premier / Gang Starr was also using the 160 to tune his kicks and snares. I lost that article I could have sworn I read it in remix magazine / electronic musician
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Only matters what you like and what you thinks sounds good for your music. Countless examples of people using what are thought of as being ‘inferior’ tools only to be seen later as groundbreaking and trend setting. It’s at a point where it just really doesn’t matter what the source or processing is, but what the overall result is.
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This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but out of all my hardware compressors I’d have to give it up to the OP-1’s master compressor. It just slaps in all the right places for the music I make.
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