French House Secret Sauce? The Dirty Six Thirty.

[@AudioPilz]

Love it! It was the very first Bad Gear episode❤❤❤

[@Estuera]

Thanks :) I actually have been rewatching that episode very recently to make sure I could still add something to this subject. Also quite funny that the (nowadays) very expensive TR-909 really starts pumping by sending it to the (still) very cheap 3630 😬

[@eklipseRomania]

Florian has eyes and ears everywhere :))

[@mikolasstrajt3874]

Wow, you have chosen hard unit to demonstrate in your first video. Watched it and you have almost perfected your format back then minus metric tons of memes.

[@deejayiwan7]

Thats that Austrian guy from Wien

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

Nice take on it, AP.

[@missingdogmusic]

You briefly mentioned "dealing with the noise" of the 3630. A common fix for it is to either disable (cut the traces) the gate circuit entirely or to make it switchable. It (implementing a switch) is not that hard to do and works like a charm. It is a good mod to implement when recapping the device, which is also highly recommended due to the age (and lack of quality) of the components.

[@Estuera]

Yes indeed. Although I do wonder if upgrading the unit won't change the sound as well?

[@missingdogmusic]

@@Estuera I haven't notice any audible changes, but have not been able to hook mine up to a spectrum analyzer yet to confirm. Hope to get a second one to compare eventually. It still pumps and sucks out the bass like it did before; I did get good quality panasonic capacitors for the recap.

[@elsongs]

TRIVIA: The compressor was named the "3630" because Alesis' address at the time was 3630 Holdrege Avenue, Los Angeles, California. (near Culver City).

[@1ytcommenter]

I had a 3630 for years in my PA rack. Loved it. Noise was not a problem at stadium / arena sound levels.😆

[@johntammaro]

Glad you are back on the airwaves again

[@tjerborfritzasnt5942]

wow, the compressor is like a world of difference

[@OPdbx]

The way it smashes drum machines is super pleasing to the ear

[@stevenbakos]

How did I miss this?? So good! My favorite genre! Paris is Burning!!

[@iKiWY]

And here i was yesterday thinking, huh I havent seen a new Estuera video in a while

[@Estuera]

It was 7 months ago 😶

[@ironmaskdj]

You're absolutely right, me too!

[@nilsliebich1822]

The polysix sounds amazing

[@strangehermitage2299]

Thanks. Bought one yesterday off the back of your video.

[@Ancaja123]

It’s honestly my favorite compressor of all time

[@foketesz]

I remember trying to achieve this sound with a couple of dbx 166... No close, no cigar, but a fun learning experience.

[@patamuslo69]

i have one maestro! , te lo prestoooo cuando quieras jajaja

[@mr_adam]

Enough to cover everything with that magic '90s house sauce

[@Stereotype3]

Awesome video. That sweep at 7:17 immediately sounds like a classic record. Thanks for sharing all this knowledge!!

[@Estuera]

Gotta love those tasty MS-20 filters 😁

[@PilzE.]

Superb video, expertly explained, plus we got to see some beautiful hardware tweaking. Of course I bloody well subscribed! Just a really inspirational job, thank you for sharing!

[@Estuera]

My pleasure :)

[@atomicasounds]

Great job as always!! if you half close your eyes at 8:18 it looks like the 909 has heart shaped knobs! =)

[@Estuera]

909 love 😬😁♥️

[@JonMurray]

Awesome man! Really cool to hear it isolated on drum tracks for comparison.

[@JonMurray]

CRAZY difference when you added the Korg!!!

[@anthonybrett]

Great vid! I have two of these and I will never part with them. I would never run a mix through them, but for drums, they are amazing. Especially the gates! The gates are fast and brilliant for chopping drum machine loops.

[@ysteinsondrup9394]

Great timing! Just got my 3630 in the mail 😃

[@Estuera]

Pump it up

[@Shilorius]

Thank you, and especially for the subtitles whenever the compresser is enabled or deacitvated.

[@brandonwatkins9003]

Those records mentioned sounded different at the time. This was the reason. Cool story man.

[@johncitizen8828]

Great video. Love your enthusiasm and knowledge. (Great sounding track at the end, too)

[@Pressure_23]

Superb video. Great story telling, great music. I’d still love to see you replicate that sound with software compressors, that 3630 is a vibe.

[@Estuera]

Thanks :) I do think you can get similar results with experimenting and side chaining. But the 3639 does it out of the box off course. (Tbh they are cheap enough just to get one for the occasions you want this vibe)

[@AC-cg6mf]

This is like magic. Never knew this.

[@philipguerrero11]

i appreciate that you a/b it a lot cus its helps learn the effect!

[@tehedx]

Aha, so that's how the choppy hi-hats were made on the 909. Nice information and as always, a good reproduction of nostalgic sounds and feelings!

[@Estuera]

Its not the only way to do it off course. But it certainly sounds like it sometimes has been used like that.

[@tehedx]

@@Estuera I've been trying to make those on the TR-8S. It doesn't seem to have a 'hard cut decay', nor a noise gate. Edit: wait, it is possible by setting Decay = 0, Hold Mode = Time and Hold Time = ~10. Works for samples only. The 909 hat is a sample anyway :)

[@Estuera]

That is another way to do it indeed.

[@garymayen330]

Great track you were inspired to produce

[@_P_M_]

Glad you are uploading again! Great video!

[@VladoT]

Great video, it was worth the wait!

[@westerncivilization]

Beautiful job.

[@dxtrs_mnpltr]

Yes, you should definitely get a 3630 as it’s a lovely bit of kit.

[@thedutchgoonie2989]

je hebt echt talent, toen ik die muziek hoorde aan t begin was ik back in de 90s en had ik meteen zin om te dansen 🎵😅

[@levimudhouse]

Happy to see your vids again 😊 Very useful video as usual

[@nasor3675]

great video! now taking a deeper look at mine after years of neglect

[@KLOVOrecords]

Hey @Estuera , thank you so much for showing this technique of compression in action, it's really interesting. CHEERS!

[@Estuera]

My pleasure

[@KLOVOrecords]

@@Estuera my friend have bought and repaired the Alesis 3630, and he also replaced the condensers with better ones, and you know - the compressor began sound cleaner and less noisy... Also we assembled the ssl diy comp - whatta a gem compressor. Analogue rules! After your video I'm excited to put the emulation of DBX comp on master channel and mix to it)))

[@Estuera]

Does it still do the pumping though after those fixes?

[@KLOVOrecords]

@@Estuera year, the sound became just little beat better, that's it. Alesis used cheep components for this unit.

[@marinerecords58corshagwen]

Interesting, didactic, as usual. Merci!

[@Estuera]

My pleasure, as usual :)

[@rapastronaut77]

very cool good sir

[@SlaserX]

Best $20 I've spent, it's actually not difficult to mod to improve the quality too

[@Estuera]

But why would you mod out the defects that make it unique?

[@tunecrashersofficial]

it is really working

[@OdoSendaidokai]

So nice episode! Thank you so much 🌻

[@cyberjive303]

Great video. Thanks!

[@jjohn1234]

I love the story

[@c1966m]

Awesome!

[@marcuspatzer2392]

Big Like 66 my dear Friend 👍👈 Have a blessed Sunday ! 🌞🎹

[@mysterio77690]

You got it!! Very good!

[@Estuera]

And its the sneaky debut of the TR-909 in the studio as well ;)

[@ghal3on]

sick vid !!!! these things are usually dirt cheap too

[@brieken]

Thank you!

[@deejayiwan7]

Awesome music, release full track

[@Estuera]

Already done on bandcamp 😉 estuera.bandcamp.com/track/the-dirty-six-thirty

[@korolchukpp]

So cool!

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

That 909 looks like you just took it out of the box last week!

[@Estuera]

Yeah, I was very lucky to find one in this condition ☺️

[@sheenodj]

Great video 😎

[@howtonot9729]

the daft punk sound apart from the genius sound design had a sweet spot between those us build mackies, the paralell dp4 phaser and yes that alesis compressor. its not easy to find that sweet spot wich will kind of fix the mix back in the day where u could not proper eq every signal especially on the sub. the pumping was def part of the mojo and i do think its quite hard to archive that with plug ins. they arrange the tracks on a roland s760 and printed to a revox 2 track coming from a panasonic dat. i think till this day its a very unique sonic signature that sounds timeless and has been not really archived by others. good video by the way :)

[@Estuera]

Yes, quite a few things going on that make those tracks sound the way they sound. For example the SP-1200 grit in the Stardust track is another element.

[@samikalastaja]

2:05 - Ian Pooley - Chord Memory (Daft Punk remix) - what an insanely great and groovy track.

[@rothzn]

Lekkere studio, pik.

[@turbinchik]

Hi! Miss about your different genres tutorial videos. ❤

[@JargBeatzz]

I'm the 1000th like thanks for the video it was really interesting !

[@Estuera]

🎉 Thanks 🎉

[@justjoeblow420]

I honestly find the pump you get from this more satisfying than a side chain as it actually pumps the entire signal. Usually you can tell by the tell tale hint of the kick will sound like it drops a a good bit during the pumps and how noticeable the drop in the kick frequencies is depends on the attack of the compressor.

[@Estuera]

Indeed, I really like it :)

[@thefunkydeep446]

This kind of blew my mind… would this work with a standard vst compressor?

[@Estuera]

You'll probably need to do sidechaining to get the similar pumping going on.

[@relaxmax6808]

@@EstueraIt is acually possible to do it without sidechain in vst. I ve managed to do it . The secret sauce in the daw world is dynamic IMO , much more than in hardwares machines ' cause machines were very load in comparision du to analog twiking . Nowadays producers uses more a Gate/Sidechain with or without compression because they search more clean sound like with Kickstart , Xfer Lfo etc... But i m more oldschool sound educate and i love always this old trick coming from Radio Stars . The best way to do it in daw , it s to take time . The fisrt time , i pass a a whole night to found that sound and even by the sidechain way with a good vst comp. , i understood that there s differents parameters that we can adjust . But Masters Pumping is also possible without sidechain in vst . ( I think that the best way is to use the Daft Punk method using differents Bus to accentuate the dynamic contrast musicaly )

[@ironmaskdj]

In a few days I will publish a new video mix of early 90s techno songs. I mentioned and tagged your channel in the description, to make those who listen to my mixes understand how to use these machines in a professional way. There is no one on KZbin who explains it better than you. I saw your first video a year ago, the one in which you talked about the jp-8080, I've been following you assiduously since then. Thank you for your huge work❤️

[@Estuera]

My pleasure ☺️ Will be checking out your mix.

[@ironmaskdj]

@@Estuera I described you in another mix of mine that I published some time ago and which had good success. Since it was a collection of the most famous dance and eurodance songs of the 90s, in the description I mentioned your video where you explained how to make them. Congratulations again! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXWrhGRnoqZmi7ssi=8ZtKp3u5JSyN1TOl

[@phuturemusic]

Got myself one!

[@Bigger-Circuitry-Bigger-SOUND]

and the track ended up being Dope tho 👌🏻

[@Estuera]

Thanks :)

[@peglapegla]

love it

[@nanocyde_artist]

You're not lying, it gets a bit messy in the rack with two of these and the sidechain insert cables plugged into the patchbay. But still worth it.

[@Estuera]

Here its quite the jungle with the ADAT interfaces under that as well 😶

[@Meteotrance]

I have an old Peavy CEL 2 live compressor that can pump drum like shit out of it, this is radical but also support side chain compression that was also popular in italian house dance music like Benny benassi...

[@codarobo]

oh wow, it's fascinating that the effect doesn't actually use sidechaining... I've been sidechaining all these years thinking that was the secret, hah :)

[@ouzzz_6480]

the cable management at 8:49 💀

[@Estuera]

😅

[@codarobo]

Googled the 3630 after watching this video, found one on ebay for $40... snagged that shit up, why not.

[@Estuera]

$40 is a good price. Make sure you get the correct power supply though. It' needs an ac-ac adaptor.

[@jakce1]

Next add some Phaser-DDL from the Ensoniq DP/4.

[@karimayoubi74]

Question - why this particular compressor? Could you not get the same pumping effect with any compressor?

[@Estuera]

Because that's the one they had or was cheap to get. Lots of music tech stories start like that.

[@TheNextExit]

hilarious i haven't turned this 3630 on for 20 years and now it's big again. are we advancing in the world or going backwards in life?

[@Estuera]

Wouldn't say it's big again. It is a fun bit of dance music history though.

[@HG-jy6tx]

Could the distressor compressor achieve this pumping effect?

[@Estuera]

Exactly the same without using a sidechain probably not. But I haven't tried it myself so I can only speculate.

[@redspiderz6037]

Hi, great video, how did you achieved the pumping sound of the polysix chords and the 909? could you explain what was plugged into the 3630 input, sidechain and output? what was the 909 kick and polysix chords plugged into, were they plugged separately? I'm trying to understand the idea, thanks for providing info ;)

[@Estuera]

I said it in the video: Both the Polysix and the 909 kick go into the same compressor input. That's it. No sidechaining needed, the 3630 starts pumping just because of sending in a loud kick and setting the settings quite extreme.

[@redspiderz6037]

@@Estuera Thank you!

[@samikalastaja]

5:15 nooo! Turn it back on!

[@macdaddybender]

Great to see you back. Funny story, I used a 3630 years ago in my bass guitar rig. It's been sat upstairs in a cupboard for 20 years and I never even thought about using it for anything else

[@Estuera]

Maybe time for some house beats 😁😬

[@F.R.B.Synths]

🙌🙌🙌

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

I’m curious. The Alesis hardware compressor I used to use is the NanoComp. Has that model got anything in common with the 3630, and does it qualify as a successor?

[@Estuera]

I don't know but I think it doesn't. The thing with the 3630 is that it isn't a very 'good' compressor. In newer models Alesis probably fixed and improved the design.

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

Thank you,@@Estuera. Noted.

[@moksound19]

wouldve been good to have audio samples of the referenced songs to hear as you mentioned them to better understand what you're describing.

[@Estuera]

I agree but you know that would get problematic because of copyright reasons. So unfortunately looking up (and enjoying) these tracks is left as an exercise for the viewer 😉

[@davehkhed]

What’s actually happening there with the gate setting?

[@Estuera]

The threshold to open the gate gets increased which causes only peaks to get through. This creates the 'choppy' effect.

[@matias871HF]

excellent video! what plugins do you recommend to achieve a similar result?

[@Estuera]

I think using sidechaining will probably get you close on many compressors. I would start with the stock compressors that come with the daw and just try different settings. There also might be an actual 3630 plugin, I seem to remember seeing that somewhere.

[@cheater00]

Nice. But isn't that possible with pretty much any fast attack compressor that does 10:1 or more?

[@Estuera]

Well, the only way to truly know is to test this side by side (something I didn't want to do in this video to keep the focus). What I have read about this though is that there really is something about the way the compression circuit is designed that causes this very distinct pumping effect. It's basically not a very good design at all which causes it to behave in an erratic way which has the pumping sound as a (lucky) side effect. 'Better' compressors need to be side chained to get the same effect.

[@cheater00]

@@Estuera interesting TY

[@FatalFriction]

What VST would you recommend to get close to the 3630?

[@Estuera]

I think the best option to start is take a stock daw compressor, use quite extreme settings and sidechain it. I do not know if there currently is an actual emulation available. As I said in the video: if you really want the exact same thing, you can get the hardware, these are not expensive. But you can just as well take the spirit of that smashed pumping sound and try to dial it in on any vst compressor of your choice. (With various results of course but that's not a bad thing as you might hit upon other interesting sounds along the way)

[@Meteotrance]

Valley people dynamite from softube do an excellent job AT that kind of pumping gated compressor.

[@bontempo1271]

I'm guessing you have Peak mode on ? And what about the knee ? Hard or Soft ?

[@Estuera]

Peak mode indeed and hard knee

[@bontempo1271]

@@Estuera oh man, excellent, thanks for the response !

[@Clownie_Smiles]

It is interesting how much of electronic music was influenced by the equipment that was available

[@Estuera]

Technology is indeed quite a big influence on all music, especially electronic music off course.

[@klinkske]

So the question that stays is: what will the new stuff (plugins??) bring to the music in the future… we kinda went full circle on hardware

[@dxtrs_mnpltr]

@@klinkskeThe thing with hardware effects/instruments is that they behave unexpectedly when misused due to the circuit components, giving way to happy accidents and new music styles. I’d say with software it is different since there are no ageing components, resistance tolerances, converters and stuff like that.

[@Estuera]

There already have been some examples of software influencing the sound of certain genres. The most controversial one is auto tune of course. It is telling though that a lot of the popular vstis are emulating classic synths... I have been happily using those though before I got the chance to move back to hardware.

[@captainsustain]

ah what a sound!

[@Sonikbytes]

Had no idea this was done without SC... will have to try that one day. How do you handle bass?

[@Estuera]

It does kill some bass so I added some eq after the compressor.

[@WAZA___]

Why a 150ms release? And what is your attack set to?

[@Estuera]

The attack was set to about 1ms, release to about 240ms, (Its already quite a bit past the 150 mark) ratio +- 8:1 Why? Because that's how it sounded the way I wanted. There is some reasoning behind it of course. Very fast attack so it only leaves a bit of punch in the beginning. Release set to a time that gets everything pumping in a nice rhythm. A big ratio because being subtle is not what this kind of sound is about.

[@WAZA___]

@@Estuera 👍

[@els1f]

It's absolutely disgusting and I love it! It's a beautifully nasty compressor and if you push it, it'll sound like a distortion pedal lol

[@klinkske]

Surprised to see you use a P6 and not the clichė j60 or 106

[@Estuera]

I fell in love with the Polysix 20 years ago when it was released as a plugin. I used it in so much of my music I decided to get the real thing if I ever got the chance. So I eventually did. It's very different from the plugin but I really love it.

[@Vincefromsin]

RMS or Peak ? Hard or Soft knee?

[@Estuera]

For this effect you'll need peak mode with a hard knee.

[@Vincefromsin]

@@Estuera Thx for the quick answer! ❤

[@Estuera]

Thank you for the very valid question 👍

[@Vincefromsin]

@@Estuera I had a 3630 years ago. Now I’m more a GML 8900 person 😂😎

[@danielsolomon63]

Where was this video when i decided to sell mine?

[@Estuera]

There are quite a few videos about the 3630 though ;) Although not all of them really put it in a very good light :D Which isn't a bad thing though because now you can find them for about EUR 100 which is imo more than enough for this device.

[@Judasz696]

What to use instead nowdays?

[@Estuera]

I'd say any other compressor with sidechaining and extreme settings might get you there as well.

[@Judasz696]

@@Estuera must be a hardware compressor or vst will also work nicely?

[@Estuera]

Vst will also get you there I'm sure.

[@justinhuffman2430]

SAUCE****

[@LEO-333-m]

This is on bus or only in master

[@Estuera]

That's what I said indeed (and what is shown in the video) Although it actually still works quite well on single channels.

[@LEO-333-m]

@@Estuera Cool ty, will rewatch, i have read about it being bit noisy, so better mixed with a bus.

[@mastermachetier5594]

I lost the power supply to my 3630 lol😅

[@Estuera]

Be careful when looking for a replacement as its an AC-AC adaptor.

[@mastermachetier5594]

@@Estuera thanks ! Due to plugins it’s been sitting for like 2 years haha but this inspired me to mess around again 😜

[@MarkErikEE]

Cool video. Being a computer nerd I hate plugins :) I prefer the old school approach of using real devices doing their quirky magic within their capabilities.

[@krz9000]

Was a big fan of the no manual but pressing all the buttons and see what you get type of way. But that only worked in the simple times...now with beasts like unreal engine this way leads you nowhere.

[@Estuera]

True, some things are too complex to get going without reading the manual. Although even then you sometimes can find out some unexpected things after you get the basics down.

[@abydos-musique]

The trap is having too much material, it eliminates creativity.

[@Estuera]

I always say: less is more (but the temptation to get more vintage gear is very real 😅)

[@klinkske]

I don’t agree. Pick a few thing out of the collection, spend some time. And next month pick a few others. Or don t.