BillFitzmaurice.info

Our beloved band leader scored an Alto CLE 2.0 compressor on NZ's equivalent of eBay.

This is supposed to be "to add to the PA system" as I have been wanting utilise compressors. especially with vocals ( this Alto would be for the two lead vocalists, one of whom I have posted about here before )

I don't know much about compressors but from what I have read so far, Alto is a knock off company of another knock off company, namely Behringer.

I also don't want to waste my valuable time trying to get a piece of low end crap working if that's truly what it is BUT if people have had good experience with these and believe they are good value for money bla bla bla, then I'm willing to try using it in our band's sound system.

So, does anyone know about these ALTO CLE 2.0 compressors and give me a candid opinion based on experience?

Thanks

Alto is not distributed in the US. There were signs that it was going to happen, including product release announcements and even some cataloging of items, but it never did happen.

They sure sold a bunch of it here in my little town. It was a Yorkville line, but is no longer being imported is the story I got just last week from the manager of the store that carried it. My bass player has one of their powered heads.....it's nothing to write home about. No headroom.

Harley, worst you can do is hook it up to the two vocalists and see what happens. Don't expect miracles, but it might give the vocals a little punch.

I think you'll find that to be an ok piece. Alto used to be distributed and warranted by Yorkville in the US, which is a great company. I used an Alto 4 channel gate for several years and it did a decent job. The general concensus seems to be that their comps/gates from that era are ok, mixers and amps not so much. If you ever run across a blue face Orban dual channel compressor(414 I think), grab that.
Bill - are you sure about that? - I see on their site many US dealers on the dealer map and some showing stock.

Greg Plouvier wrote:I think you'll find that to be an ok piece. Alto used to be distributed and warranted by Yorkville in the US, which is a great company. I used an Alto 4 channel gate for several years and it did a decent job. The general concensus seems to be that their comps/gates from that era are ok, mixers and amps not so much. If you ever run across a blue face Orban dual channel compressor(414 I think), grab that.
Bill - are you sure about that? - I see on their site many US dealers on the dealer map and some showing stock.

I know that they set up a dealer network and some product went out, but it was short lived. I saw a press release about a number of Class D power amps that looked interesting, so I kept an eye out for their release. It never happened.

Bruce Weldy wrote: Harley, worst you can do is hook it up to the two vocalists and see what happens. Don't expect miracles, but it might give the vocals a little punch.

+1

I love compression on my vocals, probably more so than any other processing. If you've never used compression before, its much more of a subtle effect than things such as reverbs or delays. In many cases, the goal is to not hear the compression and have it be as transparent as possible...the levels should just be smoother and more controlled. I used one first when I performed with a headset mic and got great compliments on how clear and up front the vocals were, plus it smoothed quiet and loud vocals as I couldn't use mic technique for that. I use them alot in recording, usually just kissing the input signals instead of squashing it. I've had a Behringer Composer for probably 17 years that's seen lots of mileage and still working very well.

The cheaper compressor/limiters like Alto, the Alesis 3630 (which I use 2 of as our band is 4 vocals) and Behringer's versions have been much maligned over the years. You won't find many of them in many top notch studios, but lots of people say they have no problems with them live, which of course is what you're using them for.
So +1 on giving them a go...

Alto is reportedly made in the same factory as Behringer, Alesis and DBX.

As I said, I have 2 Alesis 3630's which are also Comp/Lim/gates.
When I was looking for some info on my ARX 6 gate (which I got for drums) I found this:
http://www.arx.com.au/International/Six ... pnotes.htm

Look at the "gating vocals" heading for some rough settings.
There's also some interesting info about low pass and high pass filters being placed in side chain insert to prevent spill and false triggering, i haven't tried it with the comp/lim/gates, but interesting read...

Edit: to add more info