Compress through analog b4 sound card with drums and keys? o

Quickly asking for advice.

is it worth spending a grand on a dedicated compressor like the ACP88 to track drums into my DAW? Or is it better to keep drums digital, record to daw, than compress with Cubase or waves in the daw not using any hardware compressors?

I'm confused on this. Im expecting that people will have different opinions, and it may be difficult question. I've always heard that keeping things digital and not adding any noise to the recordings was the best way to go. However when i read about how some old school hip hop guys did it, it is mentioned that they used pieces like the acp88. But to incorporate that, i would need to bypass the digital out and track out analog to incorporate this gear. Just wondering what experienced peoples opinions were on this.

I'm just unsure which process leads to punchier harder hitting Drums etc and i do not have the resources to employ trial and error experiments to find answers. Ty

well think about it this way - if you are talking about tracking into a daw, you already out of the realm of the 'old school hip hop guys'.

if you want to do it like an 'old school hip hop guy', then you got more ground to cover than just a compressor.

so my suggestion would be, instead of opening that rabbit hole, and blowing all yer cash on ONE piece of gear that isn't going to magically make you sound like your idols, and just encourage the need for more stuff....go with what you know and learn to make it work. there are other ways to get a sound instead of copying what they did.

or...get that one piece of gear, and use it religiously and incorporate it into 'your' sound - but dont expect using different tools (the daw) + ONE piece of their puzzle will make you sound like them.

+1 for tapedeck.
But i then i have compressors and do this and am thinking of the DBX160. cheaper and good for drums and bass. So yeah listen to tapedeck and try as many free or cheap ones to

You won't know until 'you' hear it!

Personally +1 what the others have said.

Unless u know someone with that particular setup... You could try it..