We had several of them in the broadcast room at my previous position. I liked them pretty well on kick, bass, guitars, piano, but struggled a little to really dial in voices. Not sure whether that reflects on the ACP88 or me or what exactly. In any case, I found it to be quiet and very usable, if not exceptionally punchy or musically inspiring. I think it's a solid deal, at least on par with the dbx stuff and notably ahead of the Behringer.

For a little more, you could get three FMR RNCs (or RNLAs), but you'd be stuck with the stereo pairing and no gates. It's not the most favorable rig if you're trying to get a drumkit up, but it's worth considering as an alternative if you don't need independent access to all the channels at once.

Hope this helps.

Michael

Thanks Mike , I am still pretty green on compression , but adequate on gating .The reason why I brought up the Behringer, is the fine tuning of eq frequencies to trigger the gates the behringer has to offer. I did use Behringer multigates on the last project I recorded , and got decent results on drums ,but have not had the pleasure of using higher quality gates in comparison . I have read bad things about the Behringer multicoms through this website , and figured the Presonus would excede in that category. I have read some good things about Presonus products , and was curious that a 8 channel compressor / gate unit could live up to its mid to higher end reputation in a two rack space .

In response to your FMR RNCs , I will check into them and give them a look.

Do you think an Eq will end up being necessary in the side chain of ACP 88 , for adequate gating for a live drum kit ?
I am currently using a Roland VS1680 expanded Recorder, with a Mackie VLZ 1604 pro .console . I have also been considering the Presonus Eureka channel strip, or a higher end pre amp for vocal purposes . Do you think it is a waste of money with the present equiptment I have ? Will Roland preamps disolve any quality that a high end preamp is putting out ? Or will it even allow substantial difference over the Mackie pre's ?

I use a pair of ACP88s on a Midas Heritage console at a church I mix for. I use them on vocals, piano, guitars, and drum mics. No problems with them. I don't always need them on drums because some of our drummers use the Roland and Yammie electronic kits, but we do get plenty of acts in who have REAL drums, and the ACP is fine on them. Don't use the gates much except on the piano to minimize bleed. I haven't needed the sidechain MUCH, but when I have, I use an old Symmetrix parametric EQ on it (2 channels, 4 bands each), and it worked fine to keep cymbals and kick from opening. I like the "soft knee" on vocals, but our vocalists are pretty good and know how to control their dynamics, so that hasn't been a problem. I like the "early" PreSonus dynamics...
One caveat would be that if the unit(s) are used, what kind of condition are they in? I have seen a number of ACP88s that looked like they were from Hell!!! They still worked, but tended to develop little "problems" from wear'n'tear....
And for whatever it's worth, the Eureka is BS (IMHO). Lots of bells'n' whistles, mediocre components and build quality. There have been several posts here from pro engineers bitching about them...PEACE!

Thanks for some more insight . This ACP88 is pretty much mint ,very little use on it . I have done a little more research on it also , and am getting some other nice reviews on it as well . I will probably buy it , 8 decent compressors ,and gates for 500$ is not a bad price to swallow .
Thanks for the insight on the Eureka also . I havent checked in to that one very indepthly yet . I would like to get a nice pre amp though, and I know a quality one isnt going to come cheap. I wont rest until I can get that killer vocal tone , or a nice rich sounding Kick drum , or bass guitar. I just dont know if that is going to have to wait until I step out of the Roland , and into a more serious format of recording . I know my way around the Roland very well , and you pro audio gurus would probably freak at the sound of some of the demos I am pulling out of that thing . But I know eventually it is inevitable . but in the meantime I have been building my collection of quality mics , and now I am moving to outboard gear.
If you have any sugestions for the best choice for a preamp in the 1000.00 range ,it would be appreciated . And your opinion on using a quality preamp with a Roland/ Mackie setup would also be useful to me . I would hate to find out too late , that spending good money on a nice preamp is not going to do much better than the Mackie Pre's with my current setup.
Thanks Again

The Groove Tubes 'The Brick' is a pretty decent preamp at a terrific price point ($400-500). It has plenty of gain, works beautifully for bass guitar (mic'd or DI), guitar amps, and snare/kick duties, and much more...I own a couple of them and can vouch for them. Many "gurus" that REALLY know their stuff swear by 'em. If you want THICK, definitely the way to go.
If you want CLEAN, you will need to look at the Grace 101 (single channel) or the FMR RNP (2-channel) mic pre's...they are both a great value with no BS...stay clear from the Focusrite Platinums, JoeMeeks,and the "newer" PreSonus pre's in your price range. There is a lot of hype out there these days.
BTW, you didn't mention the mics you will be using. And, yes, the Mackie preamps are better in a VLZ than the Roland has...

So you are implying that it is possible to better myself significantly with a quality preamp , with a Roland setup. That is good news , and I will definately check into the Groove Tube unit . Thanks for that info , never heard too much on the Groove Tube Preamps yet .
As far as mics , nothing way over the top like the Neumans quite yet , just the mid range studio standby's . I have been using Audio Technicas 4050,4040 , Rode NT1 , Akg C3000,D112, Sennheiser MD421, E604s,shure Beta 52 ,SM57s , just standard proven workhorses .