Praise for the Tempest

[rplom]

I don't know what took me so long to discover the Tempest?

Only owned it 2 weeks and am stunned by how powerful and easy to use it The thing is, the sound.  It's amazing without EQ or reverb on it.  I foresee many more years of deep dive session with headphones and the Tempest

Genius work Dave & Roger and thanks!  This is my new axe

[Yorgos Arabatzis]

Welcome to the forum
Indeed Tempest is a league of it's own!The hands on control,playability  & deep architecture makes it a unique instrument that begs to be mangled!For me T's already reached the legendary status!

[LoboLives]

I always found it puzzling when people decry the Tempest for being limited....but also want their synths to sound more "Broken in" and vintage or they don't want effects on board. I think limitations are what helps us become more creative. The Tempest is a machine that you work with and it's only as good as it's programmer. It takes time but the stuff you come up with is worth it's weight in gold. I actually find myself using the on board samples more than the synth side. Mostly use the LM-1 and LinnDrum samples but also the onboard Piano and Bass sounds. They aren't the best...but that's why I like them...there's a certain grit and lo-fi sound to them that work well. Overall, I'm glad I went with it and see no reason to get anything else. It takes a bit to learn but like anything once you've mastered it, it becomes second nature.

[timbo74]

It truly is a great machine and is very deep in sound and performance!

Punching Beats in and out/ driving the filter/compressor ect ect ect

It's the center piece of my studio!

Love it!

[LoboLives]

The only thing that I would say was a misstep is the lack of ability to sequence multiple external mono synths via Midi. I figured with Dave of all people being involved it would have been a no-brainer.

[timbo74]

The only thing that I would say was a misstep is the lack of ability to sequence multiple external mono synths via Midi. I figured with Dave of all people being involved it would have been a no-brainer.

Yes that was an issue I had initially with Tempest but I resigned myself to the fact that area could be done better elsewhere so I got an Engine hardware sequencer! (Brilliant!)

[RobH]

. I actually find myself using the on board samples more than the synth side. Mostly use the LM-1 and LinnDrum samples but also the onboard Piano and Bass sounds.

I was saying this on here just the other day, that at first and for a long time i tried to just use the analog side of the Tempest but more and more especially with the drums i find myself using the samples, they are not the best, but, they are VERY flexible and tied together become more than the sum of their parts, like i can't explain but you can find one with a good body and one with a nice attack and all of a sudden you've got the exact sound your looking for more or less, which is one of the things i also love about the Tempest is that once you've mastered (and i use that tentativally i am by no means a master like yorgos or adam) but once your into the way of working and understand all the elements involved in sound design with the Tempest you can bend it to your will and get some amazing results that you actually aim for (not come across by sheer accident although that can happen as well lol).

I don't think i can ever sell my Tempest its somewhat special and your right when you say it "sounds" amazing because it really does. For all the people who take aim at DSI for this and that, you can't deny that the the most important thing, the sound, is top notch and thats all i personally care about at the end of the day is that when i record something its sounding amazing before the need for any additional effects or eq.

My first mentor in the world of music production once told me "you can't polish shit" and its one of the most valuable metaphors i've come across when making tracks because its 100% truth.

[LoboLives]

. I actually find myself using the on board samples more than the synth side. Mostly use the LM-1 and LinnDrum samples but also the onboard Piano and Bass sounds.

I was saying this on here just the other day, that at first and for a long time i tried to just use the analog side of the Tempest but more and more especially with the drums i find myself using the samples, they are not the best, but, they are VERY flexible and tied together become more than the sum of their parts, like i can't explain but you can find one with a good body and one with a nice attack and all of a sudden you've got the exact sound your looking for more or less, which is one of the things i also love about the Tempest is that once you've mastered (and i use that tentativally i am by no means a master like yorgos or adam) but once your into the way of working and understand all the elements involved in sound design with the Tempest you can bend it to your will and get some amazing results that you actually aim for (not come across by sheer accident although that can happen as well lol).

I don't think i can ever sell my Tempest its somewhat special and your right when you say it "sounds" amazing because it really does. For all the people who take aim at DSI for this and that, you can't deny that the the most important thing, the sound, is top notch and thats all i personally care about at the end of the day is that when i record something its sounding amazing before the need for any additional effects or eq.

My first mentor in the world of music production once told me "you can't polish shit" and its one of the most valuable metaphors i've come across when making tracks because its 100% truth.

I barely manipulate the samples at all. In fact what I often do is perhaps layer the bass sample or kick sample with a lower analog bass sound. I just find I'm setting up most of my sounds as LM-1 samples and just programming 80s Jan Hammer, Genesis, Prince type beats or even just simple kick drum Carpenter-type beats.

The Synth engine I mostly use for sequencing Tangerine Dream/Carpenter style arpeggiations or some synth-timpani type BOOMS.

[Yorgos Arabatzis]

That's very true!

My first mentor in the world of music production once told me "you can't polish shit" and its one of the most valuable metaphors i've come across when making tracks because its 100% truth.

[RobH]

I'd really love to hear what music people are making with their Tempest, i too have been going for the Prince style LM-1 type kicks not so long back, slappy kick i think i called it, detuned by -5 or -6 something like that gives a really unique kick that sounds amazing, i defo going to use that method again it sounds so good in a dance track!!!

I don't use my Tempest for bass much although its saw wave bass is something else i got to admit, i love it for its leads though, it has a bell like quality kind of shiney sound to the oscilators when in the higher octaves, i love it.

[LoboLives]

It would be interesting if DSI were to take the concept of an analog and digital engine combo and combined them into an actual keyboard synth. I know the Poly Evolver was similar in that but with an analog engine combined with a VS wave engine combined with on board samples...it would be like DSI's version of the JDXa.

[RobH]

It would be interesting if DSI were to take the concept of an analog and digital engine combo and combined them into an actual keyboard synth. I know the Poly Evolver was similar in that but with an analog engine combined with a VS wave engine combined with on board samples...it would be like DSI's version of the JDXa.

This is one reason i recently started a modular eurorack setup, the ability to create sounds using techniques and ideas from the entire history of synthesis using pretty much any method you like, linear synthesis, additive, analog, digital and everything inbetween is all catered for and all you have to do is connect the dots and you get such a good sounding wide ranging sound pallette that also doesn't take up as much space as all these more conventional synths.


I

[LucidSFX]

Praise this group of Tempites...The peeps on this forum are awesome. I totally left GS cause I felt things went nowhere.

As for my Tempest.... Of all the gear I have owned this one is gonna be buried with me. I never really thought a synth could be this much fun to use. Hell yeah with Bass sounds. Really sont know if this should be called a drum machine;)

[Yorgos Arabatzis]

Yep on the same boat here

Praise this group of Tempites...The peeps on this forum are awesome. I totally left GS cause I felt things went nowhere.

As for my Tempest.... Of all the gear I have owned this one is gonna be buried with me. I never really thought a synth could be this much fun to use. Hell yeah with Bass sounds. Really sont know if this should be called a drum machine;)

[muleskinner]

Aye. It's awesome for sound design. Very often the first synth I turn to. I ain't gonna be getting rid of it in a hurry that's for sure. I also find the samples perfectly useable, it was never meant to be sampler per se and they're a really useful adjunct to the powerful synth engine.

I wish you could use it like six separate mono synths, sequenced externally, then I'd use it even more! It's MIDI implementation is its main downside I think.

[RobH]

Aye. It's awesome for sound design. Very often the first synth I turn to. I ain't gonna be getting rid of it in a hurry that's for sure. I also find the samples perfectly useable, it was never meant to be sampler per se and they're a really useful adjunct to the powerful synth engine.

I wish you could use it like six separate mono synths, sequenced externally, then I'd use it even more! It's MIDI implementation is its main downside I think.

I mean if you want to use it as 6 monos you could always sequence it in the daw and record midi into the T.

[LucidSFX]

@ROBH has a point. If
You think about it, only in the last few years (7-10) have this "need to control every synth in real time" thing become an issue. People used to record in passes. Turn one sythn on, patch to DAW, then record, turn second...etc. IMO, Live was kinda built on this premise with scene recording. Just have to change the workflow or buy 6 Tempests. *wink* If anything, I have been limited by being born with two arms.

[DavidDever]

@ROBH has a point. If
You think about it, only in the last few years (7-10) have this "need to control every synth in real time" thing become an issue. People used to record in passes. Turn one sythn on, patch to DAW, then record, turn second...etc. IMO, Live was kinda built on this premise with scene recording. Just have to change the workflow or buy 6 Tempests. *wink* If anything, I have been limited by being born with two arms.

I dunno–MIDI CC and/or SysEx environments for use with Logic were a thing two decades ago; what likely _has_ changed is the shift toward ITB DAW workflows, which naturally reflects outward into control of the connected tools.

[LoboLives]

I wonder...I use a voice out from the Tempest sometimes to drive some CV clocks....but I've only ever done this for a clock to drive a sequencer (Carson from DSI suggested I create a transient attack and sacrifice that voice for a voice out to drive a CV sequencer (Doepfer Dark Time) ...could it not also be done for a CV input of a mono synth like an ARP Odyssey for synth lines?

[AdamXAudio]

@ROBH has a point. If
You think about it, only in the last few years (7-10) have this "need to control every synth in real time" thing become an issue. People used to record in passes. Turn one sythn on, patch to DAW, then record, turn second...etc. IMO, Live was kinda built on this premise with scene recording. Just have to change the workflow or buy 6 Tempests. *wink* If anything, I have been limited by being born with two arms.

Yeah it's pretty interesting.  I believe the Tempest first came out in 2011, right before the affordable analog synth resurgence kicked off with the Arturia Minibrute in 2012. Six years later there's still nothing on the market that does quite what the Tempest does allowing you to seamlessly switch between 32 radically different analog drum sounds in a single pattern using the voice allocation system it has.  While some people like to focus on what the Tempest doesn't have (sample upload, CV connectivity, etc), it really is an incredibly well thought out machine given how complex things are under the hood.