Is the Tempest for me?

[Synthoholic]

Hello all,
I'm Eric and I'm a synthoholic.

I've been drooling over the Tempest since it was released and I'm seriously considering buying one. My primary use for the Tempest would be to use it as a master clock for Moog style analog sequencers (1-24 steps) and obviously to create beats.

If I create a sequence that is an odd number in length like 5 or 7 steps, will the Tempest do that or does it really want to stay in 4/4?

I don't have any experience with DSI gear but I have vintage and modern analog synths with CV inputs. I guess the reason why I'm asking for opinions here is because I have seen things about the firmware finale and a lot of the demos that I've heard lean towards dance music. A hardcore drum machine has been not only missing in my studio but I think would be the catalyst for me producing music on a regular basis again.

Do you think that this would be the kit for me?


Thanks in advance. I look forward to meeting you all and taking part in the community.

[LoboLives]

A few questions.

1.) Do you want sampled type drum sounds or analog style drum sounds? Tempest can do both, but if your preference is for one, perhaps you should look towards gear that specifies with those sounds. Example: Arturia DrumBrute for analog drum sounds or Elektron Model: Samples for sample based drum sounds.

2.) Do you want to sequence anything from the Tempest? It can only sequence one external mono synth. I use this for creating bass lines on my Oberheim or Moog which is beneficial in Play List mode which is essentially "Song Mode" which chains multiple beats into a song.

3.) Do you require on board effects? Tempest has a distortion and compressor that I believe can only be applied to the entire sound rather than individual sounds.


4.) Are you looking at the Tempest as a production workstation or as a top of the line drum machine?

[Synthoholic]

Lobo,
Thanks for the reply.
1. I don't have a preference for sampled or analog, I think I would be happy with either.
2. One can never have too many sequencers, right? I'm not interested in trying to program polyphonic sequences on external gear  like that, but I'd definitely want to sync the the Tempest with multiple analog step sequencers or LFOs.

3. I really prefer to have outboard effects so that's not a requirement.

4. My only experience with a drum machine is with a Synsonics by Mattel, so I'd love to just tap out some grooves on the pads. I think I'm really looking for the Tempest to be something similar to having a full kit at my fingertips like one might find on a keyboard like the Roland Fantom where 88 percussion pieces are laid out and you can do some nasty drumming manually.
The primary focus is to just have a drum machine so that when I program the modular with a sequence I can have a drumkit as an accompanying instrument. The tempest would be the only analog poly though.  I can totally see doing sketches all day long on the tempest, but I really want it to integrate with the modular and other monos.


I don't perform live but I do experimental soundscapes, Berlin School stuff, I love funk and I'm looking for a great machine so that I can take these experiments that I do with the modular that never have drums and turn that into songs so that I can start making albums again.

I wish that I could demo one but I seriously doubt there is one around.

[muleskinner]

Some people have found the Tempest a bit flakey as the master clock (clock drifts), it works fine as a slave though so you could always slave it to one of your other synths if you find it's not working as the master.

In my opinion you really need an external mixer to get the best out of the Tempest. The internal mixer sucks.

You also need to put in a lot of work. I find the presets useless and every sound is pretty much an analog synth sound you create from scratch rather than a pre-defined kick or whatever where you just tweak some parameters. For an 'out of the box' starting point Yorgos 808 kit is probably your best bet.

But, if you put in the work, it's an incredibly rich and rewarding instrument and I'd probably say it's actually more suited to experimental soundscapes and the like than dance music, or at least it's much more suited to that than other equivalent gear like the RYTM. I don't really think of it as a drum machine, I think of it as a six-voice multitimbral analog poly that has envelopes snappy enough to create great drums and percussion sounds.   

You can also use the expression pedal inputs to interface with CV from modular gear. I have done this but want to make some floating ring cables before I really pursue this side of things.

[Synthoholic]

Ordered. I am a synthoholic.

Thanks everyone for the input.