You can’t do it on one track because the sequencer is monophonic. You can however copy/paste the sound to one or more other tracks and effectively do chords. You do have 32 tracks/sounds per beat/pattern so there’s definitely room to do so. Downside is that you can’t tweak all those tracks in realtime without affecting all the sounds.[/quote]
ah yeah that is a good workaround except for tweaking
IMO, there are no good demos on the net because the analogue synth sound engine is not good.
DSI just choose an engine they already had, they didn’t specifically design a synth engine for making analogue drums - whereas most famous analogue drum synths were designed for good sounding analogue drums.
For me, I spent far too much production time trying to make good drum kits (wasted many months really). As soon as I got rid of the Tempest my production and workflow went up big time. Big time waster for me. Its such an expensive machine you feel like you should be using it but it doesn’t deliver.
?? i think it sounds very good. use samples for the drums and analog oscs for synth sounds… i dont know if the synth engine was even primarily meant for synthesizing drums but they do great basses leads and pads
maybe these will useful to OP in deciding if its right for him
I respect that, but it was touted as the big new analogue drum machine when it came out, and IMO failed at being that. The samples were supposed to supplement the analogue engine for drums not replace it. Analog Rytm really seems to be stepping up to that mark and I think thats why a lot of people are excited, it sounds good as a drum machine.
I think Tempest is ok at analogue synth stuff but once you start comparing to the good analogue poly’s it really starts to show its limitations in that regard. If going DSI, I much prefer the Mopho/Tetra/Prophet sound.
THIS. 
All I really got from 1-1/2 years with the Tempest was an appetite for a more capable analog poly. People said “oh, you really need to dig into the tutorials, it takes time, don’t be so lazy, maybe a machine you have to actually work at isn’t for you”, BLAH BLAH.
When programming an analog kick, tom, snare, etc. from scratch is like searching for a frikkin needle in a haystack, well…I have a life to live.
It took about five minutes for the Machinedrum to kick my ass.
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I ride mx bikes and have done for years but have zero chance of doing what some are,
I dont blame the bikes like you are with the tempest, its just some guys are better than me,
its not something to be ashamed of or be defensive about
(which almost inevitably you will)
went through it with the MnM
so so so many slagging the sound engine when they just really couldn’t work it out
skills with gear is a touchy subject
Agree with tonight 100%
With the latest beta build the Tempest kills it-again.
I feel bad for all the people who will be buying the Tempest- again.
DSI aren’t done with it’s development yet so more goodies are coming.
Like I said in another thread, I don’t see it as a Tempest or Rytm issue.
I’m using both, side-by-side.
?? i think it sounds very good. use samples for the drums and analog oscs for synth sounds… i dont know if the synth engine was even primarily meant for synthesizing drums but they do great basses leads and pads
maybe these will useful to OP in deciding if its right for him
[/quote]
A trusted source told me that the second vid percussion sounds are all internal samples of the tempest.
?? i think it sounds very good. use samples for the drums and analog oscs for synth sounds… i dont know if the synth engine was even primarily meant for synthesizing drums but they do great basses leads and pads
maybe these will useful to OP in deciding if its right for him
[/quote]
A trusted source told me that the second vid percussion sounds are all internal samples of the tempest.[/quote]
you are basically the reason i pulled the trigger on getting a tempest
So the DSI Tempest… I wanted to put down some thoughts on it after having owning it for a hot minute…
Overall impression is that it’s a fantastic drum machine, it’s great for performance but the sequences them self become very boring quick and that is due to the nature of its sequencer, it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of an Elektron, BUT it has some very nice tricks up it’s sleeve. Using the events function to input notes using a grid interface on the screen is surprisingly nice to use, the ability to loop bars so that you don’t have to wait 8 bars for the sequence to come around is 
. You can sequence 8 bars in 64th note resolution!
Click, undo rec, erase, copy as individual buttons makes the Tempest really easy to work with and these small things is really a quality of life sort of thing, it may seem like a small thing but it really adds a lot of enjoyment while working with the machine.
The sound engine is a proper Prophet and that is really cool, however I haven’t really gotten well acquainted with the filter or filter FM as it doesn’t really behave as I’m used to with Eurorack (can’t really explain this, so I have to do some more digging and come back later on this notion)
You can’t add your own samples and I don’t care at all, this is not a Digitakt. You can very easily tell that these sample are curated to add texture to a drum hit and I think it’s great, pair an oscillator with a sample and add some filter on top and you can’t get some really gnarly sounds…
Speaking of gnarly this thing can throw down and get grimey as hell (Baseck has really proven that over the years)
Back to the filter, any Eurorack enthusiast may know that Filters can create some really nice kicks by pinging them, this applies to the Tempest as well, I’d say that the best kicks I get out of the Tempest is by cranking the resonance and adding some filter AD, one problem arises though. If you want to play a kick like a bass that is possible by using the mod matrix, but the filter tracks terribly. Even when you use the same note you get different tones (great for microtonal music, but very unpredictable)
The Attack on the AD is another great thing. If you crank it, the envelope will hold the gate for the duration of the attack segment (Pulsar 23 does not do this for instance). This is great in the context of 16 beats mode and the control all function the panel is in this mode… if you crank the attack the sequence will fade into a big sound scape which is REEEEALLY cool, you can see this in action in the video I’m linking to below…
Some tips I’ve seen regarding this machine is that the best way to use it is to seperate the sound design from the music making. As combining these two will probably leave you very overwhelmed and I agree with that.
But I’ve worked my way around this by using another sequencer to input note data quickly into the Tempest… in this jam all the sequences on the Tempest has been recorded from the OP-1 endless sequencer using the OG OP-Lab, this process has been really enjoyable as OP-1 sequencers while volatile in that you can’t save them, are extremely fun to use.
I went into getting the Tempest thinking that I’d keep it and sell the Pulsar or the other way around… but I can’t find it in me to sell any of them as they’re both fantastic drum machines in their own right…
As a final note, people who claim it sounds bad need to learn some more synthesis. My dive into Eurorack really helped me in deciphering the Tempest, so If your new to Synthesis I think the Tempest will be a very long and tedious ride… it’s not a beginner drum machine!
Thanks for reading and as a gift here’s a jam!
14 Likes
Excellent insights, thanks for sharing! I have been low-key fascinated with the Tempest since watching the video of Skee Mask in his studio with one on his desk. I’m yet to find myself enamoured with the Prophet sound in general but the Tempest is on another level. The performance modes on this are so nice with the way the synthesis engine morphs and shapes itself, it wouldn’t be the same with a purely sample-based device. And from what I understand of the Tempest I don’t mind that I can’t load my samples onto it, makes it more unique that way and makes for less option paralysis.
Yes, exactly this… it’s tailored around drum synthesis and that’s it…
also the reverse envelope function is really cool as well albeit I find it a bit to abrasive most of the time hence I like using the attack a lot more because you can be a little more subtle…
Just to understand, when you mention Elektron are you comparing the Tempest to the Rytm?
I never owned a Tempest, but I don’t particularly like the Rytm analog engine and the filter
Sound wise I would think the Tempest sounds much more interesting- the sequencer of course is a different topic
I was merely comparing the sequencers of tempest and Elektron not the sound… Rytm is great but I found the sound engines kind of limited. Tempest is on the opposite end of the spectrum with all the good and bad of that openness.
1 Like
Cool 100% agree on the Rytm sound
I always felt the more apt comparison in the elektron realm to the tempest was the analog four in terms of sound design and actual drum synthesis. The MK2 especially with the multiple outs. The tempest is pretty hard to beat though in terms of live performance. The touch/pressure strips are so fun and expressive and the various pad functions make that thing come alive. Also, the pads are still the best in the biz imo.
Now I want a tempest. This thread sucks.
3 Likes
Pretty sure Tempest Analog engine is more of the poly evolver not the prophet 08. Regardless I think it sounds great.
It has the ProphetVS waves in the digital sample section.
Tempest was the first piece of gear I ever bought a week after it came out… Still have it. Still love it.
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For those who own a Tempest, how can you make ‘kits’ on it ? I’m sequencing everything from a DAW.
I assume you could create a ‘Beat’ and treat it as a kit, right ? Can you easily recall the saved state of a kit ? How instantaneous are kit changes ? Like, can you leave the Tempest stopped, sequence it from a DAW and quickly change kits (so, change ‘beats’) ?
Thanks !
EDIT : from the manual, it seems that you cannot, with the same settings, trigger sounds AND change Beats via MIDI at the same time. Is it for real ?
excerpt from the manual :
• Follow Pad Func: Incoming MIDI notes will control whatever is selected by the Pad Function buttons, exactly like the pads.
• Sounds: Incoming MIDI Notes will always trigger sounds.
• Beats: Incoming MIDI Notes will always select one of the 16 beats.
• Mutes: Incoming MIDI Notes will always be used to mute/unmute the 32 sounds [16 each in banks A and B].