DSI Tempest

Sorry, had forgotten the details. Used to do all this, and the inconsistent transients drove me crazy. And this is not typical behavior, to anything like the same extent, on an 808, 909, Rytm, Jomox module, etc. and so on.

Well, I’m not here to sell anyone on the Tempest.

It’s a diva, to be sure, and a tragedy.

I still use mine — albeit in limited capacities — and every time I do, I’m simultaneously reminded of all that I love and hate about it. To that end, I love the sound and playability of the Tempest. I just wish it played well with others.

Mostly, I use it standalone, using but a handful of projects that I specifically designed to avoid its shortcomings. But not a day goes by that I don’t lament of the fact that development fell short. Had DSI only hung in there for a half-dozen more bug fixes, I’d have almost no complaints.

Instead, I gig with an MPC Live full of Tempest samples… Argh!

Cheers!

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I think the biggest let down for me regarding tempest was that the lfo’s didn’t go fast enough for me… I can deal with a lot of things but that is one of the fundamentals for me… which coincidentally is one of my biggest gripes with OT as well. But there you can circumvent that somewhat with LFO designer…

It’s also one of my biggest draws to eurorack, the ways you can modulate with eurorack is unrivaled imo.

Been trying to find a device that I can use as my main instrument. I’ve already tried different synthesizers and I’ve always found some issues with them. The Tempest is also not an ideal solution for me but at least I can see that it is worth to try it. For now I’m using it not as a drum machine or even a poly synth but rather like some kind of a sequencable feedback machine whose sound is mostly generated by its pinged four pole filter. Love the sound of its filter. I highly underutilize it but this way the workflow is pretty fast.



(+octatrack)

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very nice! did you use my sound randomizer to generate the sounds? :slight_smile:

It’s just a pinged filter. But is there a randomizer?

I don’t have the Tempest anymore though as it was not that fun to play with it, even though it sounds pretty good. I thought that I could use an Analog Four in this way to achieve the similar result. I don’t have it yet though.

When I listen to it again, I notice how beautiful it sounds. Hmm… Not a good sign. But if a gear is not fun anymore!?

do you have any other compositions? very interesting sound. thanks in advance.

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Thank you, I’ve uploaded some stuff here: https://taut1.bandcamp.com/ But they’re not made with Tempest.

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So I picked up a Tempest. I’ve devoted more than a few evenings to designing sounds on it, customising the FX sliders to my liking, saving my init sound, beat and project, tinkering with the settings and recording the audio in Live 11 while performing patterns. My goodness, this thing is a masterpiece.

I’m not using any preset patches, for drums or synths. Everything is synthesised from scratch, using everything I’ve learned over the years. My sounds are not what many would consider to their taste, but they’re all mine and I love them. Those sounds together with the loose and groovy swing, the per-pad (and beatwide) slider fx and glorious ‘reload’ function leads to some incredible places.

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Any chance you’ll make a soundpack on the Tempest? :innocent:

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It’s very likely! :wink:

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Excellent! Looking forward to it!

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Wondering how exactly you pinged filters? With short analog pulse wave or?

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Sometimes I want another go at the Tempest, then I read threads like this and remember what a headache that thing is.
However, using it as a small footprint polysynth with 12 ready to go sounds that’s fun to play intrigues me. IDK :man_shrugging:
Maybe if the price would come back down I could snag another and either feel good about it, or remind myself why I originally sold it.

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No osc is used, I set the filter resonance on the edge of self oscillation and played with the envelope settings and feedback knob, then modulated the filter via mod matrix to play notes with it. You can even kinda fm the ping. Hmmm maybe I haven’t explored it enough though, especially the whole mod matrix universe in that machine and now there is another one for a good price locally. Should I get one once again!? :upside_down_face:

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I have the same feeling! It is so promising and so frustrating. A pretty average drum synth, a really amazing poly synth, hampered by the uninspiring UI (menu diving mod-matrix for almost all modulation) and horrific aliasing on the digital oscillators.

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I had one for a good while, then sold it the day the RYTM was released.
I really needed a proper drum machine back then.
The Tempest is so quirky, but sounds incredible and is super fun to play.
I love the voice stealing, the outputs, pads, arp, scale mode, and the hands on madness it does so well.
At one point I realized it shines best if it’s your ONLY instrument and you’re constantly tending to it as it goes off.
I had bought an Ashly stereo mixer for it, and had it hooked up in a really cool way to use the L/R aspect of the stereo outs for dub style delay/reverb sends. It was BAD ASS, just not what I needed at the time.
It definitely seems best as a strange polysynth than a drum machine.
The biggest draw back for me was how limited each project was.
I was hoping I could use mutes to create a bunch of patterns in one project, but it has that stupid limit on how many notes can happen at once, even if they are muted.
It’s always on my mind, but the price these days is way out of reason.
I originally bought mine and sold it for 1300

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Definitely! Considering getting another one just to make an album/ep with it.

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SAME!
I made this rough idea on it ages ago.
I just love the way Tempest sounds. It has a special kind of grit.
I’ve always wanted to try a Toriaz SP1 or a Tetra to see if I could scratch that Tempest itch

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As the voices are muted, would you not be better off deleting the notes on the muted pads so they don’t count towards the voice limit?

Me too, never want this feeling to end!

I find the prices are maybe dropping a bit second hand? Or they were dropping until Dave passed, not sure about the future. They were consistently about £1400 here for a long time then they started cropping up for £1000-£1100. For that money I couldn’t be happier!