I love my Rytm so much and also have octatrack and analog keys. I’m a drum addict so having Tempest would maybe add different tones to my set up. What do you guys think? Is this overkill and crazy for me to spend 1300 for a used Tempest. Secondly has anyone had them synced up together?
I ultimately sold my Tempest for a variety of reasons, including that fact that it just wasn’t all that great at analog drum sounds. DSI basically just bolted on their standard synth voice.
It would be more useful to consider the Tempest as a polysynth with an alternative sequencer style. If that sounds useful to your setup, then I say go for it. I do kinda miss the “tweak all voices” kinda performance mode, but it’s possible to accomplish the same with the Rytm and a bit more work.
Personally, the Rytm was the drum box I was waiting for. I’m much happier with it and have no desire to ever touch a Tempest ever again. The Rytm voices aren’t as flexible and lack powerful modulation, but if I want a complex analog sound I just reach for another synth.
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as a previous tempest owner…i second all of this…like every single word of it
as a previous tempest owner…i second all of this…like every single word of it[/quote]
+1 to all of that. Tempest was cool, but I much prefer the tones I can quickly get out of my Rytm.
I can’t add much except +1 to the existing comments.
Had mine since the day it was released, it’s been quite disappointing in many respects, but I’ve suffered through too many beta builds to have a rational point of view.
Rytm wins hands down as an actual drum machine …
+1 Tempest was a great fun sequencer and in retrospect was nice as a synth. But it’s drums sounds are kinda wack. Would’t add much to a Dark Trinity set up. For close to that price I would start to think more about a Pro2. Now THAT would be a nice dark trinity addition.
Still have my Tempest, sold my Rytm. Don’t really use it for drums except kicks and tom’s. Super addictive layout but kinda buggy.
Another +1 for me. The analog drum sounds are not good at all, nice as a polysynth but hard to integrate in an elektron live setup (for instance, only 1 poly midi channel, no free running lfos, only 16 patterns per project)
I really liked the Tempest, and all though drum sounds seemed to be the most limited part, I really started to enjoy them as long as I ran them through a mixer, added eq, subtle fx and compression.
However, as previously stated, the RYTM was what I really wanted in a drum machine.
Now that I am looking to add a small polysynth to my rig, the Tempest looks like my favorite option. The UI layout is fantastic, and I love the pads, leads and basses it can do. Super fun to tweak. It definitely seems more fun and flexible in that way.
The last update has free running LFO’s
However I dont have a Tempest any more, cant vouch for how the latest OS works.
Its quite funny the avalanche of AR users and Tempest haters/non users/former surface scratchers who jump at any thread where they can blurt
what is their own misgivings. 
To re-phrase for them:
“I’m shit at programming drum sounds and need things handed to me on a plate” 
The Tempest is one of the best drum machines ever released, makes killer sounds
has a wonderful playable interface, not without its issues but if your half way decent
you’ll love it! 
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the pads on the tempest are far superior to the rytm as well
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FWIW:
I am not “shit at programming drums”.
In fact, I won 3rd place in the DSI sound design comp for programming drum sounds and some beats.
Pretty much any subtractive synth can make pretty decent or awesome drum sounds.if you know what you are doing. That’s not the point I (and others) are trying to make.
It’s a good synth, it’s a terrible DRUM MACHINE.
I’m not convinced that your position will find much support here, as it is based on assumption, and presented in an aggressive and quite insulting way.
If we are to compare the Tempest and the AR as DRUM MACHINES, then the AR wins hands down. Not because the Tempest cannot do drums, it certainly can, but because when people want drums, they don’t want to spend 20 minutes on designing a kick.
Think about it for a minute : why are the 808 and 909 kicks so popular ? Because they work. No one is “designing” an 808 or 909 kick. They are what they are, and can be subtly tweaked, but the essence of them is and always will be the same.
Drums are the foundation of beat orientated music. We want drums that are solid, reliable, integrate well with other sounds, are controlled, provide a backbone and texture that we know will compliment our music, whatever that is. There is something to be said about the immediacy of the AR. Sure, it’s quite limited, but remember that you can load your own samples. That takes it to a completely new level compared to the Tempest.
The people who want to experiment with drum sounds would be extremely happy with the Tempest. You can get some mad stuff going quite easily. But, again, the voice randomizer on the AR can take you to extreme territories in a heart beat. The voices are “limited” but they have lots of wacky settings too.
Ultimately, people, myself included, are disgruntled at the Tempest because it’s much better as a poly synth than it is as a drum machine. Every track I make and put out has the Tempest on it, but in 90% of the cases, it’s featured as a synth, not a drum machine. Which is fine, of course. But we’re talking drum machines here. I will never get rid of our Tempests (yes, we have 3 in the studio now that it’s shared), but i rarely use it as a drum machine. Where it shines, for me, is for making leads and basslines. And weird sound effects. I’m not “shit at programming”, I spend lots of time programming synth sounds on the Tempest, but I don’t want to spend 20 minutes programming a kick, when the AR has incredible kicks right there at my disposal. I could program a kick on the Tempest, but to get that kind of punch I get on the AR, I’d have to include samples, and some serious EQ.
Furthermore, the AR’s sequencer is light years ahead of the Tempest’s. Good luck doing mad polyrhythmic stuff on the Tempest. It’s not happening. Good luck with different lengths per track. Good luck with doing anything without having to constantly stop the sequencer. No micro timing. No retrig. Sloppy syncing. Only 16 beats per project. I could go on, but it has been done to death already. The Tempest’s sequencer is stuck in the 80’s, and it’s a great shame. Had the sequencer been as advanced as the AR’s, we would have had a different beast on our hands.
To seal the deal, we can load samples into the AR. This opens it up infinitely, and takes it in a league all of its own. Again, if we could load samples in the Tempest, and not be stuck with Dave Smith’s idea of what sounds we should use, it would be a different story.
So it’s not as black and white as you make it out to be, and despite the Tempest being an absolute beast, an incredibly inspiring and gorgeous sounding piece of kit with lots of personality and grit, when it comes down to it, the AR is, in my honest opinion, the better drum machine.
Just my 2 cents, from someone who’s owned one of the first Tempest ever, and will own it forever 
Cheers !
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^^Good post. Seriously, nothing more annoying than Tempest owners crowing from the mast about “just need to know how to program,” as if the only issues arise from operator ignorance. The Tempest is a good machine, albeit a flawed one.
I have both. The AR excels at drums and Tempest is a cool poly (or mono if you want it to be that). Tempest is great for having all kinds of things tied to the pad velocity and the mod matrix is class.
But Tempest is a crap drum machine. And to answer the OP’s question, I don’t believe there to be overlap. AR does drums that Tempest cannot. And Tempest does synths like AR cannot.
Heh, now that I kicked off this thread with Tempest bitching, I feel like I should admit that I did get at least one good track out of that fucker.
https://soundcloud.com/insidepeople/moonboots
(skip to 0:30 if you hate listening to music and just want to hear Tempest)
^^^ the drums and bass are all Tempest and were the initial inspiration for the track.
So yeah, it was short lived relationship. At some point I realized that my music sessions had turned into my scowling at the dopey blue Tempest, pissed off by all its unmet potential. That’s when I gave it the boot.
When I say “unmet potential” I mean I tried HARD and put in TIME to program decent drum sounds. Am I “shit at programming”? Well, listen for yourself. Dick.
CLUNKY
No - anyone that disagrees with you and doesnt like the TEMPEST or DSI is somehow at fault, has no taste, just wants a whinge. Kinda like your posts…
Get over it dude. Not everyone has to like what you do OK?
I got rid of the Tempest mainly due to workflow when using with other Elektron boxes. Going back and forth between the Elektron way of thinking to the Tempest never worked well for me. So much easier with the RYTM and IMO sounds better to my ears. Though I do miss those ribbon controllers on the Tempest.
Things That Make More Sense To Me If You Already Have A RYTM And Want To Add Another Drum Machine Than The Tempest In My Humble Opinion:
[ol]
[li]Nord Drum 2*[/li]
[li]Machinedrum[/li]
[li]Sonic Potions LXR[/li]
[li]Volca Beats[/li]
[li]MFB Tanzbär[/li]
[li]MPC-1000[/li]
[li]Vermona DRM1 MKIII[/li]
[li]Roland TR-8[/li]
[/ol]
*The ND2 has no built-in sequencer but it still gets first place in this list because you already own an Octatrack to sequence it with.
^ He’s right.
And it’s always great to hear someone say the drum sounds are wack. It makes me realize that I understand a bit about drum synthesis, know how to actually use my instrument, and I can recognize a hot beat when I make it on the Tempest, because it definitely can be done with minimal effort.
I have both the Tempest and the AR, and as drum machines they have a couple of main points of contrast:
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Creating a sound on the Tempest… from scratch… is a serious endeavor. This also means that tweaking it to do that one thing you want, and do it quickly, is also a serous endeavor. I have found no satisfactory way to tweak a sound on the go to be a completely different sound. The AR however excels at taking the sound to a new place while performing and is a very easy and intuitive thing to do. Where the Tempest makes up for this is with the FX sliders which can add fantastic performance variability to a sound. With those FX sliders as well as the Reverse parameter recordable as events on the sequence, you can end up with some vary different sounds, arguably much more intuitively than parameter locks on the AR… not to forget about Live Record Mode on the AR which can be equally as fun!
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Creating a beat on the Tempest is an extremely intuitive and natural thing to do. Entering the world of drum machines as a drummer, and working them into my acoustic drum set up, I’ve found the Tempest to be an extension of the way I play percussion. It’s just comfortable. The AR is close but not equal to the playability of the Tempest. The roll feature on the Tempest is a very useful tool in this regard. Hopefully the AR will someday have an update which brings recording of Roll actions to the table. It would be a huge improvement in playing and recording experience.
So, where am I at with the Tempest? It has been buggy and lacks proper memory. This has kept me from dedicating the time to create tons Sounds/Beats/Projects to my liking. Currently I have a project with a wide range of sounds that I’ve created. I keep that loaded up, I hit the studio and make new beats live and mangle them on the go with the FX sliders and beatwide effects. Using that and the reverse and beat roll (on pedals) I have a great time. I can really accomplish a lot with just that basic setup. When DSI finally gets to a point where it is buttoned up, I will dedicate myself to the machine and really get it where I want. It’s quite frustrating to have to wait this long, but I’m surely not going to sell it for a loss. Everytime I sit down to it I really can get in a serious groove. That to me makes it a great drum machine.
So, where am I at with the AR? It’s an amazing machine. I love, love, love it. These guys are professional and make quality equipment. Enough said! I make serious grooves with the machine and find myself laughing out loud in amazement at what I can get it to do…
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