Generally speaking Im not a huge fan of the DSI sound either. Not quite sure what you mean by sugary (I think I do though…) but to my ears it was too harsh/raw with a sort of digital feel for my taste.
Having said that, I did like the sound of the Tempest I owned. Must get one again some day. Shame the prices have rocketed! And I do like the sound of the AS-1 actually…
Well I pulled the trigger on the as-1! I thought long and hard about op-1 but I think with too many options I would end up losing focus. The op-1 sounds well but It doesn’t cover my bass synth palette. I love the dsi sound I think it would fill in the depth that I feel like I’m missing.Now I need to add an analog four lol
Well I use the SP16 as a stripped down DAW. I sample in it and use the sequencer to make songs, sometimes to sequence a slaved synth too. In the Our Music section I’ve got two songs where I use the Toraiz. No computer used except for some ipad apps.
So I’ve got the AS1 for a couple of days now and its a great little synth. It sounds fantastic and the FX are really good. It is really easy to adjust parameters and the sequencer is very nice. Its very well build. I didnt do in depth sounddesign yet so I can’t tell you anything about that but the presets are pretty good and usable.
The only thing I found really disappointing is how they thought about combining it with the SP-16. It is/was a selling point from pioneer/Dave Smith but it behaves as a normal synth with the SP16. I can hook up my Volca kick the same way and so on. The only advantage is that you can browse thru you presets on the SP16 and lock that preset to your scene. I thought they would found something to free up your inputs or your midi output but no, thats not the point. Ofcourse I knew this before I bought the AS1, but still…
I just wanted this little synth because it ads some other sounds into my studio and it looks nice next to my SP16
I want to hear FM on the oscillator, and both filters with the velocity being programmed at different levels for a string of notes which affects the modulation intensity of the FM.