Elektron-Users

If you are to use samples for your drums on the tempest, can you use the analog synth voices at the same time? Like program a beat from samples, and play some synth parts with a midi controller at the same time. How about if you use three analog voices to make a bass drum, snare and hi- hat, can you use the three remaining voices to make like a bass line, lead , and an arp or something??????? Or does it have to be used as either a synth, OR a drum machine?

thanks

steve

steevyhead wrote:
If you are to use samples for your drums on the tempest, can you use the analog synth voices at the same time? Like program a beat from samples, and play some synth parts with a midi controller at the same time. How about if you use three analog voices to make a bass drum, snare and hi- hat, can you use the three remaining voices to make like a bass line, lead , and an arp or something??????? Or does it have to be used as either a synth, OR a drum machine?

thanks

steve

yes, you can do it, even combine samples with analog oscillator in the same voice

each voice got 4 oscillators: 2 of them are analog, the other 2 are digital (sample-playback)...they´re all available at the same time in each voice so you can layer 2 samples with 2 analog oscillators on top if you want...analog oscillator even got a sub-oscillator so you got plenty of sound sources to play with in the same voice

each digital oscillator goy its own level control and the analog ones got a balance control between them...you can turn them off too and leave just the samples if you want

all of them are further processed with the same filters and final VCA though, but as you got some control of the individual amplitudes before filtering you can make very interesting crossfade between sound sources

synthesis-wise is a very capable machine...you even got a very powerful matrix modulation that is a bit hard to manage at the first time due to the complexity of the options but it could deliver some very unique tones, almost modular-like, but with lot of control over sequencing and, of course, storage

thanks for the info....... now more decisions AHHHHH.....

my next two purchases were going to be a poly evolver and a machine drum, but now I just might get a tempest, and figure it out from there... I love DSI stuff, i dont know why people hate on him or at least his gear so much.....

steevyhead wrote:
thanks for the info....... now more decisions AHHHHH.....

my next two purchases were going to be a poly evolver and a machine drum, but now I just might get a tempest, and figure it out from there... I love DSI stuff, i dont know why people hate on him or at least his gear so much.....

well, a good reason is the lack of some very basic features like copy/paste sequences between tracks...this sucks and shouldn´t happens in a $2K machine...some other stupid things could bother you as well so read the manual before invest!

As well as looking at the manual I'd say it's more important to take a good, long, look at the Tempest forum at prophet5.org. You get a little history of the OS development (or lack of) by reading through the threads...quite an eye opener.

I spent around two months deciding between a Tempest and an A4 and spending a lot of time reading through that forum convinced me that I would end up as frustrated as a lot of the Tempest owners on there.

It could be an amazing product but the OS development is moving forward at a snails pace with stuff that has been talked about from the beginning still not having materialized.
It's a fantastic product with severe handicaps which it may never be free of and some things, like the lack of free-running LFOs, appear to be beyond fixing.

For me, having access to only sixteen 4 bar patterns at a time was the deciding factor in giving up on it. I know some people can make a track by live-tweaking a single 4 bar pattern but I need way more than sixteen patterns to work with and can't believe that in this day and age they think it's ok for a machine like that to have such severe limitations.
I waited for the last big OS update but couldn't wait any longer because life's too short.

Also, if you don't mind digital drums, grab a Machinedrum and since you have the OT you could get the non-UW version for just over half the price of a Tempest and have a much better drum machine...THE drum machine as far as I'm concerned ( if you need analogue drums in a track then use the A4, either straight from the source or sampled into the OT if you need the A4 to perform melodic duties on that track).
It's hard to believe that a company could get something so right on just their second product.
The MD cuts through the thickest of mixes and the on-board sound shaping tools are just enough to get a perfect mix out of a single stereo output.
I guess its sound may not be to everyone's taste but if you do like the sound then you'll almost certainly fall in love with it.

I have Tempest and loving every minute of it. YES - All the gripes are true! It has many, many OS bugs and imperfections with support moving very very slow. But my application fits into what Tempest does well and I don't use it for things it doesn't do well. It really depends on what you expect it to do for you

Analog Drum Machine? YES and it sounds awesome doing it! infinitely tweakable, great sound

Analog Poly Synth? YES and it sounds awesome doing it! Bass, Leads, Blips, Bleeps I love the sound of the Tempest

digital samples, just a bonus. Many have griped about the the fact you can't load your own samples. I have something else that does this for me...a sampler! (OT)

Midi Sequence and control for External Gear? NO! Has been promised, not implemented and people are super pissed about it. Luckily for me, I don't need it to sequence any synths for me. I have something else that does this application for me...a midi sequencer! (OT)

Live Performance, live breaks and effects? YES, YES, YES! I've never had a piece of electronic equipment that I felt so connected with performing live. To me it's the ultimate feature of the Tempest, and the main reason I chose it. Build a beat live on the pads in 16 sounds. Jump to 16 Mutes, create live breaks with filter sweeps and touch strip assigned effects. effortless juicy performances are dripping from my Tempest all day.

FLAME DISLCAMIER: I read the DSI forum every day and I know how pissed people are about Tempest. Not trying to bring that argument here at all! I understand why people hate it. I just happen to be one who is loving the thing all day. Just wanted to give Steevy my opinion on why one might want or not want a Tempest.

Porcupie wrote:
For me, having access to only sixteen 4 bar patterns at a time was the deciding factor in giving up on it. I know some people can make a track by live-tweaking a single 4 bar pattern but I need way more than sixteen patterns to work with and can't believe that in this day and age they think it's ok for a machine like that to have such severe limitations.
I waited for the last big OS update but couldn't wait any longer because life's too short.

yep, BUT (and this is a BIG "but") you got 32 tracks in each pattern to build your own using 6 at the same time...so you actually can have so many combinations and variations without leaving the pattern to play with...this feature is awesome...I can play 1 hour with just 8 patterns if I´m able to tweak them as much as in the tempest

combine this "extra" tracks with the ribbons and the front panel and you got a real performance powerhorse

also you can add a little 4-knobs midi controller and use it to drive any 4 internal parameters at the same time using the matrix modulation...something like the performance mode of the A4

it´s a great machine, they just have to add the damn copy/paste and some other stupid stuff that remains not implemented yet!

Porcupie wrote:
some things, like the lack of free-running LFOs, appear to be beyond fixing.


it´s a great machine, they just have to add the damn copy/paste and some other stupid stuff that remains not implemented yet!



Those are pretty shocking omissions. I haven't thought too much about it because of cost and it doesn't grab me emotionally, but I keep feeling I should go to the store and spend an 30 minutes or an hour with one to give it a real trial. And I will...but I am very surprised at the problems you guys are dealing with. Copy/Paste seems like a pretty essential thing ona sequencer, but no free-running LFOs? That's an immediate deal-breaker.I can't understand that at all.

anselmi wrote:


yep, BUT (and this is a BIG "but") you got 32 tracks in each pattern to build your own using 6 at the same time...so you actually can have so many combinations and variations without leaving the pattern to play with...this feature is awesome...I can play 1 hour with just 8 patterns if I´m able to tweak them as much as in the tempest

combine this "extra" tracks with the ribbons and the front panel and you got a real performance powerhorse

also you can add a little 4-knobs midi controller and use it to drive any 4 internal parameters at the same time using the matrix modulation...something like the performance mode of the A4



When I discovered that the Tempest had 32 sounds simultaneously available across two banks on its 16 pads my jaw hit the floor and it went from looking like an overpriced six voice drum machine to something you could compose complete tracks on, with that Dave Smith sound that I've been in love with since the Prophet 5 (fave synth ever).

But then I watched the Sonic State review of the A4 and learned that you could sound lock any one of 128 sounds into any track at any time, as well as the four kit sounds that you can mangle with the usual Elektron P-locks and my jaw hit the floor again.

Like I said, above, I can't work like that, I need lots of patterns to piece my tracks together with and lots of parameter locks to automate with...not really a jam it out type of guy and you really do have to be to get the best out of a Tempest.
DSI keep using the Tempest's focus on live performance as an excuse for many of the shortcomings which prevent it from being a viable option for those wanting to use it in more of a studio context but if they could give it more simultaneously available pattern memory and more generous parameter recording they could sell so many more.

It's a real shame, a stupidly flawed masterpiece and such a missed opportunity to create a perfect classic.