Chris Randall (Audio Damage) has been working with the new Dave Smith Instruments Tempest drum machine, making presets for it, and shared his thoughts on the box at his site.
“To describe this thing as bad ass is to understate the matter entirely,” says Randall.
“DSI were kind enough to loan me one of the first production versions of the upcoming Tempest drum machine for beta testing and to write some presets. The word “loan” there is loaded, because they’re gonna have to send heavily armed gear ninjas to my house to get it back. ”
See Randall’s post for his full impressions.
The bottom line?
“This is my dream drum machine, and I’m turning my house into a bunker to fight off Dave Smith and his Ninja Army.”
Sound designer Richard Devine has also been working with an early unit. The demo above captures Devine working with four analogue synthesis kits that he created.
Devine notes that the Tempest offers “Interesting drum synthesis and parameter control allows for some really cool beat manipulation.”
Sounds like Dave Smith has another hit on its hands. For an in-depth look at the beast, see Roger Linn’s Tempest drum machine demo.
Image: Chris Randall
But you could have 2 OP-1’s for that price, including tax & shipping!
yeah and i could get a used leica m8.2 for that price …
^ apples and oranges much?
The DSI Tempest kicks major ass?
I think we all knew that right from the second he and Roger Linn decided to collaborate on it. If I had the money I would buy one the second they become available. Unfortunately I’ll have to wait a few months until I have enough cash.
I agree, very nice machine, the price, well, hum…
This thing looks like plenty of fun… Richard Devine just made a video of him tweaking it, and I’m jealous. 😛
Enough talk already, I want to hear this thing in action!!
intricately crap demo, good show of sounds but no groove to speak of.
While I always appreciate analog and hybrid hardware its kind of hard to choke down a price like that for a drum machine with no sampling capability, no filter inputs, pretty light on the available waveforms, inflated price, lack of dedicated controls, the fact that its part rompler (really?), and (my god I hate) ribbon controllers. Its a lot of things Im just not a fan of…It sounds great, but I think I’ll pass…
I think, like most DSI products (in my opinion) it falls under the category of good/great sound, mediocre interface, and bad pricing.
I can appreciate the company for their quality sound, but their products do nothing for me on any level other than sound.
To Some Guy : I disagree, the Mopho KB is perfectly priced for me.
no sampling possibilities for a drum machine in 2012 is an absolute no go for me, otherwise i love it, except ribbon control
I’ve already used my Tempest to perform live and I have to say that this machine has an incredibly commanding presence! Each hit can really be felt and the sound is SOOOO tight no matter how I set it up. Ribbons, and 2 foot pedals make it really easy for me to be expressive while tweaking my other devices at the same time. I don’t care about sampling capability for this machine… The sounds are numerous, I can sculpt my own sounds, and the circutry makes this thing sound so rich! You have to really hear one in person because when I fire this up at a club, people gravitate to the floor no question.
I’ve already used my Tempest to perform live and I have to say that this machine has an incredibly commanding presence! Each hit can really be felt and the sound is so tight no matter how I set it up. Ribbons, and 2 foot pedals make it really easy for me to be expressive while tweaking my other devices at the same time. I don’t care about sampling capability for this machine… The sounds are numerous, I can sculpt my own sounds, and the circutry makes this thing sound so rich! You have to really hear one in person because when I fire this up at a club, people gravitate to the floor no question.
I’m so sick of you whiny people complaing about sampling capabilty.Thats why God invented the Octatrack,you airchair producers.
& that’s why Roger Linn also invented the MPC
Sounds gash.
I would never give the Tempest away/back! It’s propably designed for guys like me! I love it! Haters gon hate