I'm think of selling my A4 and getting a Tempest

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

I’m hearing samples of the Tempest, and it sounds incredible. The drums sound fantastic, and I understand that it’s got a full synth engine for each voice. I’m afraid of leaving the programming aspect of the A4, but I’ve got an octatrack to plug notes in and do some slight p-locking.

If I were controlling voices from the octatrack, there’s no reason why I couldn’t do note slides, could I?

I suppose I might be sacrificing parameter slides? I can’t remember if the midi sequencer does this?

Any input? Thanks!

#2

Don’t really think parameter slides should be the deciding issue. The Tempest is fundamentally different from the A4. Raw, funky and loud. And an amazing instrument to play and jam on.

I’m a Tempest guy and would never pick an A4 first. But I can see tons of reasons why one would disagree.

They’re just very different.

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#3

It’s either selling the the A4 to fund it, or the AR. I really like the probability trigs of the AR, for a drum machine, that’s really cool to me. Though, I DO like the small, gentle, quiet sounds that the A4 can do. I don’t suppose this couldn’t be recreated on the Tempest? And the flexibility of the Tempest sounds fantastic. I gotta think.

On the other hand, I suppose I could do without the probability trigs? The analog synths on the AR aren’t that spectacular, and do I really need sample layering? with a little bit of work I could duplicate it on the OT?

But the AR is very immediate, and is actually pretty fun to jam out on; however, I have less fun on the A4(quantitatively), and it’s main use in my setup is primarily to provide some warmth in the mix. A full synth engine could provide the same function?

I don’t know. But the Tempest sounds phenomenal, and I found a pretty good deal online. I made an offer on it. So, if that gets accepted I’ve gotta part with something. Probably the a4, but no reason I couldn’t compare all three, I suppose

#4

Keep everything put money on the side grow it and get the tempest when you have it. I’m pretty sure when you’ll get it … you will start to regret to sold A4 or AR

But do what you want. No sample Import on the Tempest. No effects. But yes it’s a good machine no doubt

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#5

So if Tempest guys there who have A4 and/or AR i’m curious to know what Tempest can DO, that AR/A4 can’t replicate or approach on a sound synthesis (intermediate-advanced) point of view. I’m curious…
Why to not add a module to your setup like a tetra @Ryan

#6

I used to have a Tempest but I sold it. I love the sounds on it but I couldn’t deal with some of the workflow limitations. The fact you can’t change the length of a running pattern without stopping the sequencer and the lack of plocks just made it feel really crippled compared to my elektrons.

I never really found the lack of user samples to be a limitation, the provided ones are more than enough to sculpt interesting sounds. Of course it would have been even better if you could load your own.

I sometimes think of picking one up again because it’s otherwise a great machine. The fact you have actually playable pads makes it a lot better for live jamming than the Rytm. But I’ve got enough gear for now so I can live without it…

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#7

I think if you’ll think about what you lose and miss, you’re looking at it the wrong way. Since they’re so different, just see what the Tempest does, and if that’s more right for you.

A few things, where it really stands out from the A4 -
Each pattern has eight bars, and each kit connected to that pattern holds 32 different patches. Yep. With six voices multi-timbral and some clever voice allocation, you can switch between these 32 patches in one eight-bar pattern.

There are no fx. Ok, there’s a dist and a comp and some kind of midi delay, but really, where it counts, this machine is dry. That adds plenty to its character. But for coloring, it’s like a patch of the Nevada desert. Not a bad thing, in my book, but miles from what an A4 can do with delays, chorus and reverb.

It’s ridicilously funky to jam on. You’ll be banging on the pads for hours because it’s so fun. And when you take it on stage, the liveFX and beat sliders warp the oscillators way more into Octatrack land than what the A4 ever could do. As a live instrument, it’s just killer in terms of performance as well as sound manipulation.

Sound design is hands on, at least compared to the A4. It’ll be second nature for you, once you’ve learned the interface. And you’ll learn it in five minutes.

It’s raw, not always in a good way. There can be distances between the sweet spots and some heavy tweaking required when the voices start to take up headroom together. It doesn’t sound great from the box. Simple stuff can break it, such as just not keeping an eye on your volumes, messing with the compressor or just having a lot of low-end stuff fighting for the same space.

It does have paramlocks, though not nearly as flexible as on the Elektrons. A couple of values are fixed to locks - velocity, duration, pitch, a few more. Then there’s four additional ones you can assign to any value you like, the FX sliders. These can be recorded live, but also programmed step by step. The interface is messier than on an Elektron sequencer, but by no means a show stopper.

It has a unique sound. As much as I like the A4, it sounds like an extremely well executed, polished version of the familiar. The Tempest can take you to strange places. The A4 is more familiar, yet in a very welcome and exciting way.

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#8

Thank you very much for that!

I don’t suppose the fixed settings in the tempest couldn’t be parameter locked via the Octatrack?

#9

The Tempest is about average when it comes to MIDI implementation. You’d have to check it out on the forums or on DSI homepage for details, but it’s known to not do everything that’s expected of it, when it comes to MIDI.

Though it’s not completely barren either.

However, I should underline something I mentioned in my previous post - it does have a verison of plocks implemented in its sequencer, and that takes you pretty far. A set of fixed values, and four assignable - per patch, not pattern, so you’ve got a lot going there.

So if you got a pattern running four voices, each voice can have four individual plocks.

Voice One could be a kick drum, where you Plock the Decay, Filter Cutoff, High Pass Filter and Amp Feedback. And you’d still have the defaults left to play with, which are Velocity, Pitch, Duration and something mroe.

Voice Two could be a bass, where you Plock the Filter Decay, the Resonance, the Amp Release and LFO Speed.

And on it goes.

So you’ll get pretty far with the Tempest internal plocking, before you introduce the Octatrack.

With that said - the Tempest and the Octatrack were made for each other. They’re the electronic music world’s equivalent of Jerry Maguire and Dorothy Boyd.

Octatrack goes: You complete me. Tempest goes: You had me at hello.

7 Likes
#10

That’s not what u already said between AR and Tempest :slight_smile:
… kind or sentence recycling

By the way you sale nice Andreas Roman

#11

I did, didn’t I? :blush:I’m flattered you remember :blush:

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#12

I will buy your a4 :wink:

1 Like
#13

My .02 if you have to sell one, let it be the AR. The Tempest has no Legato, which you might miss should you sell the A4. The Tempest oscillators run circles around the A4 but there are some cool uses for the A4 with the Tempest. For example you can use the two pedal inputs with two A4 CV tracks for some extra LFOs or some p’locking. Both pedal ins can be routed via the Tempest’s mod matrix. Then there’s the A4 FX which are quite nice with the Tempest. And you can use the Tempest’s pads in scale mode to play the A4.

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#14

I’m following with great interest. Even posted locally here to see if anyone wanted to do a temporary swap for my ar. (No)

My problem is I’ve never heard a demo with the tempest where I said, I have to have that. It’s basically the mopho synth, which I also don’t adore. Raw and for the most part, clangorous. They left off the awesome fm and ring and delay from the evolver and also the cool modulation sequencer, come to think of it. I think it’s also missing some lfos but don’t quote me.

Thanks for the tip about plocks on the tempest. That’s good to know.

1 Like
#15

For that purpose you could consider a JU-06 or JP-08. Simpler, more direct, more fun to use.

#16

as with every machine you dont own… youll hear stuff you like and wonder if you should own it. took me a while to chose the A4 over the tempest…id like them both i suppose but i like the way i can work on the a4 as a drum machine or a synth with overbridge… i have read loads of different opinions on the tempest sounding good, not sounding good… it gets boring to keep looking. overbridge clinched it for me. ive only heard idiots making derivative boring 808 ‘style’ trappy bullcrap with the tempest… all that power and you make it try and sound like an old tired drum machine that eveyones heard a billion times… i love the a4 for its usability… keep that and cv the tempest after seling the other one

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#17

that’s a very good point! I might have to do that! Though, I’ve come to realization that I won’t be getting a Tempest this round. But, I’ll keep my eye on it. The best way to do it is just to save up and sell my gear at leisure instead of dipping into my savings too much.

But if anyone’s in the market for a Tempest, there’s one on Reverb.com for $1350 which is a damn fine price, I think

#18

I tend to laugh at the people who complain about the Tempest’s inability to sound like a “traditional analog drum machine”.

That’s it’s best feature in my opinion.

My all time favorite Tempest demo is this one starting at about 5:19.

It really shows off some of the cool beat juggling / performance aspects of the Tempest which are why I personally like it so much better than the AR. With the AR you can perform with the sounds, but not so much with the actual beat. I like being able to pop in fills / changes quickly so the Tempest is right up my alley.

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#19

I haven’t had a Tempest in a long while but I often think of trading in the A4 for one again.
These days I’d probably do what William_WiLD said, save up and get one, have everything, then decide.

The Elektron stuff and the Tempest are really different animals.

In a nutshell,
Tempest sounds amazing (way more old school than the A4),
extremely limited projects (no banks, 8 event limitations, etc),
ultra limited Midi implementation, hardly any CC control, but you can sequence and external synth which is fun.
Plays well with others, but kind of begs to be played alone.
In my opinion, the Tempest would be best, if you only used a Tempest, a small mixer and a couple of FX, but the main focus would be hands on Tempest jamming.

The A4 is way more capable in all areas, except sound.
The A4 kinda has that new school soft analog sound thats not as raw and aggressive.

I’d never leave the AR, that would be silly.

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#20

YES! That sounds incredible! Must maintain savings account That beat juggling is definitely something that’s missing on the AR. I suppose you can kinda get there with direct change, haven’t tried it yet though. That would definitely be ideal, though.

Decisions decisions. I can’t really make this call before getting the Tempest. I DO feel that A4+AR+Tempest would be a bit of overkill(also, I’m running out of space). If I DID keep the A4, I could have to potential to have all six voices have their own reverb(4 separate through the OT and 2 through the A4(albeit the A4 having a stereo verb, but with chorus and delay added). The A4 IS fun, but only when I feel like diving deep into the sound design aspect–but, to me, is the least fun to actually compose on—I should spend a tad bit more time playing with the performance macros and spend a good day designing sounds on it before determining I want to part with it.

AR, on the other hand, might be a bit of overkill in my set up for percussion. But the Elektron workflow of p-locks seems to work more intuitively on the percussive aspects than the A4. But the samples on the AR sound SO GOOD(however, its a pain to load them in–and I have an OT) . Also, the trig-conditions help randomize the beat a little bit(but how helpful IS that really–especially in comparison to the beat juggling aspect of the Tempest).

It’s a tough call, but I think I agree with natrixgli over JuanSOLO. I think the greater potential would be to replace the AR over the A4, for the wider sonic palette(while also opening the door for the Toraiz at a later point in time)