Dave Smith Instruments Tempest

The DSI Tempest is incredibly underrated. It's the best drum machine I've ever used. Though the learning curve is steep, once you jump that hurdle you'll find yourself making some incredible music, with absolutely off-kilter and bizarre percussion sounds. It's basically a polyphonic synth and drum machine combined, and though the price tag may be steep for some, it offers near-infinite sound design potential. Not only that, but the actual sequencing of new beats is incredibly fun and easy and actually reacts to pad pressure, the slider position and pressure, and velocity of your playing, which becomes particularly useful when playing live. There is even a modulation matrix for your sounds with filters and feedback and noise generators and distortion and compression and tons of different routes and destinations for your sounds. It might take a little time to make a beat in the Tempest, but the results are absolutely game-changing when you do, and to those who complain they just want to make beats on the fly, well, that's what template sounds and projects are for! I'm amazed by the range of what this small machine can do. if you get the chance and it's selling for anything $1,200, nab it while you can. It's way more worth it than a vintage set which will cost thousands more.

DSI never does anything wrong. The sounds I can get out of this thing are incredible. Really awesome to use the sounds out of this thing under some more organic and real percussion. The distortion and compression out of this thing is as warm as can be.

Like the Toraiz after it, most reviews of the Tempest are heavily covered by it's price. The other concept that negatively colors them is the conservatism of drum machines and drum machine users, who all expect drum machines to be faithful recreations of some combination of the 606, 707, 808 & 909. The Tempest is of course a drum synthesizer that it capable of house-shattering renditions of those sounds but isn't meant to be a preset and forget initializer of those sounds. It is however a machine so capable and so inspiring that I could easily make an entire album I'd be proud of using just the Tempest, a Yamaha MG16xu mixer and a microphone. Hell, I could improvisationally tour on that album using just those things as well, since the Tempest is a great playback + performance tool as well. If Roger Linn or Dave Smith created a Tempest 2 with polyrhythms, an SD card slot, per-pad MIDI channel, custom sample loading, a mic input, reverb and an additional MIDI channel for a chromatically triggered pad (it already has one chromatic single sound channel and one multi-pad channel), then the Tempest would be not only capable of doing a whole album by itself, but a luxury to do so with. Such a Tempest 2 would be worth $2400

It has many options that are great, amazing to use live. What i don't like from this drum machine is that you can't download samples to it, you have to use the sounds that come with the machine. This sounds I find a bit skinny, its hard to create a kick with body. Filters are not that great, and its not cheap. Im thinking about selling it and buying a eltron drum machine or an MFB.

Hnads down the best drum machine I’ve ever used...and a 6 voice Poly. Damn.

2 digital oscillators loaded with about 500 samples & 2 analog as oscillators w/ a full analog signal path (hp, lp, 5 envelopes, 2 lfo’s, loads of modulation destinations, FX, etc.)

Extremely capable drum machine & Poly synthizer. It’s a handful to learn but for those not turned away by that it’s a endlessly enjoyable to play, program, & the sequencer is kick ass, a joy to work on.

Absolutely recommend you check it out if you have the chance.

Really awesome for live acts aswell as producing in the studio. Sadly can't put any samples in it but it doesn't affect me because I have a sampler for that purpose. The pads are awesome and everything is layered in a way which enables artist to have a good workflow which I find really important.

I use the tempest for pure analog produced perc goodness.

Want this soo bad, but man! 2 grand! It'll be a while......

6 voice drum computer is what this is. All kinds of sound design. No you can't sample to it but if you can't get the sound you want with what's under this hood...I don't know what you want,lol!?!