Sonic LAB: Review Tempest Analog Drum Machine

Thanks a lot for that great review !

24-Dec-11 06:19 AM

Nice review Nick!

24-Dec-11 06:38 AM

Interesting review as always! Loved that 80's beat you programmed.

(Now, just to nitpick, you always give prices in pounds and dollars, but, well, there's also another big currency just beyond the Channel;)

24-Dec-11 07:05 AM

but for how much longer Khoral ???

24-Dec-11 11:33 AM

I dont know the Euro prices thats why.Glad you enjoyed it. Happy Christmas

24-Dec-11 12:33 PM

Got to have instrument. Great review, thanks.

24-Dec-11 02:21 PM

Nothing to do with the great review and sorry to nitpick on this, but just on the little fact you mentioned there, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that MIDI was actually invented by Roland to be released in their first product with the protocol the Jupiter-6 in '83, only when Roland had relations with Dave Smith to get its support as an industry standard, did he beat them to the gun and release it at a trade show before Roland in the SCI Prophet 600 in '82. So you could say that SCI released the first commercially available synth with MIDI or that Dave Smith pioneered the MIDI protocol, but not invented.

25-Dec-11 08:01 AM

Nothing to do with the great review and sorry to nitpick on this, but just on the little fact you mentioned there, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that MIDI was actually invented by Roland to be released in their first product with the protocol the Jupiter-6 in '83, only when Roland had relations with Dave Smith to get its support as an industry standard, did he beat them to the gun and release it at a trade show before Roland in the SCI Prophet 600 in '82. So you could say that SCI released the first commercially available synth with MIDI or that Dave Smith pioneered the MIDI protocol, but not invented.

25-Dec-11 08:01 AM

Roland used DCB first, then:

Here's what I found: In 1981 three engineers, each from a different synthesiser company, were chatting at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show and hit upon the idea of solving this problem and allowing musicians more control. These engineers were: Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, I Kakehashi of Roland and Tom Oberheim of Oberheim Electronics.

26-Dec-11 06:33 AM

Thanks Nick (great review BTW), I found the article I was thinking about, I stand corrected, it seems we were both right in part, and it was Ikutaro Kakehashi who first suggested the concept to Dave Smith and they subsequently both worked on the protocol at both ends. So technically I guess you could say Dave co-invented MIDI :)

Here's the article -

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec04/articles/roland.htm

...starts under the heading "1983 — The Birth Of MIDI"

26-Dec-11 08:19 AM

Thanks for the great review Nick!

26-Dec-11 10:32 PM

head nodding over that beat!! lemme play it again!

30-Dec-11 10:12 AM

it sounds delicious and dare i say it...sexy. which is something that can only come from a more bona fide analog piece of kit, methinks. so warm and inviting. The price is a bit of a moot point, obviously, as is the slightly "work in progress" o/s update scenario, but i reckon over time this is gonna become a classic in its own right.

30-Dec-11 05:32 PM

There were more folks involved in the MIDI spec too. Yamaha, Korg, and strangely, Kawai. I think Oberheim were initially against it because their own protocol was so much better and faster.

I read that it was a prophet 600 and a jx-3p that were first midi'ed together at the namm show. Other sources claim it was a Jupiter 6.

31-Dec-11 06:52 AM

Terrific review as always, Nick!

Any chance we could see a separate video of patterns and sounds - both factory and yours - as we have with other instruments? I know it's all over You Tube, but I'd like to hear it here, unadulterated. Thanks!

31-Dec-11 10:56 AM

Nick, the first programmable drum-machine was EKO ComputeRhythm from 1972. It was used by TD, Ashra JM.Jarre and some other artists.

01-Jan-12 08:50 AM

Great review & a very desirable piece of kit but the inability to load in your own samples via USB or SD card etc is a deal killer for me. Why on earth would they not include that as an option?

04-Jan-12 11:27 AM

Mine came today! Big fun already - a short break and I'll be back at it. :)

07-Jan-12 04:34 PM

I hope Sonicstate could check out keyparts.co.uk. they make midi/cv keybed matrixes and controllers for old synths and DIY projects. would be interesting to know how long they have come into their current controller project. And give them an interview and talk about what they plan for the future. :)

12-Jan-12 06:12 PM

What Mandroid said (no ability or plans to address loading own samples is ridiculous).

At a minimum, they ought to allow the user to push in (via SysEx) a Sample which must be appropriately clocked for it to sound proper. They have 0 desire to create any software for it from the sound of it.

Problem with this product is that it's considered "done" because it was so long and so much work in the making and we are basically waiting on one man to rewrite code.

Nothing but 4/4 is deal breaker for me also.

Towering achievement, beautiful piece of history and technology to be cherished for sure; but for $2,000 USD, it's missing some key bits. At least for me.

14-Jan-12 08:19 PM

WAY TOO XPENSIVE!!!!!!

10-Apr-12 01:22 AM