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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby jamoo » 28 May 2012, 15:49

jamoo wrote:
OscBombs wrote:
jamoo wrote:I'm actually in a very similar situation right now. I've got a nord stage 2 and I'm looking to buy either the prophet 08 or the tempest. Im currently leaning towards the tempest. What did you end up doing?


Hey, Jamoo. I got the Tempest, and love it. Still learning it. It's very intuitive, and the sounds are great and--I find--an interesting compliment to the Wave. On my first day with it I started playing the sawtooth synth sound from the "Little Red Corvette" preset project along with a nasty FM-based clav sound from the Wave, heavy on overdrive, and it was quite, quite :thumbup:

I've seen your threads on the DSI forum. Couldn't really advise you on the Tempest over the Prophet08... Tempest still needs some updates to the OS to have all of it's functionality as a polysynth fleshed-out (would love for it to have MIDI aftertouch as mod source, etc etc), and it doesn't have an arpeggiator yet. Of course the Prophet can get 8 voices of polyphony versus the Tempest's 6, and the Prophet's obviously all-analog oscillators (neither good nor bad, up to you). What I can tell you is that I bought the Tempest because I was looking primarily for a synth and then figured "hey, why not also have a drum machine...". Well, having the Tempest as a drum machine is (1) a TON of fun and (2) a TON of work (though all very intuitive... but it's an art that doesn't come immediately). So, if your playing is more keyboard-performance based, you might not want to invite that kind of distraction. If you're up for that distraction, then go for it.

Got to mess with the Wave again after doing nothing but Tempest for a few weeks, and I still love this machine. :keyboard:


Whoops - sorry mjbrands, thanks for the input tho! very helpful :)

Oscbombs- Im around 2 weeks away from making my purchase, just wondering...since you bought your Tempest "primarily for a synth", how does it perform? What are you happy/disappointed with?
Last edited by jamoo on 31 Jul 2012, 12:31, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave


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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby OscBombs » 29 May 2012, 21:59

Hey, Jamoo.

I'm still messing around with it. What I can report is that the sounds it produces are very pretty, but that's just a testament to the curtis circuit, I think. To your point, I haven't messed around enough with the digital oscillators enough to know how useful they are when using the Tempest as a synth. To be sure, I HAVE used the sampled waveforms of the Sine, Saw, and Square, and it sounds great. However, since it is just a sample, I don't believe you can do things like modulate the pulsewidth of the square wave. I've messed around a little bit with using the other tone samples (piano, flute, guitar)... and have noted that there is some kind of high pitch aliasing. I don't know if that's because the samples are only of a particular bit rate or if it's an intentional throwback to some earlier synths' sounds... It's nothing conclusive I'm saying here, just noting.

I don't know if DSI is planning on implementing aftertouch. In the manual, it says that that is already available, but it doesn't show up in the mod matrix as an option. I'd bet that it's a feature that's waiting for implementation.

Some other things to note is that, per mjbrand's post above, you'll see that all 4 Tempest oscillators and suboscillator are routed through the filters. This is opposed to the Wave where you can stack 2 slots, with 2 oscillators being fed through the filters, so you can choke off one sound and open the other way up. In a sense, that's a value-add to the Tempest because it's the equivalent of having 4 osc's per slot, but you cannot stack (or split) the sounds on the Tempest.

I'd have to say that SO much of the value of the Tempest is in its features as a drum machine that if you're not significantly enticed by that, then go for something where your dollars ARE being put towards features you'll use.

As a synth, I find that it DOES produce sounds of a different quality than the Nord Wave's (can't speak for the Stage, etc) virtual analog sounds, and that's what I wanted it for. So now I'm using the Tempest for the all-Analog sounds (where I don't need the Wave's effects or filters like Bandpass, vocal, etc) that aren't mixed with samples or sample waves or FM-based (or any combination of those... I love the Wave!!), and is a nice compliment to it.

One thing that is nice, that's worth mentioning about the Tempest and may have value to you, is that if you ARE planning on using the sequencer, you can sync your LFOs to it. Which is a fine thing to do.
Last edited by OscBombs on 31 Jul 2012, 12:31, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby mjbrands » 30 May 2012, 19:37

OscBombs wrote:I've messed around a little bit with using the other tone samples (piano, flute, guitar)... and have noted that there is some kind of high pitch aliasing. I don't know if that's because the samples are only of a particular bit rate or if it's an intentional throwback to some earlier synths' sounds...

You're probably right. I'm pretty sure the digital oscillators on my Poly Evolver suffer from aliasing too in the high octaves. And while it is a technical imperfection, there is some charm to it and some sounds make clever use of it.
Last edited by mjbrands on 31 Jul 2012, 12:31, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby jamoo » 03 Jun 2012, 10:57

OscBombs wrote:Hey, Jamoo.

I'm still messing around with it. What I can report is that the sounds it produces are very pretty, but that's just a testament to the curtis circuit, I think. To your point, I haven't messed around enough with the digital oscillators enough to know how useful they are when using the Tempest as a synth. To be sure, I HAVE used the sampled waveforms of the Sine, Saw, and Square, and it sounds great. However, since it is just a sample, I don't believe you can do things like modulate the pulsewidth of the square wave. I've messed around a little bit with using the other tone samples (piano, flute, guitar)... and have noted that there is some kind of high pitch aliasing. I don't know if that's because the samples are only of a particular bit rate or if it's an intentional throwback to some earlier synths' sounds... It's nothing conclusive I'm saying here, just noting.

I don't know if DSI is planning on implementing aftertouch. In the manual, it says that that is already available, but it doesn't show up in the mod matrix as an option. I'd bet that it's a feature that's waiting for implementation.

Some other things to note is that, per mjbrand's post above, you'll see that all 4 Tempest oscillators and suboscillator are routed through the filters. This is opposed to the Wave where you can stack 2 slots, with 2 oscillators being fed through the filters, so you can choke off one sound and open the other way up. In a sense, that's a value-add to the Tempest because it's the equivalent of having 4 osc's per slot, but you cannot stack (or split) the sounds on the Tempest.

I'd have to say that SO much of the value of the Tempest is in its features as a drum machine that if you're not significantly enticed by that, then go for something where your dollars ARE being put towards features you'll use.

As a synth, I find that it DOES produce sounds of a different quality than the Nord Wave's (can't speak for the Stage, etc) virtual analog sounds, and that's what I wanted it for. So now I'm using the Tempest for the all-Analog sounds (where I don't need the Wave's effects or filters like Bandpass, vocal, etc) that aren't mixed with samples or sample waves or FM-based (or any combination of those... I love the Wave!!), and is a nice compliment to it.

One thing that is nice, that's worth mentioning about the Tempest and may have value to you, is that if you ARE planning on using the sequencer, you can sync your LFOs to it. Which is a fine thing to do.


Thanks for sharing your experience with me! We are definitely on the same page when it comes to the Tempest :)

I wanted to get back to you regarding the 'aftertouch question'. Ive been probing this question alot recently on the Tempest page of the DSI forum.... today Pym responded confirming that, despite the manual..."the midi spec isnt finished" and that we can expect aftertouch (via a midi keyboard controller) implemented "pretty soon" :D

I totally agree that one should buy a tempest for its percussive/sequencing/live-manipulation purposes... But with each update... this thing is vastly becoming a wonderful kind of hybrid between a prophet08 and polyevolver - regarding the sounds its capable of producing and the increasing modulation and expression/interaction capabilities. Wonderfully versatile for my needs! Im picking mine up for my birthday in just over a week! :P
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby OscBombs » 03 Jun 2012, 21:49

Great to hear, Jamoo. Glad your quest has come to an end. I'm looking forward to the full MIDI implementation too. AND... I'm hoping when they post the files from the analog sound design contest there are some nice non-drum sounds in there in addition to the kicks, snares etc... Because you need to program the synth sounds from scratch.

But I think you'll find it's a lot of fun, and sounds great.
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby arnenormann » 16 Sep 2012, 00:05

anyone tried this piece?
http://mutable-instruments.net/midipal

it has all the functions I miss in my wave. Is it possible to link it with my wave?
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby mjbrands » 16 Sep 2012, 04:13

arnenormann wrote:anyone tried this piece?
http://mutable-instruments.net/midipal

it has all the functions I miss in my wave. Is it possible to link it with my wave?

I haven't used this particular thing, but I have two Mutable Instrument Shruthi synths. I like the guy's products and the fact I can change the software running on them if I want to.

I don't know what the exact features you're missing are, but if you wanted to (for example) use the arpeggiator, additional LFOs (on any knob), etc. you'd set the Wave to 'Local Control off' in the MIDI menu and plug in two MIDI cables (Wave MIDI out to MIDIpal in, MIDIpal out to Wave MIDI in). The MIDIpal can than do all kinds of funky things with whatever you play on the Wave's keyboard, like remap notes, delay/echo notes (hit a note and hear it repeated a number of times with decreasing velocity on each echo), etc.
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Re: Complementary Synths/Equip for the Wave

Postby TrueTone500 » 26 Sep 2012, 22:46

I purchased a Prophet 08 to go with my Wave. Just seems like it would be a perfect marriage.
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