The Tempest from Dave Smith/Roger Linn/Sequential Circuits is perhaps the most unique and powerful drum machines ever made. In fact, calling it a drum machine does it a disservice - the Tempest is a full-blown synthesiser, with loads of envelopes, modulation destinations and LFOs, four oscillators per voice (two analogue/two digital) and a really satisfying workflow that allows for seamlessly switching between patterns and crafting incredible sounding music, while never skipping a beat. When it was released in 2011, it was a raw and unfinished device, however nowadays it is rock-solid, and is a joy to have in any studio. It is capable of producing massive kicks, snappy snares, crisp claps and deep toms, as well as soaring leads, thick basses and smooth pads. There's nothing like the Tempest, and it's unlikely any company will come up with such a complex device ever again.

This sample pack features 574 (previously 356) one-shot samples covering the full range of sounds on offer - 64 of each type of sound (Bass Drums (BD), Snare Drums/Claps (SD-CP), Closed Hats (CH), Open Hats/Cymbals (OH-CY), Percussion (PC), Leads (LEAD), Pads (PAD) and Effects (FX)). The samples range from muted to crisp and raging and demonic, and everything in-between. There's so much variety in the sounds that you could make any kind of music from these, from hip-hop to breaks to funk and house and jazz... It's up to you. All individual drum samples are encoded in mono, with all instrument-style samples (basses, leads, pads and FX) presented in stereo. All individual samples are provided in both 24-bit and 16-bit versions to maximise compatibility with samplers, and are all presented at 48khz sample rate. All samples are royalty-free.

There are also nine sample chains provided with the download, including .ot files designed for use with the Elektron Octatrack (pre-sliced sample chains), which allow for the sounds to be used from several big samples rather than lots of individual ones. These sample chains are presented in 24-bit and 44.1khz sample rate so they work better with the Octatrack, though the samples will work nicely in any sampler such as those from Native Instruments, Akai, Roland, Elektron, Korg, Pioneer, Synthstrom and 1010 Music, as well as all DAWs.

Finally, there is an Ableton Live Drum Selector rack (will work in Live Suite 11.2 and above which allows you to program a pattern and change the sample with the turn of an encoder, as well as alter decay, pitch, distortion, compression and more with ease.

Each individual sound has been uniquely tweaked with dynamic EQ'ing and careful limiting they sound really full and alive right out of the box, but allowing enough headroom for further processing down the line.

Listen on:
Soundcloud - soundcloud.com/lostlvls/tracks
Bandcamp - lostlvls.bandcamp.com/releases
YouTube - youtube.com/UCPCjYFrKMNuQc5sHaczvDuQ/videos
Instagram - instagram.com/lostlvls_/
Facebook - facebook.com/lostlvls
Linktree - linktr.ee/lostlvls

Get in touch:
lostlvls@hotmail.com

© R Gallagher (LØSTLVLS) 2023
All rights reserved
credits