Replaced the Roland Gaia with a DSI Tetra
So after playing around with the Roland Gaia SH-01 for a while, I really was not happy with the sound. The tones were fairly thin and harsh. The knobiness of the interfaces is great, but patch management is difficult because there is no screen or indicator for what patch you are on.
I replaced it with a Dave Smith Instruments Tetra synthisizer which is much more compact and doesn’t have a controller. I have a keyboard controller, so that wasn’t a big deal for me, but I would have loved a Keyboard version of the Tetra like the DSI Mopho keyboard because they are such high quality builds and would have provided easier live control. The Tetra is actually pretty easy to use considering it doesn’t have much space for controls on its surface, but the software editor it comes with is obviously much quicker for complex patch and sequence writing. The sound out of the Tetra is AMAZING. It’s has a nice and fat tone that can get very smooth or crunchy depending on the patch settings.
I am still trying to replicate the great patch and control I had with AMSynth on my Linux live performance laptop, but once I spend time building up the patch I should be able to get pretty close. Well done Dave Smith. Roland, I expected better from your brand.