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Tetra packs a lot into a relatively small frame.

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• Review

Fact: Dave Smith is a synth design legend. He designed the Prophet 5, 10, T8, Pro One, and VS under the Sequential Circuits name and also changed the way we all make music forever with his huge contribution to the invention of MIDI itself.

His current company, Dave Smith Instruments, is today one of only a handful of synth manufacturers that still makes truly great analogue synths. The Tetra follows as the souped-up successor to the Mopho monosynth that wowed us last year.

As DSI got the analogue sound engine spot on with the launch of the Prophet 08 back in 2007, it makes sense that it's now filtering down this proven technology into more affordable products.

Overview

The Tetra is a two-osc per voice, one low-pass filter per voice, four-note polyphonic/four-part multitimbral synth module that uses the same basic sound architecture (based on digitally controlled analogue oscillators, DCOs) as the Prophet 08. Note that all the Prophet 08's controls map exactly to the Tetra over MIDI.

Tetra can also be chained (using the Polychain output) to a Prophet 08 to make a 12-voice monster or of course you could chain it to a Mopho for a five-voice synth, too. We like this modular capability approach from DSI. Need more voices? Then add a Tetra or Mopho as funds allow.

In the main, four voices are enough, but remember that once you start layering sounds (you can layer split or stack as on the Prophet 08) polyphony is reduced. This isn't a big deal most of the time but it's something to be aware of if you're the sort of player who likes to play monster chords or four-note chords and a bassline.

"Tetra uses the same basic sound architecture (based on digitally controlled analogue oscillators, DCOs) as the Prophet 08."

Build quality feels great and the box feels sturdy enough for gigs as well as for studio use. Tetra looks good, too, and it certainly invites tweaking. The two-line screen is small but never gets too cryptic. The 11 pots on the Tetra feel just like those on the Prophet 08 PE – solid, albeit with a tiny bit of sideward play. This most certainly feels like a quality piece of gear, though.

Connectivity and editor

Tetra packs a lot of connectivity into a small footprint. First up, power comes courtesy of a wall wart (note there is no power switch). Next up is USB, which allows Tetra to be connected directly to your computer without the need for an interface. Of course, normal MIDI In and Out are available too, but USB is much more convenient for bi-directional computer communication, especially when using the free Tetra editor that can be downloaded from here.