Open Box Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I have been using the SR-16 for live perfomances and recording for over 10 years. This is a timely update for a quite remarkable machine. The preset beats. kits, and samples are a MUST HAVE in creating your own style. Use what's already onboard or create something totally spellbinding in the user setting. The onboard effects are an extra bonus. Another upgrade is the instrument jack lets you play wherever...plug in your guitar or keyboards, put on your headphones and jam on the go, on battery power. Let's not forget the high contrast screen being backlit UPGRADE, so no more external lighting on stage to see what programs you are using. I have had people tell me what a great drummer I had, when it was all machine. Playing live with this tool is a breeze, once you get command of the foot switch fills. Did I say it had built in bass guitar...it's a whole rhythm section by itself. Plug the MIDI out to your keyboard or other drum machines and you're a one man band. So if you are a novice or an professional,Live musician or home studio recorder, this is the machine to have in your arsenal of sound.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

The Alesis SR-18 is a great buy. I purchased mine about two weeks ago and it has added a whole new dimension to my practice sessions. The buit in presets are anything but lame and the future functionality seems endless. The footswitch controls enable you to start/stop, change the tempo, add a fill or fill and change the pattern without having to pause your playing and fiddle with equipment. I am just getting into programming my own tracks and it seems slightly difficult but with the huge amount of user storage and the ability to back them up via midi, i'm sure it will be worth the struggle. If you looking to escape the mundane metronome and get synced up with some descent sounding drum kits this beast is for you.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

this thing is wicked... it has so many pre recorded beats in it it is sick.... definitely better than just a metronome.... i use it for guitar, keyboards and bass and it has really helped me to to come up with other beats for my music that i write and play also

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I use this mainly in my home studio not to perform live but it would be easy to setup for live performance.This drum machine gives you infinite options to get the type of sound you want.The preset patterns are decent but it is easy to program your own.The best thing about this is you can plug your guitar into the drum machine and jam with headphones on at 4am and it sounds great.Best sounding(imo),easy to use,infinite options.What more do you want? Great machine.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I bought this drum machine mostly because of it's outputs. I like the two stereo outputs verses the stereo and individual outputs the other units have. Although all the drum machines I've tried sound great out of their main stereo outputs It's my belief that the Alesis sub-stereo outputs sound and handle better than the individual output versions by other manufacturers. The price is great also!

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I'm not a high tech guy and most of these machines are way too complex, complicated, or just user unfriendly. This one's a dream. Even though it's almost unlimited in what you can do with it, it's not complicated. I got it out of the box, plugged in my guitar and headphones, picked a drum set and pattern, dialed in a tempo and was playing literally five minutes after I got it. I just got it yesterday so I can't speak for its longevity but I hope it lasts forever. I absolutely love it.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

Our band has used the 16 in live performance for nearly 10 years, and it's worked great, but it was time to upgrade. The 18 has some obvious features that make it far better. First of all, the backlit LED screen! Why did they not do this on the 16? It changes everything. No more awkward flashlights or extra desk lamps when trying to change a setting on stage. It's worth getting it just for that! The drum sounds are much more realistic and there are tons to choose from... in fact, there might be too many to choose from. You'll spend a lot of time looking for specific drum hits. But I've found that there are some standard settings like I like more than most, so I stick to those. The next great feature is the tap tempo, which allows you to calculate a tempo on the fly, AND the option for an extra foot pedal to through in beat changes and fills during live performance. I also like that the drum pads are pressure sensitive, which means that if you hit it harder, it gives you a harder hitting sound and changes the timbre, just like on a real drum set. Learning how to create your own patterns and fills, and piecing them together to create your own song requires some work. You have to read the manual carefully and go through some trial and error, but eventually I figured it out and it's a cool feature. But it's a little tricky at first. Overall, fantastic machine, excellent value for the price, and far better than the 16.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I'm fairly intelligent and have been using computers since the Apple IIe was the hottest thing going but after 2 hours with the manual, I coudn't get it to quit playing bass...I bought it cause I wanted to play bass with it, not listen to bass that only changes riff or key when I push a button. The drums sounds are awesome, the manual is UTTERLY USELESS so if you are a casual user or not EXACTLY sure what you want, move along.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I just bought a new SR-18 machine, started prepare it for my applications and found that dynamic range of pads is very limited! I would say it is semi-dynamic pads. I mean Sensitivity level - NOT Volume control!
Sensitivity has 3 levels ONLY!
SOFT (which is no way you will get from Pad it's full volume, no matter how hard you will tap.. if you can call it tapping - it's already more like killing Pad)
MEDIUM (winch is NO WAY to get low volume no matter how gently you will try to tap)
LOUD (it will allow you to reach 100% of volume with super hard tapping, but forget about soft low sensitivity of pad)

I think it is on of a SERIOUS big minuses of Alesis SR-18 machine.
Another BIG minus - there is NO USB. It means if you want to make a backups of your grooves/songs you've recorded you need to break your head HOW and WHERE to save your SysEx information. And ALL software that can do this being designed for Win 98 or maximum Win XP.

Now I will try to add keyboard and use MIDI connection for recording on SR-18. But if it will not improve sensitivity levels and I will still need to kill keyboard for to get "Dynamic Articulation" - I will sell this machine.
It might be good for individual drummer's practicing in garage, or maybe for to play music without any dynamic (like hardcore rock and so on.. ). This is my personal opinion.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I recently purchased this item and find it to be super complex. This product was designed by geniuses for other geniuses. Its impossible to create a playable drum pattern for any music I play which is rock, c/r and blues. The bass is never in the right key for the song and there is no way to change keys. While there are plenty of presets, none really match any songs. Most presets are 16 beats so trying to hit a fill on time is pure luck. Technical support is nonexistent. I emailed Alesis and got a one sentence reply referring me to the manual. In short there is nothing intuitive or user friendly about the Alesis SR18. If you don't have a PHD in Rocket Science save your money. I wish I did.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

I play guitar,keyboards, bass, drums,etc. Now i play alone and use the sr18 for drums,percussion,and bass.But you have to know your beats and bass runs to know what to set it on. Then run it thru a pre amp. channel then you have full control over your drum tone and vol.and bass tone. The bass will follow you autom. and without plugging into it. and its easy to operate or your not a musician.

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

Sweet!!!

Comments about Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine:

The Drum machine used on Eric a. Freeman's Album The schleeping Tour Guides has a big beat sound and would not have been possible with to the Machine.