Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine

i'm not sure why most of the reviews here are rather unappreciative. this machine, which is made in the early 90s, has a lot more going on than what people give it credit for. i think the sequcner is awesome because it lets you switch between step and real-time recording by the pressing of a button. if you don't like the 233 sounds the way they are, hook it up to a sampler and edit them. i agree the presets are crap, but what composer uses PRESETS??? that's what sequencers are for, they are for sequencing your OWN patterns! it pays off to read the manual, which is perfectly readable.

MIDI Capability: MIDI in, out/thru. Velocity-sensitive (or what they call Dynamic Articulation) keypads.

The unit is fairly easy to use. There are no 3/4 time pre-sets, although they can be programmed. Overall, the pre-sets are not all that useful given the overuse of reverb. The manual is better than average, and yes, you do need it to perform many of the functions correctly, unless you're fond of the trial and error method. My biggest complaint is that the unit "froze" when I was trying to change the length of a pattern. This was after about ten days after purchase. I returned the unit to Mars Music and received a new one.
Would you believe? -- a week after that the same thing happened! The unit deep-sixed while I was trying to perform the same function. This time I'm gettin a refund. Anyway, while it was working, it was fairly easy to use so I give it an eight in this category.

The feature that attracted me to the SR-16 in the first place is that it is the ideal drum machine for live performance. It enables you to change from A to B patterns and insert fills on the fly; and all of these variations are programmable. Importantly, it always starts and restarts on the downbeat, unlike most other drum machines on the market today. The absence of this feature makes life very difficult for the live performer. Actually, and I'll get on my soapbox here, the marketplace needs an up-to-date drum machine specifically designed for live performance. Not all of us want to program entire songs/sequences nor do we want to be locked in to a sequence. Just give us some usable patterns, the ablilty to create new patterns, and the capability to interject variations -- all on the fly. Are any of the manufacturers listening out there? Anyway, the SR-16, introduced over ten years ago, was probably the most recent (lets hope not the last)user-friendly machine for the live performer. I'm giving the SR-16 a ten for design here. If only it was more reliable.

I found the pre-sets to be practically useless. Fortunately, some of the drum sounds are not drenched in reverb and so some interesting drum kits can be created.

As explained above, I wouldn't use an SR-16 on a gig even with a backup. Two units going down within three weeks time? Maybe that's why they've stopped making them. If my experience is typical, however, it makes me wonder how the unit survived for over ten years.
I have other Alesis gear and have not had these kinds of problems with it.

Since it was a recent purchase, Mars exchanged the first unit and they were very accommodating. I'm taking the second unit (which just conked out last night) back later today. Haven't dealt directly with Alesis.

The SR-16 would be my drum machine of choice if it was reliable. There is nothing else out there that I am aware of (maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that offers the features that it does for a live performer. Anyway, I invested many many hours of programming time during the three weeks I owned one and it was all for naught. Maybe I understand better why there are so many of these machines for sale on the 'net and in classified ads. A good concept -- lousy execution.

Had this thing for awhile. It's really easy. Manual is good. Step function takes some getting used to. Once you get the math, you're home free. Easy copying, pasting.

Features are good for the price. Velocity senitive and can alter volume of each note...that's big. Wish it had a roll button. The quantizer while recording is okay, but just to get the notes in their place. You'll have to go back and adjust volume of each hit (hihat for example) to get a more human feel. And it's a drum machine, that's all...which is cool. It also has two sets of inputs, so you can track drum sounds individually to your recorder.

This is where it starts to lose me. As expressed before, it's got sounds circa 1988. A lot of reverb on the patches - too bad you can't add it after to taste (or use outboard effects). This means that out of the 50 some odd snares, only a few are usable..same with bass drum. I've had success using the "Wood" bass drum and the piccolo snares. Also the "rim2cntr" snare is cool. When hit soft, it sounds like a half rim shot, and hard sound like a regular hit. Vis-a-vis for "cntr2rim". You can get some good effects with altering the volumes and using two of the same patch with different volumes.

The Cymbals aren't that great. I would have liked to see more variations on tight to loose hi-hats. Very few crashes. No splashes. Toms are very reverby...only a few can be used. I don't use percussion all that much, but agree with an earlier post: use a real shaker or tamborine, and it fools the ears.

Mine is old...but works like charm. Cracklin' volume knob...but no prob with the outputs.

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Well, I thinking on upgrading to a Boss DR-770. I'm hoping it is as easy to program as this was. The SR-16 is a great machine. Just make the drum kit with the patches that sound good, and it works. I really like it, but I'm looking to upgrade the sounds a bit. Otherwise, this is a great piece of gear. It's a serious drum machine, and it's not a dance composer...that's what I like.

Fairly easy to use. As for the person below who couldn't figure out the half steps appearing in the pattern, I would guess that is because you are recording with quantized beats. If you want your patterns to succintly begin and end on the first beat, you will need to record that beat quantized. As for the rest of the beats, you are better suited to record those unquantized to get a less "electronic" feel to it.

This is a bit of a process, but in the end you will be happier with the result. As with anything, you are going to have to work a bit to get the most out of the unit. If you want to just plug and play, well, you can do that to but at the cost of expression.

Features are good: complex rhythm composition, plenty of samples, extensive ability to compose. There is no headphone jack, sure. For me, that's no issue since I just run the stereo outs to my mixer anyway. I simply run my headphones from the mixer instead.

And yes, there should have been an on board reverb rather than recorded reverb. Not only does the recorded reverb detract from live playing, but it alters the reverb symmetry when adding effects to your final mixes in recording.

Dynamic articulation is the best thing to ever happen to drum machines. It certainly adds to the "realism". However, the decay is too quick. While not as much of an issue on the drums when mixed down with your recordings, the cymbals are startingly dead. You could probably fool some unknowing listeners with the drums alone, but the cymbals will give away your secret use of a drum machine in a second.

With that said, it still sounds far better (when fully utilized) than most any other machine you will find out there on the market.

Also, there is a "caveman's" trick to making it sound better. Enhance the machine with live percussion. Add a shaker or a tambourine through a mike and it will add a touch of "realism" to your rhythm tracks.

No problems. Ever. Of course, it sits mounted on a table in a clean studio with no smoke or food or drinks around. How could it go bad?

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I certainly would consider buying another one if something were to happen to it. Especially given the current prices of these units, they are hard to beat in terms of cost.

However, I would also consider trying a new unit just to add new sounds after all these years. That's personal, not practical.

I've had my Alesis SR-16 drum machine a little over two years. Unlike the Yamaha it replaced, I've used it very little. I've never been able to figure out why, after programming a number of individual parts, and then editing them together into a song, the parts are always a split-second off beat each time it comes 'round to the next programmed piece.

In other words, it's like - (Part 1) 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and-UH (Part 2) 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and-UH, etc. instead of seamlessly bringing the two parts together without the "UH" extra half-beat added. It does this every single time. I've read and re-read the manual many times trying to figure out what causes this (quantization?), have turned the quantize function off, have turned it on full, tried every possible setting on the device, but it always has the little "and-uh" connector to the next programmed part. Consequently, the songs never sound natural and flowing, but always have that little herky-jerky quality to them each 4 or 8 bar transition.

I've thought it over many times, trying to figure out how to make do with this drum machine, since it's practically new and barely used other than the hours I've whiled away trying to get some usable drum song-patterns down to demo songs (which I've had very little success at). I can only guess that this drum machine has become so popular with many others because: 1) These are people who've never owned another drum machine, and don't realize how programmed parts are supposed to fit together seamlessly when edited into a song, with no extra split-second beats or half-beats added by the device. 2) These are people who have such a poor sense of meter that they don't notice the extra split-second beat that is added when they edit programmed parts into a song; or 3) The device I bought was messed-up from the beginning and has never worked correctly out of the box. I can't believe they all work this way and have become as popular as they are.

Nevertheless, I wanted to see if anyone out in cyberspace ever heard of this happening with your SR-16 drum machine, and if you have any input as to what could be the matter. I'm currently trying to sell mine and get another Yamaha, as I know those work perfectly - at least the one I owned previously did. I would have a complete song programmed from start to finish within 30 minutes and be laying down other tracks around it shortly after. With the SR-16, I'm lucky to get 16 bars programmed in 30 minutes, because if you're a nanosecond off the click when tapping in the beat, it won't correct it for you like the Yamaha, but instead records it that nanosecond off-beat.

The samples of the drums are excellent, but the writing capabilities are pretty bad - at least on the one I bought.

Up and down buttons aren't my favorite user interface for complex tasks, but Alesis didn't have much of a choice here, and they did a remarkable job with it. I suppose if they designed the thing today, they'd include some kind of PC interface, which would be nice. Still, the only thing I didn't understand at first, this being my first drum machine, was that a fill plays into the first beat of the next pattern. Duh! But they should have mentioned it prominently in the manual. I hadn't touched the thing in years, but last night I picked it right back up. I don't even know where the manual is, and I don't need it.

I agree with others that lack of expandability is the SR-16's major shortcoming. There's tons of space for user patterns and songs, synch with position pointer, 16-voice polyphony, footswitch jacks for start/stop and count-A/B-fill, two sets of big 1/4" audio outs, and more. I wish it had a headphone jack. It wouldn't rate an 8 against really full-featured machines, but for my purposes, and for the price, it's nearly perfect, so...

The other reviewers nailed it when they complained about the big, ugly, useless reverb on most of the kicks and snares. It is a horrible monster stomping all over the mix. But the kicks and snares mentioned below are useful, and also the "Pure Snare" and most of the percussion sounds. Maybe I'm the only one who gets excited over congas and cowbells, but they are great. The crash cymbals, on the other hand... well, it is a drum machine. You can get pretty convincing sounds out of the rides and hat if you do it right-- use the ride bell and the interplay between open and closed hats. Most important for all the samples is to program your own patterns and USE THE DYNAMIC ARTICULATION, i.e., vary the velocities of the notes. If you're not using all 16 voices, you can get more dynamics by assigning the same sample to two different pads slightly detuned from each other. I've made tom fills and conga solos that, well, took my breath away at least. But if you just leave every note on 8 it'll sound like what it is, a cheap drum machine. Points off for the tubby 80s sounds.

Last night I realized, with great queasiness, that I've had this thing for 10 years. It's been tossed around in trucks, steeped in cig smoke, left out to collect enough dust to grow potatoes in, and its only problem is a crackly volume knob, which is my fault.

Never had to deal with them.

If it got lost or stolen, I'd be sad, but I'd probably move to an all-PC solution since portability is no longer an issue for me. I could not ask this thing to do more for so many years for the price I paid.

When the SR-16 came out originally, I balked at getting one, primarily
because I had owned a HR-16, which had given me nothing but fits.....
long-time ROLAND TR-series advocate here. Anyway, mid-1993 rolls
around, my TR-707 had long since bit the proverbial dust, and I had
STUPIDLY GIVEN AWAY an absolutely pristine, mint TR-909 to a friend (yes, I've kicked myself
long and HARD over that...) I plunked down the doe, and scuttled home
with my new toy. I think the manual is pretty straight-forward; it was
very easy to "cross the train-tracks" from ROLAND to ALESIS, though I
still prefer the ROLAND programming scheme.

Does it have effects? ARRRRRRGH! Yes, if you enjoy sounding like
Poison or Motley Crue. The majority of the sampled sounds are
drenched with reverb, which has WAY TOO MUCH decay. Renders most of
the sounds absolutely useless for today's music. I'm not particularly
taken by using the keys to program, either....I tend to use a ROLAND
PAD-8 to trigger the sounds via sticks. It has all the necessary MIDI
implementation/commands/ports; it's pretty much up-to-date in that
respect.

The OVERUSE of reverbs on most of the samples seems to be the main
complaint for this unit; I totally agree most are useless becuase of
the ambience. The dry samples, however, are quite good. Several of
the snares (especially the CHROME, LOW CHROME, and various PICCOLO
samples) are totally valid for current styles. The kicks, however,
suffer from the typical mid '80's "clicky kick" sound, a'la the YAMAHA
RX7, RX11, ad naseum. Not very realistic at all. However, the OLD WOOD, LOW
WOOD, and GARAGE KICK are useable, the latter being a wide-open,
buzzy, flappy dry kick sound.
My single biggest beef with this machine is this: fifteen years ago,
when you heard a drum machine, it pretty much sounded like a drum
machine, and everyone was happy. With this mongrel, though, if you're
the least bit "off" in your programming, you just come off sounding
like a really lousy drummer with no sense of dynamics at all.
It's all, or nothing.

Reliability wise, it's a workhorse. I've left it on for days at a time,
I haven't dropped, kicked, spit, whizzed or poo'ed on it, but I ASSUME
it would take said stupid abuse, and continue right on. ALESIS does
make quality stuff....I still have an original MIDIVERB (1985) that I
use for the gated, "Phil Collinesque" sounds.
I haven't put myself in front of a bunch of raging drunks (bar
audience) for money for over ten years...but I don't think I would
mind using it on a gig, if I did.

I had to call ALESIS once about the MIDIVERB, and they were VERY
helpful. Haven't had any problems with the SR-16. As to the price I
paid, this was mid-1993.....I haven't a clue, but I can assure you
it was more than most of the internet dealers are chugging them out
for these days.

When I first got the unit, I was soooo impressed with it. But the
honeymoon was over pretty quickly. What's designed to sound impressive
and overwhelming in the showroom (e.g., the reverbs), get very very
annoying very quickly. Sort of the same way a lot of inexpensive loudspeakers
are designed with an over-blown top-end that sounds good when you
demo them, but grates on your nerves like a razor on glass soon after.
Would I buy another.....unlikely.
I recently auditioned the BOSS DR-770, and didn't think much of it,
either....way too many things that go "BOING"...and I don't need on-
board slap bass samples.
If ALESIS had planned a way to upgrade the sound sets via card or
download (keep in mind, this WAS 1990 :), this would have been THE
END-ALL drum machine. As it is, it's still an interesting, useable,
"mature" drum machine thats unfortunately sounding more and more
"dated" with each passing year.

The SR-16 is one of the dead simplest pieces of digital music gear ever invented. The manual is excellent, written by Craig Anderton of all people...but the unit itself is so simple there's not really any need for a manual at all! All I can say is, if you can't figure this out, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE never buy a piece of gear with the name Roland or Yamaha on it!

One of the really nice features is the ability to do odd time signatures easily. It's still a great, easy to use sequencer, even 10 years old. The 10 year old sounds don't hold up as well, there is too much 'verb on a lot of sounds (It's not an onboard reverb processor, people...the verb is RECORDED with the samples) But still there's enough variety to get good rhythms going for any kind of demo or songwriting application.

See above. Best for Rock, but can work for anything. No onboard effects. Excellent velocity sensitive pads.

Built like a brick shit house. These babies last forever. Never heard of one breaking.

I'd say a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10

For the $125 or so you'll pay on eBay (where there are always 10 or so of these up for sale) it's still an awesome value.

I can only assume that those rating this at 10 work for Alesis. After two years of experimenting and attempting to understand the manual I am at last getting somewhere....,

I have never used another drum machine so I have nothing to compare it to but the tracks I have recorded sound good enough. The editing is a nightmare, selected drum sets revert of their own accord and there is no sequencer as far as I can make out.

Some drum sets sound very realistic, others rather trite. One board panning useful, pre-loaded drum patterns are rather "last year".

So far so good. Hasn't broken down yet.

Called to ask for help and a rather mystified customer services person couldn't understand why I was having such problems. It's so easy to use......,

It's small, transportable, stero, ideal for a small studio where no drummer would fit. Yet it's such a bitch to programme. Which means I am probably not getting as much out of it as I could.

This is an insanely complicated machine to use. The other reviewers who claimed that the manual is easy to use must either be much more experienced with drum machines than I am, or they have a different model SR-16 than I do. The manual with my SR-16 is clear as mud, and programming the thing is like doing calculus. At this point I've given up programming it and I'm just banging on the pads. The manual is incomprehensible, and so editing patches is impossible. The presets sound OK - somewhat late 80s/early 90s rock drum oriented, not much subtlety. Why in the world they put REVERB on every single kit is beyond me.

Built in effects include reverb, which is all over the presets and pretty much impossible to get rid of. It does have MIDI capability, but no expansion capabilities. I don't know what it can do with MIDI, because the manual is utterly incomprehensible. It does have some sort of sequencer, I imagine, but as before, the manual's utter incomprehensibility makes it impossible for me to say anything. I'm giving it a 5, because it seems to have a good number of features; too bad the damn manual is so poorly written it's impossible to figure out how to use them. And what is up with the REVERB?

It sounds like a drum machine. A good drum machine, but a drum machine. Most of the presets seem oriented toward various kinds of rock music, and some of the kits sound very schmaltzy and cliche'd. The onboard effects consist of reverb, and the reverbs are terrible; they need to just stop doing that. It is possible that there is some way to turn off the reverb, but again, the incomprehensible, utterly arcane manual insures that you will have to be a programmer with a degree in higher mathematics to figure out how to do it. The pads are touch sensitive, which means you have to bang the hell out of them to get it to make any kind of noise. Turning up the volume, of course, increases the hiss.

I can't even program this thing, so depending on it or using it on a gig is completely out of the question.

I haven't tried to deal with the company. They can't be contacted via their website the last time I tried. Upgrade it? Hell, I can't even understand the manual!

If this thing were lost or stolen, I would be entirely happy. If I had to do it all over again, I'd pay the extra bucks and buy one of the Roland units. I guess that's what I get for trying to get something for nothing. You get what you pay for, I suppose. At this point I think I would be better off with a Mattel Synsonics. I had friends who used this machine with some success and read a few good reviews, but my experience with it has been entirely negative. I have used other Alesis products in the past and had similar problems (i.e., the instruction manuals were utterly incomprehensible) but in this case, the impossibility of understanding the manual makes this machine totally worthless to me. I wish I had never bought it, and I would never recommend it to anyone.