Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine

I worked on a review for over a half hour and then all of a sudden it went away and I could not get it back. I'll say this to whoever reads this I love the SR-16 but it needs to be back lit for live use. I have to use a flashlight to read the screen. Not good.

I'm gonna keep my review very straight forward.. The others all have the features etc. etc.

Easy to use for the most part.. I love the presets and contrary to other opinions the reverbs sound great once you record the entire band on top of it.. Just the right amount of effects that blend perfectly.. By itself they may seem a little much but they got it right as far as the levels. I haven't tried to tackle programming an entire song yet.. But I have used the patterns/fills for songs and it's sounds like a real drummer.. I've also recorded a click track and played live drums over it. This thing is GREAT! The manual is okay if you take an afternoon to read it.. Which most people don't want to do when they get a new toy.

The sounds are amazing! Lots of snares, kicks etc. etc. to choose from. The pads are pretty touch sensitive once you use the "Full Velocity" setting.

The sounds are as good as it gets. Real sampled drum sets and the ability to create your own.

I only use this unit for recording and so far it's been perfect.

N/A

It's great for recording!!!!! Wish I would have invested in this unit years ago. I'm gonna throw my Roland TR-626 in the trash can

This is my second drum machine, my first being a dumpstered (yes in the garbage) Dr. Rythym that worked flawlessly despite its age and aailing ac adapter. I gave it away and bought an SR-16. I'm a bare bones, cheap import guitar and loads of effects boxes type of guy, I'll vulture whatever type of amp I can find and go for broke. I don't really have a lot of set gear preferences and love to experiment, this thing is awesome. The manual is helpful to a novice like me, but experimentation is the true key. I actually like the presets and find the 50 different kits interesting and quite usable for the junky industrial noise project I am trying. I also have an Alesis microverb which is reliable and a crazy compliment to run the drum machine through to add delay, reverb or just plain noisiness. With a little time and a few beers, even an untrained monkey could figure out the basics of the SR16! I am digitally fairly inept and it's still easy for me to use and I am still finding new ways to mess with it, like running it trough flangers and distortions to see what I can find. Easy to pick up hard to put down, especially if it's your first drum machine experience, plus it's affordable.

It has 16 voice polyphony which I don't really care about, I just want beats. The velocity sensitive keys are cool and you could bang the pads all day and not damage the unit. It's a bare bones drum machine perfect for beginners and minimalists alike. They added a headphone jack to the newer ones and it came with an AC power supply but doesn't accept batteries like some other inexpensive machines do. The few features it does have, work great and do their jobs well. I am just dipping my feet into electronic music with the help of an expert friend who has sequencers, vocoders, synths keys, dj equipment and the like. I am experiment ing with really raw guitar sounds and needed something slightly more complex than a metronome for my beats, the SR-16 is perfect for my basic, experimental style.

The touch sensitive keys are cool, but as some have said, they can be slightly unreliable, I hit them really hard for maximum effect regardless of the sound, forget subtlety! Most of the kits sound a little reverby and unrealistic as stated in previous reviews, I don't really care, it's a digital machine, it's never gonna sound like a live drummer for under $200, you get what you pay for. And for the price it's a good little package, machine, AC power and a thick manual. I can see myself using this live for experimantal punk ala Babyland etc. Some sounds are a litte 1980's and drenched in reverb, but good enough reverb, as Alesis are kings of digital reverb modeling, as evidenced by their rackmount stuff like the Micrverb IV. Features are slim, but it does the bascs all very well, especialy for the prcetag.

I trust Alesis gear wholeheartedly. My Microverb IV has never had a case or bag and never sat in a proper rack. I have traveled with it unprotected and it still works like new. It's been dropped, stepped on and fallen from the top of a tall bass rig many times. The SR-16, I imagine is built as well, granted it's almost all plastic and rubber, rather than the Micro's metal chassis. Even for being plastic, it doesn't feel cheap, it has the look and feel of a quality built piece of equipment and I will and do carry it around with other effects in a padded plastic pistol case, this type of case is dirt cheap, includes thick foam and offers maximum drop protection for small pedals and expensive stuff like Line6's big stompbxes. I would gig with this without a backup, based on my previous experience with Alesis products.

I have dealt with an Alesis rep over the phone once and he was way cool and professional. I had a question about software and settings on my Microverb shortly after I bought it. He answered all of my questions patiently and we chatted about gear for a good 20 minutes before he decided he'd better get back to work. Chances are if you have an ssue at soe point you'll talk to a real live English speaking employee who will do their best to help you out. I have never needed repair service for any Alesis product but I feel confident that they stck by their reputable rand name and do good work in a reasonable time frame. By the way, I spilled a glass of cold water over most of the top of the SR-16 two days after I got it, thinking the worst and kicking myself fr being clumsy. I quickly picked it up to drain of the excess liquid, grabbed a roll of paper towels and dried it off, I let it air dry for a good couple of hours and plugged it in, it works like new, no sign of failure or wear. I would not recommend taking it swimming, but this goes to show that small accidents with clean liquids will not phase this machine, if taken care of promptly!

It's totally worth the retail price and just in case I bought the chain store's extended 2 year warranty for an extra $20, which I feel will be worth it for peace of mind. I have been playing bass and guitar for around 15 years and this is my first real drum machine. I bought it because the salesguy said it'd been around since the late 80's in some form or another and that it was the gold standard of basic, plain old drum machines. Ease of use sold me on it, and the brand name helped also, as I like Alesis stuff. There are no extras, add ons or special features. If you want bass and effects and bells and whistles, buy a pricey Roland/Boss machine or use software. The SR-16 is like the plain, white, windowless work van of digital drum machines. It does exactly what it promises on the box, nothing more, very generic, in a good way. The key to having fun and getting the most out of this machine is experimentation. Hook it though guitar and bass effects. Add ridiculous digital reverbs. It's opened up a whole world for me as far as 4 track recording goes and helping me realize half baked guitar ideas and tempos, hell, use it as a metronome if you aren't creatve! I do wish it accepted alkaline batteries for a backup power source, but you can't have it all, right? The SR-16 is one small step towards electronic music for me and one giant leap for my new musical endeavors. I really dig this thing.

This is my first drum machine. It is very easy to use.

Seems to provide many usable drum sounds. It is programmable.

Realistic. Can control sound and velocity.

I've had no problems.

this machine is not terribly hard to use. i'm pretty sure alesis originally created this thing to market to non-electronic musician types. if you're used to electronic music, you'll find this easy to use... but maybe sometimes too easy. if you're not used to electronic music, you'll probably find programming a chore until you really get the hang of it.

i usually dive into things first without touching the manual, and then come back to it when i've #$%^&* everything up. that's what i did with this machine as well. the manual doesn't offer much coherent help, so i just continued to $%^& things up until they were #$%^&* up in a good way (?).

once again, this machine was not created with electronic musicians in mind. to someone used to dealing with boxes, this thing has no features at all. no effects. no expansion. to someone who simply wants a drummer who actually does what you tell them to and doesn't argue (often a valuable thing!), this has just about everything you really want/need.

step mode is straightforward enough. the cute little velocity-sensitive keys are fun to play with, but i find them unreliable. i'm not a big MIDIjunkie so i don't have much to say about MIDI implementation.

this is where things get sort of interesting. i'm amazed that as many people are satisfied with these sounds as we see in other reviews.

the bottom line is that you can only get cheesy, echo-ridden 80s-ish drum sounds out of this. they do NOT sound realistic at all, on their own. everything is awash in a really tasteless reverb. there is no tightness to any of the drum sounds whatsoever. if you want the clean, tight sound that is fashionable in most contemporary music, run far away from this machine.

that being said, the sounds are actually fun. if you want to have drum patterns for, say, cheesy 80s type synthpop, look no further! you can also get those huge, eery, echoey bass drums like on early swans records. run it through a distortion and you can get great industrial samples. it's also good if you're looking for drum parts to various subgenres of metal, especially death and black. i'm currently using this machine to record some $%^&*@ up industrial-ish black metal tracks.

also, back to what i said about unrealistic sounds, that's not strictly true. IF you can program patterns intelligently, using the stereo features and dynamics settings, then complete patterns can sound reasonably realistic, at a distance. if you pay no attention to these aspects, it will just sound like a cheesy drum machine.

i don't entirely trust this machine to stand up to true gigging abuse. if you try to stack sounds on it then the overall sound will become extremely confused. a lot of the time when i use the rubber keys, they start playing different sounds from what i programmed! this would make one sound really silly in a live situation. the physical integrity of the box is good enough for sitting around at home, but i prefer to have boxes that are built like tanks. maybe that's just me.

never dealt with them

altogether, i'm still not really sure how i feel about this thing after owning it for a year. it's only good for certain types of applications. it is NOT versatile. you can have a lot of fun with it, and in certain mixes it can sound really good... but only in certain mixes. i still use it more or less regularly, but if it were lost or stolen i'm not sure how hard i would look for it, and i'm reasonably sure i wouldn't get a new one, or if i would, then i would get it used at the lowest price possible.

all in all, i think i would be happier with it if i had paid about $50 less for it.

the first 2 days it may seem a little tricky if you are not used to drum machines, but after that its nothing. its actually layed out very well and all the controls are very simple.

there are a few things i would have done differently if i were designing it but im not so ill not bitch

it has everything you need to lay down some groovin' trax. very cool if you dont have a drummer around - and who wants to pay a smartass drummer anyway???? JK guys, you rock


there are MIDI capabilities but ive not explored them as of yet, i will know soon.

i like the sounds - and the drums that have reverb have it applied just right, and there are different levels - so if you want that stock 80s ballad sound with verb on the drums you can select different levels of verb, very cool.

if you save your own songs or simply add the fills while recording it direct into a PC recorder this thing is great. you can even set the sensitivity of the pads

it was made what, in 89?

i got mine used a month ago and its still kickin strong, so id say thats very dependable

sounds great, very portable, very handy in recording or jamming situations - and man its really got some grooves and alot of times that is inspiration enough to come up with things that you would not think of without a beat, and not just any beat....a good beat makes you wanna play better.


its a valuable practice tool as well. i hate the click click of metronomes, so this thing is for me. you can practice your ass off to get your chops going down and pretty much any sane tempo.


so yeah, id say its a very good machine. you want some drums for PC recording? a drummer for live jams with your friend? a practice partner that can really keep the tempo/beat?

like Prego - it's in there

This machine is surprisingly easy to use. The manual is questionable at best, but if you've tinkered with a drum machine before it's quite easy. I've consulted the manual for the sound table only. Everything else I've just winged it on, and so far so good. The MIDI implimentation may take some reading to work out, but making patterns, songs, and drum kits are way too easy.

It's got a 16 note polyphony, I think. There are several touch pads that are velocity sensitive, so you can add some cool dynamics to your playing. It has MIDI-in and MIDI-out, so it's compliant with the industry standard. There's a reasonable amount of room for all your patterns and kits, so this thing should have you playing for a while.

And while I'm at it, I might as well get it over with and say it again: there are no built-in effects, except for the annoying reverb on half of the sounds. There, I've said it.

The sounds are pretty darned good, especially considering they're samples from 15 years ago. I've been quite pleased with the punchiness of the snares, toms and hand drums. The cymbals are good, but some of the kicks are kind of weak. Nothing a little EQ can't fix, though. Most of the sounds are very realistic.

However, the reverb on half the samples sucks. No need to beat a dead horse. Get over it or find a better drum machine for $150 (good luck and happy hunting).

I'm quite pleased with this machine. The touch-sensitivity is very handy and lends dynamics to your sound. It reacts well to your playing, and it feels quite like an instrument rather than a programmable computer. That makes it quite fun, and an invaluable studio tool.

I've owned two of these units, both of which are still alive and kicking.

I've had good experiences with Alesis customer support.

This device is the definition of "drum machine". If you looked up "drum machine" in the dicitonary, you should see a picture of Alesis SR-16. Anyway, this thing is the king of its price range. Nothing Boss makes can touch it. It's been around for 15 years, becoming a prime musical example of the old adage "If it aint broke, don't fix it." If you don't have one of these and you have a home studio, your studio is incomplete, plain and simple. It's a fine sound source, easy to program, fun and useable, and indespensable for the studio musician.

Software ver 1.4
The preset rhytms are almost useless but for a few jazz and ballad.
The preset drum sounds are bit cheese - each preset has claps or cowbell which is not in my standard rock drum sound.
Editing on this machine is a breeze - you can easily build your own kit, send it to different panning outputs. I usually do the kit stereo and send the kick Aux 1 and snare in Aux 2 so that way I can provide them extra treatment since that is the bread and butter of rock music.
Programming songs and/or patterns is also a breeze - you can do it in real-time or in step mode.
My only complaint is that it can't do tempo changes from pattern to pattern, so if you need to speed up a song you have to do it by decreasing or increasing the measure sizes.

Polyphony is I believe at 16 notes at a time. Sometimes when you do a track at 180 tempo it can get clogged up a bit and you need to make some adjustments. A definite plus is the sound stacking option - you can layer 2 snares for a more realistic performance.
There are no built in effects - the sounds come in with already recorded reverb and delays which I find sometimes cumbersome to work with.
There are no expansion capabilities.
There are 12 pads, pressure sensitive which is really nice when you want to do a real drum roll or cymbal chokes.
There are no expansion capabilities that I know of.
MIDI capabilities I can't speak much about - I've used it so far to trigger drumbeats off of a keyboard and have synced it with keyboard and another drum module - very easy to do and the results were excellent.
I miss some of the expansion features - it could be nice if more memory could be added.
The big bummer again - the inability to change tempos when creating a song. Odd rhytms are also akward to work with when the grid is laid out for standard rock/pop 4/4 beats. Odd rhytms could be done, just that it takes some getting used to.

My biggest complaint is the lack of realistic cymbal and crash sounds. From what I heard on other machines this one is not behind, actually compared to Boss DR-5 the drum sounds on this one seem better. What I would've liked to get is more non effected drum kits. There are lots of reverb on some of the drum sounds which make them dated and even useless in some application. There are enough sounds co construct a decent kit with so that should not be a problem.
This unit has great aftertouch and key sensitivity.

Very dependable. I had it crash on me only once when I was really pushing it hard with a 11/7 or some other weird rhytm.
This unit has been rock hard and has never let me down live or in studio situation.

In the years I've had this (over 10) I had dealt with them only once - when needed to replace the power supply (fried due to user error-plugged in wrong unit into it). Very friendly and courteous user support team,

I am so used to this machine that I can operate it in my sleep. If it were gone I'd definitely miss it but will probably break down and get one of the newer units that can do tempo changes within a song - now when my sound got more proggy I definitely miss that feature.
New PC software for drum replacement and drum modules have popped up that can do more realistic sounds and use sampled kits so I am not sure if I will get this machine but I might use it to program the beats through MIDI since it is very easy and intuitive to operate.

This machine is a breeze to program. If you're having trouble with it, you're a retarded moron and you need to sell it to someone with half a brain, because that's all it takes to operate this machine. The manual is very easy to understand.

Tons of features if you take the time to learn how to use them. Some of them take time to get use to, but the end result is worth it.

You can get some really great sounds out of this machine. I've found the tuning mode to be quite useful in getting the sounds I want. To get killer tom sounds I take the low floor tom sounds and tune them up higher for my mid and high toms. I do this with almost all the sounds. It works really well.
If you take your time programing / using the step mode, tuning mode, quantize, swing and offset modes and layering, you can't tell this machine from a pro drummer. The perfect rock drum machine. Listen to the built in demo. Alesis did a great job of showing what the SR16 is capable of doing.

It's built like a tank. I bought mine in 1996 and have used it constantly for the last 8 years without one single problem. It's been dropped to many times to count. Had beer spilled in it. Cigarette ashes dumped all over it, and it still works perfect.

Never needed them!

Hands down, this is the easiest machine on the market to program. I've tried them all. I would buy another SR16 in a second if it were ever stolen of broke. Now days they only cost $149 new. $100 used. Great value!

Intuitive, easy to play, edit etc. No complaints with the presets (although the "rock" ones are a bit naff) but the joy is in the programming.

Haven't run out of polyphony yet. Love the way you can hop from pattern A to B via a fill and back again all on the fly, select patterns by keying the number in or using the up/down arrows (a much better way to get from pattern 3 to 48 than using a wheel like on the Roland/Zoom. Also like the way you can sort the drum volume by playing or step editing (eat your heart out Roland)

Sounds are showing their age now but the quality of the samples are still good. Good for rock, less so for modern pop/dance.

Had mine for 7 years and used live every week. The buttons are just starting to wear out (esp the tap tempo button) now, but it does survive falling off the keyboard quite regularly. Power supply far more robust than any of my Roland gear

Never broken down and could figure out the manual so I've never called them

I wish Alesis would upgrade this - double the memory and give us some new drum sounds, but that's all I would change. I fancied a new machine as this one is starting to wear out and have tried the Zoom and Boss DR670 and DR3 (previous drum machines in the last 20 years came from the Roland stable) but they're not a patch on this if you want to use it live, hop around patterns, enjoy midi in/out and have more than a stereo pair for outputs. As they're now selling for under #100 I'll probably buy another one until I see something better come around (but that could be a long wait).

I am running Version 1.04 of this which after a few e-mail exchanges with Alesis customer support I learned was the latest production version. The drum samples are 16 bit which is more than adequate for performance purposes as well as recording. My machine was built in '94 which means that it is 10 years old. They are still available for sale from most online music sites and command a discount price around $150 so contrary to other reviews on this page I find the samples among other box functionality of very high quality. Regarding editing patches, you have two choices in this area: creating and editing your own patterns, and creating and editing your own drum set. Not only did Alesis take a lot of time in the "obvious" (to the end user) subject of usability, there are subtle nuances that they considered that affect the overall performance. For example you can decide if a particular drum is allowed its full decay or if a subsequent event stops the previous one short. The most obvious example of this is going from an open to closed hi-hat which is prevalent throughout most genres of music. There are settings to govern this behavior in the interest of making the synthesis sound as natural as possible. I will use the term "drum" as convenience in this review, but that term represents ANY percussion instrument that is in the SR-16's memory and that you have access to. Because pattern composition occurs as a loop where you can add successive drums to the loop you have a lot of flexibility. If you make a mistake, you can either erase that drum "track" entirely or just the area of the mistake >>in real time<<. The user interface is very natural and it is designed so that either with a set of headphones (the outputs are just hot enough at full volume to drive headphones), or plugged into an amp you can compose a new pattern group (A, B, A-fill, B-fill) if the 50 built in pattern groups aren't enough. I spent about 10-15 minutes creating my own pattern group and not only does it sound quite natural going through all four patterns in the group, but I can jam on my keyboard along with it and when the two are put together it's as good as live performance with a real drummer.

The manual(s) are as good as it gets! Although I purchased mine second hand, it came with the Quick Start Guide, Reference Manual, and Voice inventory card. The Quick Start Guide is good enough to get you going with the basics, including making sounds, and editing patterns and drum sets. For most stuff you can probably just use a pattern and its A/B/A-fill/B-fill variations, but if you want to spice things up a bit you can create "songs" which are playlists of patterns that you can create in steps. For example, if a pattern is 8 beats, and you want 8 measures in 4/4 time you can create 4 steps to get the 8 measures. Songs are lists of pointers to patterns you specify and since a song doesn't carry the actual beat information, only a sequence of patterns which already occupy either ROM or non-volatile RAM memory, a song takes very little storage. The SR-16 holds 100 songs of 254 steps each where a step holds a pattern. At 120 BPM with 8 beat patterns, this roughly translates into 17 minutes per song. For a box circa 1990 that's not too bad - 1700 minutes of song storage. Like Alesis did with their MMT-8 they excelled in this machine also. The Reference Manual goes into much more detail, and includes a brief tutorial on MIDI if you are new to it. This is one of the best AND SIMULTANEOUSLY the easiest drum machine to use of the ones that I've played with before buying.

Polyphony is adequate as long as you don't go crazy with "drum stacking". If you are looking at creating natural sounding drum parts, even ones with percussion, you should have no problem in this department. The unit has reverb effects (ambient, room, hall), and the "out of the box" drum set presets seem to have them in the right places (I've performed for about 30 years on and off with real drummers in the quest for "that sound", in order to make that comparison). Each drum has a dry, ambient, room, and hall version and if you don't like the drum sets that are preset in the units ROM, you can create your own. The unit is a hardware drummer and so it is not expandable, but I have not found limitations at this point in time. The unit has MIDI in and out/thru which is another example of good planning. The thru function is programmable to merge the internally generated MIDI with the MIDI-in data stream. While most won't use this, it becomes necessary when you want the SR-16 to be the timing master (in case of an external sequencer for recording). For example my Yamaha keyboard's MIDI out goes to the SR-16 in which generates the clock for all MIDI devices on the loop. The SR-16 has its thru enabled so that both the SR-16's timing and my keyboard's performance data drives my MMT-8 (Alesis hardware sequencer). The MMT-8's MIDI out then drives the MIDI-in of my Yamaha. I now have a fully polyphonic recording studio properly timed and hardware based (I own Cakewalk Home Studio 2003, but find computer based sequencing for the creative process cumbersome.) I use my Cakewalk more for post-production. The SR-16 itself is both a drum synthesizer AND a sequencer in its own right and can work as a sound module if you want to feed it a stream with drum pads.

I purchased an Alesis MMT-8 hardware sequencer about a year ago, second hand and this drum machine completes my complement of MIDI recording gear. Hardware sequencers are hard to come by in this age of soft-everything. I find the hardware a little more conducive to the creative process since I don't have to interact with mouse and keyboard and be near my PC. That's just my opinion, though.

I find all the sounds realistic, without all the fuss of proper mike positioning and equalization/effects processing that comes with a real drummer. The sounds are as good as those recorded professionally because they are samples, and the programmed patterns were a result of using real studio drummer performance data to generate the stored pattern data. The reverbs are versatile and I find them of a musically desireable quality. The 50 programmed pattern groups cover nearly all genres of music so it is very usable for most types of modern music. Generating your own patterns can be done by the 12 velocity sensitive buttons, although it's difficult to be consistent tapping rubber pads. You can enter step-editing (as opposed to real-time editing)mode to clean up the sequences and re-adjust the volume of drum hits that aren't consistent, for example from an A to a B pattern or to the corresponding fills. I forgot to mention above that the samples are what Alesis refers to as "Dynamic Articulation". That is, their timbre is modified the harder you strike the pad which lends realism to the sounds. I'll give this category an 8 only because it is difficult to be consistent tapping the drum pads on the device, but for a circa 1990 design this thing was years ahead of its time.

I have replaced the 3v lithium battery used to retain memory in a power-off condition. Although it appeared to retain its memory, typical life of these batteries is about 10 years and this thing just passed its 10th birthday. I also use the SYSEX dump and restore to a computer to back it up. Other than that I haven't had a crash yet. I did start out (and recommend to all who buy one of these second hand) to erase the memory before you begin relying on it. There are instructions for this in the manual and if yours doesn't come with a manual you can download the manuals in PDF format directly from Alesis for no charge. I play twice a week and would use it in a minute if our drummer doesn't show up for a practice or performance. It is invaluable in the studio. I'll give it a 10 for the fact that I've not had any problems with it and that it has withstood the test of time and is still on the market 14 years later.

Prompt response to e-mails, very helpful and friendly.

If it were lost or stolen, I would replace it again with another. I find it worth every penny I paid for it. I've been a musician for about 30 years, and have played in various bands in all genres of music. I've owned some fairly modern synthesis equipment including a Yamaha PSR-GX 76 and Kurzweil PC1X, keyboard amps (Behringer and Roland), home built Leslie 145 (with modern drivers and solid-state MOSFET power amp). I also use (as previously discussed)an Alesis MMT-8 hardware sequencer and Cakewalk Home Studio 2003. I'll probably use the Cakewalk software as post-production edit and final cut of analog tracks before creating a CD, but I prefer the hardware sequencing as I find it more conducive to the creative process.

I got this thing about 4 days ago and i'm already creating complicated, super speedy drum beats. I play death metal with this, and it works great for the very technical very fast drum parts associated with the new frenzied style of death metal. I havent really tried to change the drum sounds or (sound stacking) with it, but the manual seems pretty easy to fallow so it should'nt be hard. at first this machine may seem complicated, just read the manual and play around with the machine and it will come to you rather quickly like a few days or so.

it has enough. I just wanted a machine that could create some crazy drum parts and create them easily. it sounds good it does enough, people may complain that it cant do this or that, there gay. it has everything it needs to create any drum parts you want, sounds good and is pretty easy. what else do you need!

sounds good. but if it does'nt sound good enough for you just go into the sound stacking mode. if you can't get good enough sounds then, your gay! its a drum machine, its sounds good for a machine

only had it for a few days, works so far

don't know

death heads buy this machine! for 150 bucks you can't go wrong! I was'nt really expecting it to be as good as it is for 150 bucks. its professional quality. people that complain about it must be dumb.

Have used the SR-16 4 yrs in home-studio. Alesis has all the user/programmer functions easily identified and in user-friendly locations. Multiple outputs (4) are helpful for studio mixing and effects sends. By building patterns in layers using different pad levels and quantisizations realistic performances can be programmed. Each pad can be panned, tuned and stacked to create a multitude of sound variations. Ease of SONG mode in programming compared to other machines makes it a musicians friend. Used as a live instrument it is also very reliable and easy to use.

Pads are sensitive and expressive. Mount on a solid non-movable surface and check quantisization to avoid miss-hits. Stereo reverb on various patches is good and although may seem to be "overdone" help create the feel needed on certain sounds at the out-set of a session without involving external devices or all the other patches. I liked having the different ambiance selections. Never used the tape back-up. SET-UP features are easily accessed by paging menus. No back-light on the LCD display could be a problem in low-light situations. I sometimes forgot to erase all the patterns on a given #, (A, B, A fill, B fill each are done separately.) Copying patterns is easy and helps in creating pattern variations while still keeping basic pattern. Large inset VOLUME dial is easy to use and doesn't get accidently bumped during performance. A similar TEMPO dial might also be useful for faster changes.

Dynamic response makes the SR-16 a versatile drum machine. Especially useful in the percussive sounds and in fill patterns. No global on-board effects which may or may not be effective for all patches/drumsets simultaneously anyway. An ability to insert an effect into a patch may be what is really needed. Sounds fit most Pop/Rock/Easy Listening/ styles well. Special effects are not included.

Very dependable. Power source is 9VAC not DC. The transformer is not the typical universal multiple DC out one found in any Radio Shack etc. So if your hard on cables or lose things easily I'd have back-ups, or know where to find one. No battery back-up. Keep the manual for trouble-shooting, I thought I wrecked my SR-16 once because the LCD went dim but all it needed was a reboot at start-up (ERASE/PLAY simultaneously.) Hard, well-constructed case.

Never needed customer support. Alesis web-page has many features and down-loadable products. Search there first.

Had a Roland, Yamaha, previously for drum machines. This is better. Don't know much about other "newer" brands/models that include basslines, sequencing lines, riffs, sampling, effects etc. Maybe that's coming in their next generation model. Love the ease of playing/programming and its reliability. Wish it had headphone output, a few more up-to-date sounds, backlit LCD, different storage/back-up medium. If this fails I'll look for another or the next Alesis drum machine available.

The presets on the Alesis are pretty cool, editing the samples is pretty simple, and depending on how you use it can have rally good effects on the sounds. I liked the manual, it wasn't hard to get your questions answer (I'd be surprised if the thing was 40 pages), and that in turn makes it really easy to learn the unit.

For a dru machine that's 10 years old, the polyphony is ok...I've only run into problems when going overboard trying to stack drum samples. It's doesn't have any way to expand it, but it does have MIDI outs, so you can drive another module if you like (I use mine to sequence my dmPro). Using the onboard sequencer of any device is work, but I don't find that it gets in my way, step editing can be a chore though.

The range of sounds on the SR-16 can go from very useable to funny and almost comedic, but then again it's a drum machine, and one made in 1990 at that. I recorded a gothic/doom metal with the machine, as well as several demos so for Rock I can't complain. I can't really vouch for other styles though. Seems like the 'traditional' styles would be ok (rock, jazz, country) someone into the newest rave-type stuff may want to look elsewhere. The onboard effects would be alot better if they weren't tied to the samples. This is actual one of my biggest gripes about the machine, you could have the same sample (kick drum for instance...) repeated in three different places, with three different levels of ambience, untying them would have allowed for more samples. Just my 2 cents. The SR does have velocity, I've never used it (just programmed in dynamics directly) so I can't say.

My first SR-16 I bought from a friend in '92. I'm on my third now. Neer had a problem with them failing, just have a problem with them getting stolen. We usual backup with a dat, so no I've never carried a backup.

Never needed them, so I can't say. For the price though, if one did fail, I'd probably just buy antoher one...y'know depending on the circumstances.

These are three wishes if Alesis were to ever upgrade the SR-16

1. Untie the effects from the samples, so you can actually use the sample space for samples.

2. Tempos adjustable on a per pattern and per song basis, with a global tempo adjust. For programming and live purposes, this would be a godsend.

3. Less tedious step editing.

I have a feeling that their dm series addresses this already (minus the sequencing) so we'll probably never see it, but here's to hoping.

I had owned an older Boss Dr. Rhythm before this machine and it was much easier to get going on that one. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, because it seems to me that the Alesis offers a lot more options than does the Boss. I don't recall the Dr. Rhythm ever having the capabilities that this machine does. So I'll give it an 8, because once you do get acquianted with it it's a pretty logical machine to use. It just has a bit of a learning curve.

Very good drum sounds overall. Like another reviewer, I wish you could cancel out the ambient effects on the sounds, but having them doesn't really render them completely unusable. I love the velocity sensitive keypads, which the Dr. Rhythm lacked. It really adds a much more natural feel to the drums as a whole (though nothing can ever replace the real thing). Combining some of the drier, natural sounding snares with the velocity pads and the ability to step edit down to the millisecond, I'm able to get some really amazing, natural sounding complex lines with lots of little rolls and flams (think military/march style snare lines and you've got it). Was NEVER able to get the old Dr. Rhythm to nail those at all!

I also love the swing and offset options, which adds an even more human touch. You can also switch off the quantization....excellent!!! Once again, much more than the old Dr. Rhythm I had offered (I don't know about the new ones, but I have a little experience with them).

I did wish it had a few more cymbal options, particularly hi-hats. The step mode is a little more tedious than the Dr. Rhythm was, and you don't really have a visual readout of your pattern...you kind of have to make a mental note what sounds are where (though if you scroll through the steps it will play the sounds so you don't REALLY have to remember).

I would say a fair majority of the sounds are realistic, and probably about 90% of the sounds are usuable. Drum machines tend to sound much more synthetic when used on their own in my experience. Once you begin to add other instruments to the mix, things to tend to sound a little less stiff. The swing, quantize-off, and offset features are big pluses for the SR-16 in these areas, because it helps it "naturalize" even more.

The snare and bass drum sounds are very good, and there's a good variety. The cymbals, as is the case with every drum machine I've ever used, are not too convincing, but dousing them in a little reverb to help the decay alwasy helps. There's no good trashy open hat sound like I had on the Dr. Rhythm, but the open hat sounds on the SR-16 are more than adequate and sound much better in a mix than stand-alone. I use the toms sparingly, but that's just my style. There are a few sets of really nice toms that I always go back to.

Even the big hair drum sounds have their uses, and sound great in Chemical Brothers/house style mixes. The percussion sounds are also a lot of fun to play with.

This will be a studio-only tool for me. I intend to take very good care of it. In that sense, I would expect it to be very dependable

For a drum machine programmed in 1990, it sure holds up. I tend to be somewhat picky about how drums sound on my recordings and this machine more than meets my standard. Once again, the velocity pads, swing option, offset option, and quantize options are utterly fantastic, and the fact that this unit is around $100-$200 less than the newer Boss units doesn't really make me care what those guys can do, I've got what I need in this module (and I own a lot of Boss stuff). I have some limited experience with the newer ones and they are very good machines, though. Above all, this machine has what I consider to be extremely important - the ability to "humanize" the rhythm and tones.

I think this machine is an excellent alternative to the aforementioned machines, especially if you're on a budget. I would love to see some software updates for it, but I'm very happy with it as is. The ability to create very realistic and dynamic drum lines has very much inspired me to reach beyond the same old rhythm lines and time signatures. Just about anything I can conceive rhythmically can be done on this machine it seems (odd time signatures, easily lengthened/shortened patterns, etc). I'm very very happy and satisfied with this product.

my machine has the copyright for 1990 on the first "fire up" screen so i asssume naturally that it has the older software (i dunno if there's a newer version).but this does not affect the machine however since this thing completely kills for complicated death/math/hardcore.

sometimes the machine gets a little muddy during fast complicated fills but thats also because my guitars are 110% distorted..so the fact that you can hear the fills and whatnot is amazing.

Ive mainly used mine for fast drum work that is very hard/impssible for drummers to play...here and there i've fiddled with some tripped out garbage and it worked well for that but...the reverbs for the toms lack a bit of life but hey...i record drums dry any way and add reverb if i need it on my tascam 8track

i bought the machine in may 1998 and it took me about three hours to fully understand everything in it...very easy and its never even crashed despite lightning storms (im in florida) or power surges or any thing else for that matter..its even survived a few beer spills but i highly DO NOT recommend spilling beer on anything but your stomach.

bought used so..

if my drum machine was stolen i would hunt the sumsabieotches down and make them feel rather unfortunate that i caought them...this machine is so easy and able to do anything that it has become my other primary instument other than guitar..

Pretty easy to use. I got a little hung up on the manual
when it was new, because some features are described
in the main manual, while others are only in the "quick
start" manual -- the two aren't cross-referenced. The
information is, however, all there.
I'd also like to have seen a larger snare trigger pad (to
make real-time snare rolls a little easier.)

It has a pretty good set of features. Once you learn to use
them, it's fairly flexible for a stand-alone device.
I still find myself pining for a global "defeat" button for
shutting off the Bon Jovi/Springsteen ambience effects --
some otherwise-fine-sounding drums are awash in reverb
which won't mesh with the other sounds in a mix.
I'd really like to have seen a headphone jack, too. This
is the only drum machine I've seen which doesn't have one.

After auditioning the sounds, I made a blown-up photocopy
of the sound chart, then highlighted the sounds that were
pretty decent (in yellow) potentially useful under limited
circumstances (pink) and useless in all instances (green.)
Sadly, there's a lot of green.
The main problem, as noted by myself and others, is that the
drum sounds are too "treated" with reverb, etc, which can't
be unstuck from the basic sample -- they're part of it.
The dry samples (and the drier-sounding wet ones, like the
"room" snare) are decent, but the majority are definitely
slanted towards the "big hair" era. That is, after all,
when the machine was developed (the "copyright, Alesis,
1990" scrolls across the screen every time you power-up.)
An updated version, with a new batch of sounds, and a global
ambience-defeat button (like the Boss 770) would have given
what is really still a pretty good design some extra legs.
Sadly, it's sounding rather dated by today's standards.
The good sounds are ok; there just aren't too many of
them.
Not useless by any means -- just showing its age.

I had to re-boot once (an easy task, well-described in the
manual.) That was soon after I bought it, and I don't
think I lost anything.
Other than that, it's been very good for about 5 years now.

No idea.

I still use it -- what's good about it remains good.
If I were Alesis, then I'd revise it with a new set of
samples, an on-board ambience capability, and a more
"linear" (non-skipping-around) manual. I think it would
be a winner. Even so, it still has some degree of utility.
I replaced it with a Boss 770, but ended up returning the
Boss and keeping the SR16. Navigating the Alesis step-edit
mode made more sense to me, and the Alesis allows one to string
together multiple "songs" into a full arrangement (the 770
needs to be programmed one measure at a time.)
The SR16's strengths still outweigh its shortcomings, though
I continue to search for a significantly better sounding unit
with decent programming functions.

Very easy, a few buttons, patterns, songs, a basic machine. Anyone can do the job. No manual needed.

It has 4 outputs which is quite handy when you can send them to a mixing console where you can eq and ad the effects, because they are needed! Nice hitpads.

Only for rock. I hate the reverbs on almost any drumsample. Thats a shame! Drums are not suitable for D&B, breakbeats or anything. If your an oldschool rocker, buy it!

Volume nobs dies. No problem, set it open and dont touch it again.
Strong unit; everlasting.

Dont know

Had it for a week. Didnt like the rock samples. Sold it to a metalhead. Dont change pattern length: it wil crash and you will have to reset!

This machine takes some getting used to, but once you've learned a feature, it is easy to repeat. The manual is good and gives detailed instuctions on how to use/program the machines. The presets are OK to get started, but some programming is definately needed if you want to make realistic drum tracks with this machine.

Excellent features. 4 separate outputs gives great recording flexibility. You can route snare and base to 2 outputs, then toms and overheads to others. This gives great mixdown options. I have yet to see other drum machines with this many outputs. A couple other nice items: Foot pedal activating of start/stop, fills, pattern switching and tempo. This is great if your play another instument and want drum backing at the same time.

Sounds are pretty good, particulary at analog drum sounds. Symbols are probably the weak point with the sample seeming to cut off a bit to soon. I have used this primarily as drum track for recording rock/blues and it has served well.

I've had this for ten years and the only problem has been with "scratchiness" when adjusting the volume level. Besides that, not a problem,

One of the better investments in gear that I have made. This unit has been on the market for over 12 years and is still selling at or near it's original price. It's easy to use, sounds good and sits pretty well in a mix. You can pick one up used for <$100 and it really can't be beat. If you don't like it, you'll sell it without losing much if any money. It's a pipe dream, buy I'd love to see Alesis put some updates into this machine. No real upgrades have been done since this machine was released.

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. </