Graham Baumbach
January 7, 2009

Rating: 9/10

Does make me laugh reading all these reviews about people not being able to program this drum machine. It\'s you\'ve ever programmed ANY drum machine (not software S***) it\'s the most intuitive drum m/c ever. The SR despite being nearly 20 years old (bear that in mind as some of the sounds are 80\'s) is still being sold as a new product - that says something! Depends what you want to do with it - if, like myself, you\'re a regular pub performer needing straight drum kit sounds, nothing touches these largely due to the 100-song capacity. ALL THE PRESET BEATS ARE RUBBISH you need to program your own from the minute you take it out of the box. Three critisms: you run out of pattern memory before you run out of song memory - the handclap sample is dire! - and you can\'t change tempo mid-song. The \"NEW\" SR-18 is basically a repackaged SR-16 likewise the \"Performance Pad\". I use two live on stage as part of a duo (again, I ran out of memory with one!) and we have over a 100 song repertoire. £90? Jesus, get one - what else can you buy for £90? :)

CLeek
October 16, 2008

Rating: 8/10

I\'ve read a bit on here about people struggling to use this machine. It\'s not hard, you just need to give it time, practise lots, have patience and it\'ll all come. I\'ve, IMO, mastered this machine now, and it\'s fantastic. Works great with many different styles, i\'ve used it on many songs. Very happy with this drum machine, although the sounds and effects are rather simple, the finishing product makes up for this.

A great machine at a great price.

PROS:
Great sounds
Fun to use
Lots of styles
Fairly easy to use
Lots of space to programme your own beats and create your pre sit kits.
THE PRICE!

CONS
Fairly limited effects

DAVID ROWLANDS
January 8, 2008

Rating: 2/10

If you want a simple drum machine that is user friendly then forget this one. The manual is so complicated and after many hours trying to programme my own drum patterns I gave up. I would recommend not to buy this machine if you want a stress free life. The preset are limited
which will only lead you to try and progremmethe machine, only to find the manual and hands on will lead you insane.

Sean
April 25, 2007

Rating: 7/10

As a tool for live performance the Alesis SR16 certainly delivers. Its user friendly setup makes recording your own drum loops and patterns easy. Performing using the optional footswitch attachment is easy using the AB and Fill patterns and as an accompaniment for a guitarist or bass player this machine is great fun.
If you are one of those people who refuse to read instruction manuals and prefer to dive straight in then the Alesis SR16 is simple enough for you to get results out of almost immediately. It has a very retro 80s look to it which may appeal to some and features such as velocity sensitive key pads, pre-recorded drum loops and easy adjustable tempo make this an attractive product.
The product falls short however in several areas. Firstly, since pretty much all it is effectively useful for is live performance it would have been nice to have a backlight so menus could be seen in those especially dark venues. Also if it was battery enabled it would be a fun tool that could be experimented with anywhere. Although the SR16 can be used as an effective trigger with its midi function, when it comes to studio quality drum sounds the SR16 fails to deliver to a high standard. It has some editing features such as panning control, but there is not much to play with in terms of sound manipulation.
The SR16 is by no means perfect, but for the price it is certainly a more than competent drum machine to get you started programming and editing rhythms.

Roy Glover
July 1, 2006

Rating: 7/10

Out of 19 Hi Hat sounds, four are reverse samples, but NO foot closed samples!! Very disappointing!!

dennis
May 19, 2005

Rating: 2/10

a very disapointing product , despite being reccomended by almost everybody , I most say I thought it was a dog ! initialy I liked the hi quality sounds , however the 50 pre-programed drum parts are almost all rock type sounds , there is not even a single one in 3/4 time , this forced me to attempt to program it , after hours of reading the manual & yet more hours of attempting to program it via the keys , I had to give up , the instructions are very poor & skip stages , the buttons feel very much like an old sinclair spectrum rubber keyboard - dead I liveless , I must be honest I hated the thing .