Alesis SR18: Non-Bank Breakin' Beats

[ColtyRamone]

so is this designed to record drum tracks before you go on stage, or do you need to fiddle around with it to get the right beat? also, can you hit the buttons with your foot or do you need to use your hand?

[cinghialemannaro76]

I have a live band with 30 songs in our liveset... do you think that thingie can hold it up? I basically need to fire my drummer and replace him with this unit. Can it do that? do I have patterns enough? sounds are fine?

[craneraaudiovideo]

i am not impressed with the sound sets on the sr -18 .. what the hell were the thinking.. all the kits sound the same .......

[quinnmyster]

Sounds as cheap and cheesy as my 10-year-old $50 Yamaha

[MarkoDeLaVoota]

can you step record on it ?



[Phazeey]

So I got FL studio (as my sequencer) and a Midi Keyboard and wanna get a good drum machine. As far as ive seen this machine doesnt look very well, im thinking i want an MPC but i dont have enough money. What other cheap(er) drum machines are there that are good. Btw im strictly hip hop.

[SummernlightningUSA]

Hi I am able to program new beats with my alesis sr18 as long as they are "straight ahead 1234" but whenever I try to program a swing or shuffle beat it will not quantize. if I turn the swing function on or off it makes no difference. Can someone tell me what im supposed to do? The manuel is not helping

[lyndonrules]

i never understood the jungle presets. whens the last time you were in a jungle and heard music?

[andy92811]

I loved the pads when I tried this out the other day. Diffidently the best in the competition.

[RoryY0]

Can you load samples onto the sr18 like you can do with an MPC? I know it's good for playing along with guitar at gigs. But wanna know if it's any good for making your own quality beats?!

[MrSatchafunkilus]

hi fella`s. can this be connected to a pc for daw recording or is it only ideal for a hardware recorder? cheers

[jota1995devil]

why does every demo of any of these akai or alesis drum machines have talking over them, stfu and let me heard the sounds ffs

[stickyfox]

Some of you haters out there would be shocked to know how many of your favorite records have HR16 and SR16 drum parts on them.

[Radwalls]

Sweet! General midi!

[MetalMonsterGuitar]

Is this something to use for making full length backing tracks? If not what is

[mlmalo2]

this machine sounds so much better than the cheap drums on my br-600 recorder, so i'm glad to have it, but i still have so much to learn!!!

[simonbu91]

Alesis helpdesk have told me the bass samples are in the key of B and you can change them up or down. Great machine for a guitarist to jam along with and it sounds good threw my amp. 175 tracks, good if you like rock/blues.

[ShannonVenasse]

is this a good purchase for a bassist looking to practice to a drum machine?!

[djbash914]

@ShannonVenasse yes

[simonbu91]

How can I find out what key the bass is in the samples?

[Ipat42]

Put a tuner next to it or find the note on your instrument :)

[punx8086]

I love this drum machine along with the 16. I trained my fingers to play in real time on the pads with my own kit I put together on this and it sounds pretty good. I will put a video together soon. The Presets suck but you can put together a pretty good kit.

[ThePavezzi]

luckily you don't have to stick to the preset patterns. most of them are quite bad imo.

[MetalMonsterGuitar]

this or the boss dr-670?

[3bradybunch]

Can you recomend a footswitch for it

[numanuma20]

So I could use this as a portable drum.

[salwei69]

this thing is shit

[jovigirl1985]

why is this thing shit

[MageAtYou]

wow amazing cool :D

[CCSofChocolatesvill]

Zoom make the best Drum machines, especially older Japanese models. these are shit.

[emosdieslow]

I'm a bass player looking for a drum machine to play with, strictly for the drums. what zoom model do you recommend? any good newer ones also?

[CCSofChocolatesvill]

You should be rockin with any of the following Zoom Rhythm track models: zoom RT-234, zoom RT-123, But in my opinion the best one they ever produced was the zoom RT-323, which you can still find knocking around on ebay for under £100 and very versatile indeed.

[DimebagsLeftToe]

right, ok what im wondering is what SPECIFICALLY makes the zoom better than this model. thankyou!

[numanuma20]

Yes a real drum.

[guitardomontebon]

why does the review just cut off at the end?

[pierlooqup]

wtf my yamaha qy70 from 1999 sounds the same... uargh

[toonmunger]

I used the SR16 for years, which is a fantastic drum machine but I think the 18 more or less blows it out of the water.

[davidson1222]

can u put an ipod threw that and can u get like dance beats and techno beats

[null140]

yes if you have a 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch converter. you can pass any signal through it with a 1/4 connector, then run the output through to an effects loop of any kind, etc. The possibilities are endless, really.

[cavenaileg]

I've watched two of your clips, and you sure seem knowledgable, and thanks for posting, but I have to say I just see hands doing things I don't understand. I wish I had enough prior knowledge to figure out how you're doing what you're doing but I don't.....

[djbuzzword]

Sounds horrible and cheap...

[HurlingDervish]

but it has a rock beat! .......haha

[Drpimper3020]

@djbuzzword That's what EQ is for.

[humanrights4all]

What a terrible sound!!!

[codyoty]

i am SOOOOOOO buying this!!!!

[AddHigga]

this thing looks like it sucks.....quite bad

[hannajohn123]

can you hook this up to a computer and record your beats?

[djyourgofromlelystad]

the display looks the same as my akai xr20 display,same factory maybe?they say the akai xr20 is only good for hiphop,but i use the xr20 for producing housemusic!

[kattes]

They're practically the same thing. Build in same factory, mostly same parts, manuals match word to word and so on. Practically the the only difference is the samples and the pads.

[louie98765112]

if you want just drums without the bass, is it possible to take the bass out?

[oimeloimel]

same question here :)

[emosdieslow]

yeah you can take the bass out. have you purchased a drummachine since posting this, cause i'm looking 4 1 4 the same reason.

[todei79]

Those first couple of rock demos sounded more like porno music. lol Nice peice of equipment though.

[gearwire]

haha. Just remember...some of the best italian film scores were for erotic films.

[Polter5]

LMFAO! Thats what i said XD

[seanmurray90]

need help.. should i go with this .. or the AKAI xr20? imma make some house music, electro, and maybe like kinda hip hop... xr20 is good 4 hip hop. but not so much 4 house or electro.. and can you like download more beats of the internet 4 any of these beat pads? my price limit is like 450 bucks, is there a better 1 i should get 4 under that price?pleez help :) <333

[gearwire]

while I like the alesis, I would say go with the akai. Akai has always put out solid units, and it has (at least I think) better velocity control.

[qwerfderf]

midi out is probs the only good thing actually

[qwerfderf]

thats lame.

[tj1990]

how do i hook this up to a omega lexicon interface and use it with qubase LE??? someone help me please!!!

[rainmakerx97]

It is easy to mute the bass....hold down the mute button and press the bass button....there you go...drums only.

[Oshia666]

Can you mute the fecking bass guitar?

Just want the drum sounds not the bass, it'll do for the times when our unreliable drummer cant make practices lol.

[rainmakerx97]

It is easy to mute the bass....hold down the mute button and press the bass button....there you go...drums only.

[spacemanvector32]

I just got one, been a sr-16 user forever, learning curve zero. But even if it's new to you, ten times easier/more flexible than boss gear for live performance and studio/midi. I had a boss machine, hated it, no tap tempo, what the shit is that? Just having a/b & a/b fill makes so much more sense, worth it for me, no tedious song arranging or losing my patterns in a sea of shite with a jog wheel. Just bang out the beats and transitions, foot pedal them. Instant demo drums.

[InvisibleMud]

Sounds pretty good. But I think the Boss DR880 sounds better.

[hendrixforever92]

very nice, how much

[ChrisScribs]

Alesis is friggin SICK! I've been looking for a good all around drum machine =) How much is it?

[rugerzandlugerz]

It is around $300USD give or take a few bucks.

[sunhouse76]

cool man i like it.