Percussion Instruments Musical : Alesis SR18 Pro Drum Machine

Alesis SR18 Pro Drum Machine

£159.99


THE NEW ALESIS SR18. PORTABLE PRO-GRADE DRUMS FOR MOBILE MUSICIANS. Alesis knows drums. The legendary SR-16 ignited the drum-machine market in 1990 and has remained a classic ever since. The SR-18 is designed to meet the demands of todays musicians. Its tap-tap-tastic!


Wingbong - Alesis SR18 Pro Drum MachineThe weekend has just finished and I ve only just started discovering the joys of the SR-16. I m completely new to drum machines, am in no way a drummer, and yet have found after just a few hours practice, that many of the functions on this lovely machine have become instinctively easy to remember. I am now programming patterns that sound like real drum sequences (well, almost), as well as keying in bass riffs. When I jam along with my guitar, the sound is pretty complete, like having a solid-sounding R&B section, but in a little box on the table. I can t wipe this stupid grin off my face.The SR-18 has also got me looking up drum music online, so that I can learn more drumming theory. This in turn has got me counting beats like a slightly mad person in the corner of my living room.Having read many reviews of this and the old SR-16, I must say I was still surprised by the fidelity of the SR-18 s drum samples and the simplicity of programming in rhythms. And yet there s still so much more to master and discover.Although I paid more than I would have done for a metronome (which I originally intended to buy to accompany my guitar playing) I am delighted I forked out that extra cash for this piece of kit.The delivery service was excellent too - ordered Wednesday, arrived Friday. Very happy.

Superb sounding drum machine - First the good news: The SR18 has 500 excellent drum and percussion sounds covering a wide range of musical genres. These samples really do sound good. The SR18 additionally provides reverb, EQ and compression, and this represents a great leap forward from the earlier SR16. The 100 preset patterns, together with 50 additional patterns stored in user memory are varied and interesting, and a great starting point for inventing your own patterns. There are probably too many patterns dedicated to rock styles for some people s taste, although that happens to suit me just fine. The bass synthesiser is perhaps of limited use for rock/jazz/blues/country but is wonderful for dance music. I particularly like the Mini Moog sounds.Now the not so good news: It s not easy to play patterns in real time on the key pads - I find I need to use the step edit function to clean up my real-time patterns. Also, I m still struggling to understand the key sequences to adjust some parameters, and I find myself referring to the manual regularly. If there s a logic to it then I can t see it. I expect that these key sequences will gradually become second nature, but until then this is a niggle. It would be a great enhancement to be able to link to a PC with a full screen editor. For example, the editor for the Line 6 Pod range is excellent.Conclusion: Buy it for the excellent sounding samples and useful onboard effect.

A great little device! - Purchased from Amazon on Wednesday and arrived by Friday morning, so great service (fathers day present). The Alesis SR-18 is the new model with all the bells and whistles! Its probably got more features than I ll ever use. Still having plugged in a set of ear phones and connecting 6 pencil batteries it didn t take long to figure out the basics whilst wandering around the house. If you plan to use just the preset patterns this unit will be a breeze. If however you want to add the built in bass and rhythm functions and use this unit seriously your going to have to sit down and start reading the manual. I did look briefly at the manual but i don t have the time or focus at the moment to give the Alesis unit the time it needs to be used at its full potential. In conclusion this new model looks great, sounds great and is a great improvement on the previous Alesis SR-16. I m looking forward to having the time to seeing just how useful this device can be. I can see this being a very good new work tool for many working musicians.




Alesis SR18 Pro Drum Machine