All user reviews of 4/5 for the Alesis SR-16

I bought the SR-16 through American Musical Supply for $200 for a few reasons. Most importantly, its price was within my budget and I found the 'representative' sound bytes offered by online retailers to be more realistic sounding than other competing brands'. It also received high 'ease of use' remarks from people on online forums, which was important to me as I'm a bit new to recording.

It is SIMPLE to use, even for a complete novice like myself. The machine contains a lot of flexibility in the sounds it offers. I don't use it for live performance, and so do not have memory concerns, but it seems to offer more than enough storage space for percussion compositions - and can backup in a variety of ways if this becomes an issue. Its MIDI capability is very helpful. The 'pattern' and 'song' editing features are incredibly easy to use which allows me to record in real time and edit later, or to compose beat by beat to get "perfect" timing. I happy with the cymbals for the most part, as this was my biggest concern for a realistic drum set sound. And it's relatively CHEAP!!

There really is nothing I don't like about the SR-16, although I think that some of its sounds are a little useless for my purposes (such as the backwards open high-hat, and some of the percussive instruments). I also do not think you can change tempo within a song, but if you're using the machine as a MIDI slave, this shouldn't be an issue as the tempo can be defined by the master.

It's very small and compact which is nice. It seems to be a little frail, however, and I would be concerned if using it in a live setting. Overall, it seems well constructed.

For a very simple, easy to use drum machine with pretty good sound quality and a low price tag, I don't think you could do better than the SR-16.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

See APRS! He said everything.
I find that nanmoins connection of external power supply does not hold water. it is super sensitive, which accasionne of 'resets' untimely. It sucks when even if the box stops live.

UTILIZATION

Clear, simple, prcis. edition alone!

SOUNDS

The quality of the presets is indniable. for a box, there's groove. Now for use in home studio, a rhythm box hardware really does not seem justified. Y acid, fruity loops and others. At present, it becomes a little Exceeds. Good for live (gaffe connectivity, cf. Above).

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 6 years. I do not regret it at all, but must recognize that it becomes dsuette.
Finally it's still a good box to me more than enball BOSS in the same range.

On mine, the screen is not clear either retro.

It is fully described below.
The pre-recorded sounds are fine, since I use a two years, I have not toured the creation of pattern.
What I like is the super simple footswitch that you can buy elsewhere than with Alesis.

UTILIZATION

Super simple setup.
Very easy to use.
The manual is sufficient.

SOUNDS

Sounds very much like a real battery. Is sampled with CD quality.
I play rock and it's very realistic.
I use it as a metronome improved, ie with the same pattern that turns up time that I stopped at the pedal. To do this it does very well.
All sounds are realistic.

Edict of 19/10/08
Now I check the pattern directly in the compositions, it is super easy, I can fancy small (turnover) ...
Now I have two years I think we made some concerts full of repeated and it is still going strong

OVERALL OPINION

I do not like is that for the moment I can not vary the tempo within a song automatiqe, or so I failed (which is possible) So for the music I make, it requires a manual adjustment (or pedal). Which in itself does not suit me because I use it to supplement my guitar when I sing.
Very satisfactory if it again, to live is better if there is a Mr Rhythm in the group because it does not do everything alone, especially if you want to leave room for improvisation .. . like all drum machines.
As they say on some sites if I am the fly or I will seek to buy one for simplicity. I would advise any guitarist or bassist who wants to learn to play square! This is a great tool for homework.
For the cons to live a somewhat more complete configuration would be most successful. I'm not able to do everything I need with my gift alesis is a pity, because the sound is very good. But for now I enmène on my concert and it rolls. One of my songs went to radio, I assure you it is as powerful a battery!
To listen http://www.myspace.com/twoboneyann

Ok - this is a classic. For some reason it is still around and once you actually put your hands on it you will know why this drum machine has been so popular - and still is. I bouht mine about ten years ago and up to this day I still use on times to quickly setup a basic drum groove for songwriting and practicing.
You can connect it to a PA or mixing board via the stereo outputs and it can receive and send MIDI information. The Pads are velocity sensitive and the volume is being adjusted with the big knob on the right.

UTILIZATION

For a drum machine this unit is very easy and straight forward to program. People being used to having big screens and software drum machines might find it a bit cumbersome but really for it being a small portable unit things couldn't be any easier. If you have any questions I found the manual to be very helpful and always task oriented.

You can choose which sounds you want on the 12 trigger pads (there is a selection of more than 300 sounds) or you can just choose a preset drum set. You can either create patterns or then tie them together to a song. For each pattern there are two versions, two fills, intros and endings.

SOUNDS

Still after all these years (I believe the unit was introduced now almost 20 years ago) the sounds are pretty good. Of course these days you have higher sampling rates and different velocity layers...
...but it just shows that it's not necessarily about bits and kHz or tons of layers. These sounds were captured and then processed very well and have a lot of punch while being very naturalistic. The Alesis reverb is what it is - so don't expect studio quality...on the other hand you can still find the DM5 Module in many studio racks (which has basically the same sounds)...
I think they did a good job back then and it speaks for itself when a unit like the SR-16 is still in demand today.

OVERALL OPINION

As I said I have been using this drum machine for over ten years now and it has never let me down. I dropped a flower pot on it and spilled several cups of coffee over it. Although the volume knob has taken its toll it still works fine and if it ever breaks I will definately buy a new one (they just put out an updated version...so it would probably be that).
If you check on ebay or the audiofanzine forums you will see that they quite cheap and you do get a very good instrument for your money.