Alesis SR18 Drum Machine with Effects Engine

by Kevin on February 19, 2010

Amazon.com Price: $219.00 (as of 2010-07-31 09:00:15 GMT) Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

User Reviews Send this to a friend
Alesis SR18 Drum Machine with Effects Engine
 
Manufacturer: Alesis
Customer Rating:
 
List Price: $399.00
Sale Price: $219.00
Availibility: Usually ships in 24 hours
Free Shipping Available
Buy Now
 

Product Description

The next-generation Alesis SR18 drum machine is loaded with cutting-edge drumsets, electronic drums, one-shot hits, and modern percussion sounds--from hip-hop to country and everything in between--for any cutting-edge musician's performances and compositions. It also offers an effects engine with Alesis reverb, EQ, and compression so you can output recording or performance-ready sounds. And Alesis' exclusive Dynamic Articulation feature enables a drum sound to change its tonal content as it's played harder--just like an acoustic drum--for truly realistic performances.



The next-generation Alesis SR18 drum machine (see larger image).


The rear ports of the SR18 (see larger image).
You can plug in an instrument, such as a guitar, and play along for setup simplicity. You can play in bass parts using the pads on the SR18 or connect a MIDI keyboard for fast, musical low end. The SR18 can be powered by AC or batteries for on-the-go composition

Key Features

  • Large, 32 MB sound set with percussion bank and bass synth
  • Over 500 drum and percussion sounds and 50 bass sounds
  • Built-in Alesis effects: reverbs, EQs, and compression
  • Pattern Play Mode enables different patterns to be triggered from the pads directly
  • Programmable Drum Roll function
  • Mute/Solo Function: mute drums, bass, and percussion or individual pads
  • Flexible wall (adapter included) and battery powering (six AA, not included)
  • Backlit LCD
  • 100 preset patterns, 100 user locations
  • 12 velocity sensitive pads
  • Tap tempo for instant beats exactly as you want them

Dynamic Articulation
Discerning ears will notice that each sound is actually a series of different samples; multiple dynamic-level samples and articulations are all built in so as you play harder and softer, the drum or cymbal changes its timbre, not just its volume. This engineered realism is known as Dynamic Articulation, an Alesis exclusive.

This results in sounds that respond accurately not only to dynamic changes, but also with the appropriate timbral and color changes you'd expect from their acoustic counterparts. You can play with or without reverb for different room sounds and enjoy a wide variety of rimshots, rim clicks and different stick-placement sounds on the cymbals. The Random Sample feature also ensures you don't get the same sound twice for further creative realism.

Specifications

  • Sound set: 32 MB, multi-sampled
  • Polyphony: 32 voices
  • Inputs: 1/4-inch instrument (guitar)
  • Outputs: 1/4-inch stereo pair, 1/4-inch TRS, 1/4-inch TRS stereo headphone
  • MIDI: in, out/thru
  • Footswitch: two inputs - start/stop, count/A/B/fill

Product Details

  • Professional drum machine -12 velocity sensitive pads (w/Dynamic Articulation) enabling a drum sound to change its tonal content
  • Backlit LCD, MIDI I/O, Stereo Main and Aux outputs, drum Roll function, headphone output, 1/4" instrument input jack, 2 footswitch jacks
  • ,Battery powered (6xAA - not included) or AC adapter - included
  • 32MB sound set with percussion bank and bass synth including over 500 Drum and percussion sounds and 50 bass sounds
  • Built-in Effects- Reverb, EQ and Compression on each pad, preset or editable by the user

Video Reviews

No video reviews found for this product.

Customer Reviews

a very weird machine, not much of an upgrade
 
Review Date: March 1, 2010
Reviewer: Todd L. Nuzum, bay city mi usa
I had the SR-16 and out of all the drum machines I ever owned it was the most user friendly so when I noticed the new SR-18 I had huge expectations, basically this is the same machine but they have made some very weird changes, my first complaint is you have to save every single thing that you do, they took this to the point of being completely ridiculous,every single edit you make must be saved I am not kidding. and then something weird; I noticed that whatever tempo you decide to play a pattern in it is automatically saved, one of the least important things (to me anyway) so now every pattern has it's very own tempo, that just seems strange to me, one thing I liked about the SR-16 was when you wanted to change the length of a pattern you were give the option of taking bars off the end or the beginning, the SR-18 is like every other drum machine and you can only cut off the end, the SR-16 also had an output to dump all of your data onto a tape or cd (or whatever you prefer) so then you never run ot of memory, The SR-18 does not have this cool feature either,the sounds are good,lots of cool presets but drum machines still have a very long way to go before I will get too excited, I thought this was supposed to be an upgrade. ?
Wow - What Great Sounds
 
Review Date: June 12, 2009
Reviewer: C. R. Downing, Chippenham, Wilts England
This is just a huge sounding drum machine. Forget what they used to sound like years ago - this sounds like a real drummer - and a very good one at that. With the basslines added this machine can be used to back a singer / guitarist / keys player and you could go on the road solo (what I plan to do).

It can be complicated if you want to go the whole mile and programme it rather than use the sample tracks, but it comes with a very thorough instruction manual. Plan to learn how to do most of the good things during a month of tinkering with it in your spare time. I bought it with two Yamaha FC5 pedals to work it 'live'.Yamaha FC-5 Sustain Pedal for Portable Electronic Keyboards (But it does work with other on/off pedals like the Yamahas as well.) This allows me to start stop and switch between A / B fills and A / B rhythms. You'll need pedals like these if you plan to use this box in front of an audience - but you won't need it for practice.

This is a great tool. And better than a drummer because it doesn't have an ego, doesn't need beer to fuel it, and I get to keep all the money from gigs. (I'll do a video review soon.)

If you're on a tight budget or want something a bit easier to programme, try the SR16. Alesis SR16 Drum Machine
Great Product
 
Review Date: May 3, 2009
Reviewer: Rory Gallagher Steve, Rochester, NH, USA
I have owned an HR16 by Alesis for over 10 years but it eventually started to misbehave so I decided it was time for an upgrade. I chose the SR18 and have been very happy with it. Very easy to use and lots of great sounds Great price too!
The Best For the Price!!
 
Review Date: February 22, 2010
Reviewer: James E. Sink, Newport News, Virginia 23602
I believe this to be the best sounding drum machine made today for the price, it is fairly simple to program, has the most real sounding drums has a nice fill feature... it realy looks cool and has large pads...it doenst save very well, seems once saved, the original is there forever... but still one can create patterns you can save in in cubase, magix or samplitude or another recording program once youve done your program to be sure except for future tempo changees could be off and funny sounding...

I have both the Zoom tr-223 and this and i feel the Zoom tr-223 to be more a Toy compared to the sr-18....but the Zoom can come back to previous patterns once shut off...Zoom has a little better sounding bass, but ill record my own real sounding bass with a real bass ....both can be used in your studio

The output is rather weak using line outs...Neither drum machine is perfect, but the Alesis is a more professioanl Drum machine in my humble opinion....Jim
Alesis did it again !
 
Review Date: July 15, 2010
Reviewer: Keygrooves,
I've owned the SR-16 for years and not till just lately have I used it for live performance. The machine was adequate. Being an x-drummer helped in finding the right preset to the right song. Remember, the kick/bass relationship is key. I used primarily presets and only programed 10 of my own grooves. I created no songs. I kept it real simple. Along comes the SR-18. Not only are the sounds far more realistic on the SR-18, but Alesis seemed to have recorded the grooves into the machine with a real drummer playing a drum pad kit. The grooves have a superior human feel over the SR-16. This equates to the fills also. Much more human. The length of beats have changed in the SR-18. Most on the SR-16 were either 4 or 8 beats. The SR-18 has many patterns at 16 beats. This makes the SR-18 more musical to use for a broader scope of musical styles. I'm old school. Most of the songs I do have been around for some time and the guys at Alesis have intelligently programmed the SR-18 to fit what I do like a glove. However, unlike my old machine I'm inspired to put together some actual songs. The sounds and technology is there, all that is missing is the time to do it. Also, for you tweak heads, the ability to create your own patterns and songs or tweak the USER patterns is much like the SR-16. The old machine was very thought out in that respect. Alesis is working on a very old cliche... "If it ain't broke... don't fix it".

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: