Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine

zZounds Gear Experts Say...

Build beats with 12 pads, then trigger them live via two footswitch jacks on the Alesis SR-18. This ultra-portable drum machine can run off two AA batteries.

Overview

Capitalizing upon the form and function of the venerable SR-16, Alesis released the SR-18, a powerful and intuitive drum machine that makes song creation easy. Featuring over 500 drum sounds, 50 bass sounds, and a monumental 32 MB of memory, the SR-18 has everything you need to lay down backup beats for your shows or recordings.

The SR-18 is an incredible drum effects machine that performs equally well on-stage or in the studio. The over 100 preset programs represent a massive range of percussion samples from Latin and jazz to hip-hop, accommodating any playing style. Alesis' Dynamic Articulation technology makes the SR-18's samples responsive to desired dynamic and color changes, just like real acoustic instruments. A fill button that can play in a variety of rhythmic patterns simplifies jamming or adds dimension to your one-person band act. The integrated effects engine includes Reverb, EQ and Compression for even greater tonal versatility, increasing your performance and recording options. The dedicated instrument input makes plugging-and-playing an effortless endeavor with the SR-18.

Not content to simply produce a comprehensive drum machine, Alesis designed the SR-18 to be as user-friendly as possible. The simple save and recall features mean that you can easily cue and launch your stored beats and back up sound effects quickly, keeping your live sets moving along nicely. The pads at the bottom allow for synthesized bass playing directly through the device, and the touch-sensitive… read more drum pad and jogwheel allow you to adjust tempos. The two footswitch inputs make this even easier--one of the inputs can be used for a button that taps to set the tempo, and the other can be used to initiate the drums or other percussive effects ensuring spot-on synchronization. The back-lit LCD screen in conjunction with the jogwheel make sifting through menus a breeze.

Features

-Large, 32MB sound set with percussion bank and bass synth
-Over 500 percussion and 50 bass sounds
-Built-in Effects - Reverb, EQ, and Compression
-Battery power for max portability
-Pattern Play Mode enables different patterns to be triggered from the pads directly
-Mute/Solo Function for parts- drums, bass and percussion and per pad within a bank
-32-voice polyphony
-100 Preset Patterns and 100 User Programmable Patterns
-Tempo / Value dial
-MIDI In and Out
-Drum Roand footswitch control
-TRS 1/4" Aux Output
-Headphone output
-Instrument Input

Alesis has been one of the leading voices in drum machine technology for many, many years. The SR-18--with its impressive selection of sounds, presets, rich and customizable tonal qualities -- represents change in an already storied saga of success.

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Specs

- AC and Battery Power capability (6 AA's - not included with product) and included AC Adapter
- 32 voice polyphony
- Backlit LCD
- MIDI In and Out
- TRS 1/4-inch Aux Output
- Drum Roll function
- Headphone output
- Instrument Input
- 100 Preset Patterns and 100 User Patterns
- Tempo / Value dial
- Footswitch control- Start/Stop and Count/A-B fill

Dimensions and Weight in Packaging
Base Item: Shipping Weight: 6.5 lbs; Shipping Dimensions: 13 x 12 x 5 in; Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): SR18X110

Documents and Manuals

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 401-658-5760
Web: https://support.alesis.com

QuickStart Guide

Reference Manual

Alesis' Description

Alesis SR 18 Drum Machine

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 today's musicians.

Introducing the SR-18. Following in the tradition of its ancestor, the SR-18 is loaded with cutting-edge drum kits, electronic drums, hits, and up-to-date percussion sounds for any modern drummer. From hip-hop, to country and everything in-between, the SR-18 has you covered. The integrated effects engine includes Reverb, EQ and Compression for customizing the sounds to your liking.

Since the SR-18 can be powered by AC or batteries, it ensures that whenever you need to lay down a groove, you're fully-equipped.

Features

- Large, 32MB sound set with percussion bank and bass synth
- Built-in Effects - Reverb, EQ and Compression
- Battery Power for max portability
- Pattern Play Mode enables different patterns to be triggered from the pads directly
- Mute/Solo Function for parts- Drums, Bass and Percussion and per pad within a bank

Reviews

(35 ratings)

Submitted July 3, 2023 by a customer from gmail.com

"Great Sounding Drum Machine, Terribly Arranged Samples"

Overall:

(see rating details)

The Alesis SR-18 is a welcome update to the now classic SR-16. The sample library is very extensive, ranging from acoustic to electronic sounds. Honestly you could definitely write a full track off this unit and this unit alone with some creative sequencing and the help of a DAW. The SR-18 sounds are wonderfully editable with pitch adjustment up and down an octave, low-pass non-resonant filtering, and, probably most importantly, decay editing. The onboard compression/EQ processing options sound quite good and the reverb algorithms are actually stellar in my opinion as well. They really deliver amazing & lush sounding standard reverbs as well as more washed out or effecty type algorithms. The onboard sequencer is easy to use but a little tiresome. Sequencing from a computer is much better for getting the nuances of off-the-grid looseness. If you wanted to gig with it you could program in the DAW and then record unquantized straight in to keep your original computer programmed feel. The only real downside to this unit, and it’s somewhat irksome, is that the sample library isn’t organized super intuitively. Alike samples aren’t always grouped together so if you’re looking for which clap to use for instance, you can’t just browse all the options in series. Apart from that the samples are really quite useable and even the bass/synth sounds are pretty interesting too even if they don’t have any real-time control. I used to record full drum mixes off this with all the effects… read more going and loved my results. I’ve always sequenced from Ableton but now for finer control I record each drum sample into my DAW after sequencing and load each sound into an instance of a sampler to really get fine control of processing and EQ. Also don’t forget to check the phase of each sample if you choose to do it this way. Sonically aligning your phases will do wonders for a mix when using samples as opposed to analog waveforms which have different phases with each note. Your mix will sound fuller from just adjusting the phase of each sample. You will hear the difference. The SR-18 does so much to enhance the SR-16 that I really hope we get a similar & unexpected leap to what Alesis does in its hopeful next upgrade.

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