Alesis SR-16 Portable Electronic Drum Machine Reviews

Get it. Use it. Love it!

I'm a drummer for more than 50 years. I'm not great but I have fun and enjoy playing. I never had a need or want for drum machines (as a drummer I never liked a machine that plays better than me and never gets tired, LOL) I have worked with many them during my Recording Engineering years. Anyway, a little over a year ago I built a new Music Production Studio in our Music Room. I already have nice Gretsch Catalina Club Kit, a Fender Tele and Jazz Bass and a Fender CD60 Acoustic and Cordoba C3m Classical. I wanted to build upon this starting with a Tascam Model 12 Mixer/Recorder, a bunch of different Synthesizers, Semi Modulars (I'm up to 16 and still counting, they are addictive), a few Pocket operatorsMIDI Controllers and Keyboards, and some Virtual Software Synths, oh and yes my first Drum Machines.

I could not resist this Alesis SR16 Drum Machine which I could not believe is still being manufactured 33 years later (that may be older than some of you reading my review) and the price is amazing for what you get! Honestly it still holds its own after all of these years, I guess that's why it is still in production!

233 Drum Sounds
50 preset patterns with A/B Variations and 50 User Programmable Patterns
12 Velocity-sensitive drum pads that have Dynamic Articulation.
A and B Fills
24-bit sound engine (upgraded from the original 16 Bit makes the Noise Floor on this incredibly low, non existent).
MIDI in/out/thru
The Build is Solid, the Drum Samples are top quality..
Programming the SR16 is pretty simple
One of the nicest features of the SR16 is the ease with which you can switch between Perform and Compose modes while a pattern is playing. If you've recorded a couple of parts while in Compose mode and you want to try out another part before recording it, just press the Perform/Compose button and you're out of record without interrupting the flow.

Also the Song Modes are quite well thought out. YOU CAN CREATE up to 100 songs on the SR16, each of which can consist of up to 254 steps - a step consisting of either a Main or a Fill pattern. But where it really shines is the inclusion of real-time Song recording. Select your initial pattern, set the SR16 to Compose mode, press Play and off you go: the drum machine starts playing in realtime and automatically records all pattern selections you make, compiling them into a Song chain for you. Needless to say, this is so much better than manually compiling Song steps, it also allows you to be more spontaneous about selecting patterns.

Ok so this old drummer is really enjoying my Alesis SR16 and it is a great addition to my Music Production.

I am very satisfied with my drum machine purchase. It is exactly what I wanted, and I am very happy with its performance.

It is very easy to use and blends in well with my other equipment. Brian Massey was very helpful guiding me with my purchase.

It is salespeople like Brian that keep me coming back to Sweetwater for all of musical needs!!! I recommend all who need musical supplies to see Brian. He is the best!!!

Great drum machine - sounds are good, programming is easy and size is portable.

I bought my SR-16 from Sweetwater a while back as a sound module for the Alesis Control pad, midi drum performance surface , and it shines much better than the software download that came with the Control pad . The sounds are outstanding , and controls are super reliable.i play through my Alesis Nanoverb to add more effect variation . I highly recommend the SR-16 .

I've used an Alesis SR16 for live performance since the 90's and I cannot find one solid reason not to keep on using it! Line other reviewers I wish the screen was backlit and although I can change patterns via midi it won't let me change tempos. But a couple taps on a footswitch gets me close enough to fine adjust by hand - all within 5 seconds tops.

I'm concerned when I see other reviews saying there isn't a 3/4 or waltz beat. But I'm not concerned for the machine, I'm concerned for the user not getting the maximum fulfillment out of their machine. When This machine came out, it was YEARS ahead of its time. Still is to some degree. But only if you unleash its full potential. I'm saying I could create a simple waltz beat in less than 3 minutes. It's that simple to do. One Saturday a hundred years ago I even programmed the "Wipeout" drum beat into my machine. It took several hours but I did it and it sounds great. I still have it. So with the potential to create a simple waltz to an iconic WIPEOUT, there's no reason for one to say it's the machine's fault. Nope it's your fault.

Unleash the full power of the Alesis SR16 by opening the manual and trying to create your own beats in the user pattern section. Or copy a preset to the user section and modify it to your taste. You will be amazed at what you can come up with. I wish this review forum allowed us to interact because I love this machine so much I'm dying to help others with theirs. Please know that there is a FB Alesis SR16/18 user Forum would be a great resource for new SR16 users. See you there!

I have had this drum machine for 20? years or so. Just replaced it with a new one. This is the best drum machine out there - IF: you like to perform live - and are looking for a simple to moderately complex drum backing to your guitar or keyboard etc. - and you know little about drums (so programming your own stuff is unlikely). It sounds Great and is easy to use. 50 preset patterns with an A and a B track, with fills in both directions. Works well. There are some patterns I never use - probably because I do mostly Country and old Rock etc. One pattern(s) that is lacking is a decent 3/4 Time. Pattern #48 is a 3/4. It's good, but not good for every 3/4 Song, that's for sure. But I was able to create my own in the User Patterns (which give you another 50 possibilities!) Luckily for me, I was wanting a simple 3/4 Pattern (for Old Willie Nelson type Waltz's) And because my drum knowledge and skill is almost non-existent, creating a simple pattern was possible for me :).

One time I bought the "Improved" version SR-18? I returned it. It was not near as friendly for Live performance, which is what I do. I'm sure for a drum aficionado the SR-18 would be better, but for me, nothing has been created yet that beats the SR-16.

So - to conclude - get the SR-16 If you need a simple reliable drum backing to your live performance, where you add lib a lot. If you want to program your way to drum perfection - then it would be best to study up on the new stuff.

I had one that I bought used, used several years, than the screen went out. I needed one asap so I bought a new one. Great unit. Easy to get started using. I wish it had a back light for the screen, but I use a small led clip on light. Sweetwater even followed up to ensure I received it in time for my next gig and then later with places that might be able to repair my old one. Sweetwater and the unit are both great.

Bought this in'91, and it's STILL working great! A good investment!!

First bought in 1991. I use it for recording backing tracks for my duo. Over 600 tracks.
This is the only EDM that's remained UNCHANGED in 31 years. There's a good reason for this.

After 31 years of faithful service,my SR16 finally stopped working,so I bought another one from Sweetwater. The old one still works,but it no longer holds created patterns or songs in it's memory. My studio creates "old school" R&B,Jazz ,and Country,so I need a drum machine that has REAL sampled drum kits,and not synthesized sounds. The SR16 fills the bill at a reasonable price.If you perform R&B,Jazz,Country, or straight ahead Rock, the SR16 can be your solution if you don't have the room or the soundproofing for a real drum kit, or need a drum machine for live performances.I highly recommend this unit. I want to thank Paul Rowan for being so helpful. The man deserves a raise!

The Alesis SR-16 is an excellent drum machine that allows maximum creativity and very little effort. THe interface is simple and the operation is straight forward with no excess baggage.

The Alesis Drum Machine is the trick to fill out your sound. It takes a little work to figure out the fills and timing it right for some songs, but well worth the effort. A tried and true addition to any one man band setup or even if your drummer can't make a gig.

One of the Best Drum Machine I ever used.

I'm a string guy not so much a drummer so this is very handy to have. Easy to use and a ton of options for styles and kit sounds. Pretty sure it's going to see a lot of use in my studio. I picked up a demo model which was in new condition as far as I can tell.

I purchased an SR-16 in 1990 and it is still working fine. I practice with it and used it in several duos and trios successfully.
Just purchased one with the latest firmware and hit the ground running! All the great sounds are there and same ease of programming patterns and songs.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!! Very wise choice for Alesis! Same rugged design and functionality! Beats any drum machine on the market for twice the price.

THIS MACHINE IS AWESOME.FOR THE MONEY YOU COULD NOT ASK FOR A BETTER BARGAIN.
THE QUALITY SOUND IS UNBELIEVABLE.THE PRESET BEATS IS GREAT.ACCEPT FOR THE REGGAE BEATS NOOOOO.
I KNOW ALESIS CAN DO BETTER.

This is actually the second one of these I've owned, I had one in the 90's that I recorded extensively with. Now I'm doing the same in 2020 during the time of covid. The SR 16 is easy to use and has amazing sound quality. I have only used it in conjunction with the foot pedals in performance mode in order to get a live drum feel, this alone makes the SR 16 very cool.

I bought this drum machine about 20 years ago and it still works perfect

You guys are awesome ,three day delivery can't beat that!

The Alesis SR16 is the greatest drum machine in recorded human history. I wish it was as easy to program beats in a DAW as it is to use the SR16. I bought this one for my 89 year old ex-father in law and taught him how to use in in under an hour.

The SR16 is the easiest machine to program that I've ever worked with. I have nearly 40 years experience with programmable drummers; this has been easy to program, very adequate drum sounds. I set it up one day and used it the next. .

I bought the Korg KR Mini but I needed the next step up- hence the SR-16. Looking for something with gradated tempo settings and foot switch inputs for stop/start and fill functions and easily programable. Plenty of patterns although I wish it had a disco and more swing jazz patterns. Working with a female singer covering everything from Fly Me To The Moon to I Will Survive. Really glad that I went with the
SR-16!! Highly recommend!!

I'm wondering if there is a waltz beat? I can't seem to find one. I love the machine, it's been a great asset to our little band.

I relentlessly use it in my studio. It"s always part of the creative process in the projects I produce.

Mahalo again Jeff your always there when I think of f something to get. Aloha Eloy

Jeff Jent provided great service. The Alesis Sr16 works great with the songs I write and record. Thank you Sweetwater!

Bought this item and for the money it can't be beat.It can go pretty deep as you can see on you tube part 1 and 2 video manual tutorial but you don't have to go in the rabbit hole that deep to start out with ,I am reading the manual pdf online and thats making it out to make sense to me and believe me I dislike manuals but this 1 seems to be american and easy to understand....It truly is a classic and sounds great,plus it says it comes ith 50 preset patterns but those 50 patterns has 4 variations so you get 200 patterns and can change each pattern to 1 of 50 drumkits! Goodluck !!!

I had one of these back in 1990. I was blown away then, and I am still now. The sounds are 100% realistic, because they're actual samples, and the patterns are excellent - because they were played by actual studio musicians, not just created digitally.

The Alesis SR-16 is velocity sensitive - Alesis calls it "Dynamic Articulation" - which allows users to be very expressive, playing quietly, playing loudly, and everywhere in between.

This unit is extremely intuitive, and you'll be up and running in minutes. It has MIDI which allows synchronizing to other MIDI equipment, and even a tape backup - a feature from a bygone era that is EXTREMELY useful to those of us that still use rust-based technology, aka magnetic recording tape.

If you like 1980's and 1990's ease-of-use combined with digital technology, this is the drum machine for you!

I've had my eye on this for a long time and know there are others that are more expensive with many more gadgets. This one can do way more than I am capable of, but for just sitting down, dialing it in and starting to play works great for me. Couldn't be happier. Merry Christmas to me!!

Purchased the Alesis SR-16 as a kinda of a back up, just in case my drummer decides not to show....(I know...imagine that.) Have used a machine years ago....was kinda leary, my old one was VERY MECHANICAL sounding. Un boxed and plugged in a set of headphones.....WOW. So much different!
Didn't get to really check it out fully, but I'm really impressed....SWEEEEEET.

Really like the size...will fit nice on a music holder I have mounted to my mic stand. The only thing is that would be better is that if the display was back lit....darn. It's small size means I can put it just about anywhere for transport. Will also use this in my in home studio as my drum buttons on my recorder are just about worn out.

Can't wait to learn it and use it completely.

I too have been using this for live duo performances with my guitar and a bass player. We do plenty of shows a year and I just keep adding new songs all the time to our repertoire and I'm always able to find a preset that works. I stop/start with a foot control..and it's always consistant, it doesn't over play, always on time and best of all, I don't have to pay it. I intend to but another one if and when this one craps out.

The Alesis SR-16 is a great drum machine easy to use comes set up and ready to use right out of the box. I play keyboards, sax, accordion and steel drums. Worked for many years in the Philadelphia/New Jersey markets. Had one of these units years ago liked it then not let down now. Shoot out to Sam for his OUTSTANDING customer service and fast FREE shipping! I'll be back!

I perform solo and have used the Alesis SR-16 since 1995 with no problems. I use the Yamaha FC5 fs with it to stop and start it. For ease of use and true drum sounds it's perfect! In fact I've just ordered another one so I'll always have one. It's a crucial part of my act, and I have put in many hours searching for the right beats for my songs. I play guitar and sing along with the Alesis. I use a small Peavey bass amp and also run it stereo into a Peavey Pa system. While it's true that there are some beats not available to fit certain songs I stick with songs that it will do, and it will do most. I have become a pro at picking out the best beats from using it. I wouldn't want to be without it. I bought the first one from a friend and it's still going strong. I felt that if for some reason it wouldn't be available anymore I'd be real sorry. I'm sure the 18 is great, but I'm used to this one. I have my acoustic rig upastairs and my electic setup in my living room. Anyway, it makes me happy! I don't like having to move stuff any more than I have to. Long story short, I'm making sure I'll always have one and will gig with the new one. Have fun and remember, everything in moderation!

Completely satisfied with the drum machine, and the prompt delivery. I also appreciate the way you guys stay in touch throughout the delivery process. Outstanding! Expect more business from me

I have the SR18 and its just perfect. I hope Alesis decides to make an SR20. I would buy it.

The SR-16 Drum Machine what can’t I say about this fine-tuned instrument The Alesis SR16 is among one of the most basic drum machines youll find. This drum machine went into product in the early 1990s and nothing has changed since its initial release. There are 50 preset patterns and 233 different drum sounds. Running out of memory can be an issue with the SR16 because there are only 50 user presets.

Like most of these older drum machines, the main purpose of this beat maker is to simply replace a drummer in a live performance situation. The SR16 has two inputs for foot pedals, so you can have hands-free control over starting and stopping your drum loops as well as adding fills when you desire if you want more than take a look at the Beat Thang this is highly adaptable however its more suitable in my opinion for a Disk Jockey and not a musician.
You heard first from the HITMAN

Excellent product, and excellent price. This thing just gets the job done, and there are some great tutorials on you tube that will have you up and running in no time! This is my new favorite gadget, (that will probably last for about a week), and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this beast, you need one! Thanks again to Nate Edwards, and Sweetwater, always helpful, and great selection and prices!:)

I was seriously surprised at : A) how easy this machine is to use and, B.) the quality of the drum sounds. You can tell that these are REAL drum sounds and not computerized beats. I am blown away by how inexpensive this machine is for the quality and ease that it offers. Alesis really is an awesome company. Would definitely recommend

The SR-16 remains the best rhythm machine on the market! One of the features is it quantizes the beat when in compose mode and the reproduction of drums and cymbals are very authentic fantastic machine!

A simple, yet thorough ccombination of fx and options that is beyond
expectation in this affordable price range!

The 60+ page reference manual alone is a strong indication of the abilities of this instrument. Your imagination and creativity (or lack thereof) is the main limitation of this really cool machine.

I bought this machine in 94 and still use it . I have made several records with it . I bought the SR 18 and tried it because it was the new update but I found the snares suck.. and it is harder to use than the SR-16 - I sending the new SR-18 back today and buying a new SR-16 (the scriptonmy pads are worn. 16 years and this think still kicks ass.

This is a simple, easy-to-use and power drum machine. Large selection of quality sounds, ability to select individual drums, etc. and save as a custom kit. Easy to save patterns and songs.

Best part is the touch sensitive pads combined with the ability to slow down the recording of a pattern. You can really do some cool, realistic stuff.

I have gone through a couple of these over the years. I literally wore them out. It is a great piece of gear; easy to program, good sounds. I WISH they would provide a better read out, with a back lit display for various lighting issues on stage or just dimly lit studios.

This is a great little drum machine since my drummer now lives 65 miles away just thing really helps it takes a while to master it you have to just sit down and keep reading it and play the drum machine while you're reading over and over Easter to get the hang of it it sounds on a pretty good much better than my old role in TR505 that I used for years and the price is very good to

I am very impressed with the Alesis SR-16 drum machine. A very sophisticated unit for the money! The presets are not quite what I was looking for since I primarily play jazz standards, but the drum sounds are great. Hopefully it will not be too hard to modify the presets to my needs and create my own rhythm tracks, I've been a little pressed for time, so I have not had a chance to work with those features. Even if it's a little hard to program, for $... I can't complain. It really does sound great. I look forward to working with it.

Great drum machine! Started recording with it right out of the box . Easy to use initially. Sounds really nice great price for what you get . Sounds great for home studio recording .

I love it just got it a couple of weeks ago and just starting to get into the programs. I really needed this to compose and practice on my bass. I am pleased with this purchase immensely

I bought my first SR 16 several years ago when I was writing a lot of songs. I was amazed at how easy it was to use, and the wide selection of patterns to choose from. It was just what needed to record drum parts for my song demo discs at the time. The ability to use a couple of foot switches to start and stop the machine and change parts is not only useful in recording, but also in live performances as well. Another musician and I still play together in small programs where we often don't have room for a drum set, the SR 16 gives us the ability to have drum accompanyments anywhere we play, even when we're in cramped quarters or playing places like rest homes where some people might consider a drum set to be offensive. Unfortunately, I let a friend borrow it and I never got it back. (I guess someone must have appreciated the features as much as I did). After "losing" my first one, a friend of mine wrote a song and asked if I could put some music to it. Right away I thought about the Alesis SR 16 and realized that I HAD TO get another one.

The sales crew at Sweetwater didn't steer me wrong. They answered all my questions and I purchased this drum machine. It has loads of beats (except 3/4 time, doesn't do that but you can program it in, just takes a little more time), easy to use and adjust. The sound is authentic, not canned, tinny. Well worth the money.

I think it is a great drum machine. you can't beat the 149.99 price tag. It is user friendly and it sounds great. Great drum sounds and you can use it all kinds of ways and it won't ever let you down. I have my SR-16 for over 4 years and it still sounds great or better yet, like brand new. If you need a small but excellent drum machine this is the one to get.

Got this to be the bones of my project recordings. Unbeatable functionality for the price! Fully programmable, quantized or real time, enough Usable sounds for most styles which I supplement with other sounds on my multitrack. Mostly realish drums, not many electronic or hip hop sounds but some.
This amazed me: 2 ASSIGNABLE stereo outputs! So you can send certain sounds to their own out for recording, just like a sequencer that costs 700 bucks! That's how we pump up the kick without making the whole drum mix sound scooped. Or send dry drums to one output side and all cymbals to another so they can be equalized in similar groups. Huge pro feature!! So buy a 1/4" trs to 2x ts cable to take advantage of this if can record 4 inputs simultaneously.

Yes, the pads are not super smooth in dynamic response. Constantly changing the velocity setting in the rec menu for each attempt, but it's not too hard to adjust that in step mode after recording.

Obviously computer software offers much more, but for hardware guys who avoid computers, this unit was ahead of its time and still a Great project-builder or backbone for a solo or Duo performance.
Perhaps Alesis will release a New New unit that avoids the alleged mistakes of the sr18 but this sr16 is terrific for what I do for the price.

I bought this DM solely on the recommendation of a studio drummer associate, and it has definitely lived up to his recommendation.

I've had an old 16 bit version for over 20 years and was shocked to see they are still selling basically the same machine. The pre-sets are terrible, but once you learn how to program it, everything you need is available. I tried PC-based drum software, but I can program the old SR16 much faster. It is the perfect companion to my equally elderly and outdated Akai DPS12 porta-studio.

For playing live, you might prefer this standalone drum machine because of the foot switch inputs for fills, etc. If you are starting out fresh in recording demos, you are probably best off going with more current PC-based technology.

I have been using it now for a few months. At first we used it as background drums for our band - we don't have a drummer. I started reading into it's capabilities and found out that this little machine is a big deal. It has lots of sounds and is programmable. I have since started to make my own patterns for covers that we do. I'm currently looking into how to make user songs with it. I found some old and very boring videos online about how this thing operates and started watching them. There is still much more for me to learn. This little giant is like an onion - it has many layers to peel. I am overall very satisfied with it, and will continue to read up. I would have given it 5 but it is a little tough to learn how to program. I would recommend it to my friends and will buy it again if I need another.

Really good drum machine sounds really good. Only had it for a month still learning how to use it but once i get it down. I will love it.

The sounds are really good and it is easy to use. My only complaint is that the screen does not light up so it is hard to see the display. Would I buy it again? Absolutely I would.

For me, the initial purchase of this unit (Alesis SR-16) was a gamble. I wanted a drum machine to use for recording three-to-four-minute songs on a Zoom R-16 multi-track recorder. None of the descriptions I found (web page or on- line videos) made it clear that a person could create an original song using more than just two active patterns (A & B) on the unit, then play it into a recorder. If a person writes a song with three parts (i.e., verses, choruses, and a bridge) and wants more than the two different rhythm arrangements for it, a machine capable of accessing more than two patterns during a session would be required.
To my delight, this unit can create and store many different patterns into a one song sequence (either entering manually or playing real time and by either using presets or original compositions by the musician). In addition, the number of beats per pattern can be amended. This was especially helpful with my first recording attempt using it. I have yet to experiment with different tempos in the same song. I hope I am just as pleased.
The drum sounds themselves are of high quality and can be changed to many different variations of tones. A composer can choose from about 100 different sample drum kits or tweak the sounds of specific drums individually. It has more sounds than I'll ever use.
The downside: for me, the learning curve to use this machine isn't intuitive. It took a couple, four-hour sessions of experimentation to figure out how to set up a basic three part song using three different patterns. On-line videos were of some help but not completely. Once I figured it out, it offered more than I was hoping.
Also, out of the box it came with a scuff mark on the screen. One that can't be wiped off with a microfiber cloth. I contemplated returning it, but after waiting for over a few months for it to be in stock, I was too anxious to play with it and decided to keep it. Probably a bad move on my part as I'm sure it will annoy me in the future.
For $... this is a great product. Sweetwater is a great company to work with!

I bought this for my boyfriend because he had one 20 years ago and knew how to use it...so no learning curve needed. It's a good solid drum machine. Using a foot-pedal you can change the groove for a different section of the song or add fills. He can build any groove we need. Still digging in to see how to tailor the drumset for the sound we want, but I know it's do-able. Only down side is that the display is hard to read. If we ever play outdoors in bright sunlight, we'll have to keep this in the shade or the display will be unreadable. It would be nice if Alessis would change the screen colors to remedy that. Otherwise, we're super happy with it. Plus, the price is great.

I've only used the machine once. I played around with all the presets and fills but have not yet created my own tracks. So far I'm very happy with the unit and it sounds pretty good, especially for the small price tag. It appears to be relatively easy to operate but will know for sure once I really "dig into it."
As always the item arrived very quickly like everything else that you order from Sweetwater.

Had one many years ago. just getting back to playing out solo and this does what I need. Works great

The Alesis SR-16 is great sounding and very easy to use. The only problem is the power supply that came with our machine. It was not built to last and didn't. For some reason the power supply iwas not the one that is supposed to come with the machine an Alesis brand but was a super cheap knock off. Both Sweat Water and Alesis denied the switch. Have dealt with Sweat Water before and was always treated right . Keep in mind that the power supply is not a 9 volt DC converter .It is a 9 volt AC transformer. Trying buying one locally in a pinch .Ain't gonna happen. If you bought this machine and have a knock off power supply better get as back up .

does what it should. sounds pretty good, kind of a 90's vibe. there are some 808 style sounds that are actuallly pretty good. the bass is extremely big. plenty of stock beats but its not hard to start making your own patterns and songs

There is a reason why this has been around for several decades. It is not because it can produce classic junky dinks, donks and hisses like the Japanese junk of the day, but because it produces realistic drums. (The only thing old and corny are the hand claps, but that doesn't mean you have to put this into your kit.

Create your kit, decide how many sections you want in your song, tap to create the section and overdub as much as you want, repeat for each section, then create fills and turnarounds. String them together as a song. If you want to expand a part for an impromptu music solo, connect the footswitch and repeat a section. You can also arrange the pan and so-on. It is very easy.

Frankly, the only shortcoming is with the user. A great drum performance requires a great drummer. To really make this unit sing, you need to listen to a lot of music and hear what the drummer is doing, then program it in hit by hit. You should also match the drummer to the kind of music you want to make. People like Lars Ulrich, Mitch Mitchell, Phil Collins and Alex Van Halen are all great, but you have to match the style to the music.

I had an original Alesis HR-16 and, to increase voices, I added a HR-16B. I produced a ton of sessions on that pair, including some big sessions for film soundtracks. They sounded great. The SR-16 replaced the pair of them. The earlier versions had larger pad areas, which I preferred, but the SR-16 is a better unit overall. Besides, by that time, I had begun to to all my sequencing externally and was able to use the SR-16 as a sound module. It was at that point that I transitioned away.

For anyone who needs to put together some serious drum tracks and they have put in enough listening time to be able to put together a realistic rhythms, this is a great tool to have, plus it plays well with other systems and is compact and portable.

I was already familiar with Alesis products I had the HR-16, MMT 8 and a synth back in the 1980's. I had high expectations when I purchased the SR-16 and though it has not yet been put to task it has been tested. Once again Alesis has not disappointed the sounds produced by the SR-16 rival many other 24 bit machines. And at 1/2 the cost in most cases. This Drum Machine I very highly recommend if you have not heard it yet drop into Sweetwater for a demo. Their sales staff are fabulous and would be happy to show you all that this little 16 bit Drum Machine can do. You'll be very happy you checked it out because for the price there isn't much that this little monster can not accomplish. Also this is my second SR-16 bought at Sweetwater a friend dropped by and I fired up the first SR-16 I had at the time. He also could not believe his ears and ease of programming and offered twice what I paid to get it here. I sold it to him for $300.00 and immediately bought another from Sweetwater. I'm a Sweetwater client for almost 2-years now their location well is as mine miles apart but dealing with Sweetwater or if just a question the answer comes as quickly as picking up the phone or sending off an email to my Sales Professional. In my humble opinion Sweetwater is the store that all should be modeled after. Half of your search is already complete if you decide to purchase from Sweetwater. They do not carry product simply because competitors do the equipment at Sweetwater has been put through its paces tested thoroughly for two reasons. Sweetwater wants to know the limits of the top quality gear they sell and in doing so removes any concerns that we the buyers might have. My only wish is that they'd consider opening a store in Ontario. Good-job.

I am a guitar player/bass player with my roots deep in punk flavored metal/hardcore. I am most fond of experimenting with pedals, processors and gear for the sheer sake of pushing them to limits to see what kind of unintended noise they can make. In that spirit, I randomly decided to buy the SR-16, I have read countless favorable reviews and personally have had positive experiences with Alesis gear (their Microverb4). It costs less than many popular guitar effects boxes yet does a whole lot more than most one trick pony machines. The sales guy in the pro audio dept. of the large chain where I bought it was helpful and told me the SR-16 was basically the same machine it was 10 or 12 years ago, except now it had a headphone jack, I like that, and so do my cats. I am new to experimenting with electronic beats and keys and synths and such. I bought the SR-16 based on its rep as a feature empty workhorse with a large fanbase. All I really wanted was the ability to put fast, synthetic sounding beats behind raw junky sounding guitar. It will do that, but it does much more. If you want tech specs, search the web there are plenty. All I know is that the SR-16 is way easy to learn and use, even for a meathead like me who can only turn distortion box knobs and step on things. Some of the sounds and beats are somewhat dated, as I hear they've not updated them over the product's history. Some sounds are reminiscent of demos on old Casio keyboard trainers for kids, awash in poppy reverb and smacking of basement produced dance parties. That's part of the charm of the SR-16, there are more feature laden machines out there, but none that deliver classic basic sounds on a budget. This is the white work van of drum machines, it does not promise the future, butaffirms that oftentimes basic is best. I trust Alesis too, after owning the Microverb IV for 8 or so years. It's never had a proper home in a rack, it's been stepped on, fallen from amps and stage setups and been loaned to careless musicians, yet almost a decade later it works EXACTLY as it did when new. The SR-16 is plastic and rubber but I believe it's manufactured with Alesis' subtle reputation in mind. I keep mine in the box when not using it but it gets used and I tend to punch the velocity sensitive keys to their limit. As this is the digital emulation of a collection of objects meant to be hit violently with sticks, it had better hold up to some abuse!! I have read accounts of spilled beer, water, rain and errant crowd members all doing their best to ruin someone's SR-16 to no avail. This standard seems to take a beating and deliver classic basic beats and kits. I still have not explored mine or pushed it as far as I want to, but rest assured it will continue to get use, even if I'm just making noise through headphones to try to blast through a night of insomnia.

My Alesis SR-16 was originally purchased when it was first introduced back in the early 90's. I have had no problems whatsoever with this unit and it continues to serve me well. The User Interface is simple and straight forward, with a great selection of drum kits given the low price. A dependable unit that is easy to program and use. Recommended highly for this price range.

The Alesis SR-16 is a wonderfully fun and powerful drum machine. I have not used the sequencer functionality at all. Instead I have programmed MIDI patterns in my DAW and triggered my custom drum kits in it. The sound output has an element of noise and that definitely affects its use as a truly professional instrument. To get around this and also to really make your drums mixed properly, I recommend recording each drum sample, denoising them, and loading into sampler instances in your DAW. This way you can adjust the phase of each sound to fully gel and also you can process individual sounds as well. My only complaints beyond the noise floor are that the pitch adjust range is not a full octave up and down and there is no decay parameter like those of the Alesis SR-18 & Akai XR-20. The drum samples are quite good and, for a machine that is over 30 years old, sound good for a multitude of genres. I have made techno and electronic tracks with it and, while the drum sounds lean acoustic, they are varied enough and have enough character for serious work. Let's see if Alesis will be making this in another 30 years. I'd almost be surprised if they didn't.

The good: User friendly. I like the fills (right on time). And if you need more, it easy to add.
I found the tempo works very well with songs that have multiple changes.
The drums sounds are good.
Worth the money.

The not so good: The pads for the drums,hithat,symbols,etc.. are stiff. ( where's the cow bell?).
The documentation did not include a warranty card the manual referenced.
There was no technical document on the unit, i.e., aux output function.

Let me start by saying, this is a very good drum machine. It may be a little dated, but it's been around for so long for a reason. My satisfaction may be limited by my skill in programming the beats, which is the primary reason I wanted the sr 16. I wanted to learn how to use it to make my own beats to play along with. The preset beats are ok, but the reason I don't really love drum machines is the fact that after playing with them for a while, my guitar licks become as repetitive as the beats. Playing with a live drummer usually yields more organic results with the music. More nuance, more feeling. So, I have a lot of learning left to do, I hope to become better at producing the beats I would like to play with. It has helped a little with my own drumming, as sometimes I will set a beat and play my drum kit along with that, but the same thing happens, same beat over and over, gets boring. That being said, live drummers also present some complications of their own (not just drummers, all musicians). The Alesis, on the other hand is always ready to go, and is way easier to set up than somebody's kit. I'm glad this is supposed to be an easy machine to learn, because anything more complicated might have been too much for me to want to learn with. All in all, it's a good tool, and tools, typically, are only as good as the user.

While it may not have the same rep as the old classic Analog boxes, this drum machine will likely forever hold the record of being the longest drum machine in production-period. I remember using this in my first band back in the early 90s and digging its crisp sounds and rock and roll feel. After using it on tons of tracks and hearing it in demo after demo, this piece truly stands the test of time and is a great value. If you need something just for a quick rhythm while you put together a track, you can get it from this little beast and not lose any inspiration while you boot your OS. Great piece that will likely be popular for years to come.

the sr was a great machine...and still is...but its old...Alesis needs to up their game and come out with another version past the 16 and 18.....they are great at making good drum machines...

I"ve owned one since it came out...

Very easy to program and the sounds are decent—not as crisp as some but still very good. With a little skill, you can program it to sound like a real drummer on a real kit. You can record with it in your home studio but nowadays, most will use it for live performance and that"s where it shines. The A/B/Fill functions can be triggered with a footswitch which is really handy—take another chorus if you need to do so.

The main reason I give it only 2.5 stars is that its MIDI functionality is not as advertised. There are MIDI functions in the manual that have never worked. It"s laughable that the user guide describes how to do a firmware update when none have ever been released—never in its 25+ years on the market. So don"t buy it for its advertised MIDI capabilities unless you"ve borrowed one and it does what you need—then knock yourself out.

This rig has nice-sounding samples, and plenty OF them. The feature set is quite deep for something that's been in production for so long. I have actually used the SR-16 in the past and liked it. Here's the problem:

What I was hoping to use it for in my home studio was to do drum parts on recorded tracks in real-time, playing the pads, perhaps kick/snare on a track, cymbals on another, etc.

While it IS possible to do this on the SR-16, on this particular unit it seems necessary to hit the pads REALLY HARD to get a usable tone and level, like 'ball-peen hammer/is the case going to break' hard. Doing so for an entire song with any accuracy is going to be pretty impossible.

I went into this with low expectations, trying to get drum tracks on a budget. Even at this quite low price, I can't keep it. Sorry, guys.

i ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS DEVICE ..!!
It has shed a whole new advantage for my home studio and other gig opportunities .. with it's powerful 100 personal program capability ..
It is by far an essential tool that every self respecting musician and studio engineer must own to propel thier productivity in and out of the studio ..

Too fragile , prone to totally breaking down, with non-existent customer support. Attempted to contact customer support, but no response. I am a working musician that occasionally needs a drum machine. Very disappointing experience. Got a Boss 686, which is much sturdier, and a Beat Buddy, which is more user friendly.