The SR-18 is a great machine.

I am still learning things it will do.

One of the best!!

I own two SR-18's,two SR-16's and one SR-16 eqivalent Performance Pad. The sounds in the SR 16 have served me well for years but I was able to get my hands on the 18 right after having programmed nearly an albums worth of drums on the 16 (and after already having recorded the 16). In other words I was in a position do a proper A/B and see the clear difference between the units. First I had no serious intention of replacing the drums as the sounds on the 16 did the trick-that is until I heard the kicks. The kicks seemed to be more contemporary and modern having a somewaht lower focus. I think they were recorded into the machine using some of the more modern kick mics (like the Audix-D6) Then I noticed the cymbals. On the 16 you could simply change cymbal pitches to vary the hi, mid and low crashes-and this worked for me previously. The cymbals have more variety and sound more "real" to me. They seemed more 3D than the 16's comparatively 2D sound. What was the final nail in the coffin for the 16's parts being replaced were the 18's toms. They were fuller,meatier, more gutteral than the 16's. Though I had no intention of using the bass patches (as I am a bassist), through just messing around I did write a bass part for another song that will now be included on the current project. So the bass sounds are good. Another reviewer mentioned about the main and aux sounds leaking into each other. I did not find this to be the case. In fact the channel leaking or "cross talk" was significantly better on the 18 than the 16. My suspicion is that he probably had the reverb on and that is waht he was hearing. As for programming hardness/easiness that is always a subjective issue. Having logged literally thousands of hours on the 16 (had them since they came out). I did wish the programming was similar so I could work fast but no, it is not the same.....BUT!...ther are some improvements for example lets say you wanted to step edit a part you coulddn't play with fingers (say a complex fill) and you wanted to change quantization in the middle of the pattern on the 16 you'd go back to the beginning of the part with each change on the 18 you can change and stay right where you are. This was a godsend as some of my patterns were quite long and the fills sometimes needed the quantization high or off-to sound more human (waiting through every quant tic took forever! Now you can set the quant low scroll to where you want to be then change the quant back higher ,COOL!! Overall the 18 is WAY better however I did still use two of the 16's snares and the random wet hi hat. The verdict? If you hadn't heard the 18 then the 16 is a great machine and I would use it with no complaints (in fact since I'm faster on the 16 I STILL program with it ) but having heard the 18 it is now my go to unit. I use the 16 to drive the 18 via MIDI. One reviewer mentioned it's difficult programming. Look, every tool since the invention of fire has a learning curve. More features means more learning. You can't expect to fly the Space Shuttle after have gotten you driver's liscence without LEARNING! If you can't get anything out of the 18 (or the 16 for that matter) programming wise (or sonically) then I don't think any other drum machine is going to make a difference. I didn't even mention the effects-I mean Alesis MAKES multieffectors so you know what you're getting.The EQ/compression presets are dramatic enough that to me they expand the 500 sounds into sonically even MORE sounds! I Will probably get one more SR-18 for my next project!

All I'm Saying

I am a Guitar Player 4 about 35 some yrs. The SR-16 Has kept me ALIVE more than one time!! I have wrote more song's on that damm machine , ZAPPA would be proud!! I for 1 That can not wait to get this "LIL" Baby into the Studio!! The 16 was the BEST Drummer I ever had!! NEVER Late-No Drug's-A Meter 2 kill for,And the KOOLIST Thang about that Dude is,He ALWAY'S Wanted 2 Play EVERY SONG That I Did!! NOW-That'z a Hard Drummer 2 Find!! Oh Ya ,NO EGO

SR-16 is great too

I am a bass player and I absolutely love my SR-16. I am anxious to try out the new SR-18 too. I only use the preset patterns because I still haven't figured out how to program the thing. Its not easy - actually its frustrating. The preset patterns do most of waht I need though. I just wish the SR-16 had a few more presets - a bo diddly beat and a walz pattern.

This thing rocks!

As I dug deeper into the unit I found the area's that had stumped me during my first session with it and I must conclude that this unit is very cool. I was able to set up patterns in no time and once I dug into the manual I was erasing and redoing things with ease. Lots of different styles are covered and infact too many good ones that I had a difficult time figuring out which ones to delete in the user bank in order to open more memory. There are about 25 free ones but that wouldn't last long for someone creative and this thing put me in the zone so at that point you either dump to your computer or you erase user presets I really like the bass sounds and in particular some of the synth bass sounds really rock. It's fairly intuitive once you delve into it which I really didn't do before I started thinking there were areas of annoyance. Not much here to dislike. For anyone, like myself, who likes to jam on their own or needs accompaniment for your idea's, I'm thinking this unit won't let you down. These are software times but I'm atill a hardware guy and this thing is quite inspiring and these drum sounds are really nice to my ears. I did find on one occasion that it acted a bit quirky and wouldn't allow me to record a bass line so I shut it off and turned it back on and returned to my user preset and all was fine. Perhaps I did something as the bass part was flashing and somehow I couldn't figure out how to change that. Overall it's very good and I give this unit a solid 8.5 out of 10. Nice job Alesis!

20 years later and still no Software Editor!

The drums in 24-Bit sound great. The method in how you are required to build patterns and songs hasn't changed. One thing that I wish would have changed or that some programming guru would provide is a software editor/ patter/ song creator. Why not? Don't tell me "But it's so easy on the SR-18 / SR-16!" Software always makes things easier! You would think Alesis after waiting 20 years to follow up the SR-16 they would have gone just a little bit further and provided some PC/MAC editior...this is the 21st century right?

Don't get me wrong, the presets are great. But and editor would have made this piece of gear over the top!
Come on Alesis hire a software engineer and do us all a favor!

Good Drum Machine

Within a few hours taking the SR-18 out of the box I had already programmed my own original song without even reading the users manual. The on board sounds are truly amazing and very high quality. The ease of use is great. You can go back and edit every step and beat of a pattern or song while it's stopped, or add/erase sounds in real time while looping. The Effects, EQ and Compression sound great. Tons of memory, great customization options for drum sets and tweaking and tuning individual sounds. Quantization and Swing settings for rolls are fantastic features.
I have thus far only found two sizable flaws with this machine. One, the velocity is useless! You have to practically hit one of the pads with a hammer to hear a noticeable difference in volume from slightly pressing it, no matter which setting you have the velocity on. You can go back and change the volumes of each step manually, but it'd be much nicer to be able to have a more capable velocity control for live use. The second problem is that the main and aux outputs leak into each other. So if you want to send the drum and percussion layers to the separate outputs for simultaneous recording purposes, you're going to get some low level spill that will muddy up your track. But this can be worked around by recording one layer at a time.
Overall I am impressed with this machine, you can't beat it for the price. I would definitely recommend this product. You just have to hear it for yourself!