Alesis HR16 User reviews -Page 16

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Average rating: 4.2 out of 5

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Adam Loavenbruck a hobbyist user from Manhattan writes:

the HR16 is ugly. the rubber buttons are cheap and inconsistent. the tendency to reset the drum assignments is annoying. but the end result is wonderful, it does everything i can imagine wanting a drum machine to do. for tapping, it allows the richest most complex things to happen - because it has velocity sensitivity, real time tap programming, nice quantization which can be altered for a swing, the flam/roll is velocity sensitive. you know, everything is there, so the beats can take on a swirling, organic feel. the percussion is nice, the shakers and cabasas and woodblock, claps, etc. when pitched up/down (down mostly) and manipulated with all the features above. like the shaker can be given a breathing quality by having two pads with slightly different pitch and alternating them for a push/pull thing. with the velocity sensitivity, you get accidental swelling which can be appropriate if you work quickly once youre in a groove mentally. you know. the hr16 is like a fancy easter egg kit as a kid. not limited to just stenciling on a bunny or dipping the whole egg in one color - you can work out some very precise or complex things with the hr16. but its ugly grey shell and donhenley preset sounds disguise it as a piece of crap.

what does the hr16B have on the hr16?

thanks byebye

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Wednesday-Jun-21-000 at 12:31

s.e from U.S.A writes:

I have used the HR-16 off and on for about 7 months. I was able to rent it from a local store for $10 per month. Since I had virutally no other equipment, I had to make beats on SOMETHING and I could always find $10 to pacify my jones. Overall, it is a decent drum machine. Especially considering you can buy them for next to nothing nowadays. I see them all over for like $80.00. The good points are it is very easy to use. The "fill" button makes laying down the foundation very easy. Just set it to 1/4, 1/8notes, etc and you you punch the sound you want whereever you feel it. There is step editing so you can go in to add or delete hits. You can also change velocity this way. I am sure there was more but it has been a while. You can also tune each sound up or down 16 steps (I think it was 16). Of course this could be done in real time. I used to always copy several sounds and tweak the tune. You could make odd sounding melodies with the triangles doing this. If you added some FX this can get pretty cool in an abstract way. The standard sounds themselves are relatively few and most are pretty medicore. I like a couple of the bass and snare drums. A few of them are kind of ugly though. But again if you are on a budget and have some fx you can do okay. Basically if you are poor (like me) and HAVE to have something to program or you are going to die, this won't dissapoint you too bad. Just know that you are getting a mild fix and not a cure. I give it a 3 because it is cheap and easy...just like JFDs mom:)

Rating: 3 out of 5 posted Monday-Feb-07-000 at 00:41

Steve a part-time user from Alottagelatto writes:

In response to someoneelse's questions (I would have e-mailed them had he/she left an address...): 1) You can select how responsive you want the pads to be-- three levels of dynamic response and 8 of set volume. Hit the MIDI/UTIL button, and then scroll to Pad Dynamics. 2) To do a roll-- hold down the FILL button and then whatever sound you want rolled. It will trigger at whatever rate you've got quantize set to. I don't know why people rag on these. I love mine. Now, if I could just find a B model and have a matched-pair...

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Sunday-Feb-06-000 at 00:40

DrRobjam a professional user from usa writes:

I hate the sounds in this but that's not why I keep it. Like w/the MMT-8, I can sequence KILLER velosity loops. The programing takes to long. I use the HR-16 only for the pads. The best next to a KAT kit for dynamic control of samples and other patches.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Monday-Jan-03-000 at 21:42

someonelse a part-timer user from the world of sound writes:

This machine is a pretty, easy, straightforward, cool instrument. You flip up the top, and all the instructions are right there for you to read! If you run into a problem, flip. I'm not sure about step programming because I haven't gotten into that yet. Real-time programming is intuitive and user-friendly. If you don't like a note, or a sound period, or a peice of a pattern, whatever, just hold down the appropriate pad and hit the erase button. You can also erase the whole pattern if you don't like it. One of the best features is also one of the worst features. This is the "dynamic articulation" feature which lets the drum sounds get louder the harder the pad is hit. Now, I don't know if it's just because of how old the machine is, or how bad the previous user abused it, but I have a lot of problems with it. It's good for expressivity, and you play the pads pretty much like live drums, but, unfortunately, I'm not a live drum player, I play drums a little bit, but not good enough to get around this problem. The pads seem kind of screwed up, or a little off, like I said, maybe it was the previous owner. Also, they are hyper sensitive, so, not hitting them all exactly at the same velocity makes the pattern screw up, and that perfect beat that you were working on gets ruined because some sound suddenly gets louder, or too soft that shouldn't be. This can get really frustrating. I don't know, maybe the pads are screwed up like I think, sometimes they hesitate, or won't trigger at all. Every once in a while if you don't hit them right, they will double trigger a sound. That's really my only complaint. A lot of times trying to fix what just got messed up is like doing microscopic surgery. I've got the HR-16, not the HR-16B. The sounds are pretty standard. They're mostly accoustic, with some nice electronic sounds, and percussion sounds. It does get irratating trying to get the perfect drum kit going and assign all the pads, and if you erase a pattern, the sounds have to be replaced and customized all over again. The fact that you can raise and lower the pitch and screw around with the sounds a little bit is cool, and one of the strongest points of this thing. I've never had a problem with the rubber buttons. The four outs is great with this age of "Oh well, let's just put two outputs on every single electronic instrument that ever comes out now, and the few that do have multiple outs have to be purchased seperately". Maybe with step-programming, I can get around all of these problems. The sounds are very popular right now with a lot of Hip-Hop and a lot of R & B songs coming out. ESPECIALLY those high-pitched triangle sounds you hear on every song. It sounds like it was used on "Money Ain't a Thing" by JD and Jay-Z (even though it is fake), "Pushin' Rhymes like Weight" by Ice Cube, and I think DMX has a lot of those sounds on his first album. Besides Hip-Hop and R & B, a lot of Detroit Techno uses this machine also. It's good for dance because of the small but good amount of electronic sounds, and the way the sounds can be altered. Oh, yeah, this is going to sound stupid, but does anyone know how to do drum/cymbal rolls on this thing in plain English?

Rating: 3 out of 5 posted Thursday-Sep-30-9999 at 04:01

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