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Just like all Alesis drum machines - if you like loads of boring, uninspiring and pretty realistic rock drums then this is the one for you. Electronic and experimental musicians go elsewhere. (Checkout the extremely bad Techno 1-3 preset patterns for a good laugh !! What the hell were the programmer thinking about ?!)
The most sold drum machine ever. Released more than 10 years ago. (And can you believe it - Alesis still makes them.)
I bought it by mail order in the early 90's mainly due to economical resons. (Cheaper than the Boss DR-660.) I remember I was quite dissapointed when I heard the drum sounds.
Compared with todays drum machines (and samplers) it's totally dated. Still used though. Frequently heard in various commercials.
233x 16 bit samples. Most of them sound clean and are noise free. Several drums are sampled with effects, low quality reverbs. Ok user interface and sequencer. Real and step time programmable with quantizing. 16 voices polophony. Sound stacking capabilities via midi.
Main cons are, Common, Recognizable samples, Very few electronic drums, Bad and few hats, Bad, hard pressure drum pads, Limited editing possibilities, No headphones connector.
Main pros are, Can be found very cheap in the used markets, Separate audio outputs, Easy to use.
Summary, The SR-16 is suitable for "half decent home studio rock demo" purposes only. It has some acceptable and useful BDs and SDs. But its main problem is the ancient set of ROM samples. I would personally strongely recommend any Boss DR-xxx instead.
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