Electronic Drum Machines

Alesis SR18 Drum Machine

"Good sounds and real-time recording; poor song assembly software (no real-time bass transposition)"

Feature:
The SR18 software has major flaws. When you assembly a Song from Patterns, you create a series of "steps" with each step playing one Pattern. You are not given an opportunity to specify either the number of bars for the step (it must be the length of the Pattern) or the bass root, or transposition, of the step. This means your Patterns must already be transposed to exactly the right key, and they have to be exactly the right length. I wished to create a blues song quickly. Some blues patterns are great, but I could not assemble them into a song without first copying them into an empty user pattern and modifying the bass notes. In some cases I needed to change the length of the pattern, to shorten it. This is not explained in the manual but it is possible by setting the "recording settings" pattern length, and saving the pattern again. Once you shorten the pattern, you lose your fills... they are at the end, because a fill pattern is the same length as an A/B pattern. The Zoom RT-223 does not have these problems. With the Zoom, you can specify the number of bars played for each step in a Song, as well as the bass key.

Quality:
Excellent quality, except the jacks are plastic, not metal. It is made in Taiwan, not communist China. The only mechanical flaw is the wrong pads -- they seem to be for drumsticks, not fingers.

Value:
Excellent value for the sounds and patterns. Poor value for the software for editing songs, and for step editing patterns.

Sound:
Some drum sounds are excellent, and sound similar to real drums, if that is what you wish to have. I have good high frequency hearing, and the 44.1K sample rate is not good enough to reproduce cymbal sounds accurately. It is CD quality, if that is good enough for you. Some of the drum sounds are better that the Zoom RT-223, but the Zoom has more control over the effects. The SR18 only offers a large range of preset effects; you cannot modify them in any way. The SR18 probably has better drum presets, and they all have fills and A/B parts, but the SR18 song editing has a major flaw if you wish to use the bass track. I explain this in the features section.

Ease of Use:
It is easy to use if you mute the bass and use only the drums. It is good for live use, with the foot-switch controls. For creating songs with bass tracks, it is hard to use, because of the problems specified in the features section. Also, step editing built-in patterns can be difficult. First you copy it to an empty user space. Then, you select a quantization and swing amount that matches the smallest time interval used in the pattern. How do you figure out the swing amount? You have to guess. Why is this important? When you go to the next "step" in the pattern, using step editing, it takes you forward in time by the quantization interval and the swing. If there is no event at that point in time, you cannot edit anything. If you skipped over an event, you cannot edit it. Many built-in patterns do not use quantization, so the only practical way to edit them is to set the quantization to 96 parts per quarter note, and tediously step 96 times for each quarter note. This is crazy and indicates a poor software design. The Zoom RT-223 does not suffer this problem. Step editing allows you to jump directly to the next event as it should. Another problem with the SR-18 is you have to hit the pads with a small hammer to get the highest velocity setting. You really get only a few practical velocity variations if you use your fingers. It is as if the pads were for drumsticks.

Support:
I did not use support.

Overall:
Not very happy with the song editor and pattern step editor. I like the sounds however.

Usual Price: $259

Manufacturer: Alesis | Categories: Drum Machines

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Zoom RT223 Rhythm Trak Drum Machine

"Nice sounding and easy to use."

Feature:
a midi out would make this category 10.

Quality:
plastic but nice and sturdy as long as you dont step on it.

Value:
I think it is underrated on this site, so wrote this review. Good value, nice addition to your studio or rig. good for daily practice and demo recording.

Desirability:
Go get it!!

Sound:
very realistic for a budget drum machine.

Overall:
excellent machine froom zoom.

Usual Price: $149

Manufacturer: Zoom | Categories: Drum Machines

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Boss DR-880 Dr. Rhythm Drum Machine

"while my drummer is in rehab this thing plays and doesn't slow down."

Quality:
only own it six months, and it has not left my studio, but seems sturdy, and has withstood florida lighting spikes and power outages ok

Value:
it is not cheap, but seems to be worth it.

Sound:
excellent all around sound. since i have not bought a drum machine since my roland 505, this is something out of freakin NASA. fantastic amount of fills per pattern, great intros and endings, and an unreal number of (500) pre set patterns. great nuance in snares and cymbals. NOT INTUITIVE, steep learning curve(for this dummy)but rewarding. i am happy with it.

Support:
no experience

Usual Price: $469

Manufacturer: Boss | Categories: Drum Machines

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Akai XR20 Beat Production Station

"The good bad and ugly"

Feature:
I've owned a few drum machines in my day, Sequential Circuits, Roland, Boss...but the XR-20 is the first Akai machine I have owned. The XR-20 has all of the common features in a drum machine that you've come to expect. You can tune each sound to your liking, you can put together your own kit of the sounds you like. I think where the machine really excels is in the Akai sequencer. Akai has made a name for itself with the MPC series of samplers/sequencers. I've never owned an MPC so I can't say that the XR-20 is LIKE an MPC sequencer but I'd imagine that it is. Obviously you can adjust your quantize to wherever you want it. The unit has a "swing" feature that works alright in some situations. But there is something about how this unit sequences that give the drums a certain natural groovy feel when compared to a 100% software sequencer like Cakewalk Sonar. Another feature that I have grown to love is the "repeat note". I use it frequently when laying down hi-hats, to minimize the wear and tear on the pads and also to keep everything in-time. You can come up with some ridiculous hi-hat riffs using the repeat function. The way the XR-20 stores patterns is in an A/B + FILL configuration. So you can easily pop between pattern A and a variant pattern B while also throwing in a FILL whenever you want. I'm not sure how useful this is in the studio...it might be geared more towards a live DJ who incorporates some of his own beats into the set. As someone else already mentioned, the pads are backlit with a nice neon-blue color. They flash when the pad is pressed or sequenced. This looks really flashy and impressive, but it's not overly useful. It would look great next to a DJ on a live set. enough on that...

Quality:
The unit seems fairly well built. I am a little concerned about some of the smaller menu buttons and how long they'll hold up to abuse. On the flipside, the DR-5 is still going strong after all of these years and the XR-20 actually seems better built than the DR. In any case, I'd still be careful with the unit.

Value:
I put the value at about the halfway mark. For some people, $300 is not alot of money to spend on a new piece of equipment...for others, that $300 investment needs to last. When I say "last", it's not only the physical aspects of the machine, but the sounds that it makes. Will the sounds in the XR-20 be as useable today as they could be in 5 or 10 years? NO. This is where the XR-20 falls flat on its' face. I think this machine will be pretty darn good for the next couple of years, but if you are very serious about making beats, I'd recommend holding out and getting yourself an entry level sampler.

Desirability:
It's a decent piece of gear to add to the arsenal. If you're strapped for cash and want a decent machine, you could go with this or maybe buy something from the secondary (used) market.

Sound:
Drum machines, especially items such as the StreetBox and the XR20 are tough sells in the age of samplers. While the XR20 has 700 sounds, each of which can be tuned higher or lower, you're still stuck with those 700 sounds. I honestly wasn't overly impressed with the sound palette. The first night I had the machine, I sat down and worked through all of the sounds and put my own kit together. The sad part about this is, I had trouble picking 12 sounds for my custom kit...not because there were so many great sounds, but because I felt there were so few. The XR-20 is setup with 3 channels of MIDI, "Drums, One Shots and Synths". Some of the one-shot sounds are pretty nice, but there aren't enough of them to be very flexible. They give you two guitar chords when you wish you had 3 or 4. The downside to these one-shots is that they'll be overused and outdated in notime. Leaving you with a machine where only the Drums and Synths are useable. The synths are OK. They aren't groundbreaking or especially exciting. Comparing the selections of sound in the XR-20 to the venerable Boss DR-5...the Boss wins hands down. Then again, the Boss retailed for around $500 more than 10 years ago...so given the price of the XR-20 I guess it's ok.

Ease of Use:
The unit is fairly easy to operate. Many of the menu buttons are dual-purpose and serve to toggle between one type of menu or the other. I found this to be a little confusing at times and it's probably just a situation where I need to adjust from one machine to another. I'm not particularly fond of how the XR-20 measures out its' pattern length. It has a default of 8 which is actually 4-4/4 measures. Dropping it down to 4 turns the pattern into 2-4/4 measures. I'm not sure of the logic here and I haven't bothered trying to understand it yet...but be aware.

Support:
I haven't needed to contact Akai support for any reason so I cannot comment on this.

Overall:
I can see myself using this machine for years and years to come. Only because I've got it linked up with the DAW so I can lay down some drums on the XR-20 and then pipe the MIDI into the computer and assign different hits in GURU. This is a nice little setup, but it's not perfect. If the XR-20 had 4x4 pads, it would be unbeatable. 3x4 pads is kind of unorthodox. If this unit was lost or stolen or destroyed...I definitely wouldn't rush out to replace it. It's not an integral piece of my workflow.

Usual Price: $246

Manufacturer: Akai | Categories: Drum Machines

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Alesis SR16 Drum Machine

"Miles of Presence"

Feature:
More than I expected and it makes me feel like I own a real piece. People say the fill feature is unique.

Quality:
The quality of the sounds exceeded my expectation. The interface feels sturdy.

Value:
If only all pro-level gear was as reasonably priced as this is.

Desirability:
It looks pro and doesn't waste space

Sound:
Whole lotta presence! Brings a song to life.

Support:
Never needed to talk to Alesis. I expect a company that puts as much care in their products as Alesis did with the SR-16 to provide a similar level of care to their customers.

Usual Price: $149

Manufacturer: Alesis | Categories: Drum Machines

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Electronic Drum Machines

Alesis SR18 Drum Machine

Zoom RT223 Rhythm Trak Drum Machine

Boss DR-880 Dr. Rhythm Drum Machine

Akai XR20 Beat Production Station

Alesis SR16 Drum Machine

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