Day One Review
 
So my Alesis SR-18 arrived yesterday, which I'd bought second-hand on eBay. I proceeded to spend the rest of the day happily playing along with it and oscillating between polar opinions; one minute it was pure joy, the next it was a worthless piece of sh...er questionable engineering choices.
 
Gripe #1: the automated bass is useless, and you can't have it off by default. You have to mute the bass every time you turn the thing on.
 
Gripe #2: and this is the big one, tempos are stored with the patterns. That means when you select a patch preset, it comes up at the tempo it was saved at. This makes it impossible to try different patterns while you're playing, something I've done with every other drum machine I've had. WTF were they thinking?
 
Gripe #3: changing tempo during playback is a two-handed operation. You have to hold the Tempo button down while incrementing or decrementing the tempo in steps of 1 with the up- and down-arrow buttons. Obviously impossible to do while you're playing your instrument, unless you're using a (shudder) looper. The guy in that new FabFilter video would have no problem.
 
Gripe #4: 99% of the factory patterns are overly busy, making them pretty much unusable. It sounds like the drummer's on meth. I will have to spend a long time programming this thing before I can ever use it live.
 
Gripe #5: there is no organization to the factory patches. You'd think "Rock 1" would be followed by "Rock 2", wouldn't you? Nope, if you start up Rock 1 the next one in the list is "Blues 1". Rock 2 is after that and Rock 3 is 12 more selections down the list, with various Hip-Hop and Techno beatz in between. Rock 1 comes up at 130 BPM, but don't jump over to Rock 2 while you're playing because that'll switch you over to 95 BPM.
 
Those are just the first day's complaints. I'm sure there will be more as I gain experience.
 
How is it that Japanese engineers have given us so many marvelous-sounding devices over the years but never figured out the black art of user-friendly UIs? 
 

> Gripe #2: and this is the big one, tempos are stored with the patterns. That means when you select a patch preset, it comes up at the tempo it was saved at. This makes it impossible to try different patterns while you're playing, something I've done with every other drum machine I've had. WTF were they thinking?
 
I'm quite sure there is a setting to follow global or pattern tempo. This is the main design flaw for the Boss DR-880 too, but there is none such setup.

Edit : Manual page 18
-------
Note that you can customize how the SR18 deals with tempo. In the System Setup pages (page 9), you can specify whether the SR18 will follow the tempo associated with each Pattern or whether the unit will follow a global tempo setting, ignoring any tempo data associated with the Patterns.
-------

Well, then I am glad I got the SR16 and if I decide to get the SR18, it will be to use as a sound module.
Those are some pretty weird choices Alesis made! The SR16 will stick around longer, but the SR18 will probably get upgraded from those reports. I imagine you are not the only griper! LOL
Michael

Way back in this thread I mentioned I had both the 16 and 18, but to be truthful the 16 is my go to.  
 
There are SR18 programs that I use, but the majority of the time its the SR16.
 
The bass is mostly useless in the SR18.  I did a demo session for a "retired" Nashville songwriter and we got crazy on one song with the beat and used the bass line, which worked on this one song.  I don't remember what program I used but I think it was some type of Latin beat.
 
    

I would have thought "gripe one" would have been the sounds and overuse of reverb!!   But you watched the Youtube and were warned!!  Actually, a huge success story for Alesis and their drum machine lines.  I had a HR-16 that I wore out and bought SR16 for gifts, when I saw them for $40 used in the stores.  Lots of times they had nifty road cases with them that fit sooo perfect too.
I personally used a Digitech JamMan as it could record 16hrs of .wav files.  No...you couldn't really jam if you had a prerecorded drum track...but I put a couple of fav patterns in for that.
However, I can spot an Alesis drum sound from a mile, nowadays.
Good luck!!

Ut oh, I hope it was not ONLY "one minute of pure joy"

FWIW, last year I started using my iPad for live gigs, including a one-man show. It worked very well, indeed, and have since used it again in a band situation where we had no drummer (just rehearsal so far).  Using apps such as Amplitude studio, I transferred songs I created in Sonar by exporting the VST tracks as audio, then importing them into Amplitude Studio via wi-fi (very easy, actually).  THen for live performance, I hook up my Roland RD 300 via an iRig pro interface, use apps such as Sample Tank for IOS and voila, I have a pretty dang good live performance rig that is super easy to carry, too! 
For a long time I resisted the idea of using an iphone or iPad to create or perform music, but now the quality of the samples makes it very possible and even desireable. There are some minor issues and limitations, and other programs I have, such as Cubasis for IOS, seem a little more complex and unreliable, albeit with more features. The samples are not as good as you get with a high quality VST such as Orangetree samples for Kontakt, etc., but it's pretty good enough, and the imported tracks have the same high quality as their original source, of course.
Expensive? Well, yes, a bit...apps aren't too bad but an iPad with enough horsepower and storage space is top of the line, only. But still a lot less than a laptop would be.  
I think the revolution has arrived, and I might be an older guy, but I like it just fine.

tomixornot
I'm quite sure there is a setting to follow global or pattern tempo. This is the main design flaw for the Boss DR-880 too, but there is none such setup.

Edit : Manual page 18
-------
Note that you can customize how the SR18 deals with tempo. In the System Setup pages (page 9), you can specify whether the SR18 will follow the tempo associated with each Pattern or whether the unit will follow a global tempo setting, ignoring any tempo data associated with the Patterns.
-------

YAY! I don't know how I missed that. And I've read the entire manual twice through! As any fool can plainly see, it's the "TEMPO PERPAT" setting.
 
I'm actually getting somewhat accustomed to using the tap tempo as a count-in. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work on the first try, as many patterns are actually half- or double-time. 3/4 time signatures are especially difficult to guess at. 
 
mixmkr: yes, the sounds are lackluster, especially if you compare them to the kinds of drum libraries we're accustomed to such as BFD, AD, Superior or Slate. As drum machines go, though, I've no complaints about this one. It sounds better than the SR-16, IMO. Remember, this is for live use. Nobody's going to sit and listen to it with headphones. I'm also finding that you really have to build your own custom kits.
 
My biggest problem right now is that every time I fiddle with something I end up lost in a jam that can last an hour or more. No exaggeration, last night I went to bed with sore arms from playing so long. My upper arms are still a little sore this morning. I think this is really going to help me keep my chops up between gigs.

That fun is the best part of whatever you paid for it, regardless of the learning curve or limitations! So, congratulations!
Michael

Sore arms = good times..... That's what it's really all about, I'd think. :-)