New SR-18 Sound & Pattern List

[shdawson]

Working on my new SR-18.  Found what I have on the unit is more than what I have in the documentation.  Discussion with Alesis.  They realized they do not have the current PDF on their website.  They kindly sent me the document so I can work with it in the mean time while they get their site up to date.

It is attached in this posting.  Pretty cool new section for bass slides, up and down the neck.  Also, some guitar strums.

[Rocky1958]

Thank YOU!

I know this is a really old post, but amazingly it is still timely!!
Alesis have still not updated the PDF on their website, 11 years later, so I appreciate you making it available here.

NICE!

Cheers, Rocky

[shdawson]

Glad to help.

Alesis seems to have dropped off the map for updating many things about the unit. It is nice the way it is, though. All of the drummers I shared the sounds with like it as a finished product. Performance with the unit works for me. I guess it is a matter of how many speakers one has in their live rig.

I also put together a spreadsheet about various settings in the unit for each patch. Let me know if you want me to share it with you.


Kindest Regards,
Stephen

[Rocky1958]

Yes please - I'd be interested in seeing your spreadsheets.

I've been very happy with the SR18 myself. I've only had it a few months but previously used the SR16 for many years.
I like the design and the 'workflow'.

Embarrassing admission: I was upset when I discovered the discrepancy between my machine's sound-list and the pdf I downloaded. I painstakingly documented each difference for my own use and then sent a help request to Alesis.
Only after all that did I discover that the hardcopy sound-list which came with my unit was actually correct. 

[shdawson]

Attached.

I also used the SR16 in 1991-2. It was the way to go at the time.

I assembled this spreadsheet from scratch as I undertook learning the SR18. Here are my comments on the various worksheets.

Note ID:
Here I mapped out how I set up the notes on the keyboard to the note assignments on the pads. I used use the same note on the key mapping, pan one a bit, then tune a hair. The idea is to get a huge sound on multiple drum stick hits on the same tom by playing 2 keys on the keyboard. My thought is the stick hitting in 2 separate places on any tom causes a bit of tuning and panning difference.

Interface:
Cell C2. I call data from the Sounds and Interface - Table worksheets.

Interface - Table:
What pad and sound assignments I decided to use for a particular patch.

Sounds:
I typed in all of the sounds, then added a Sound Category column. I then took notes of this and that in the Drum Set, Works well with..., and Comments columns.

Bass Guitar's:
Same thing here for sound mapping along with noting the velocity level.

Pattern's:
Notes on what I observe from the stock patterns that I like and use for this and that.

Drum Kit's:
These are the stock kits I have used in the past. The rest of the kits are fine, but not spent much time with them to decide what I would do with them.

Bass Guitar - Fretboard:
Did this worksheet when I was working through how I wanted to play bass guitar on the keyboard so I would have a visual to help me work though thoughts faster to accomplish different plans for this and that.

Song List:
Here is a tool I use to plan my patterns. The idea is to reuse a pattern when I can by saving a copy and editing it to cut down on starting from scratch when possible.



Enjoy!

[Rocky1958]

Nice - thanks for sharing.
I'll have fun sifting through your plans and documentation.
Will do similar for my own patterns and tweaks.
(I find that many standard MIDI files don't map well to the stock SR18 midi note numbers, so I find I have to create custom drum sets.)

[shdawson]

I found the same problem. It is why I had to do the spreadsheet to track and plan things. It works well.

Also, it helps facilitate a discussion with a recording engineer. I shared the sounds for a pad. The engineer had a few sound that are better. The guy did whatever he did for them to be recorded instead of the internal sounds. Another benefit of MIDI.

[shdawson]

Also, let me know if you need help with the spreadsheet. I will try to help you where I can.

[Rocky1958]

Also, let me know if you need help with the spreadsheet. I will try to help you where I can.

Thanks sir - I will try applying the various tabs to my tracking issues and get back to you...
Extraordinary, helpful attitude - you rock!

[Rocky1958]

I particularly like the 'Interface' tab. The VLOOKUPS are cool and promise a lot of functionality.
However, when I played with assigning bass guitar ids in the 'Interface Table' tab I found the 'Interface' tab was always finding the User bass ID and filling it in the H2 and H3 cells even if there was a preset bass listed. Is that by design? Very cool though!
I think maybe I don't understand the 'Bass Guitars' tab layout very well... there appear to be repeats in column C (Preset Bass ID)...
Can you explain the rationale of the various columns in the 'Bass Guitars' tab?
Once I've started to fill out the rest of the 'Sounds', 'Interface Table', and 'Bass Guitars' tabs  then the Interface tab will be really powerful..

[shdawson]

Hi,

Thanks for the note.

My intent with the Hmm entry was a note to myself to make a choice here and save it in the SR-18 as a matter of personal workflow for achieving the productivity thing in life.

I remember stopping during my work to select and assign bass guitar sounds to my drum kits. The tab Interface - Table, column Q, does need a number from the Bass Guitar's tab to work. So, pick a number you want and put it in column Q on the tab Interface - Table and you are in business. That is, if you have a corresponding entry in the Bass Guitar's tab.

[shdawson]

PRESET BASS GUITAR ID
The tone in the ROM firmware file.

USER BASS GUITAR ID
Where I have put the preset tone in my SR-18.

BASS GUITAR NAME
I am pretty sure this is the name of the bass guitar in the ROM firmware file, but it has been a while since I have looked at it.

VELOCITY
What I set the tone velocity level to be in my SR-18 in my user location.

BASS GUITAR COMMENTS
Note to myself about the ROM firmware file with my velocity edits to the tone.

[shdawson]

I did not mention what I find to be a crucial point in using the SR-18.

The output levels from the SR-18 are a bit low. I run my SR-18 through my Mackie Blackjack and then into my headphones. This signal path changed my usage options of the SR-18 tones beyond description.

I remember being floored by how much better the SR-18 sounded when I ran it through my Mackie Blackjack and listened through my headphones. All of this while staying analog.

I recommend running the SR-18 through a similar setup of an A-D converter or a mixer to get the same outcome.

The SR-18 is indeed a hidden treasure that is underrated and undervalued by many in the world today.

[Rocky1958]

Hi - not sure if this is of interest, but the following site has a couple of documents available for download, listing which SR18 patterns (and tempos) to use for well-know songs.

https://www.susanerwin.com/drum-machine

There's also a document with similar info SR18 patterns, tempos, drum kits which I received from a bloke on the Facebook SR16/SR18 group page..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/726864320798995/posts/2221582711327141/
This one has 900+ songs in it... gold-dust if you're into covers!

[shdawson]

Thanks for the post.

I have not looked at the files you identify.

One of the central ideas for me with the Sounds worksheet was to figure out what I call sound classes. Meaning, what sound is a member of a sound family. Then, edit the sound as I see fit. I name each edited sound with a unique name so I know when it has a different setting somewhere in there. My thought was to the put those custom sounds into Drum Kit Names. The idea for me was to see when I am using the same sound in my kits. I spent time going between Interface - Table and Drum Kits finding I would use the same sound over and over as I was working on putting kits together. My ultimate goal was to narrow down in the digital realm what I am after, then look for a way to achieve that sound in the physical realm with a physical drum head, cymbal, or other percussion sound.

I have not found a decent drum sound library for use with Linux. Adding multiple plugins to any tone library changes the sound, obviously. The ability to gig with a sound library in a laptop is not feasible for me. I concluded I needed a tone generator device. The Alesis SR-18 is the device that works best for me. Roland has nice sounds, but is not for me.

The entries in the files you identify can be added to the Interface - Table and Drum Kits and worksheets to expand my spreadsheet quickly and with little pain.

Please use caution when downloading files for viruses, malware, and spyware.

[Jua]

The link to the facebook is not working could you please attach the file in this post.. Thanks in advance