XoSo Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 I am tempted to get a basic drum machine for practise as I never really get on with metronomes and I'm looking at the Alesis unit. Just wondering what peoples thoughts on it are. I know there is an updated SR18 but at nearly twice the price I'm not sure it offers enough extra when all I want are basic drum tracks. Are there any other rival units that are better? One thing that does confuse me is hook up - there seems to be all sorts of connections on the back to go through a midi or a mixer but can it just be put in a direct signal path between bass and amp the same way you would hook up an effects pedal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 I have one...good bit of kit, user friendly, simple to use, there is a reason why this is the best selling drum machine of all time. I use mine through a mini mixer into my amp/combo - easy peasy. I picked mine up for about £50 - don't pay any more than this. Maplins do a cheap 4 band mixer for about £30. https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/prosound-4-channel-stereo-mixer-my96e Others may suggest using a 21st century wifi option....me? I like stuff I can see and touch rather than new Carlos Fandago Interweb iPhone gadgetry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 It's not really what I'd call simple to use as it isn't the most intuitive drum machine to program. But the pay off is that they're cheap and have a lot of decent drum sounds packed in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted December 25, 2017 Share Posted December 25, 2017 The older hr16 was easy to use too. They should be cheap as chips these days. You might find them advertised as faulty, as the pads can become less responsive, but this is a really easy fix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gs_triumph Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Are korg volcabeats any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottastopbuyinggear Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Another thing you could consider if you have a PC is Toontrack EZ Drummer, which I think is a little cheaper than a new SR16 and has much better sounds, a library of patterns, and is arguably a lot easier to use when setting up your own patterns. I do still have my old SR16, but I never use it now - I’m just a bit of a hoarder! Either way you’re going to need a small mixer as TheGreek suggests. I’ve used one of the Behringer 502 models in the past for exactly this and it worked fine. if you want something more like an effect pedal then there are some accompaniment pedals out there (I can’t remember the name but Gear4Music were selling one off very cheaply only a few days ago) but I get the impression they’re aimed more at guitarists as they offer bass and drums accompaniment. I assume (?) you could just use the drum part, but even then I’d imagine the number of patterns/styles would be pretty limited. Personally I’ve gone the whole hog down the PC route and use IK Multimedia's Amplitube for practice using headphones (keeps the rest of the family happy!), though if you have an amp with some form of DI out then you could do the same with a small mixer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XoSo Posted December 26, 2017 Author Share Posted December 26, 2017 Ok so to recap, and I'm sorry if I'm asking really basic questions but in all my life I have never done anything more complicated audio-wise than plugging a guitar or bass into a combo. If I got an Alesis SR16 and a small mixer that has an XLR socket do I connect the mixer to the XLR input on the Ampeg and then plug both the bass and the alesis into separate channels on the mixer with quarter jack leads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottastopbuyinggear Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 I think you have an Ampeg PF500? In that case you don’t need a mixer, as the PF500 has an aux in on the front panel. You'll just need a cable with a stereo 3.5mm jack at the Ampeg end, and either two quarter inch mono jacks or one stereo jack at the SR16 end (I can’t remember what sockets it has). I’ve not done this with my PF500, but have done with a GK MB200 and it worked quite well - in fact I ran a complete backing track, minus bass, through it to audition a keyboard player, and it was fine - sounded better than the cr*ppy PA in the rehearsal room actually! Make sure you start with the SR16 volume off and turn it up slowly - I think the aux input goes straight into the power amp section and isn’t affected by the master volume, so you'll need to go carefully. The XLR on the Ampeg is purely for output, so if you did ever want to go for practice through headphones then you'd need to take that output into a mixer (with an XLR to mono jack cable) and also plug the SR16 into the mixer with the appropriate jack to jack cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 The SR16 doesn't have a headphone out. It has left (mono), right, aux A and aux B. IIRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Another option is to get a looper pedal, as most of those come with built in drum patterns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottastopbuyinggear Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Ah, hang on a sec... I’ve just looked at the PF500 manual and it seems I’m wrong about the aux in. The bad news is that it only goes through to the headphones output, so it won’t come out of the speaker. The good(ish?) news is that you could still plug the SR16 into it and practice through headphones. So it’s back to needing a mixer if you want to try this. It’s probably not an ideal set up, but for practice is worth a try. With a mixer like the Behringer one I suggested above then you’ll need a pair of quarter inch mono to mono jacks to connect the SR16 main outputs into inputs 2 and 3 on the mixer. You can plug your bass into the line in, though I don’t think that’ll be brilliant as it’s not really meant for an instrument input. Connect either the left or right main out to the input of the Ampeg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 28 minutes ago, bartelby said: The SR16 doesn't have a headphone out. It has left (mono), right, aux A and aux B. IIRC Aha! So now I know why I got the SR18 and not the SR16. It does have a stereo headphone out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 I had the SR16 and now have an SR18. It doesn't get a lot of use, but it does have the significant benefit of a backlight for the display. Neither are particularly user-friendly if you want to program them. I recommend auditioning all the patterns (including the B variations), and make a written note of what they remind you of. This makes it much easier to find a pattern that works for what you want to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gs_triumph Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 This just came to my attention. https://digitech.com/en/products/sdrum Not had a chance to watch the videos yet but the general idea seems intuitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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