Thursday, September 22, 2011

Alesis SR-18 Vs Boss DR-880

Today I'd like to talk about the differences between these 2 drum machines. There wasn't much information on the net regarding the differences between the two. First a summary of my plans for both of them.



I'm not a drummer and I don't claim to be. I'm a guitarist. But given I write and love to record my own music, I need a drummer. I also live in an apartment so being super loud isn't an option. A drum machine fills this roll. I use it to program in and play drum parts which I then record and overdub to. It saves me the hassle of having to be talented in the drumming aspect and I can lay things out quickly, record in studio quality, and yea... just a lot easier.

For me, either one of these units does the job. First an overview of what each does well.

Alesis Wins!


I think Alesis is the better choice if you are using it live. 3 things it offers over the Boss Dr-880

Roll: This button allows you to roll any note to the quantize value of note you've selected up to 32nd notes. This is absolutely awesome for dropping in live drum solos and just fun to have access to in general. This is the only real huge seller for me over the Boss DR-880 and I can't believe they didn't include this functionality. It seems so simple.

A/B Fills: Alesis has the ability to program in fills for each pattern which is pretty awesome, but not necessary. I can get around that in my situation since I'm not using it live.

Variety: Alesis seems to have more variety in the way of drum sounds. 

Boss Wins!


Number of pads: The alesis has 12. Boss has 20. You do the math. A couple things I love, the Boss unit includes 4 toms, the alesis does 3. I love using toms for descending rolls. More variety = more fun. Both units include snare, but the Alesis programs one of the snare parts to sound like a cross stick (I think that's the term) where the drummer hits the stick across the metal rim, not the drum itself. So instead of having a good left/right snare you get 1 snare. You can get around that by programming your own kit but still, annoying. The Boss unit also has 2 crashes, that is important for me cause I mostly play hard rock/metalish type music and so a variety of symbol crashes is key to the music I make sounding half way decent.





EZ Compose: This makes it super easy to drop in a drum beat for practicing. Genius in my opinion.

Ghost Notes: These make your parts sound more human like

Groove Modify: You can add fills, ghost notes, swing feel to make things feel more human like as well

Touch Sensativity: Alesis loses here. It basis touch sensitivity on "Ranges" It has 0 - 9 levels, and you can't choose to use that whole range. You choose a range (soft,medium,loud) and it picks around 3 of those value to bass your touch sensativity on, leaving you with 3 levels no matter what. Bosses differs from 0 - 127 and you can use that full range. The difference is clear. You'll here A LOT more dynamics on Boss's unit. It sounds much more realistic.

Layout: I think Boss made the layout a lot more logical than Alesis's unit.

Multi Effects: I'm a guitarist. Of course I'll take a bunch of Boss guitar effects :)

Volume Levels for Each Part: I can control the volume level of my guitar, bass, and drum parts. Also individual outs. Great for sending to a mixer or other recording device.

DVD Manual: I hate reading. You can pick up a walk through by proaudiodvd's which I highly recommend.

Time Signatures: This unit actually does different common time signatures, which is awesome as I like to switch things up. The Alesis unit kinda does, but offers it more in the how many beats per measure category. I think it does up to 24. I'd really like to see one of these offer the ability to create your own signature.

Both win!

Drum Sounds: I think either of these units has great drum sounds. I really can't choose between the 2.

Outputs and inputs: These have all the outputs and inputs I could ever require, anything from Midi, to TRS L/R, to foot controllers to control patterns. Boss does have a USB connection as well. Alesis does not.

Alesis SR-18

Boss DR-880


Durability: Both are solid units. Alesis is smaller, Boss is bigger.

No one wins!

Both units pre fill your user patterns with a bunch of samples. The SR-18 is the worst. It fills the first 100 "preset patterns" which you cannot change, then 75/100 of your "user patterns" with their own crap. The worst part is that the user patterns are all individual, so you can't change them without losing them completely. This will leave you in the constant debate of keeping them or wiping them out for your own stuff. If you want to put in patterns cool, put them in your own section. Don't eat up mine.

Usability: Both units aren't super hard to pick up, but take practice and concentration. I believe this is the reason that some may go straight to the computer to program beats as things are probably a lot less complicated.

8 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Your review is very good and helpfull for me. I was going to buy SR18 but now I've changed my plans. I may go with the boss. I play mostly metal music. Thrash, black and death metal espacially. So what I need is first of all powerfull double bass and use of snares is also needed. Just wanted to know that if boss will be good enough to play both for jamming and live and also for recording?
    Overall its a costly product for me so I want full use of it. I play guitar and can do the vocals too but for drummer, one thing it is hard to find at my place and another thing is to find a great talented drummer. So does this fills the space of a drummer? And if it really gives more enough to go for it rather than the Alesis. Because for rock music I found both are not very different but don't know for metal music. Help me A.S.A.P.!

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  2. Can you change time signatures within a song........like when doing step recording?

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  3. Excellent review of these machines THANK YOU! Buying one this week, Im going to go with the BOSS, i need a machine that sounds like a REAL drummer, not like a nintendo dance beat.

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  4. I have the Boss 880. One thing I HATE about all drum machines that I've found since Linn Drum is that you can't change the groove without changing the tempo. Say you have a rock groove programed on 11 and 12 and you decide in the middle of the song that you want to use 12 instead of 11. When you go to 12, it goes to the tempo that is recorded in 12. Another irritating thing is that you have to scroll to the pattern you want. You can't just enter 11 or 12 on a keypad to select. Does anyone know if the Alesis addressed either one or both of my concerns?

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  5. Does anybody know if it's possible to simulate A/B Alesis ability in DR880? I realy apreciate all de functionalities of BOSS, but I thik this function is killer for an alive presentation. Am I right?

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  6. Boss sounds better on youtube vids. I had an alesis and eventually got rid of it cause of the snare sounds being very limiting

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  7. Plus you are feeling to mention that the boss cost like $200 more deadliest are 18 and the boss appears to be discontinued cuz I don't see it on any sites new anymore but I still see the Alesis on-site new for sale so it is a more expensive piece of equipment and yes it does seem more high quality

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