ALESIS SR-16 - Manual (Page 7)

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After perfecting these Patterns, Song mode offers two ways to create a song:
• Program a list of Patterns, in the order in which they are to be played.
• Select Patterns in real time, and the SR-16 will remember your performance.
The SR-16 stores up to 100 User-programmable Songs.
Breaking a song into Patterns saves time since elements of a song often repeat. Example:
The second verse might have the same drum pattern as the first verse. Rather than record the
same Pattern twice, simply record one Pattern, then list it twice when assembling a Song.
This also saves memory (thus leaving room for more Patterns and Songs) since listing a
Song step takes up much less memory than recording a Pattern.
1.2B The Four Different Types of Patterns
The SR-16 introduces exciting new Song construction techniques. The SR-16 excels at live
performance—something usually not associated with drum machines. The key to using these
advanced features is understanding the different types of available Patterns.
• Preset Patterns provide a variety of rock, jazz, pop, and other rhythms programmed by
professional drummers.
• User Patterns are Patterns you can program, edit, and save. The Preset/User button selects
between these two master banks of Presets. The only way to modify a Preset Pattern is to
copy it to a User Pattern, where it can be edited.
There are 50 of each type of Pattern, numbered 00-49. However, each numbered Pattern
actually contains four different "sub-Patterns":
• A pair of independent Main Patterns (A and B, selected by their respective buttons).
• A pair of associated Fill Patterns (A Fill and B Fill, selected by pressing the FILL button when
either A or B is selected). The Fills primarily provide transitional Patterns between Main
Patterns, which makes for more realistic drum parts. The associated Fill Patterns share the
same length, Drum Set, and name as their Main Patterns (e.g., if A is 16 beats, A Fill is 16
beats). Otherwise, they are independent.
The reason for pairing the two different A and B Patterns together is simply so that you can
switch back and forth between them rapidly in live performance or while improvising.
However, A and B Patterns can be treated as completely independent Patterns if desired and
can have different lengths, Drum Sets, etc.
Always think of the Main Pattern and its associated Fill as a unit. For example, if you copy a
Main Pattern to another Main Pattern, its Fill will travel along with it.
Note that even though there are "only" 50 Patterns, the A and B variations double that to 100
Patterns, and the Fills double that again to 200 Patterns. Added to the Preset Patterns, 400
total Patterns are available.