Drum Machines Have No Soul

Drum machine

Alesis HR-16

The HR-16 appeared beside the MMT8 sequencer as Alesis moved beyond effects processors.

The digital drum boom →
Alesis HR-16. Period product photograph published in Sound On Sound, January 1988.January 1988 · Sound On SoundSource & credit ↗

Shown at Chicago NAMM in 1987, the HR-16 gave Alesis a convincing sampled-drum machine at a price that changed the expectations of home and project studios.

Sources (10)
  1. Open source 1 ↗
  2. Open source 2 ↗
  3. Open source 3 ↗
  4. Open source 4 ↗
  5. Open source 5 ↗
  6. Open source 6 ↗
  7. Open source 7 ↗
  8. Open source 8 ↗
  9. Open source 9 ↗
  10. Open source 10 ↗

Source-led exhibition chapter

Alesis HR-16

A different sort of studio purchase

In Chicago in 1987, Alesis surprised visitors expecting another affordable effects processor. Its new offerings were a drum machine and an eight-track MIDI sequencer. Bob O’Donnell’s September report placed the HR-16 beside the MMT8, two instruments that could help a small studio build a performance a part at a time. The quoted British prices were £449 and £299 respectively.

Source (1)
  1. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine & MMT8 MIDI Recorder ↗

That pairing matters. A drum machine could supply the rhythm while a separate sequencer handled the instruments around it. The HR-16 entered a room already changing through MIDI, compact recording equipment and musicians doing more of the production themselves. Its history begins with that practical proposition: recorded drum sounds within reach of a smaller budget.

Source (1)
  1. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine & MMT8 MIDI Recorder ↗

The grey wedge

The January 1988 photograph gives the machine its own visual language. Two long rows of pale pads sit beneath a compact display. Green PLAY and red RECORD buttons mark the transport; the programming controls gather to the left, the voice controls to the right. It looks like a desk laid out for a job.

Nicholas Rowland’s production review described the wedge-shaped case and its compartment for operating instructions. He liked the layout but worried about the buttons and sliders, including a damaged crash pad on his review instrument. The accessible price came with a physical object that a player still had to live with.

Source (1)
  1. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine ↗

The paper fold marks the image’s life as a printed photograph, while the pad rows and control groupings make the instrument’s working layout visible.

Write the kit onto the pads

David Mellor noticed the white strips above the pads: somewhere to write the sounds assigned to them. The panel’s printed names were starting points. A pad could be given another voice, with its tuning, level and position in the mix adjusted. Each pattern could recall its own VOICE, TUNE and MIX setup.

Source (1)
  1. Alesis HR-16 Drum Machine ↗

That makes a pattern more than a list of hits. Change its kit and the same sequence takes on a different arrangement. Mellor also identified a consequential limit: replacing a pad’s assignment replaced the sound used by its recorded part. The earlier assignment did not stay attached to the old notes.

Source (1)
  1. Alesis HR-16 Drum Machine ↗

Real drums, different ears

The production review counted 49 sounds, where the earlier show report had announced 48. Rowland praised much of the recorded kit but heard some acoustic kicks as needing adjustment for a tighter part. Mellor was less persuaded by the weight of the kicks and toms. Both reviews lead back to the musician’s decision: choose a sound for the record in front of you.

Sources (2)
  1. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine ↗
  2. Alesis HR-16 Drum Machine ↗

Rowland described independently tuned voices, selectable output pairs and panning. Routing a sound toward a separate mixing channel gave the musician another chance to shape it with EQ or effects. The four rear audio jacks served two stereo pairs; panning offered a way to use them individually.

Sources (2)
  1. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine ↗
  2. Alesis HR-16 Drum Machine ↗

Borrow it for a week

Tom Krell’s account gives the HR-16 a later, smaller-scale encounter. The loop on How To Dress Well’s “A Secret within the Voice” came from an early HR-16 borrowed from a friend for a week in 2018. A short loan supplied something he could carry into a later recording.

Source (1)
  1. MusicRadar — “How To Dress Well interview” ↗

Asked whether the pattern came from a Roland CR-78, he identified the Alesis. He remembered a sample name resembling “Roland Poland” and wondered whether it imitated the older machine. His identification and his speculation are different parts of the story. The loop’s documented source is the borrowed HR-16.

Source (1)
  1. MusicRadar — “How To Dress Well interview” ↗

Another library inside the case

Jacob Klein describes a modified HR-16 containing 808 and 909 samples on “all the stars.” His account follows the physical box into a later studio, with a changed sound library. It connects an instrument, a modification and a named recording without making its factory kit responsible for those sounds.

Source (1)
  1. Audeze / Jacob Klein interview ↗

The photograph from his interview belongs beside this working account. It introduces the musician in his studio; the machine’s period portrait remains the chapter’s object image.

A tool kept in the room

Andrew Liles places both the HR-16 and HR-16B in his 1990s equipment timeline alongside the MMT8, multitrack recorders and other instruments. His account describes choices governed by money and the possibilities of affordable recording. It is a useful view of the machine’s place in a working life.

Source (1)
  1. Andrew Liles — Fifteen Questions interview, equipment timeline (artist-hosted republication) ↗

Across these accounts, the HR-16 changes role: new studio purchase, editable kit, borrowed loop source, modified sound box. The pads stay recognisable while the music moves. Follow the recording accounts, compare the original HR-16 with the HR-16B, and return to the period documents to see what musicians were first being offered.

The machine in the record

Cover artwork for The Smashing Pumpkins — 1979 (Remastered 2012).
Billy Corgan / Smashing Pumpkins — “1979”: retained artwork identifies the release context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

The Smashing Pumpkins / “1979”.

The HR-16 made the beat for “1979”, then returned during the Adore sessions for further rhythm and sequence work. Its modest boxy presence helps explain the track’s peculiar calm: a programmed pulse holding a band in suspension.

Read Smashing Pumpkins' recording history ↗

More records in the archive

The machine keeps turning up.

Tom Krell of How To Dress Well in a MusicRadar feature photograph.
Tom Krell in the 2024 MusicRadar feature containing his HR-16 account. The portrait identifies the artist; it does not show the borrowed machine or the 2018 session.

How To Dress Well / Tom Krell / “A Secret within the Voice”

Krell says the drum loop on “A Secret within the Voice” came from an early Alesis HR-16 that he borrowed for a week in 2018.

Read MusicRadar — “How To Dress Well interview” ↗
Orbital live at Alexandra Palace in 1995, seen from behind their equipment racks.
Paul Hartnoll / Orbital — “Chime”: retained artwork identifies the release context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Paul Hartnoll / Orbital / “Chime”

Paul Hartnoll recalls adding Phil Hartnoll’s Alesis HR16 to the 909-led setup for “Chime” while working with an eight-track sequencer and a cassette four-track.

Read Classic Tracks: Orbital’s “Chime” ↗
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark press photograph from 1985, showing Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in a 1985 A&M Records press photograph: Paul Humphreys at left, Andy McCluskey at right. It introduces McCluskey’s later Sugar Tax RX5 account; it is not a photograph of the 1991 sessions or the machine.
Cover artwork for OMD — Sugar Tax.
Record artwork for OMD — Sugar Tax; it identifies the release, not the machine or a recording session.

OMD / Sugar Tax

Both drum machines used on album.

Read Power in the Darkness ↗

Reported association

Cover artwork for Moby — Play: The Complete Recordings.
Play frames the reported HR-16 connection in Moby’s catalogue; the cover identifies the album, not individual tracks, an original hardware chain or a distinction between hardware and samples.

Moby / Play

The retrospective reports Alesis HR-16 beats among the rhythm tracks on Play.

Read How Moby carefully crafted Play and rescued his career ↗
Cover artwork for Sweet Trip — Halica: Bliss Out v.11.
Sweet Trip — Halica: Bliss Out v.11: retained artwork identifies the release context for Burgos’s HR-16 and DR-660 account, not the hardware or a specific track.

Sweet Trip / Roberto Burgos / Halica-era demo and live setup

Burgos says heavily processed Alesis HR-16 and BOSS DR-660 machines became Sweet Trip’s “drummers” when the Halica demos prompted the group to rethink how it would play the material live.

Read Sweet Trip / Halica ↗

Reported association

Cover artwork for Godflesh — Streetcleaner and preceding mini-album.
Godflesh — Streetcleaner and preceding mini-album: retained artwork identifies the release context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Godflesh / Streetcleaner and preceding mini-album

Participant connects the original, unnamed drum machine to both records.

Read Godflesh interview reprinted from Deathcheese #1 ↗
Cover artwork for Cassini Division — Bermudas.
Cassini Division — Bermudas: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Cassini Division / Bermudas

Cassini Division call the Alesis HR-16 central to the home-studio construction of their Buenos Aires concept album Bermudas.

Read Cassini Division / Bermudas ↗
Cover artwork for Lasse Passage — Ladies Night EP.
Lasse Passage — Ladies Night EP: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Lasse Passage / Ladies Night EP

Lasse Passage says the Ladies Night songs were written on older equipment including a Casio SK-5, Roland MC-303 and Alesis HR-16.

Read Lasse Passage / Ladies Night EP ↗
Cover artwork for U.S. Highball — Great Record.
U.S. Highball — Great Record: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

U.S. Highball / Great Record

U.S. Highball say they chose an Alesis HR-16 instead of a live drummer while recording Great Record through a single SM58 microphone.

Read U.S. Highball / Great Record ↗
Cover artwork for Math the Band — Stupid and Weird.
Math the Band — Stupid and Weird: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Math the Band / Stupid and Weird

Math the Band’s album credits list an Alesis HR-16 among the machines used for Stupid and Weird.

Read Math the Band — Stupid and Weird ↗
Jacob Klein working at a computer in Audeze’s artist interview.
Jacob Klein in Audeze’s interview. His account connects a modified HR-16 with “all the stars”; this studio photograph does not show that machine or session.

Jacob Klein / “all the stars”

Jacob Klein says a modified Alesis HR-16 loaded with 808 and 909 samples appears on “all the stars”.

Read Audeze / Jacob Klein interview ↗
Cover artwork for The Scent — Bald Spot Dawning.
The Scent — Bald Spot Dawning: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

The Scent / Bald Spot Dawning

The Scent credits an Alesis HR-16 on almost all tracks of Bald Spot Dawning.

Read The Scent — Bald Spot Dawning ↗
Cover artwork for Cathode Ghosts — Push-Button Instant Information.
Cathode Ghosts — Push-Button Instant Information: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Cathode Ghosts / Push-Button Instant Information

Cathode Ghosts list the Alesis HR-16 in the production equipment for Push-Button Instant Information.

Read Cathode Ghosts / Push-Button Instant Information ↗
Cover artwork for CLIP ART — CLIP ART EP.
CLIP ART — CLIP ART EP: retained release artwork gives the documented machine story a record-world context; it does not depict the hardware, a session, or an individual track allocation.

CLIP ART / CLIP ART EP

CLIP ART list an Alesis HR-16 among the instruments used for their debut EP.

Read CLIP ART — CLIP ART EP ↗

Billy Corgan / Smashing Pumpkins / “1979”

The Smashing Pumpkins’ recording history identifies the Alesis HR-16 as the machine that created the beat for “1979”; the same unit returned for additional rhythmic material and sequences during the later Adore sessions.

Read Smashing Pumpkins' recording history ↗
01 // Extended

Alesis enters the rhythm room

The HR-16 appeared beside the MMT8 sequencer as Alesis moved beyond effects processors. Contemporary writers heard close-miked drums in a machine priced for players who could not stretch to a dedicated sampler. Its four audio jacks, pad assignments and pattern memory made the instrument useful in a real mix.

Sources (3)
  1. Open source 1 ↗
  2. Open source 2 ↗
  3. Open source 3 ↗

02 // Extended

Programming with a character of its own

Step entry could reach 96 subdivisions per beat, while tuning, levels and output routing were stored with patterns. Reviews disagreed about individual sounds, particularly the kick, toms and metallic percussion; that disagreement is part of the HR-16’s story, a reminder that sampled realism was still a musical choice.

Sources (2)
  1. Open source 1 ↗
  2. Open source 2 ↗

03 // Extended

A machine heard beyond its panel

Ross Garfield recalled participating in the sampling sessions for the HR-16 and later HR-16B. Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey named the HR-16 in their Sugar Tax working methods, using EQ to brighten particular percussion. The model’s service history also traces the early production firmware and later revisions.

Sources (3)
  1. Open source 1 ↗
  2. Open source 2 ↗
  3. Open source 3 ↗

04 // Extended

A reported Moby connection

MusicRadar’s retrospective on Moby’s Play reports Alesis HR-16 beats among the album’s rhythm tracks. The account does not name individual songs or distinguish original hardware from a sampled source, but it places the machine within the broad, pieced-together rhythm language of the record.

Source (1)
  1. Open source 1 ↗

05 // Extended

Cheap box, hard records

The HR-16 survives in very different records. Godflesh connect their early rhythm-machine method to Streetcleaner; OMD place it among the drum machines on Sugar Tax; and a retrospective on Moby’s Play reports HR-16 beats among its rhythm tracks. The details differ, but the appeal is consistent: get a beat moving and make the record answer it.

Sources (3)
  1. Open source 1 ↗
  2. Open source 2 ↗
  3. Open source 3 ↗

06 // Extended

Two machines in OMD’s *Sugar Tax*

Andy McCluskey names the HR-16 alongside Yamaha’s RX5 in the rhythm setup for OMD’s *Sugar Tax*. There is no need to assign every hit to one machine: the record belongs to a period when the rhythm part was built from a working system, not a single talismanic box.

Source (1)
  1. Open source 1 ↗

MUSIC HISTORY

In the market

  • 1987-09: GBP 449 — British preview price. HR-16 Source ↗
  • 1988-01: GBP 449 — British review price. HR-16 Source ↗

On record

  • Godflesh — Streetcleaner and preceding mini-album. Participant connects the original, unnamed drum machine to both records. Source ↗
  • OMD — Sugar Tax. Both drum machines used on album. Source ↗
  • Moby — Play. The retrospective reports Alesis HR-16 beats among the rhythm tracks on Play. Source ↗
  • Billy Corgan / Smashing Pumpkins — “1979”. The Smashing Pumpkins’ recording history identifies the Alesis HR-16 as the machine that created the beat for “1979”; the same unit returned for additional rhythmic material and sequences during the later Adore sessions. Source ↗
  • Direct Hit Productionz — beat-making source library. Direct Hit Productionz lists Alesis HR-16 sounds among the drum-machine sources used for its beat-making work. Source ↗
  • U.S. Highball — Great Record. U.S. Highball say they chose an Alesis HR-16 instead of a live drummer while recording Great Record through a single SM58 microphone. Source ↗
  • Cassini Division — Bermudas. Cassini Division call the Alesis HR-16 central to the home-studio construction of their Buenos Aires concept album Bermudas. Source ↗
  • Vincent — The Style of Life. The Vincent archive retains the HR-16 in the home-studio instrument list behind The Style of Life, placing a familiar workhorse inside a long-running private recording practice. Source ↗
  • Lasse Passage — Ladies Night EP. Lasse Passage says the Ladies Night songs were written on older equipment including a Casio SK-5, Roland MC-303 and Alesis HR-16. Source ↗
  • Math the Band — Stupid and Weird. Math the Band’s album credits list an Alesis HR-16 among the machines used for Stupid and Weird. Source ↗
  • Jacob Klein — “all the stars”. Jacob Klein says a modified Alesis HR-16 loaded with 808 and 909 samples appears on “all the stars”. Source ↗
  • The Scent — Bald Spot Dawning. The Scent credits an Alesis HR-16 on almost all tracks of Bald Spot Dawning. Source ↗
  • Cathode Ghosts — Push-Button Instant Information. Cathode Ghosts list the Alesis HR-16 in the production equipment for Push-Button Instant Information. Source ↗
  • CLIP ART — CLIP ART EP. CLIP ART list an Alesis HR-16 among the instruments used for their debut EP. Source ↗

In the studio and on stage

  • Andrew Liles — 1990s working setup. Andrew Liles places the Alesis HR-16 in his 1990s working equipment timeline. Source ↗

Sources

  1. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine & MMT8 MIDI Recorder
  2. Alesis HR-16 Drum Machine
  3. Alesis HR16 Drum Machine
  4. Godflesh interview reprinted from Deathcheese #1
  5. HR-16/HR-16B Service Manual V1.00
  6. Power in the Darkness
  7. Andrew Liles — Fifteen Questions interview, equipment timeline (artist-hosted republication)
  8. A Visit to the Drum Doctor, Shop Talk, starts p120; Modern Drummer vol18 no11
  9. Modern Drummer archive: November 1994, Volume 18 Number 11
  10. How Moby carefully crafted Play and rescued his career
  11. MusicRadar — “How To Dress Well interview”
  12. Audeze / Jacob Klein interview

The visual archive

Further visual evidence.

Sources for images shown earlier (18)
Additional visual sources (7)

Original publications and related image sources.

Machine Museum image viewer

Period image shown in the dossier.