Alesis Photon X25

Advantages: cheap, easy to use
Disadvantages: no effects limited sound editing, dull sounds

...The Alesis SR-16 holds the title of the best selling drum machine of all time and some would say with good reason. The sound quality that this machine can produce is excellent but the drawback is that the 230 odd sounds contained within the unit are uniformly dull and uninspiring. If you need a workhorse set of drum sounds for backing tracks etc then the SR16 will do the job in style but i would not recommend it to anyone who has any kind of imagination in their music. The operating system is fairly straightforward but some of the pattern editing is fairly cryptic if you don't have a manual, apart from that it's pretty easy to figure out whats going on. The SR16 can has 150 somewhat dodgy preset patterns but you can create another 150 of your own to string together in the 100 available songs. Outputs consist of a stereo pair and an pair... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Intuitively easy to use, Excellent recording/reproduction, Importable to computer software
Disadvantages: Tape based, Use limited to straightforward recording, no editing capabilities

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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Good value and flexible mixer, works well with PC. Cubase is a nice bonus.
Disadvantages: Knobs not sliders, no MP3 encoder with Cubase but these are minor details

...but this is only in case you want to connect a second PC. KNOBS & DIALS There are 4 shared inputs for either XLR(3 pin mic) or line(guitar style jack), each with it's own adjustable pre-amp and 75Hz high pass filter. There's also a phantom power switch at the back of the unit if you use studio condenser microphones that require +48V. The other 4 connections are two stereo line ins. Technically this only gives you 6 separate inputs (hence there are only 6 lines of knobs on the Alesis multimix 8) when it's a so called 8 track mixer but that's the way it goes I'm afraid. I know, I always found it confusing when my friend would tell me his 8 track could only record 4 simultaneous tracks and it's a throwback to the old tape multi-track systems. Each of the 6 tracks (or channels) has it's own 3 band EQ (LOW 80Hz, MID 2.5kHz and HI 12kHz), two AUX gains... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful