Alesis HR-16 (1987)

A 16-bit drum machine that put 47kHz samples and a hundred patterns within reach of anyone with a few hundred dollars.

Overview

The HR-16 hit the market in 1987. The "HR" stood for High Sample Rate. The machine samples at 47kHz, which the company's literature translated into a 20Hz-20kHz frequency response. Those numbers were genuinely unusual in a drum box at this price. It was one of Alesis's first drum machines, and it followed the pattern the company built its reputation on: expensive-sounding specs in a no-frills package. Keith Barr, the founder behind that philosophy, had co-founded MXR before Alesis.

The sound set is the other half of the pitch. There are 10 kick drums, 7 snares, and a full ethnic percussion set, all 16-bit PCM. Polyphony runs to 16 voices, and the front panel carries 16 velocity-sensitive pads. The machine sold for under $500, which was a lot of drum for the money. It became a fixture in bedrooms and project studios rather than just demo rooms.

The sequencing side is where the HR-16 earns its keep. There are 100 patterns and 100 songs, with a programmable tempo range of 46 to 200 BPM. MIDI is fully present - In, Out, and Thru - and the machine speaks System Exclusive, with a documented format for dumping patterns and interchanging blocks between units. Alesis even published the byte-level spec for programmers who wanted to manipulate the data directly, and warned that a single bad address could wipe everything.

Key Features

47kHz Sampling and 16-Bit Resolution

The headline spec is the sample rate. 47kHz is high enough that the 20kHz bandwidth claim is believable, and the 16-bit word length gives the sounds real dynamic range. In practice the kicks have weight and the snares have snap, without the gritty, compressed sound of lower-bit drum machines. The HR-16 sounds like drums, which was the point of the "High Sample Rate" name.

16 Velocity-Sensitive Pads and 16-Voice Polyphony

The pads respond to how hard you hit them, and with 16 voices of polyphony the machine can stack sounds without choking. That separates a playable drum machine from a pattern box. Owners report the controls are clear and editing is fast. A Russian-language listing called it convenient and understandable, with MIDI behaving well.

100 Patterns, 100 Songs, and Full MIDI

The sequencer holds 100 patterns and 100 songs, with tempo adjustable from 46 to 200 BPM. MIDI In, Out, and Thru are all present, and the System Exclusive implementation is documented in detail — 8 MIDI bytes carry each block of 7 HR-16 data bytes. The machine was frequently paired with Alesis's own MMT-8 MIDI recorder, and the two together formed a compact sequencing rig. For anyone building a late-'80s home studio, that combination was hard to beat on price.

Assignable Second Output

Output 1 carries left and right, and Output 2 is assignable per pad via the MIX button. That means the kick or snare can go to a separate output for processing while the rest of the kit stays on the main pair. Alesis didn't have to include it at this price point. They did anyway.

Historical Context

The HR-16 arrived in 1987 into a market where 16-bit drum machines were luxury goods. The Linn 9000 listed at $5,000; the Sequential Circuits Studio 440 at $4,000. Alesis put a 16-bit, 48-voice machine on the market for under $500, a fraction of the cost of the high-end units. It was enough to "make a splash upon release," as the contemporary coverage put it. Mix (February 1989, p.74) described the machine's 16-bit technology and 20kHz frequency response, and noted that the music press had called the HR-16 "staggeringly realistic." It wasn't designed to revolutionize music production, and it didn't. It did make credible 16-bit drum sounds accessible to people who could never have afforded a Linn.

The company's timing was deliberate. Alesis was "keen to cash in on the emerging dance market," and in 1989 - a year after the original - it released the HR-16B, a variant with all-new samples and a software update that let two machines link via MIDI. The HR-16B shared the HR-16's MIDI System Exclusive format, and EPROM upgrade kits for both models circulated in the aftermarket.

The machine's cultural footprint is smaller than its sales figures might suggest, but it's there. Dean Ween had one in his recording space during album sessions in 1991. Equipboard counts 41 pro artists using it. Reverb's own editorial ran a piece calling it "The Great Forgotten Drum Machine of the 80s." It was widely owned, and largely absent from the canon of "classic" drum machines.

Collectibility & Value

Prices are modest. Current listings start around $152.10, with a street price of $200.00 USD cited on synth.market. That puts the HR-16 in the affordable-vintage category rather than the collector's market. Units turn up regularly with manual, PSU, and "tested" in the listing description, and Guitar Center has listed used examples noted as functioning properly across buttons, pads, and outputs despite minor wear.

Some units have no sound output at all, just hiss, even with functional buttons. That fault shows up in the market listings and points to something in the output stage rather than the pads. A service manual exists for both the HR-16 and HR-16B, and the factory reset procedure is simple: power off, hold ERASE, power back on. Aftermarket support is alive - EPROM upgrade kits appear on eBay, and Circuitbenders offers pitch and patchbay modifications for anyone wanting to push the machine beyond its stock behavior.

The HR-16 is not going to appreciate like a Linn or a TR-808. What it offers is genuine 16-bit drum sounds, a usable sequencer, and full MIDI for less than the cost of a modern budget drum machine. It is a 1987 product, so test every pad and output before handing over money.

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