About this site

QSRdrums.com is an educational resource for musicians, songwriters, producers, and others who are interested in electronic drum synthesis. The site hosts the online QSR Drum Synthesizer Manual, a guide to building and programming a drum synthesizer system using the Alesis QSR—a powerful, vintage synthesizer manufactured in the late 1990's. The Manual provides background information, tips and techniques, downloads, and complete, step-by-step procedures for system planning, configuration, programming, and testing.

A message from site creator, David Hawthorne

The development of the QSR Drum Synthesizer Manual was a true labor of love. I have played the drums for over 40 years and also have a background in audio engineering. I started building my QSR drum synthesizer in 2013. After using the system for several years, I decided to create a website to share the lessons I learned.

The website development project also became part of my studies in Technical Communication at the University of California, San Diego. I needed a capstone project for the certificate program. The site demonstrates my skills in information design, technical writing, and the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA).

What can QSRdrums.com do for me?

This site will help you build and program your own electronic drum kit using the Alesis QSR. I have provided step-by-step instructions covering the entire process, including preparation of custom samples that can be used with the QSR to create unique-sounding drum kits, percussion, and sound effects.

How can I contact QSRdrums.com?

QSRdrums.com is an independent website created for educational purposes. Technical support is not available. If you have comments about the content on the site, you can email me at david.hawthorne@qsrdrums.com.

David Hawthorne on drums