As a long time user of the SR-16 I was very excited by the prospect of being able to modernise the sounds whilst maintaining the same basic functionality but I'm sorry to report the SR-18 has been something of a problem child since day 1 and was one of the factors in me finally moving to a computer based setup.
If you search the forum you should come across a thread relating to MIDI sync problems between the SR-18 and Tascam 2488. I've also commented elsewhere about the ill thought-out sound set, poorly edited samples (including clicks), irritating changes to the user interface (such as the need to press SAVE else loose any changes) and not to mention that the line input is as noisy as hell.
I used to have a Boss DR-3 and a Zoom MRT. The Zoom had really good sounds, especially for the price. The Boss's sounds weren't too bad either though I struggled to find a decent open hat sound. I still think pound for pound the SR-16 is the best drum machine which is what makes the SR-18 even more frustrating - all they had to do was upgrade the sounds and I'd have been happy!
Pitch-bend is received and transmitted but user manual doesn't tell me the procedure to record that midi data with the built-in keyboard then I think it only can record bass pitch-bend with an external keyboard.