Zildjian Alchem-E Raw Impressions

Zildjian Alchem-E vs Roland TD27KV2, also combined Line Out and overhead mics track to assess usability in low volume gig/rehearsal settings. As of firmware version 1.1.

So far the only good news is cymbal stick hits being wood-on-metal are easily masked by sample sound, see the mix of Line Out with OH mics fragment. There is very subtle, non clapping sound when closing Hi Hat.

Unfortunately Hi Hat consistently misses stick hits. Snare sound is... uhm - quite special. If over muffled fat snare sound is your sound - congratulations, you just found your kit. Hi Hat pedal does not generate continuous stream of CC4 MIDI messages, so using the most realistic Hi Hat pedal mode in Superior Drummer is not an option.

The e-vault module operates in simplistic Hi Hat pedal mode - it plays the sample matching pedal position when you hit the Hi Hat, changing pedal position afterwards does not affect the sound unless Hi Hat gets fully closed.