How to improve the Strike Hi-hat controller?

[rhysT]

one of the biggest issue with the strike was the hi hat spring was improperly tensioned.  They actually acknowledged this and have created a replacement.  You must call the customer care line (numark phone number) and request it.   The felt fix did do wonders for the hi hat but it only applied more pressure.  The new spring not only applies more pressure but the proper amount at the proper time.  Because if you rip open the strike controller its actually a pressure plate.   Its simply calculates which sound to play based on the lbs of force applied to that plate.  Adding extra pressure ensured you would get a consistent chick and closed sound. But your semi open sounds still suffered.  That is because unlike a go edrum controller that plays its semi open sounds based on the position of the plunger you need to be able to apply the right amount of pressure at the right time. So if anyone is still having HH issues, I stronger encourage you to contact alesis for the replacement.

If the Strike hi-hat controller uses a FSR sensor, here's some info about its force/resistance response, etc: https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/010/126/original/fsrguide.pdf

[Chaser]

one of the biggest issue with the strike was the hi hat spring was improperly tensioned.  They actually acknowledged this and have created a replacement.  You must call the customer care line (numark phone number) and request it.   The felt fix did do wonders for the hi hat but it only applied more pressure.  The new spring not only applies more pressure but the proper amount at the proper time.  Because if you rip open the strike controller its actually a pressure plate.   Its simply calculates which sound to play based on the lbs of force applied to that plate.  Adding extra pressure ensured you would get a consistent chick and closed sound. But your semi open sounds still suffered.  That is because unlike a go edrum controller that plays its semi open sounds based on the position of the plunger you need to be able to apply the right amount of pressure at the right time. So if anyone is still having HH issues, I stronger encourage you to contact alesis for the replacement.

Here is a side by side comparison of the original spring (left) and the updated spring (right).
The updated spring is approx .100 longer and 4 less coils/winding's.
Since the Pro-X has the same controller (bottom) the updated spring may improve it also.

[AlanK]

I tried buying a compression spring at a hardware store that had different tension to see if my Pro X would work better (I found it kinda hard to press down).. same diameter, pretty much same height. But it didn't function properly. I wondered if there was something in the fact that it was untreated steel like the one in your photo on the right.. shouldn't make a diff, but I would get a bit of a buzzing or some kind of variation in the signal (noise in my phones when listening). I'm no expert by a stretch.. just thought it was interesting and ended up putting back the original, and then made adjustments to my hi-hat stand pedal tension which helped.

[orionation]

what size diameter and height is the original pro x hihat spring?

[AlanK]

Here's the spring online (no longer sold) I don't think there were measurements on it:

https://instrumentalparts.com/spring-alesis/

I can check my replacement when I get home.. I just took the one from my Pro-X to the hardware store and got the closest thing I could find.. its not quite the same thickness/tension but I did get it to work. I'll take a pic or get the measurements if I remember by the time I get back from work

EDIT: I guess I never used the replacement spring. I had two, one smaller, one longer, both compression. I now recall the one that was the right diameter was too long and didn't do anything helpful so I went back to my original and must have made things work.