Zildjian's next Alesis packs | What we know

Short one, this. A follow-up to Zildjian cymbals landing on Alesis kits, because a few of you have asked when the rest of it arrives.

Here is what is confirmed, and — more usefully — what is not.

What has been confirmed

inMusic’s announcement said further Zildjian sound expansions would arrive in late August, on top of Session Mix Vol 1, which is already out.

Two packs have been named:

• Zildjian K Custom Dark — the dark, dry, controlled end of the Zildjian range.
• Zildjian A Family — the bright, cutting, all-over-everything sound.

A Zildjian Expansion Collection Vol. 1 bundling the two together has also been listed.

All of it runs across BFD Player, BFD 3.5 and Alesis Strata modules, with one purchase covering all three. That much has not changed, and it remains the genuinely good bit of this partnership.

What has not

Prices. Exact dates. Whether the bundle costs less than the two packs separately. Whether “late August” survives contact with reality.

We would also note that Session Mix Vol 1’s £39 launch price was explicitly a launch offer against a £99 list. What that implies for the next two, nobody has said.

So: no date, no price, and one week of “late August” left at the time of writing. Make of that what you will.

Which one would you actually want?

Assuming both land as described, they are genuinely different tools rather than two flavours of the same thing.

K Custom Dark is the one for anything where the cymbals are supposed to sit underneath the music — lower, drier, quicker to get out of the way. If your e-kit currently sounds like a cymbal shop falling down a flight of stairs, this is the fix.

A Family is the opposite and unapologetic about it. Bright, loud, immediate. It is the sound of an enormous number of records, and it works because it cuts.

If you only buy one, buy the one that sounds like the music you actually play, not the one that sounds most impressive on its own.

Final thoughts

Nothing to do yet except wait, which is why this is a short post rather than a long one. We will update it the moment there is a price and a date.

If you missed the background, our original piece on the Alesis and Zildjian partnership explains what the Artist Vault is and why sampling cymbals is so much harder than sampling drums.

And if you would rather solve the cymbal problem with actual metal, our guides to electronic splash cymbal pads and china cymbal pads cover expanding an e-kit the physical way.