Syncopated_1I was working at DCP when the DW guys came in to give us the run down on the DWe kits. We weren't allowed to send out pictures of them or anything of the sort. I was a little conflicted with it in several ways. The positives were the multiple sensors on the different drums, 5 on the snare, I believe. They were wireless which not only adds to the ease of set up, but the wireless was touted as being faster (lower latency) than wired connections.
Two things I wasn't totally blown away with:
1) The cymbals were clunky. They were metal with plastic or rubber bases and so they were loud and really didn't feel good, to me.
2) The drums were full blow acoustic drums with the required apparatus added to make them electronic drums. SO, remove the heads, undo some lug screws (I think it was) and take the part out and you are ready to put the screws back, and put the supplied acoustic heads on there and bypass the whole electronic portion of it. I have made it sound kinda labor intensive to transition back and forth between acoustic and electronic, and for good reason. It is!
I am sure that out there somewhere are some people who could make good use of the conversion ability, but for your run of the mill guy, I don't think it was practical. Personally, if I were a potential buyer, I would much prefer a good looking shell dedicated to the electronics but not part of the acoustic series offerings. In other words, you have the full cost of the series in its acoustic version, plus the added cost of all the electronic components. Seemed a little over the top for your average guy wanting an electric set.
Another positive was that you had a receiver (not the actual nomenclature) that fed your signals into your laptop or whatever computer you choose. The DW software was pretty similar looking to other drum software, but under the hood things were pretty different.
So, if you take away the debatable gripe of cost and potential unnecessary ability to use it as your occasional gigging set, you are left with the cymbals as the main true complaint. And it was a complain remedied eventually be utilizing Roland cymbal pads, but let's leave them out of this for the purpose of this conversation.
Many people at DCP complained that Zildjian's 400 year anniversary offered lots of merch but little to no actual product. But, what Zildjian did unveil at some point was a new electronic drums set. The Alchem-e. I truly believe that if you are going to enter an aggressive market against fierce competition, you better be ready to piss with the big boys, and I don't think they were. They offered what seemed to be lacking and that was a legitimate cymbal option in using low volume cymbals as triggers. The low volume cymbals weren't exactly a total fix, as they do leave some substantial ambient volume which could be problematic depending on your situation. The drum samples were unimpressive to me from what I have experienced online, and the fact that the module on offered 8 cymbal inputs was laughable. While 8 cymbal inputs is adequate for the lion's share of drummers, this IS a product from a cymbal manufacturer and you would think they would be prepared for elaborate cymbal set ups.
I actually wondered if at some point Zildjian pitched their cymbals to DW/Roland or one of the other high end eDrum manufacturers with no takers. I wonder how the sale software the Alchem-e are doing, and if they compromised themselves with such a large investment that really had serous competition from much more experienced companies.
I went to Zildjian's 400th Anniversary concert just over 2 years ago in Boston. A historic event to say the least. There was something odd about the way they pulled it off and I am not particularly a Fred Armisen fan so that part fell a little flat for me. Lastly, Zildjian has broken from its tradition of 1 or 2 people knowing the family secret (Robert Zildjian may not have been one of those people from what I have read, but I can't count that as gospel) and now it is up to 5 people. Not sure I understand their thinking these days. But, I am sure that it really doesn't matter what I think anyway. 