Set up your Lemon hi-hat

This guide covers the Lemon 12″ and 14″ two-piece hi-hats (top cymbal plus the controller built into the bottom) and the standalone HHC12 and HHC14 controllers. It checks each piece on its own before you put them together. That adds a few minutes. If something isn't right, you'll know which piece it is, and you won't have to take the hi-hat apart again to find out.

Where everything plugs in

Once it's assembled, everything connects to the module from the bottom plate, and a short cable joins the top cymbal to it.

• Top cymbal: one jack, labelled Link.
• Bottom plate, inside: one jack, also labelled Link. The short cable joins it to the top cymbal.
• Bottom plate, outside: Hi-hat, which goes to the module's hi-hat input with a stereo (TRS) cable, and Hi-hat controller, which goes to the module's hi-hat control input with a mono (TS) or stereo (TRS) cable. Either works on most modules; your module's page says if it needs stereo.

If your kit's pads plug into a bundle of labelled leads from the module (a snake), plug its hi-hat lead into Hi-hat instead of using a cable, and its hi-hat control lead, if it has one, into Hi-hat controller. Your module's page says which leads to use.

The steps below test the cymbal and the controller separately before you join them, so if something's wrong you'll know which part.

Already set up and something's wrong?

Start at the step that matches what you're seeing:

• Double triggers, misfires, or a zone that's dead or plays the wrong sound: step 2.
• You have to stomp hard before it plays closed: step 3.
• No half-open sound, or little difference between open and closed: step 1, then step 3.
• Works as a crash but not as a hi-hat: step 3.

Step 1 — Check what your module can do

Open your module's page in Support and look at the hi-hat section. It tells you how your hi-hat connects and which hi-hat settings to use. Note them down for step 5.

• If it says Hi-hat is switch only, your module plays open and closed only. No half-open is how that module works. It doesn't mean something is broken.
• If it says Hi-hat uses the kit's pedal controller, your module reads its own pedal. The Lemon controller isn't used on that module.

Step 2 — Test the top cymbal on its own

Standalone HHC12 / HHC14 controller? Skip to step 3.

1. Pick one of your crash cymbals that's working fine. Unplug it.
2. Plug that same cable into the top hi-hat cymbal's Link jack, so the cymbal uses the crash's input and settings.
3. Hit the bow and the edge.

You should hear clean, separate bow and edge sounds, just like a crash. That input and cable already work, so the cymbal is the only thing you changed. If it misfires or double-triggers here, the cymbal is the problem. Contact us.

No working crash to borrow? Set a free cymbal input to a 2-zone crash and test there. An occasional missed hit on an input you haven't adjusted yet is normal, so look for a pattern, not one miss.

Plug your crash back in when you're done.

Step 3 — Test the controller on its own

1. Take the top cymbal off so the controller is exposed. (A standalone controller already is.)
2. Connect the Hi-hat controller jack under the bottom plate to your module's hi-hat control input, as your module's page shows.
3. Open the module's hi-hat or pedal-position screen, the one with an open–closed meter.
4. Press straight down on the controller with your hand, slowly, all the way to the bottom. Then let it come back up.

Use your hand, not a tool or anything rigid. There's a sensor membrane inside the controller.

• The meter moves smoothly all the way down and back up: the controller is fine. Go on to step 4.
• The meter barely moves, jumps, sticks, or reads open while you're holding it down: that's the controller. Contact us.

Squeezing the two cymbals together by hand is not this test. If the gap between them is wrong, your hand never reaches the controller, so a good controller and a bad one feel the same.

Step 4 — Test them together, before the stand

Standalone controller? Skip to step 5.

If your module has no meter, this step is your controller test. It's also a quick check of both pieces working together.

1. Connect the top cymbal's Link jack straight to the module's hi-hat input with a regular stereo (TRS) cable. Snake kit? Plug the snake's hi-hat lead into Link instead. Leave the short cable out for now; it only goes on in step 5.
2. Keep the Hi-hat controller jack connected to the module's hi-hat control input, as in step 3.
3. Keep the top cymbal off the stand. Hold it or rest it somewhere stable.
4. Hit the cymbal while you press the controller all the way down by hand, then again as you let it up.

You should hear a closed sound when the controller is pressed and an open sound when it's released. On a module with continuous hi-hat, you'll also hear half-open sounds in between.

Steps 2 and 3 passed but this one misfires? First swap the cable from the top cymbal to the module for one you know works, such as the crash cable from step 2. Then check the hi-hat settings your module's page lists. If it still misfires, contact us.

Step 5 — Put it on the stand

1. Fit the plastic washer above the clutch. It looks like packaging but it's a part of the hi-hat. It sets the gap between the top cymbal and the clutch. Without it, the module never sees fully closed, however hard you press.
2. Mount the top cymbal and set the clutch so the cymbal rests lightly on the controller with your foot off the pedal.
3. Unplug the stereo cable (or the snake's hi-hat lead) from the top cymbal. Connect the top cymbal's Link jack to the Link jack inside the bottom plate with the short cable. This is the only step that uses it.
4. Plug the stereo cable from the module's hi-hat input (or the snake's hi-hat lead) into the Hi-hat jack under the bottom plate. The Hi-hat controller cable stays where it is.
   Standalone HHC12 / HHC14 with another brand's cymbal? Skip this and the step above: keep your cymbal connected to the module's hi-hat input as before.
5. Set the hi-hat type your module's page names, then run your module's hi-hat calibration with your foot off the pedal. Where the module shows a meter, use it to set the resting gap.

You should get a clean chick with a normal press of the pedal. If you need to stomp, check the washer is fitted, then re-run the calibration.

Worked in step 4 but misfires now? Swap the short cable for any stereo (TRS) cable you know works; it's the most common culprit. If it still misfires, contact us.

Still not right?

Email contact@lemonedrums.com with your module's brand and exact model, and the step where things went wrong. A short phone video of that step (for example, the meter while you press the controller) usually lets us answer in one reply.