and I got suckered because, of course, the hi-hat has been nominally assigned a pitch value which has no relationship to its actual core pitch; so the real question is
does it make a difference if I drop or raise the perceived pitch height of the hi-hat sample by an octave to which the answer is an emphatic yes and no
if you lower the sample by an octave, everything in the spectral profile of the sample gets lower and therefore closer together - the inharmonic nature of cymbals is such that this may be a good thing or a bad thing- on the upside it means that your sample is as tight as it could be, on the downside you have less air (high freq content) in your hi-hat part
similarly, if you raise the sample by an octave, everything in the spectral profile of the sample gets higher and therefore further apart - the inharmonic nature of cymbals is such that this may be a good thing or a bad thing - on the downside it means that your sample is not as tight as it could be, on the upside you have more air in your hi-hat part