RockBand Drums as e-drum kit mod?

[AkeJay02]

So, I've been super excited about RockBand coming out soon. Not only does that game look cool, but it is going to save me tons of money, I think.

Basically, I've been wanting to do a DUI e-drum set for a long time now, but the cheapest one I could think of making was still going to cost about $450. So, when I heard about the drums coming with RockBand, I immediately thought about the possibility of plugging it into a computer via USB (which is how it would hook up the 360 in the first place), and using GlovePIE to generate MIDI, and BAM! a cheap e-drum set. Anyone see how awesome this is?

The only drawback I can see is that the pads, I'm positive, won't be pressure sensitive.

[TravisBarkerrules]

Its made by Roland, who knows.

[Chippy569]

probably won't have drivers for Windoze...

[Mirror.Circuit]

A driving under the influence e-drum set?

[crazyguy832]

If you can find a driver...

Someone, somewhere, will release em at some point, though.

:chug:

[Btrutt87]

lol he meant DIY. what a dumb head n00b.

[Mirror.Circuit]

Yeah,I know.
But I have to point stuff out like that.
haha.

[fishbulb]

Whoa, Roland made the drum pads?

I'm still undecided about Rock band or guitar hero 3.

[Chippy569]

gh3 is yawn... and they put that stupid *** dragonforce song in it... URGH.


it wouldn't be so bad to play by oneself, but when you live in a dorm with GH3 going in at least 5 rooms in close proximity, all playing that FREAKING RETARDED SONG!!! it gets old reallllly quick.

[green242]

What song?

[kc1296426]

Yeah, I'm debating rock band or GH3. Someone give me some help, please.

[mustang sally]

does anybody know if electronic drums will adapt to rock band????

[Mirror.Circuit]

What song?

Through the Fire and the Flames

[CatfishJew]

the drums on rock band only has 4 pads though.

[Sunshine]

That sucks.

Drummania was a full 5-piece, with 2 cymbals.

[SgtPlicher]

I tried it and failed bad. I guess I'm too used to normal drums or maybe I just suck.

[Chippy569]

are the rockband drums actual drums or are they like this?
https://secure.cartkeeper.com/~cartkeep/ckgold/item_images/drumpad.jpg

[Sunshine]

I think I saw on TV, like, actual drums.
"Actual drums."

[SgtPlicher]

All you have to do is search google.
http://www.ps3attitude.com/uploaded_images/rock_band_drum_kit-735533.gif

[Chippy569]

oh boy. :-\

[Sabian4015]

Yea i just picked up rockband and the pads aren't that great. Actually they are only suitable for a videogame in which most people playing it don't even play drums, or any instrument for that matter. They aren't very responsive and have almost no rebound on the pads. I can't see anyone using these as an e-kit.

[Kenny_Fever]

A driving under the influence e-drum set?

beat me to it.

I personally would probably go with Rock Band myself. That being said, one of my very best friends has GH3 and I could go over to his house and play it anytime I want. Rock Band looks very promising, however. I won't be getting it though, because the only gaming console I have is a Nintendo 64.

:chug:

[dairyairman]

i'm curious about the rock band drum kit as a learning tool. i've never played it, but it seems to me that it could be a good way to learn kit drumming basics, more so than the guitar in guitar hero. i don't think a person who is good at guitar hero could necessarily pick up a guitar and be able to do anything, but someone good at the rock band drum kit might be able to play a real drum kit to some degree. at the minimum they might learn something about timing and groove.

[Sunshine]

Guitar Hero is a weird thing.
People who are really good at Guitar Hero cannot play guitar for crap.
Interestingly enough, the inverse is true as well.

I have a buddy who actually learned to play drums off of Drummania [in Japan, the full-set-sized game, not this little...thing]. Like, it taught him grooves and time, and he was able to make his own beats...it was pretty cool.

[Chippy569]

guitar hero is to playing guitar what DDR is to dancing...

[Sunshine]

That's an incorrect statement.
DDR *is* dancing.
Ever been to a rave?

dance: to move one's feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, esp. to the accompaniment of music.

Before that comes up.

[-Obscurity-]

That's an incorrect statement.
DDR *is* dancing.
Ever been to a rave?

lol raves

[Panopticon]

Guitar Hero is a weird thing.
People who are really good at Guitar Hero cannot play guitar for crap.
Interestingly enough, the inverse is true as well.

I have a buddy who actually learned to play drums off of Drummania [in Japan, the full-set-sized game, not this little...thing]. Like, it taught him grooves and time, and he was able to make his own beats...it was pretty cool.

My guitarist friends sucked at GH initially but picked it up REALLY fast.

On the other hand, my other friend, who plays guitar, kinda sucked then after playing guitar hero for a while (and not playing guitar) he improved quite a bit.

[Seafroggys]

Many guitarists I know are actually naturally good at Guitar Hero. Granted they don't waste their time becoming Experts at every song (spending their time practicing the real thing), but by default they're far ahead of the game.

[Kenny_Fever]

I'm a guitarist. I'm not great at Guitar Hero... I'm good at like... Medium, but that's it.

[Panopticon]

yeah i still haven't even finished hard and i've had it for a few months...granted...i barely play. I'm stuck on Psychobilly Freakout:(

[fishbulb]

I'm probably going to get rock band. No matter what it will be really fun to get a bunch of people over playing through the world tour section.

The only thing i don't like about it is how people think that they are really amazing musicians when they play the game. I don't need this game to make myself feel like i'm successful in music, but rather to have a great time with some friends.

[Panopticon]

Yeah this guy i know who plays bass plays guitar hero pretty much 24/7 and he can basically get 100% on everything without blinking an eye.

He always rubs it in peoples faces that he's better than them and they always say "Okay, not play it on a real instrument"

It usually goes like this:

He takes out his bass and plays the song VERY crappily (he's been playing for like 7 years but sucks *** =/)
Then the other person says "exactly" and walks away.

[wes_jett2008]

Lol my bassist friend is like that aswell,Just recently he was playing Miss murder on GH3 and blabin about it to everyone ...I told him to play it on his real bass,damn idiot could'nt do it...MISS MURDER people,I looked at the tab and just to piss him off I did it finger style.

As for the Rock band drums,they look quite ghey but man they are fun to play...I always find myself wanting to hit at cymbals that are'nt there though :/

[sLarkin20]

I work at a Best Buy and have played around on the demo Rockband game we set up a few weeks ago or so and the kit is pretty damn shitty. Maybe I expected too much as a drummer, but the demo doesn't come with a bass pedal so it just hands, and the pads feel like plastic which I think they are but I haven't studied the kit closely.

Basically, it doesn't feel anything like a real kit OR electric kit, and you'd probably be better off spending your money on one of those practice pad kits that are less then 200 dollars themselves.

[Super Cameron II]

i dunno the pads arent the greatest i played a demo at best buy the other day i pwned tom sawyer 1st try on expert it was fun but not exactly the best im sure it will get better though in rock band 2 like guitar hero was to guitar hero 2

[Super Cameron II]

The only thing i don't like about it is how people think that they are really amazing musicians when they play the game.

who thinks that? lol

maybe you just know a lot of douchebags

[Super Cameron II]

its pretty sweet that they have pixies on there, though

[ace76543]

the only gaming console I have is a Nintendo 64.

:chug:

you aren't missing out, trust me. you have the best of the best

[Sabian4015]

Being a drummer definatly helped out on the drums on rockband, because the first song on the drums I played was Say It Ain't So on hard and I got did it with like 93%, and my friend who doesn't play anything could barely play it on easy.

[Kenny_Fever]

you aren't missing out, trust me. you have the best of the best

Oh, it doesn't bother me at all. I'm not much of a gamer as it is, and I think not having one of the newer generation consoles helps keep me that way.

[fishbulb]

who thinks that? lol

maybe you just know a lot of douchebags

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zapQOvYNBwA

See how everybody plays like they are actually playing the music and the crowd is reacting as if they are at a real concert?

[AkeJay02]

Okay, I haven't checked out this thread since I opened it (out of town). I think some people are confused about what I'm wanting to do. First, I think if I go through with making an e-drum set, I'm going to buy two of them. Then I will have 8 pads and two pedals, which is plenty good for me, as I'm not primarily a drummer, and just want to play when I get bored.

Second, being a USB device, the drivers will probably be up, as Microsoft seems to put them up there as soon as the games and devices come out. No matter what, I'll be using a program called GlovePIE to convert the controller messages into MIDI messages, then running that through Battery to get the sounds. This is what I already do with the guitar Hero controller to get sample sounds for my band without having to buy a sampler (Long story). I guess we'll just have to wait and see, though.

[Akira]

I hate the Rock Band pads. So little rebound.
What would be really awesome would be the opposite, if someone took a real electronic drumkit and got it to control Rock Band.

[Sunshine]

But rock band only has 5 "buttons" in the game, 4 for pads and 1 for pedal, no cymbals or any o' that.
Wouldn't work.

[wes_jett2008]

Okay, I haven't checked out this thread since I opened it (out of town). I think some people are confused about what I'm wanting to do. First, I think if I go through with making an e-drum set, I'm going to buy two of them. Then I will have 8 pads and two pedals, which is plenty good for me, as I'm not primarily a drummer, and just want to play when I get bored.

Second, being a USB device, the drivers will probably be up, as Microsoft seems to put them up there as soon as the games and devices come out. No matter what, I'll be using a program called GlovePIE to convert the controller messages into MIDI messages, then running that through Battery to get the sounds. This is what I already do with the guitar Hero controller to get sample sounds for my band without having to buy a sampler (Long story). I guess we'll just have to wait and see, though.



I dont see why it would'nt work actually,Im guessing you could use the other 4 pads as "Cymbals" if the program you has will pick them up as a different..uhh...pad,or whatever you know what I mean.As for the kick its been shown already you can hook two together with a splitter and it works fine.Keep us epdated im quite intrested to see if you can pull it off.

[timehawk]

I was actually wondering if i could do the opposite. Mod my electric drums to play on my xbox. Maybe it would work if I solder the trigger wires to where the buttons on a regular controller are. Then I could use a real pedal and some mesh heads.

[AkeJay02]

But rock band only has 5 "buttons" in the game, 4 for pads and 1 for pedal, no cymbals or any o' that.
Wouldn't work.

Actually, you could just get the computer to recognize each USB controller as a seperate entity, so that it would see each pad as Controller A, Pad B and the like. That explains how you can have two of the same controllers plugged into your computer at a time, and use them seperately.

As far as doing this idea backwards, it is possible, I think. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR_fdzNrVP8 for more info.

[Sunshine]

You'd have to re-program the game to add extra functions, like cymbals and what-not.
So yeah, you can have 2 controllers, but they do the same exact thing.
The game itself does not have any more than 5 functions/sounds/buttons/what-have-you.

[timehawk]

Yeah doing it like that youtube video would probably be more expensive than just getting the actual kit. I might just buy a cheapo corded controller and fiddle around with it.

[AkeJay02]

You'd have to re-program the game to add extra functions, like cymbals and what-not.
So yeah, you can have 2 controllers, but they do the same exact thing.
The game itself does not have any more than 5 functions/sounds/buttons/what-have-you.

I'm not going to be using the XBox to do this. I'm using a PC, and no game. Everything will be MIDI.

[Gary Lover]

what sucks is that guitar hero and rock band teach you to rush i've noticed

[Seafroggys]

what sucks is that guitar hero and rock band teach you to rush i've noticed

I noticed that too. I was playing GH some time back and my real life timing was supurb, I missed half the notes though, so I'd have to be ahead of the beat.

[rohbit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zapQOvYNBwA

See how everybody plays like they are actually playing the music and the crowd is reacting as if they are at a real concert?

The guy playing the drums for the "Gamespot Band" actually plays drums and he's pretty good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRfMwQeZCxs

He plays at the end.

[Seafroggys]

Played Rock Band for the first time last night. I wasn't doing too bad. Played FOrtunate Son on Medium for my first song, did okay as I was getting used to it, then did GImme Shelter on Hard and had like 95%. I tried that Clash song on Hard but got owned.

[Panopticon]

if you change the lag you can compensate for the rushing.

[fishbulb]

Do most best buys have them out on display? It sucks since they don't have the pedal for the display models, but i'd still like to play it.

[AkeJay02]

My brother just bought the game, and I hooked the drumset up to the computer (after playing it for about three hours of course...that game is the SHI-ITE). Anyway, it only took me about two minutes to come up with a very basic script for what I'm doing. Here it is, for those of you with the same idea. Use GlovePIE to make it, of course.

midi.OpenHiHat = joystick1.Button2;
midi.CrashCymbal1 = joystick1.Button1;
midi.LowFloorTom = joystick1.Button3;
midi.AcousticSnare = joystick1.Button4;
midi.BassDrum1 = joystick1.Button5;

Once I buy my game, and then buy another drumset, giving me two, I'll have a full kit, I believe.

[rohbit]

My brother just bought the game, and I hooked the drumset up to the computer (after playing it for about three hours of course...that game is the SHI-ITE). Anyway, it only took me about two minutes to come up with a very basic script for what I'm doing. Here it is, for those of you with the same idea. Use GlovePIE to make it, of course.

midi.OpenHiHat = joystick1.Button2;
midi.CrashCymbal1 = joystick1.Button1;
midi.LowFloorTom = joystick1.Button3;
midi.AcousticSnare = joystick1.Button4;
midi.BassDrum1 = joystick1.Button5;

Once I buy my game, and then buy another drumset, giving me two, I'll have a full kit, I believe.

Question is, does it work?

[AkeJay02]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIre8qkQIvs

I just posted this. It's pretty basic, as I only have one set to play with.

[AkeJay02]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zapQOvYNBwA

See how everybody plays like they are actually playing the music and the crowd is reacting as if they are at a real concert?

I checked out that vid. Pisses me off how they play it on easy or medium. I don't even REALLY play drums a lot, and I hate playing below hard.

[Aaron]

I'm a guitarist. I'm not great at Guitar Hero... I'm good at like... Medium, but that's it.
I'm closer to well-done then medium, myself.

[fishbulb]

Hey akejay, do you notice any faults with the drum pads at all?

Reason i ask is that i've heard many reviewers say that you must hit them pretty hard for them to register and even still some of the notes don't come through. Have you noticed this?

[ace76543]

I'm closer to well-done then medium, myself.

i see what you did thar. but yeah, that video is uber fail.



i suck at guitar hero, but i plan on convincing a friend to get rock band so i can try out the drums

can you move the drums around, or are they unadjustable

[AkeJay02]

As far as faults, there is a problem with rolls, so I try to stay away from them. It's almost like you have a very small window for sensitivity, and if you hit it to hard, they don't register, but if you hit them too soft, they don't either. Other than that, there is an issue with rebound, in that it isn't very much. You get used to it, though, and I'm satisfied for now. Though in the future I do plan on modding up the pad's.

It is a little bit adjustable, but not enough, really. The hi-hats are at the same level, so you can't cross-stick them very well. When I get my other one, I plan on putting it in front, and making the set higher, sort of like a two-level organ. Then I'll have all of my cymbals up there.

[fishbulb]

Could you move the second pedal off of the stand and have it like a hi-hat pedal?

[rohbit]

Also, there's probably no sensor for how hard you hit in order to do accents etc.

[wes_jett2008]

Actually the problem with the rolls is a hardware thing,You probably have a early production drumset.They will fix it for free if your willing to wait a couple days,a friend of mine got his replaced and now it registers the rolls very well...you dont have to hit to hard either now.

[fishbulb]

That's good to hear because (apparently) my parents haven't been able to buy one yet so it will be for the better to get one as late as possible because all of the design flaws will be worked out already.

[AkeJay02]

I had heard that, but I wasn't sure. What is the process of getting it fixed. Who do I send it in to?

[AkeJay02]

Could you move the second pedal off of the stand and have it like a hi-hat pedal?

I'm assuming you're talking about when I put the two together. I am probably going to be doing that, yes. It will be a lot easier to say for sure when I actually have the second drumset, though.

[Sharkey Boy]

Just very quickly my friend the lead guitarist in my band, can like uber shred, but was like naturelly gifted at GH and can complete the dragon force tune on expert ...so theres one person who can dispell that myth :)

Im good at real guitar and play GH on hard mode so...ya...pointless post just foer the sake of it

much love xx

[AkeJay02]

Just very quickly my friend the lead guitarist in my band, can like uber shred, but was like naturelly gifted at GH and can complete the dragon force tune on expert ...so theres one person who can dispell that myth :)

Im good at real guitar and play GH on hard mode so...ya...pointless post just foer the sake of it

much love xx

I'm not sure what you are trying to tell us, but okay. To be honest, I play guitar, and play on Hard on GH, as well. But I don't think that is because I am good, as much as it is because there is such a tiny gap in difficulty between Easy, Medium, and Hard, and then a huge gap between Hard and Expert.

I think this because I don't play too much drums (though I do a little), and I always play drums on Hard, but rarely can I beat the songs on Expert, except for In Bloom by Nirvana.

[wes_jett2008]

I had heard that, but I wasn't sure. What is the process of getting it fixed. Who do I send it in to?

http://support.ea.com/rockband

I've heard reports of people getting them back in about 3 days,If you do the express shipping and use your credit card they put a $100 hold on your credit card.Then you put your old set in the box and send it back to em,then they release the 100 bucks.Im guessing they do that to cover costs when people try to steal em.