Rock Band Drum Kit Modded 124
Brett "Buzz" Dawson writes "Seeing all of the Guitar Hero guitar mods I thought it would be an interesting change of pace to mod a full-sized drum kit for use as a Rock Band game controller. With everything that I build I take lots of pictures to document the build process so here is the full build of my drum kit." Fortunately at my house Kathleen has been doing the drumming, so I don't think I need to go to these extremes to handle the abuse. I'm more interested in mods that let you use the original drums as a real instrument like the guitar mods that are floating out there. The tiny bits of drum solo time in Rock Band don't satisfy my internal Keith Moon.
Using the Rock Band drum kit as an instrument (Score:5, Informative)
Step 1: Plug drum kit into PC.
Done. Your PC will detect the PS3 drum kit as a MIDI device.
Check out this link for details for the Xbox-360 version:
http://news.filefront.com/rock-band-drums-for-pc-xbox-360-vs-ps3-kit/ [filefront.com]
Re:Using the Rock Band drum kit as an instrument (Score:5, Informative)
**It does not yet work with the 360 controller, but he is working that out.
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http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14053 [rockband.com]
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Ambient music created with Rock Band drums. (Score:5, Interesting)
I posted the results on my blog. [blogspot.com]
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More Cowbell (Score:5, Funny)
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Wowee... (Score:1)
a real band? (Score:5, Funny)
Mods are great, but... (Score:1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkyRRSSKHLU [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8do51fVRyzY [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMTHozq4XPI [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ohtqvF33c [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2wk70ZSZNc [youtube.com]
I think the sky's the limit on this whole guitar hero/rock band thing. Practically every kid I know got Rock Band for Christmas, and every one of their parents took a turn on the drums or micr
still waiting... (Score:1)
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Keith Moon?? (Score:1)
You mean, they don't satisfy your desire to be an energetic and entertaining, yet alcoholic drummer with only a vague sense of rhythm?
Rock Band Rocks (Score:2)
Not The First Drum Kit Mod (Score:4, Informative)
Double bass pedals, yamaha midi kit mods, alternative bass pedals, analyzing how the piezos in the drum kid actually register hits and improving on them... List goes on.
I've modded my pedal after the cheap one that came with the kit inevitably broke after the third day of playing. Since the bass pedal connects to the rest of the kit using a mono audio plug, it's easy for someone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of electronics (me) to rig a real bass pedal to work with the kit. Documented here: http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2029 [scorehero.com]
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Having a background in high reliability electronics, I know many switches are rated for a limited numb
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And I can tell you that magnetic switches don't work well. That's the type of switch that comes with the kit's pedal. It
My tips for modding (Score:2, Interesting)
My only mod so far is to replace the bass drum pedal. I'm a "real" drummer (though I don't play much)... and I couldn't stand the included drum pedal. It has a huge springy travel, and it triggers somewhere in the middle of that travel (rather than right at the end like a real pedal would).
I have a Yamaha DTXPress electronic drum kit, and was able to use a cymbal pad from that, mounted (on a cymbal stand) right in front of the DTX's bass drum trigger. The bass drum trigger itself doesn't work for some
Pfft. Too much work. (Score:2)
Keith Moon? (Score:2)
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I'll have to wait... (Score:2)
No Hi-Hat? (Score:2)
What I'd like to know (Score:1)
This stuff is so strong that I played one song on the drums using two crescent wrenches and didn't even leave a scratch on them.
I bet I could break them easily.
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You get to play games and bang stuff. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Really (Score:4, Funny)
http://xkcd.com/359/ [xkcd.com]
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http://xkcd.com/70/ [xkcd.com]
Re:Really (Score:4, Insightful)
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I just play drums, can't play guitar for the life of me and I Really enjoy guitar hero. I'm just saying the sticks that come with it are not what most people would use in a show. Modding the set into something of a more full sized drum set while, yes, taking up FAR more room will make it a lot easier for people like me to play. It's like have to unlea
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I was the same, didn't buy my first kit until I was 25. Cost me about $400 then and pieced it together to get a double bass kit. I'm now 45 with an 8 pc pearl kit and I'm finally starting to learn Red Barchetta by Rush. (the musicians, not the fat tard ;-) stolen from slashdot sig. )
I use big sticks so I've never broken a set, but man these drums are loud at times!
Drums on these games kill me, I mean, you hit the damn things... If you can get the chops to play the
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Drums are cheap now dude... go for it!
Agreed. I've seen some great deals at music stores for decent semi-pro gear for just a few hundred dollars. More than adequate for beginners and you won't soon outgrow it. I don't even play drums and I've been considering picking a set up and learning because of it.
Guitar is WAY different, you're not going to learn to play guitar with those colored buttons.
No, but I think it could be good for us guitarists. Most guitarists can't count worth a golly good damn, but Guitar Hero makes a decent rhythm trainer. You're right: not so much for the notes, though. But then, that's not really the poi
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And "Red Barchetta" is a great song. :-) I actually started as a bass player and it was mostly Geddy Lee who responsible for that.
hehe Cool. Farewell to Kings... I HAD to learn drums after that album! I finally bought two of Neils DVD's so that I can finally learn how to solo.
I got to see Rush in concert when they were touring hemispheres. I saw them in a small arena in Geulph Ontario with about 500 other people. It was like our own private show.. Incredible. It was my second concert so I wasn't really aware of encores.. I waited patiently all night for 2112 and was pissed when they "ended" the show without playing anything of that.
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Ha, wow, Hemispheres. You're probably a little bit older than me, I would guess. I was only 10 when that came out and still about three to four years from catching the Rush bug. My first Rush concert was the Signals tour.
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I think these games have an upside & downside - the upside is that it kind of lets the player know what it's like to play in a band
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I'm a guitarist, but my rhythm sucks and metronomes are nearly useless to me. Playing Rock Band has already markedly improved my ability to stay on tempo - this thing is a metronome on steroids that will whack you when you get too far off beat. That's exactly what I need and short of a whole lot of expensive instructor time or being constantly mauled by disgusted band mates, I can't see any other way that I could have improved
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If you want a real kit you can pick up something to begin on for a couple of hundred bucks easily - you can nearly buy a new kit for that kind of money!
Electric kits start at that kind of money too, and you can modify the most awful acoustic kits into really nice electronic sensors for a few bucks per drum.
Re:A friend got Rockband (Score:5, Funny)
Also, the guitar controller should have six strings instead of just a toggle switch, and 22+ frets instead of five colored buttons. You know, so it's easier for real guitarists to play.
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A: They both like to hang out with musicians.
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A: The drool comes out of both sides of the drummer's mouth.
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Guitar Hero/RockBand - quite diff than bass (Score:2)
Re:A friend got Rockband (Score:5, Funny)
I bought the computer game "Civilization 4" and found it to be totally unrealistic, if I applied my usual style of leadership, the America in-game would be wiped out quickly, no matter how I tried to save it!
-George W Bush
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I can't really say the same thing for drums or singing. On a side note, has anyone actually used the microphone yet, and is it really lame?
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I can't really say the same thing for drums or singing. On a side note, has anyone actually used the microphone yet, and is it really lame?
As an owner of Rock Band,
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The microphone isn't lame, but seemed really easy, even on advanced settings. Either I was *really* on key, or the mic looks more for tempo and relative pitch than true accuracy.
The guitar was not as easy (and I only went up to medium difficulty), but, like you said, strumming was simple because I already play. As for "finger independence," Rock Band only makes yo
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Re:A friend got Rockband - Vocals Rock! (Score:2)
Actually I sing more than anything else. I'm a Karaoke type, and it works real well. The trick is to sing like you actually want to sing and not like someone forced you to hold the microphone. Get up there and have fun. If you know the song and can anticipate what's coming up you are ahead of the game. Some people hum to get through songs which is really boring IMHO. If you have to do that to maintain pitch, turn the mic se
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A: A drummer!
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A: Homeless.
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Man, I didn't get ANY oral hygene products with my kit. Not a one.
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And the IDO are officially recognized as asshats to me.
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I nominate Neal Peart from RUSH
If we all humor you and 'agree' that he's the best, can we let this boring and pointless debate end here and now...?
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2. Mike Portnoy - Dream Theater
Its a close race...
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