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Rock Band Drum Kit Modded
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.
If you have the PS3 version of Rock Band, then here's how to mod your drum kit:
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/
In response to the editor comment: I hooked up my drum controller to my MacBook and used GamePad Companion to feed keystrokes into Ableton Live. I was able to use it as a real drum kit for a bit but I'm not a drummer, so instead I started using pitched tones for each of the pads.... much more interesting!
I posted the results on my blog.
Post-rock/Ambient/Drone and other noise.
And here I thought I was a bad-ass hanging a cow bell from mine.
What's not to like?
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Yes, we get it. You're a real musician, while all us fakers are just crappy little fools completely incapable of understanding what music really is. Thanks for reminding us that we're not real rock stars, and that video games are not the real world. I will stop enjoying my rock band drumsticks immediately.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
I fucking agree!
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
Actually - as someone who plays guitar - I can't fully agree with your comment. Although, in part, being good at Rockband is not going to make you a better guitarist, I believe it does help beginners move their fingers independently. Which is one of the early battles people face when trying to learn how to play guitar correctly.
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?
Seriously, stop having fun!
http://xkcd.com/359/
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
Modding real guitar to be guitar controller, friend has modded drums for a drum controller... given how much lip syncing is done in music now, at this point you'd basically be in "real" band!
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Still, in terms of timing and the logistics of where your hands and feet are I still believe the drums in Rock Band are about as faithful a reproduction of the real thing as you're likely to get in a virtual setting.
Is it DrumMania? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drummania
I'd just like to get my spreadsheets done with one.
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Actually... I prefer this one:
http://xkcd.com/70/
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
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.
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, and an "actual" guitar player, I would add the guitar playing also teaches some fundamental strumming techniques as well. You learn to strum both down and up to reduce muscle fatique, and play faster.
For drumming, I'd say the sticks that come with the game are "ok", I replaced mine with some vinyl-tipped ones that I got for my standalone snare many years ago. They're bouncier.
In addition to the syncopation learned from the snare and hat/cymbal work, the drum kit has a bass kick pedal, and this helps would-be drummers gain limb independence (arms do one thing, right-foot does other stuff) and at "Expert" stage, you should be able to transfer what you learn in Rock Band to a real drum kit (not accounting for hi-hats).
To wit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9XLiMfBRo&feature=user/ This guy uses some pretty cool video techniques to show both himself & the video from the game. He'll occasionally fade the game audio out to demonstrate what HE hears.
If you watch some of this users other videos, you can see what kind of work he has done researching the quality/effectivness of the Rockband drum kits. (Some models are better than others).
Also, the microphone is quite heavy for it's size and feels very nice. It's USB, and also doubles as the cowbell. (And you get to use it during Don't Fear The Reaper)
What, you would prefer another "BSD is Dead" article or perhaps one pointing out that Microsoft doesn't make the most secure products? At least it isn't a dupe. Yet.
"But this one goes to 11!"
The crazy kids over at the rockband.scorehero.com forums have been modding the drum controller since like a week after the game came out: http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1038&sid=d1748155f6f141a8f805db1bf5df84b3
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
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 reason, but it does have a nice mount point for the real bass pedal. I had to remove one of the crossbars at the bottom of the Rock Band kit so that I could have all the stuff under the kit where it should be -- the remaining crossbar passes between the pedal and the vertical part of the bass trigger, right on top of the clamp.
To actually connect it, all I needed was a 1/4" female --> to 1/8" male mono adapter (which I already had for playing guitar into the computer).
The Rock Band drum kit seems a little flakey when first hooking up another trigger. I even thought I had broken it because for a while, the included pedal didn't work. I was able to fix it by repeatedly unplugging and plugging it into the port on the main drumkit.
Important tip for testing the triggers... go to the song list in quick play. It lets you change the sorting of the list by hitting the bass drum.
SlagheapFirst against the wall when the revolution comes