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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.
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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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.
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