Perfecting the Rock Band Drum Set

[James Bond]

I've been noticing a few links and discussions pop up about different things you can do to your Rock Band drum set. There are a few things that seem to really "bother people".

Noise: The pads make a lot of noise. Enough that during some songs, you hear the "thwacking" of the drum set more than the actual song. Some people say that different drum sticks (nylon tips, etc) can help reduce volume, any have experience with this?

Bounce: Because the pads were designed as sensors, there is a limited amount of bounce. If you have ever played on a real drum set, it is apparent within the first couple hits that the Rock Band drum set doesn't bounce nearly as much as the real thing. This isn't an issue at low levels, but a lot of songs require pretty quick hits on extreme. Maybe different drum sticks could help with this too?

Sensitivity: Noise and Bounce I can deal with, but the sensitivity on the drum set is what really kills me. The yellow and blue pads are noticeably more sensitive than the red and green. This, also, is not an issue at easy/medium, but at expert, this is really what prevents me from getting 5-star or gold5-star on most songs. On the red pad, when I'm trying to get out hits as quickly as possible (I hit VERY softly when I'm trying to get out a lot of notes, also), I usually only get about 1/2 or 1/3 of red. I'll get more like 2/3 of blue/yellow. I've read in a few places that taping the red and green pads can help, by bringing the physical pad closing the the sensor. What is the best way to do this? Anyone have experience?

Just my .02. All comments welcome.

 

[Ns1]

Noise - I just turn tv volume up, but I've heard of people cutting up old mousepads to place on the pad
Bounce - no comment
Sensitivity - I definitely feel you on the red. It just seems like I miss most of them on that pad. I've also been debating doing the tape trick

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Here is a really good 20-30 dollar fix for drum noise.

http://community.rockband.com/...showthread.php?t=11291

There is also pictures in the thread.

 

[TheUnk]

Get some dead beats

Link

I got these, made it much quieter than normal sticks, and because they are rubber it gives you more kickback. I love them.

I tried the mousepad thing, failed. While it was quieter, I lost kickback and the pads would register the hits less often.

 

[TheUnk]

Oh and for the sensitivity, try simply removing the pad and rotating it. They pop off easy, just be careful not to yank because there are wires attatched to them. I did this on my blue pad because it wasn't very sensitive and rotated it 1/4, worked much better. Don't ask me why though hah.

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: TheUnk
Get some dead beats

Link

I got these, made it much quieter than normal sticks, and because they are rubber it gives you more kickback. I love them.

I tried the mousepad thing, failed. While it was quieter, I lost kickback and the pads would register the hits less often.

nice! now to find some of these locally

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: TheUnk
Get some dead beats

Link

I got these, made it much quieter than normal sticks, and because they are rubber it gives you more kickback. I love them.

I tried the mousepad thing, failed. While it was quieter, I lost kickback and the pads would register the hits less often.

nice! now to find some of these locally

Yeah, me too. I tried to order from the website but it kept telling me my cart was empty... Oh well, lost my business..

 

[beat mania]

They should've just done what Konami did with their PS2 Drummania game - made it compatible with Yamaha electric drum sets.

 

[potato28]

Noise shouldn't be a problem, and it probably helps some of the new players with hitting at the same time. Bounce is gonna be crappy, no matter what. You have a little sensor behind the pad, so that limits the bounce. Sensitivity... no comment.. I haven't had time to actually sit down and play for more than 1 song.

 

[BD2003]

Yeah, the noise of the pads was completely drowning out just about everything else when we were playing. Definitely have to try rubber sticks.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: TheUnk
Get some dead beats

Link

I got these, made it much quieter than normal sticks, and because they are rubber it gives you more kickback. I love them.

I tried the mousepad thing, failed. While it was quieter, I lost kickback and the pads would register the hits less often.

Should these be basically the same thing?
http://www.samash.com/catalog/...Type=SEARCH&GroupCode=

 

[Beev]

As awesome as the game is, the hardware is incredibly shitty...

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: Beev
As awesome as the game is, the hardware is incredibly shitty...

Considering what you get for $170, I think it is actually pretty good.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Beev
As awesome as the game is, the hardware is incredibly shitty...

I think that's a little harsh isnt it? "Incredibily shitty"? Think about what you're saying here.

I think for $170 you're getting an outstanding deal. Hell, Guitar Hero 3 is $100 and all you get is the game and one guitar. For $70 more dollars here, you get the same plus a drum set and a mic (not to mention a much better play list IMO). When I first unpacked the game, I was actually surprised of the quality of all the peices--especially the drums.

Granted the first run of the hardware had some design flaws (for what it's worth--I have the first run set and have had no issues), but I think EA has done a really good job of refreshing the design and taking full responsibility for it. One forum goer got an email from EA yesterday stating that they were taking longer than expected to get him his new hardware so they were going to give him a free game for his patience (I think it's been 2 weeks?). It doesnt make everything better, of course, but it's rare to see that kind of customer service.

 

[CPA]

I like wacking the hell out of the drums. The sound doesn't bother me at all. In fact, it helps me keep focused on the beat.

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: CPA
I like wacking the hell out of the drums. The sound doesn't bother me at all. In fact, it helps me keep focused on the beat.

have you ever played with someone playing bass? if you go off, does that person also go off? thats what was happening to us sometimes.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I wish they could have charged more and had better instruments but most people wouldn't buy it so they compromised. I love the game though. It is so fun. I need to send my guitar in cuz it is dropping some notes but I'm waiting a month until they get the issues for sure fixed. I can just used explorer and LP until then.

I don't think my drums have any problems.

 

[Beev]

Originally posted by: Tizyler
Considering what you get for $170, I think it is actually pretty good.

As high of a failure rate as it has is unacceptable. It's like the freezing Assassin's Creed has. First off, ANY freezing is ridiculous, considering that most games these days never freeze once, yet AC manages to freeze at such a high rate that it HAD to have been noticed during testing...

Anyway, Rock Band's hardware flat out sucks. Guitars break so you can't strum down and I've heard of drums becoming unresponsive. It's unacceptable, period, regardless of how well it gets handled by Harmonix/EA. Sure them sending replacements quickly helps, but they shouldn't *need* to send ANY replacements.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I think it would be easier to make high quality instruments if people were willing to spend more than 110 dollars for drums, a guitar, and a mic.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Beev

Originally posted by: Tizyler
Considering what you get for $170, I think it is actually pretty good.

As high of a failure rate as it has is unacceptable. It's like the freezing Assassin's Creed has. First off, ANY freezing is ridiculous, considering that most games these days never freeze once, yet AC manages to freeze at such a high rate that it HAD to have been noticed during testing...

Anyway, Rock Band's hardware flat out sucks. Guitars break so you can't strum down and I've heard of drums becoming unresponsive. It's unacceptable, period, regardless of how well it gets handled by Harmonix/EA. Sure them sending replacements quickly helps, but they shouldn't *need* to send ANY replacements.

"As high"? What's the percentage of failure rate, do you know? I'd like to know how you came to the conclusion that such a "high" amount of users are returning their parts.

Also, it's a little rediculous to compare freezing in AC, something that's system wide, to some of Rock Band's faulty parts, which isnt system wide. Also, one has a bunch of moving parts and one doesnt. They're totally two totally different things. You're making it sound like everyone is turning in their peripherals for repair and that's just not the case-so I'm unsure why you're trying to connect the two.

What're you expecting here for $110 (system minues game).

 

[Beev]

Originally posted by: warcrow
What're you expecting here for $110 (system minues game).

No, that part is a good deal. $110 for the peripherals is great... given their quality. You get what you pay for, and Rock Band showcases this better than anyone, that's for sure.

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: Beev

Originally posted by: warcrow
What're you expecting here for $110 (system minues game).

No, that part is a good deal. $110 for the peripherals is great... given their quality. You get what you pay for, and Rock Band showcases this better than anyone, that's for sure.

Completely true. I love this game, and I have played it more than any other game I have probably. Even though I love it, I still wouldn't have paid much more for it, even with more durable pieces.

 

[BD2003]

I'm just hoping the next run is a bit better, because I really do enjoy the game.

Im really disappointed with the drums....they were basically falling apart as we played them, hell, you couldnt even securely attach the kick pedal to the thing. The entire set needs to be better weighted, and they really, really, really, really, really, really, really need to do something to lower the sound of the drums when theyre struck. I know theres a few mods you can do, but its just unacceptable with the way the thwacking drowns out the sound unless youve got it turned incredibly high up. Sure, you could hit a bit softer, but this is rock band, not jazz band. At the very least they should be bundling rubber drumsticks.

I've heard the guitars break, but on the other hand, the guitar is already a vast improvement over guitar heros. The fret buttons are flush, which is a HUGE deal if you'e ever actually picked up a real guitar. The strum bar is also a huge improvement, but I'd still like to see it stick out a bit more and have a bit of a looser touch to it, so you can actually strum with a pick or your fingers without them turning raw and bleeding. The GH2 strum bar was a bit looser, but it really banged hard once you got to the end of its travel and it sounded like the drums....cant hear the thwacking over the game.

Good start though.