theferrett: Rock Band: In Case You Didn't Know....

The Ferrett (

theferrett) wrote,
@ 2008-03-18 11:55:00

Rock Band: In Case You Didn't Know....

"The Perfect Drug" is the moral equivalent of "Green Grass and High Tides" if you're a drummer on Rock Band - a song that's such a challenge on Expert that merely passing it is proof that you're intensely badass. The only reason it's not quite as iconic as "Green Grass" is that a) it's on drums, and b) "The Perfect Drug" is a downloadable song, so not everyone has it.

But above is a video of a guy scoring a perfect 100% performance on it. Which looks pretty awesome, except...

...He's not playing the Rock Band drum kit. This version is tricked out in some form so it's much more responsive; when I play rolls on my kit, it doesn't do nearly that well. Hell, I've played "Detroit Rock City" for years on real drums, and I assure you can I pull off the rolls before Paul shouts "GET UP!"... But on Rock Band, the kit does not allow me.

I don't know what he's done. The bass pedal isn't even close, and the pads have been altered in some way. I'm going to have to investigate this, but it does make the achievement... A little cheapened? Maybe not. It's still impressive, even as I'm pretty sure I could nail almost all of the basic rhythms in it with a little practice - they're not terribly difficult, just a high level of quick handwork and lightly syncopated footpedal. (I've always been a feel drummer. Replicating someone else's fills note-for-note still kills me, leaving me high and dry on the end of "Epic" when the notes I'd choose aren't what's on the official menu. Which, ironically, will make it incredibly tough when I get to Keith Moon, a drummer who went in wildly different directions every performance, but I'll have to emulate this one frozen moment in time.)

I dunno. I'll have to see how much one can mod the drum kit to make it work. Then maybe I'll get serious about fake drumming. But my real drumming calls.

(Post a new comment)

stormdog
2008-03-18 04:09 pm UTC (link)

Now that I have my cheap-ass five piece kit that I picked up on Craig's List for $50 and have played with it a little bit; I'm curious. Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm interested in what you have. Tell us all about your drum set?

I think you're right about the pads that come with Rock Band. Snare rolls never seem to register quite right even when I'm sure I'm all over them. The patterns in Ballroom Blitz especially come to mind here.

(Reply to this)

	blergeatkitty 2008-03-18 04:11 pm UTC (link)
	One thing I noticed about the Rock Band drum pads versus regular drums is that you have to really smack the shit out of the drum pads to get it to register. I'm guessing the tricking-out had something to do with the sensitivity. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	kmg_365 2008-03-18 04:13 pm UTC (link)
	Seriously - from the video they looked as sensitive as professional electronic kits. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	pi216 2008-03-18 04:12 pm UTC (link)
	I'm still working on molehill to get this; we were in a GameStop the other day, and she tried out the drumset. I heard that 'ZWEEEEEEEEEE' noise a fishing reel makes when playing out line; we're getting closer. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	wyrrlen 2008-03-18 05:07 pm UTC (link)
	Come visit for extended demo. It's hard to duplicate the joys of playing as a band in the store, but at home with someone on vocals, guitar, and drums at the same time is a great experience. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	molehill 2008-03-18 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Did not. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	wyrrlen 2008-03-19 07:13 pm UTC (link)
	See above comment ;P (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kmg_365 2008-03-18 04:12 pm UTC (link)
	At first I thought this was going to be a video of you playing Rock Band. How easy is it to reposition the pads? Having the "hi hat" pad to the right of the "snare" would probably throw me a bit. So would what appeared to be switching of the pads. Looks like he was playing the yellow pad for the high hat, then they switched it to the blue pad at the end. (Reply to this)

	shawnj 2008-03-18 04:17 pm UTC (link)
	As long as the pedal has 1/8" jack (I believe), you can plug it right into the set. (Reply to this)

das_hydra
2008-03-18 04:24 pm UTC (link)

Being as I've only ever played Guitar Hero and never actually seen Rock Band before this video, please explain the sudden strips of color where normally you have the notes you have to miss. What is that? Like "fill in the blank" from memory or something? I don't get why it suddenly does that unless that's part of the level?

Lord knows I know this song well enough in memory but that's more like lyrics and not drums. (Although there is a mighty in-joke amongst NIN fans regarding this song.)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	blackcoat 2008-03-18 04:28 pm UTC (link)
	It's how drummers activate their Star Power. Play whatever you want, then hit the cymbal at the end. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	das_hydra 2008-03-18 04:32 pm UTC (link)
	Ohh okay, gotcha. Thanks! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 04:34 pm UTC (link)
	Those strips are where the drummer can activate his "star power" - if the drummer plays in that section, a green button appears at the end of it, and if he hits it, the star power bonus is activated. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	das_hydra 2008-03-18 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	Sounds a lot less complicated than what I've seen friends go through to activate the star power on GH. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	theferrett 2008-03-18 04:40 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, it's a lot more complicated, and deucedly annoying. Not being able to turn it on on command has led to more than one death. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	das_hydra 2008-03-18 04:46 pm UTC (link)
	See, this is me stupidly not knowing anything about drumming. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	blackcoat 2008-03-18 04:41 pm UTC (link)
	....press a button? ;-) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	das_hydra 2008-03-18 04:45 pm UTC (link)
	Trust me, it's far funnier to watch these particular guys scream in failure to fail to be able to hit said button than play. That and contort themselves to hit it. Of course then I just sit there and play the song without standing and manage to hit the button without even knowing what I'm doing. Oops. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	blackcoat 2008-03-18 04:47 pm UTC (link)
	I dunno, I got SCREWED by rockband for the first week or so that I had it, because I was so used to the PS2 GH controller, and how easy it was to just slap that sucker for starpower under my palm. (Also, for the people that complained about how it was "Not Rocking Out", my reply was always "Dude, I'm turning it up to 11." :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	das_hydra 2008-03-18 04:52 pm UTC (link)
	I can see a platform change causing that trouble. Of course, in terms of gaming, I'm in the Ice Age with my original NES and Sega Genesis. Trent's joke about why they never play TPD live just got a lot funnier for me. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 04:41 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, it can be a pain in the butt if you need to rescue someone and the strips aren't coming up--with the guitar you can activate any time you have star power available. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	das_hydra 2008-03-18 04:47 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, so vastly different then GH, as well as twice as complicated. Now I know to stay completely away from the drums on RB. Thanks! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	blackcoat 2008-03-18 04:57 pm UTC (link)
	Wanna know something REALLY geeky about my Rock Band? We all play WoW together. And so, have dubbed each of the members of our band with standard roles in a WoW group, so as to ease communication. And it actually makes sense, but.. to an outsider, we're nuts. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 06:44 pm UTC (link)
	That's pretty geeky, but it does make sense. (Reply to this)(Parent)

blackcoat
2008-03-18 04:27 pm UTC (link)

According to the comments, the heads are just mousepads taped down on top. Several people asked him about the bass pedal, but he hasn't replied to any of them. :)

*EDIT*
Ok, so flipped through some of his older videos, and evidently, he did some "McGyver like modifications" to the sensors adujsting their sensitiviy and stuff.

As for the bass pedal, he gives a link to here for instructions on how to make one.

Edited at 2008-03-18 04:39 pm UTC

(Reply to this)

vrax
2008-03-18 04:32 pm UTC (link)

I'd need to poke your kit for two seconds, but it looks like he peeled the tops off. Like just yanked the gray with colored rim pads off, and left the under layer. The one on the far right looks like it still has the support/attaching tension-ring, just like one would use to mount a hubcap/wheel cover.

That's my guess. So, I'll imagine that the design of the kit has some endurance in mind, so it doesn't, you know, just get worn through the first time your drunk friend decides to thrash out. If I cold zoom in I'd be able to tell better what type of fasteners the retainer is meant to receive or attach to.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 04:42 pm UTC (link)
	No, it's black mouse pads taped over the top of them, apparently. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	vrax 2008-03-18 04:45 pm UTC (link)
	Then what's the retainer on the far one? Hrm? See.....Now I want to tear them open and find out what the guts are like! Why do I lcick the videos! WHWYyyyyyy (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	I think it's scotch tape and it's just the way the light is catching it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	vrax 2008-03-18 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	NOOOoooooo. Oh. Well ok, that's acceptable and plausible enough that I can hopefully forget about it. On the Rock Band front apparently me attempting to "sing" Garbage (i think?) while you know, hearing them for the first time is like william shatner covering william hung. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 06:45 pm UTC (link)
	You know you want to play more.... ;-) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

vrax
2008-03-18 06:58 pm UTC (link)

Um...i DID play more, is what I'm telling you. And it was still tragic.

After the song, I turned to Margaret who was trying for her first time, playing drums, and gave her a high five and said something like "yeah we rule!" and then I turned to Cat who was nailing 93% on hard axing next to us, gave her a high five a said , "thank you for putting up with my crap".

Which is when she said "dude you sing like William Shatner doing a commercial" and Margaret added "and there 's some Willaim Hung there too, maybe like listen to the song once before you try it?"

"that'd be no fun!" I proclaimed. Before guffawing at a mental image of a red-shirt clad William Hung ascending the Idol stage to be judged by Kirk and Simon.

uh. right.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoethe 2008-03-18 07:04 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, okay. That's a whole new level of awesome. But you still want to play MORE. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

vrax
2008-03-18 07:11 pm UTC (link)

Sort of. First, I have questions. And I did try the guitar, and that was godawful, I never want to do that again. Drums seems cool though. But yeah, I emailed your hubby to let him know of my intent to rock with you two and everything. I guess he figured I'd tell you, which, here it is, hahaha.

There's a sort of strange novelty to it thoght that I think will be forever lost once I have actually heard the songs. I enjoy the freakishness of how my, already terrible, voice sounds as a struggle to simultaneously read and sing along with he music these things I have never heard of before.

Coupled with the weird readiness of you all to stand there and listen to my brutality as I torture note after note.

Alas, I do think that as soon as I;ve heard them, I won't ever play it again. So we must proceed slowly. After all? I really hate that fuckin music. Except whiny Trent, he's great.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	vrax 2008-03-18 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	LOL, spawned an entry. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Deleted post)

	theferrett 2008-03-18 04:51 pm UTC (link)
	I know, but I'm finding it hard to believe that that's the only fix. And in fact, I'm told he later admits to tweaking the sensors. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	blackcoat 2008-03-18 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	Well, actually he EARLIER admits to tweaking the sensors, he just doesn't bring it up on his tPD FC. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bonerici 2008-03-18 05:14 pm UTC (link)
	sorry i deleted my comment because i saw that blackcoat was first on this topic (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	blackcoat 2008-03-18 05:38 pm UTC (link)
	I am entranced by your icon. Every time and place that I see it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bonerici 2008-03-18 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	i stole it i have no idea who did the original (Reply to this)(Parent)

wite_rabit
2008-03-19 04:10 pm UTC (link)

The reason the sensitivity is off is because of the pads buzzing. It seems to be resolved on newer versions of the kit, however. Additionally, the piezo sensor is sometimes taped, sometimes glued, sometimes screwed beneath the pad. What a lot of people do is glue some mousepads on top to cut the sound of their incessant tapping (this should also reduce some of the vibe) and sometimes tape the pad to the kit a bit to reduce erroneous buzzing.

As has been said, the kick pedal is from an e-drum kit that does not sense the hardness of the hit. The pedal is, in essence, a simple on/off switch through that little jack. It can be spliced into anything, really!

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	kellirose1313 2008-03-18 06:23 pm UTC (link)
	I've been told (since we've had serious issues with the responsiveness of our drum kit) if you get this certain kind of rubber (have the name at home) and have it cut to fit directly on the drums sitting even with the rim of each drum it increases the responsiveness tenfold and makes it better for play. (Reply to this)

	penguinodoom 2008-03-18 08:35 pm UTC (link)
	It looks like a standard home-kit for Drummania to be honest. The sensitivity has obviously been tweaked though, as with pretty much all rhythm games, nobody likes 'pad misses'. ;) (Reply to this)

	phillipalden 2008-03-19 02:17 am UTC (link)
	I've heard you can plug a digital drum kit into the game, which would explain why the guy's equipment looks strange. I asked about this a while ago because I play a digital kit and was curious. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	wite_rabit 2008-03-19 04:12 pm UTC (link)
	This is a standard kit with a digital kit bass pedal hitting what is likely a high-hat pad. You can clearly see the drumstick holders pulled out from the back of a standard Rock Band drum kit - the user has likely added mousepads and tape to restrict the buzzing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Mods (Anonymous) 2008-03-19 08:47 pm UTC (link)
	One can also get a drum pad mod, like from http://www.DrumPads4RockBand.com (Reply to this)

Mini Sitemap:

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…