Rock Band hack turns game drums into real drums, won't improve your timing

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with this hack. Instead of dropping an arm and a leg on some high-falutin' Simmons rig, you can now utilize your Rock Band drum kit to bone up on your "In the Air Tonight" fills. A gentleman named Andrew Rudson has taken the kit out of the game, turned it into a proper instrument, and is calling it Drum Machine. Using a "hack" to get the set playing nice with Windows, Andrew has augmented the experience by creating a drum "brain" that lets you assign sounds to the pads, a slick 3D interface which allows you to watch an on-screen representation of your kit in action, and a record / playback component so that you can review and / or show off your killer performances. Check the video after the break to see what we mean, and then hit up Andrew's site for the software.

[Thanks, Graham]

[e_grz @ Jan 17th 2008 10:17PM]

sounds cool. still hear that anooying rock band drum though. they really need to dampen those.

[LivingNightmare @ Jan 18th 2008 2:31PM]

you can actually buy custom cut sound dampening pads for the drums. They're color coded too. I suppose if you wanted, you could just make some yourself out of mouse pads.

[eatmoreramen @ Jan 17th 2008 10:25PM]

I hooked up my 360 drums to garagaband!

[Joseph Albanese @ Jan 17th 2008 11:02PM]

Howd you do that

[supaneko @ Jan 19th 2008 8:28AM]

...USB perhaps? I'm guessing that the program would have something that is able to detect that it is some sort of HID?

I'm just guessing though.

[eatmoreramen @ Jan 19th 2008 10:12AM]

Download 360 controller driver, download gamepad companion, turn on musical typing in garageband, select drums, move blue bar one notch left, map keys to gamepad companion, press start, enjoy!

Sorry for the crap explanation...on my iphone at work.

-mikey

[weedo @ Jan 17th 2008 10:25PM]

people have been doing this ever since rock band came out, xpadder+fl studios+brain stem = this, in a much earlier, and id say much more expandable platform.

[e_grz(Zune 80 originals owner) @ Jan 17th 2008 10:37PM]

[sarcasm]Well this is deff. better because it has a picture of the drums and lights up when you hit them[/sarcasm]

[slowerpig81 @ Jan 17th 2008 10:37PM]

Yes, I agree about that ugly THWACK sound. It ruins the sound unless you are using good ol' fashioned cans. I would go as far as saying that it is more fun to play on a synthesizer keyboard:
1)WAAAY more sounds
2)no ugly THWACK sound
3)easier to play in some cases

[Me @ Jan 17th 2008 11:26PM]

That thwak noise sure is annoying, but I found that a really easy way to dampen the sound of the drums without really lowering the sensitivity was to simply drape a towel over them. Works like a charm.

[James @ Jan 17th 2008 10:50PM]

Allow me to comment on the actual hack instead of the clicking sound the drums make: AWESOME. Great interface -- even eases the motion in the 3D pans... a very useful tool for anyone who has a love of video games and wants a taste of what a real drum kit can do.

PS -- The only time I comment is when I'm inspired to do so by commentards... Does that bring me to their level?

[taylor @ Jan 17th 2008 11:03PM]

a teacher of mine did this for garageband
http://www.creativitytospare.com/?p=33 if anyone is interested

[Ransom @ Jan 17th 2008 11:40PM]

There's a bit of a delay between when he hits a pad and when the computer plays the sound...
that would quickly get annoying for me.

[the awesome @ Jan 18th 2008 1:50AM]

I'm sure nobody else realized this, but that guys voice sounded just like mine. I'm sure I'm not the only person that can't stand to hear their voice played back through speakers. That really distracted me from what he was trying to show me.

[Duncan @ Jan 18th 2008 5:33AM]

I hooked the 360 drums up to my MacBook Pro, and use them in Ableton Live as well as Garageband. It was pretty easy... I have the latest version of the 360 controller driver installed (I don't know if it is actually necessary or not). I also have a program called ControllerMate that lets me map peripherals to keyboard keys. So, I have a ControllerMate profile for Garageband and another for Live, so that the d-pad can be used for different things (program settings mostly).

[Joseph @ Jan 18th 2008 1:15PM]

I wish people would stop trying to play real instruments and go play a game.

[Sandra @ Jan 18th 2008 6:46PM]

I read about this a few days ago on this site..
http://www.dhadm.com/content/rock-band-is-better-than-guitar-hero/

[conguero7 @ Jan 18th 2008 7:42PM]

It should also come with a metronome...
everyone wants to be a drummer.

[ZeroCorpse @ Jan 19th 2008 12:53AM]

Hey...

1987 called. They want their MIDI drum kit back.

Seriously. You can walk into any old pawn shop and find a set of MIDI drums from the 80s and early 90s that do this and more, and they'll probably cost less than the Rock Band kit + PC combination shown here.

While you're there, pick up a keytar and some pink leopard print spandex pants.

[JacKal @ Mar 30th 2008 4:13AM]

@zerocorpse

/sigh. comments similar to the one you just put here really annoy me. you're looking at a geek blog. the people reading this probably 1) are familiar with pc and usb interfaces 2) probably already bought rock band or know someone who does and 3) are geeked out enough to be entertained by people who mash these things together and share them with the rest of the geeked out community. of COURSE you could just get a goddamn MIDI drum set and do REAL music creation and drum sequencing, and I'm also equally sure most reading this blog is also already aware of that. you're not being logical or smart, you're actually being inane by not knowing the audience who is interested in this blog post. if you're not interested just go somewhere else.

[ZeroCorpse @ Mar 30th 2008 1:20PM]

Kindly eat my shorts.

The subject at hand is:

A. Long dead. This thread is from fricking JANUARY and you're commenting now?

B. Idiotic. This is ENGADGET, and if a MIDI device isn't a gadget, then I suppose I missed the session of the Geek High Council where they decided that MIDI and musical instruments don't count in the interests of geeks. Mashing things together and calling it something new when it ISN'T new, and is rather an expensive way to get to something that existed previously is just plain stupid. I don't care how "inane" you think I'm being-- Remaking something and spending way more to do it out of components meant for other things than you would if you just bought something made for the job in the first place is stupid, not cost-effective, and certainly not logical.

C. You seem to have a lot of posts defending Rock Band. You think it's the second coming of Zeus. Good for you. Personally, I think it's an overrated toy for people with no real musical skills, but what do I know? I only published four albums of my own composition and am a member in good standing of ASCAP. I guess those of us who have made real music for a few decades should bow to the power of the Rock Band kids who REALLY know what rock music is all about. Sorry. I'll step off your dick now.

D. I'm not going to butt heads on the subject of geekiness, but trust me- I'm fully aware this is a geek blog. It's relevant to my job, and seeing as I've done such geeky things as owning every video game console released in North America (and a few that weren't) since 1976, I do believe I've got enough geek cred to have the right to an opinion. And that's what it was: AN OPINION, and a jokey one at that.

You want a /sigh ? How about this:

/sigh. Nobody gets my sense of humor- Especially not the oversensitive nerds, anime-loving otaku, and Rock Band obsessive geeks.

And while we're on the topic: I see you have this thing for going back a few months to flame-on discussions that are long-over, and I just wanted to head you off before you saw fit to throw come flames on threads from 2005 in some effort to measure your geek-penis a little more. I'm not interested.

You're a bigger geek. You win.

[LazyMan88 @ Feb 18th 2008 12:10AM]

To make the game drums sound a bit better, you can always try http://www.drumpads4rockband.com/