Ion's $300 "Drum Rocker" premium drum kit for Rock Band unveiled

Well, that was quick. We mentioned Ion's fancy drum kit yesterday, which will be released around when Rock Band 2 ships, but works with both Rock Band games, and now we've got a price and a press shot of the Drum Rocker. The $300 set has high-durability pads, which are supposed to play quiet and will register the velocity of your hits, but the real win is the re-configurability of the whole set -- much like a for-realises electronic drum kit. We're also really digging the metal-reinforced kick pedal, which seems a major improvement over the junky, difficult pedal packaged with the original game. Only $300? We'll take two.

[Via Joystiq]

[djdollar @ Jul 12th 2008 3:32PM]

I didn't preorder mine.

[ddub @ Jul 12th 2008 3:14PM]

Ion would sell this kit for $100 if it wasn't made for Rockband. I guess Rockband licensing is expensive.

[Frun @ Jul 12th 2008 3:16PM]

$300 and only one bass drum pedal? WTF

[bob @ Sep 9th 2008 3:30PM]

Can you actually play a double bass pedal? this is starting to get annoying, if there was ever an argument, it would be whether to include a real hi-hat, which is one of the most standard parts on a basic "real" drum set. 90% of "good" music can be played with, *gasp*, a single kick pedal.

[Ivanov @ Jul 12th 2008 3:32PM]

pretending you are actually making music while not? WTF?

[Josh L @ Jul 12th 2008 4:12PM]

What does that have to do with Rock Band?

90% of today's bands have this same issue.

[A.Larose @ Jul 12th 2008 6:18PM]

nice one Josh and i'm pretty sure you'll be able to use this as an electric drum set anyways.

[macserv @ Jul 13th 2008 2:39PM]

Right, it's up to you to make the distinction between yellow pad and yellow cymbal. Rock Band doesn't care which one you hit as long as it's blue.

Guitar Hero: World Tour, on the other hand, *does* know the difference between the two cymbals and the three pads for its drum kit.

[MuffinStory @ Jul 13th 2008 6:28PM]

@macserv: Well, they had to have some way to still let you be able to use the old ones...

[Arjy @ Jul 12th 2008 3:34PM]

do the cymbals just give you two options to hit blue and yellow? or are they just for show.

[Wayne @ Jul 12th 2008 3:42PM]

They give you an alternative pad to hit for the respective colors. When green is a crash cymbal you could hit the cymbal. When green is a tom you could hit the pad.

[macserv @ Jul 13th 2008 2:39PM]

Right, it's up to you to make the distinction between yellow pad and yellow cymbal. Rock Band doesn't care which one you hit as long as it's blue.

Guitar Hero: World Tour, on the other hand, *does* know the difference between the two cymbals and the three pads for its drum kit.

[Blacksheep @ Jul 12th 2008 3:37PM]

Ok, I play guitar hero (no Rock Band yet, but soon) and I also play the real guitar, but this seems like a little to much money for a fake instrument. I could put that money into a new actual guitar, hell, I could get a cheap drum set and learn how to start drumming for real. I love all the simulated rock games as much as the next guy, but there is definitely a line and I think it's starting to be crossed.

[Ivanov @ Jul 12th 2008 3:48PM]

I feel the same. That line is getting crossed this time. I play the guitar the bass and it is fun but takes a lot of time to learn it. I find it troubleing that someone who might buy these fake things would think that making music is like that in any way. Also they should start to learn how to play on a real instrument cause that way they would know more about things around them. But this is like having sex with a rubber doll.

[Wayne @ Jul 12th 2008 4:27PM]

Playing the drums is about keeping a beat. You could play on five-gallon buckets and still be effective. This drum is not a "fake instrument" in the way the guitars are, but rather a potential real electronic drum kit.

The game doesn't pretend to be instructional, either. People play for fun. It's a social game. It's a lot more fun to get together with friends occasionally and pretend to play a multitude of songs than for each individual to go and learn real instruments and spend the time and effort to learn all of the real songs.

I play guitar and I'm learning drums and I have a blast playing Rock Band. I know exactly what the game is and what it isn't.

[Nick8708 @ Jul 13th 2008 4:42AM]

As Wayne said, the drums are quite a bit different than the guitars. When it comes to the games, both Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the guitars, bass and lead, are abstractions of the experience of playing the real thing. The drums, and vocals for that matter, are not nearly as abstracted. Thus, playing in Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour on the drums can actually help somebody become a better drummer because, again as Wayne said, it's about keeping a beat and that's something you can develop via playing. I'm sure the majority of people picking up Rock Band and GHWT aren't looking to learn to become better drummers through playing, but those who want to I'm sure will be able to. Afterall, you learn through experience and training (which is a mode RB2 is incorporating), so what's the difference between playing along with a game to learn the drums or watching an instructional video? This set of drums, while missing a hi hat pedal as many, many, let me stress many people have pointed out, would provide a good road to learning the instrument while making it a fun, social experience.

If we were to take an informal poll of the people who were looking to buy these for RB2 as well as have a decent introductory set of E-drums, whether they want to learn the drums or already have experience, I'd be willing to bet they'd far outnumber the people who would buy them purely for the game.

[therpham @ Jul 12th 2008 3:40PM]

It's not just like a for-real electronic drum kit, it is a for-real electronic drum kit. Or can be, anyway. I'm not sure if you have to pay extra for the "drum brain", but if you don't, I might be able to use that as an excuse to buy this.

"It's not a video game accessory, it's studio equipment!"

[Dan @ Jul 12th 2008 4:01PM]

lol... 'drum brain' - what year is it?

[Marz @ Aug 30th 2008 12:49PM]

Therpham, as you may have found out by now, the coverter mod to make this a for-realies kit is extra. Currently about $359 extra, which would put the whole thing up a little higher than just buying a similar electronic drum kit. But this way you can use it for RB and for-realies.

[therpham @ Jul 12th 2008 3:44PM]

Also, here is a video of the prototype for these at CES this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owr7MuggX8Y

[Wayne @ Jul 12th 2008 3:44PM]

With a drum controller this set is a fully-functioning electronic drum kit. It's not truly a "fake instrument" in the way the guitars are.

[Robert @ Jul 12th 2008 4:15PM]

Hey, if the guitars had "guitar controllers" they'd be fully functioning electronic guitars and not just "fake guitars." Stop hating on my sweet little malfunctioning Rock Band guitar. :(

[Kinger @ Jul 12th 2008 11:38PM]

Ya, but it's not.

I play my RB drums on my PC via Drum Machine (kudos to Andrew Rudson for this) and you can only go so far with out a second pedal and no hi-hat.

Its great for learning basic beats..which it what I'm doing. But that's just about it.

[Doug @ Jul 12th 2008 3:45PM]

This thing would be a lot more interesting if the two cymbals weren't just duplicates of the corresponding drum pads.

Meh.

[NoAndThen @ Jul 12th 2008 3:52PM]

this is really dumb. $300 freaking dollars? Seriously? I thought people's arguments for rocking these fake games was that it was way cheaper and more fun than the real deal? BOOO

[Moriah @ Jul 13th 2008 12:53PM]

$300 is nothing compared to what I spent to make my Rock Band experience better.

http://www.moriahsweb.com/my_weblog/2008/05/rock-band-uber.html

The Ion kit is a step in the right direction but it can't touch my setup. Since those photos were taken I have added a double bass pedal to help me with Tom Sawyer on Expert.

Even though you end up with multiple pads for one color it is pretty obvious when you should be using the crash symbol compared to a tom. It makes you listen to the music on top of just following the dots.

[OfficerDaddy @ Jul 12th 2008 4:06PM]

From the website:

you can swap the game controller module with one of the professional drum brains made by Alesis

Where can you find these and what do they cost. I went to the Alesis site and cuold not find anything. Anyone know?

[ddub @ Jul 12th 2008 10:03PM]

This is what your looking for:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Alesis-DM5-18bit-Drum-Module?sku=701700

Something that people have been doing for a while though is taking real electronic drums and hacking the controller that comes with the rockband drum to use in the game.

[OfficerDaddy @ Jul 12th 2008 4:13PM]

It looks like the aleses DM5 module is $350 and you can get a set with the dm5 for $450 so the question is will they sell the game module to hook up to an alesis set and what will that cost?

[Angel @ Jul 12th 2008 4:39PM]

I hope the 300 dollar price tag includes a guitar, mic, and game. If not it is not worth it. You could get an actual ION drumkit for less than that.

[Michael @ Jul 12th 2008 5:10PM]

Who's gonna buy a drum brain? Just wait for someone to make a program on the pc.

[Pei @ Jul 12th 2008 7:30PM]

Am I the only one that noticed there's no high-hat pedal?

[Jake @ Jul 12th 2008 8:59PM]

Yeah, no high hat pedal, and the only real addition is two "cymbals," so i look at this and say..."$300 for something i already have +2 'cymbals'??"

no!

[Andrew @ Jul 12th 2008 9:09PM]

soon... Rock Band users will be climbing up on stage during shows and actually playing the drums... much like those kids who tried to beat people with baseball bats and steal cars like in GTA.

[Arsonism @ Jul 12th 2008 10:56PM]

As cool as these look I think I will have to pass. $300 is a little steep for a controller.

[Joe @ Jul 12th 2008 11:18PM]

You know you've got an expensive game when it costs just as much as the console you're playing it on!

[DrunkNninja @ Jul 13th 2008 12:07AM]

I think a lot of people her are missing the fact that this works as a REAL ELECTRONIC DRUM KIT as well as a controller for Rock Band. So it's a very high quality set, thus the price.

Obviously if you are ONLY planning to play Rock Band with it, I'd pass. But if you want to use it to play Rock Band AND to use as an actual drum set, it's perfect.

[C-mac @ Jul 13th 2008 8:57AM]

So, wait, are we going to have to get a whole new set of instruments for rock band 2, or can we use the original drum set? i'm confused...

[Degolas @ Jul 13th 2008 10:10AM]

The bass drum pedal kinda looks like the hi-hat pedal of the Simmons SDK-something Electronic Set?

Y'know, with the flame/tribal and bird and all that.

[Brad @ Jul 13th 2008 2:28PM]

Shouldn't the cymbal on the right be green, and not blue? I forget which pad was supposed to be the hi-hat...

[David @ Jul 13th 2008 4:00PM]

I really like the idea, and would want to use the e-kit to do some computer recording, but without the hi hat, I don't think so.

[themxtr @ Jul 13th 2008 5:15PM]

wow, i just ordered that exact same pedal off ebay... interesting
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Bass-Drum-Pedal-Replacement-for-Rock-Band-All-Metal_W0QQitemZ350078510870QQihZ022QQcategoryZ139969QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[marv @ Jul 13th 2008 10:20PM]

the major miscalculation may be that people that play rockband do anything other than that... i mean most rockbandrz i know barely eat. for musicians that don't hate the game though, it's two addictions rolled into the bargain of one $300 fix.

[Cody @ Jul 30th 2008 2:42PM]

Well I don't really care about the price because I don't have any bills to pay but for others they may care more. However I think it is very high quality and looks to be a full metal frame. All of the arms are also ajustable vertically and horizontally. So in the end I think it would be worth it if you play the game as much as I do.

[AJ @ Aug 6th 2008 11:32PM]

Hell yeah am i getting this. At a steep price its worth it. Playing with a cheap crappy set ----- Looking badass with my pimped out $300 set. I don't know but its leaning to the right.

[TO @ Aug 14th 2008 5:29PM]

The Alesis DM5 Pro set is retail $599, the Ion is being listed as $299 and the DM5 drum sound module is $349 so you can play rock band/RB2 and eventually buy the sound module and you're only out an extra $50 bucks over the actual Pro set...plus you'll want to buy a kick and bass drum pad and use the pedal included for your hi-hat pedal. This is a great deal for those wanting to transition from RB to playing the "real" drums (in a garage band).

[zack @ Aug 17th 2008 11:20AM]

why not buy an electric drumset? cuz thats what this is.

i already have an electric drumset and ill be damned if i pay $300 for another one just so i can plug it in to play rock band.

[Dan @ Aug 20th 2008 2:32PM]

So can someone give me a list of what all I would need to buy in order to use these drums as an electronic drum set.......new to drumming electronically and eager to learn.


Thanks,

Dan

[Stryker @ Aug 22nd 2008 3:48PM]

More recent News, Reviews and Videos at http://www.iondrumrocker.com

[Marz @ Aug 30th 2008 1:12PM]

You just need to buy an electronic drum modual (drum brain). They say that any mod with 1/4 " inputs would work, but they highly recommend Alesis DM5, the one the drum kit was designed to work with. Check out the FAQ's at www.drumrocker.com . The rest of the site is not very useful, except to watch the kit in action, but the FAQ's get pretty in depth.