Omega GM-1 lets you bring your real drum set to Rock Band
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 1st 2010 6:29PM
posted February 1st 2010 6:29PM
We've already seen some mods for using a real drum set with Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but it looks like Omega Music Technology's new GM-1 system is the first off-the-shelf option, which should no doubt please the less DIY-inclined among us. Available on its own or bundled with a Pearl drum set, the system packs individual sensors that detect each drum hit with "speed and accuracy" and, most importantly for those not playing, support for mesh heads and a dampening system for the cymbals -- of course, if you opt for the drum set package, you'll also get some real drum heads. Omega is even going so far as to promote the system as an ideal way to learn to play the drums and, conversely, says that non-gamer musicians that tried it were able to start playing songs with ease immediately. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look at the complete kit, and look for the basic system to run you $249.
If only Rock Band could figure out whether you have those cymbal attachments or not. As it is, you need to know the song to know whether to use the drum pads or the cymbal attachments.
i'd have to ask my neighbors for permissions first...
@kongmw And how loud would oyu have to turn up the game to hear over a live drummer?
@kongmw The drum heads used on this drum kit does not make any sound. Those are muffled drum heads, used for practicing.
@SewerShark how are they muffled? theyr still on the shell and they look as if theyr tightened on. you would have to put something on the head itself to mute it
This is sick. Doesn't the game+pack cost this much anyways?
@Plazmic Flame You are comparing an plastic kit with a full, maple and steel drum kit that can be used to make real music.
Please Give these away Engadget!!!
I do believe that playing rock band is a good way to go from zero drum ability to a moderate understanding of keeping time and using different beats, it worked for me.
@yulebellow Yes, I have a percussion background and play on expert. It's not perfect, and the stock peripherals are a limitation, but it's a pretty damn good analog.
However, there's something to be said for "walk before you run", and this will not teach you rudiments or stick control, nor the exercises that improve your technique. But if you're the kind of person that wouldn't do those things anyway, and would only learn by sitting on a set and pounding away, it's okay. It will only take you so far that way though.
It's not a bad price for introductory set of drums, and to boot you can use them with rock band. I don't play those silly music games but I'm sure theres tons of people who do, this seems like a great way to have a semi-permanent set of drums with higher quality than what comes in those silly cardboard boxes.
@thetoad
And apple sucks right?
@yulebellow
Thats always a given, crapple sucks
This is going to require a pretty loud sound system (for the other players). I wonder if there's a video on how well the cymbal dampeners work...
You mean you have to use your hands?
That's like a baby's toy.
@Meekermoloko
+Rep for reference.
It seems like if you are at the point where you need something like this you should stop playing Rock Band and just learn to play an instrument like for real.
@Drybonz
This is more geared towards real drummers who also enjoy playing Rock Band.
How is this not "learning to play for real"? You're playing along to songs on a real drum set. I can't count the number of times I've done that on electric guitar. Does that mean it's not learning it for real?
Why? I got better things to do with my non-existent money...
When can I do this with my existing guitar? I know that'll be hard and everything... But still...
Like your neighbors aren't pissed off enough already.
Omega makes an intriguing argument, claiming that proficiency with its GM-1 will help make Rock Band players into real drummers. This hasn't been my experience with the game, however... playing the guitar won't make you a better guitarist, and while singing well can be an asset when playing with the microphone, it's by no means a requirement. Just adjusting your pitch to follow the onscreen bars is enough to rack up big points, even if you sound terrible while doing it... hell, even humming along is good enough.
I wonder if their tall promise about the GM-1 improving your drumming skills can be proven scientifically? I have my doubts, but who knows... maybe the rhythm required by Rock Band is enough to make someone a solid (if not exceptional) drummer. Engadget needs to test this device and determine if there's any truth to Omega's claims.
@MNeko
I can prove rockband can help you learn or make you a better drummer.
Again you need to know since there are only 4 colors, what pad, cymbal to hit during the song - but once you learn it a bit and make the mistake of hitting the wrong one (ride instead of blue tom. open hi hat instead of ride) ect... you will learn.
TO prove this I started a Video diary of me learning drums from rock band
I bought an ION kit with extra cymbals. modded the hell out of the kit to make it realistic as possible and recorded myself playing songs as well as doing tutorial and introduction videos to the mods I did to help people out with their mods and if you watch me playing rockband around November of when the ION kit came out to my most recent videos you will see I learned alot. I even have a open / closed hi hat mechanism to learn open closed notes on the hi hat (yellow/blue) as well as midi and real drum module conversions to help it sound correctly to me as well so I can play along to the game and hear ME not the master track playing.
Check me out on youtube
COMP1DEMON on you tube.
Please no flames. This is strictly for fun and documentation.
I personally was thinking about a Epro drum set for rockband as an upgrade to my kit now. This looks interesting too.
The other thing about this kit that they don;t tell you is that it is a MIDI BOX. It is just a midi card inside a box with midi note hard coded into the firmware.
IN ORDER TO USE THIS - YOU NEED A GUITAR HERO DRUM SET - NOT A ROCK BAND DRUM SET.
It has a switch to differentiate between the two games as the layouts and charts are a lot different (5 notes vs 4) and orange is not on rock band + the midi notes differ.
I would be interested in hooking this module up to a real drum brain and I would like to see how well it works with a Alesis DM5 or a DTXpress 4 or Roland T3,5,7,10 ect....
I will bet you if you have V drums or any other electronic set you can jsut use the module and you are set.
I prefer the modules at rockbandkickbox.com
Mike makes way better stuff - I bought all his stuff.
Again check my video diary at comp1demon on you tube - I think the GM1 is a rip off of products on the market for awhile now.
I will add more later.
@Comp1demon
try to join a real band with real instruments... you'll be less ridiculous. rich kid toy... I don't think they care about it in haïti right now...
@Comp1demon 5 notes vs 4? you know there are no notes on drums.... right?
@flett
Yes, I Know there are no notes - but it is called a NOTE CHART in the game - stemming from the note chart from guitar hero - they used the same NOTE CHART CONCEPT that started on guitar hero and extended it to drums (hence I still call it a note chart). But just like guitar tabliture.. think of the CHART (or lanes) in rockband (better example than guitar hero) as tabliture. THe red can only represent SNARE - (except when they flip the hi hat and snare in some songs like orange crush and everlong) But except for the flipped chart on those rew rare songs red will always be snare. Yellow will always be hi hat and tom (pretty easy when playing to know which one to hit especially if you know the song) on rare occasion it will be a small splash cymbal and since they usually are right near the hi hit on a real set - the yellow lane is used to represent them. The blue will represent alot of things, TOM, OPEN HI HAT, RIDE Cymbal splash, RIDE BELL, OR COW BELL. Again, if you know the song pretty easy to read the blue for what it is - (though open hi hat takes some getting used to since it is coded for a reason that way, but since there is no hi hat pedal in the game by default people that are not drummers do not realize what it is. Then there is green TOM or Crash cymbal (and effects pads for some songs - these are effects sounds the drummer triggers live for some songs). Line will always be the bass (kick) drum.
So for only 4 lanes - you can really learn to play a 9 piece set if you learn the songs in your head.
SO smart ass - while drums don;t have NOTES - rockband and guitar her have NOTE CHARTS or lanes that represent what you are playing. The toy guitar will never ever translate to playing a real guitar - the only thing it will teach a guitar player is how to use all 4 fingers and give them muscle memory for moving on their own, but rockband will teach you drums if you have the right kit and the right open mind to learn.
@(Unverified)
hey there snotty boy/girl.
It is not a rich kid toy. It is my project. Took me a month to save up for just the ion kit. I did my forum reading and spent over 2 years deleloping and tweeking my set to be where it is.
I am not looking to join a band at the moment - I am enjoying learning to play the set and just starting to get into playing open on my own without the master track of the game - using my own sounds from my real drum brain out of an amplifier.
As for Haiti - I could care less - I have my own problems to worry about. I made my 20 donation to my church - I can't do anything else.
Errrr, last time i played Rock Band it was nothing like real drums. All the sequencing was terrible. Anything new? Why cant you just play a real drums to real music? I got a Roland TD12, any idea if i can hook that baby up?
@theRumble I'm using a Roland TD-9K and a midi rockband module I bought from this guy http://www.rockband.com/users/sethmeisterg I looked for the thread in the rockband forum about his module. It's less expensive then a lot of the other ones. Give him a search or message (if using the RB forum you have to allow non-friends to send messages back to you). He has a gmail though
I was even able to remap some controls on the kit. I changed it so the foot pedal doesn't do yellow hits (without a drumstick hit), but that if the hi-hat is open it changes to blue notes. Having the crash on the left and ride on the right is a little confusing when it's B-G-B-G cymbal hits but otherwise feels good.
Also had to tweak the sensitivity of it to stop double-hits (kept losing combos with cymbal hits)
This I think is a way better set-up than a real drum-kit with this whacky set of contraptions hooked up. Plus if you want to actually play the drums while playing along to the rockband music (without the drum track) go into practice mode and pull out the cable from the controller to the midi-in and then hook the sound into mix-in. So awesome. Changing the kits to play along to different tracks, real double-bass pedals.
@decypherSMC this is a review of an older version of the module http://dagware.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!FDF54D7B666066FC!344.entry he's since created flat buttons with some decent looking sticker/faceplates over them.
@theRumble
YEs you can...
Check out my videos on youtube
MY user name is COMP1DEMON
WIth only a used guitar her drum set or if you want to spend a bit more money a good sequenced midi box and ION brain - you can turn your roland kit into something that can play rockband,
If you look and watch carefully - the charting on rockband is almost true tabliture for drumming - it is very ingenious in it's coding if you can see what they did, see my other post to explain how it works (above).
Thanks
with this maybe i could actually play the songs. the ones they use for the game is too cramped, and the pedal just gives you shin splints.