drumming
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Live out your Neil Peart fantasies with Xbox Live Indie's Drum Studio
We're of two minds when it comes to All Seeing Eye Games' upcoming Xbox Live Indie title, Drum Studio. On one hand, the trailer posted after the jump doesn't inspire much confidence, with immensely terrible visuals and musical accompaniment which takes butt-rock to gruesome new heights. On the other hand, the game allows you to turn four Rock Band or Guitar Hero drum kits into a single, gargantuan rig, with each head assigned to one of Drum Studio's expansive catalog of percussion sound effects. The potential to turn four of these into something legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart would play excites us to no end. We may not be able to stop ourselves from dropping 80 ($1) on this one when it drops sometime this month.
GM-1 connects real drums to Guitar Hero, Rock Band
If you're the type of person who spends the weekend stuffing wads of cash into your Skeet shooter, only to blow 'em to pieces with your golden shotgun once they're airborne, then the $250 Omega Music Technology's GM-1 may be the perfect accessory to your expensive hobbies. The system is essentially an intermediary between Guitar Hero or Rock Band gaming drums, allowing you to play along with the games' drum tracks on the real thing ($500 drum set sold separately). As Ars Technica points out in a recent hands-on with the product, "It's an interesting idea, but you need to be willing to put some serious time and money into the project to get worthwhile results." Aside from owning a set of real drums, you'll need the "fake" ones, too -- the GM-1 sensors send feedback from your drum set to the attached Guitar Hero or Rock Band drums, which then send the in-game cues to the gaming console. Sure, it might work, but who's got the time and money? Oh, that's right, you, Mr. I Own the Biggest Music Game Peripheral Ever. Congratulations.
Blondie drummer and UK Universities study effects of drumming games
Playing drums in games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero: World Tour could be far more beneficial than you may think. A study being conducted by the universities of Chichester and Gloucestershire, in collaboration with Blondie drummer Clem Burke, seeks to show the physical and mental benefits from banging away on a plastic kit.Dr. Marcus Smith, Principal Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Chichester, explains that he's "particularly interested" in seeing how the drumming affects "child and adult obesity, autism, stroke patients, disengaged communities, and health and mental well-being in the workplace." Regarding that last part, Dr. Smith thinks that a game like Guitar Hero: World Tour could do a lot of good in the workplace, saying the game could be like "a rock venue," lowering stress and increasing "productivity for the business." Sure, if something is going to get your workers to pump out those Excel spreadsheets faster, it's taking a quick break to sing some Elvis Costello.[Via GameDaily]
Rock Band drum kit mod allows disabled gamers to get in on the action
For us, no joy on this earth can compete with that of introducing someone to gaming. Whenever we stumble upon someone who hasn't heard of a game or knows little-to-nothing about a console, we find great pleasure in introducing them to the subject at hand. We could go on at length about what we find so interesting about Game X or Console Y, so our passion shows.That's why this mod appeals to us so much. It allows an individual to get in on drumming in Rock Band, even if they're unfortunately confined to a wheelchair. If you want to do this mod yourself when Rock Band releases on Wii, hit up the guide here.%Gallery-19119%[Via Kotaku]
Robot drummer goes solo, plays solos
Finally you can give your drummer his walking papers. Let's be honest, he was the weak link in the band, right? From now on, all your percussive duties can be carried out by this ingenious bot, whose only duty in artificial-life is to roll around, find objects to bang on, and create funky little loops. Basically, the Yellow Drum Machine uses two microphones / sound sensors on its "head" to search out surfaces suitable for rocking, then uses two sticks to play a beat, record it, and accompany the playback. The end result is a surprisingly human -- and wiggle-inducing -- rhythm. Check the video after the break to see just how nasty this robot gets.[Via Make]
Robotic drum "teacher" trains the next Bonham
An MIT researcher has developed a tool for students learning to play the drums which can speed up the time it takes for newcomers to pick up the instrument. The device, a robotic arm designer Graham Grindlay calls the "Haptic Guidance System" (or HAGUS), uses a drumstick fastened to a set of motors which a user holds while being led on beat. A brace holds the arm in place while the machine plays back a pre-recorded pattern -- in studies, Grindlay found that students with no drumming experience were able to hit the drum 18 percent more effectively after using the HAGUS. A spokesman from the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford says the work does a "wonderful job" demonstrating the ability of haptic devices to train beginning musicians. So... can a Rock Band implementation of this be far behind?[Via Digg]
Hacker makes mini-sized Rock Band drums
Want to quiet down the extremely loud clackety-clack of the Rock Band drum kit? You could simply use a few circles of foam rubber, or, if you're like hacker David Yoon, you can create your own extremely cute miniaturized drum kit for quiet, pencil-stick, desktop drumming.The hack, which includes a foot pedal made from two sandwiched CDs, has the added bonus of being playable in an extremely enclosed space and/or by an extremely agile mouse. So if you have either of those things (and a bit of technical know-how), give it a go. If you have neither, well ... just enjoy the picture.[Via Engadget]
