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Rock Band 3 keyboard hands-on (video)
The internet at large has been joking about it long enough -- "hey, where's Keyboard Hero?" Well, here it is, and it's pretty killer. We're on the fence on how to describe our experience with Rock Band 3's not-a-keytar, because in many ways it's reflective of your own thoughts on the rhythm genre and pianos in general. Those with actual musical backgrounds are likely to scoff at the easy mode's use of five arbitrary keys for the tune -- not the groupings you see above, but a different set of colors, one per white note in the right half, with indicators just above the notes on that crevice between the top panel and keys themselves (picture's after the break). Even if the actual song calls for a F# note, hitting a F or even a B might be called for instead. It's a mentality that's as old as the genre, that what we're really doing is pantomiming instruments -- or in the case of drums, just hitting key notes and letting the game fill in the blanks on lower difficulties. This, however, is an actual piano. The over-simplification is probably a necessary illusion in standard mode -- or even when the keyboard is used as a replacement guitar / bass -- but having actual proper keys will probably drive the more musically apt insane. Then again, if you're not of that mindset, none of this will probably bother you at all, so feel free to ignore our impressions and bang away. Pro mode, on the other hand is pretty killer, for all the reasons that standard mode can be irksome. Even at the simplest levels, you're actually getting to play proper notation. Perfect for us, no matter how badly we flubbed up "Crosstown Traffic" on Expert. Sight-reading is a challenge, but nothing worse than actual notation. As we've seen before, the main lane doesn't show all two octaves, but the warning we're given before shifting to the right or left is easy enough to follow, but just like when you first grabbed the plastic axe, expect a good bit of adjustment frustration. See more pics below, and video after the break. Update: Clarification added to the different color groupings used for Pro and Standard mode. %Gallery-95363%
Rock Band 3's gear priced: keytar and Pro guitar sport MIDI out, adapter lets you use any keyboard / electronic drum set
Has your head cooled from all that rock news this morning? Nope? Well, we'd hate to rile you up again, but Mad Catz -- now the official provider of all Rock Band 3 equipment -- has priced its latest arsenal for the upcoming rhythm revival title. There's also a few new details on each instrument, so without further ado: Wireless Keyboard: That MIDI port many of you spotted is for output, letting you plug the two-octave (C3 to C5) velocity-sensitive keytar directly into MIDI sequencers for non-gaming use. It'll set you back $80, with an optional stand to be sold separately (no price given) alongside the game's launch. Buying the keyboard / game bundle will be $130, or about $10 off individual purchases. Oh, and if you want to feel a bit more techno, this puppy can be used as the guitar / bass input. MIDI PRO-Adapter: Want to use your own keyboard or electronic drum set? Here's the mediator you need, from MIDI to USB to console, and it sports the D-pad and other necessary gamepad buttons as well as velocity sensitivity adjustment controls. Asking price is $40. Pro Cymbals Expansion kit: three cymbals, apparently rejiggered from RB2's offerings for quieter play and a pre-defined 10 degree angle. It's $40 for this hi-hat, crash, and ride pack. Wireless Fender Mustang Pro Guitar Controller: Not the Squier hybrid we saw, this one actually sports a multitude of buttons for each string, spanning 17 frets (102 buttons in all). Actual strings are used for the plucking and strumming, and here's something interesting -- the axe has a MIDI output for software sequencers. This behemoth is $150, or approximately 1.5 Benjamins in your local currency. Pictures of each instrument -- and the yet-to-be-priced Squier -- in the gallery below, as well as a few screen caps of Pro mode so you can get an idea how exactly it'll "correct you" on proper Bohemian Rhapsody finger picking. %Gallery-94999%
Rock Band 3 gets 'Pro' mode, real guitar hybrid controller and keytar revealed -- Devo be praised
Wrap your head around this one: a 150-button guitar peripheral. That's for the pro version of Rock Band 3, whose goal is to actually turn the controllers into something more fitting of actual musicianship in a separate, more advanced "Pro" mode (the core game is still intact for those want it). First up is the aforementioned two-octave keyboard / keytar, whose difficulty goes from pressing within one of five ranges to actual dead-on notes. For drums, the three cymbals can now actually function as separate notes, sharing three lanes but given their own shape to know which to hit. Guitar, however, is a whole new beast. A $150 Fender Mustang pro (pictured up top) boasts 17 frets and 6 strings of accurate placement for a total of 102 buttons, and six nylon strings that must be plucked individually. Of course, if that hits the uncanny valley of plastic peripherals too closely, there's a Rock Band 3 Squier Stratocaster that'll be coming out that can actually be used as a real guitar or a Pro model. Vocal melodies from Beatles Rock Band carry over here. No concrete release date; head on over to new Joystiq for the preview, or if you want to see true trendsetters, watch Devo predict this game all the way from 1982 -- that video's after the break.
Switched On: Stowaway from the PDA era
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Their screens lacked color and their apps lacked Internet access, but one thing the PDAs of yore had in common with the smartphones of today was text input that couldn't compare to a full-sized keyboard. The challenge, of course, is that full-sized keyboards generally aren't very good traveling companions for pocket-sized devices. In 2000, a startup called ThinkOutside addressed the issue with the first Stowaway keyboard, an ingeniously designed folding keyboard that used the dock connector of Palm PDAs to create a touch-typing experience that fit in your pocket. (Stowaway designer Phil Baker is the author of the book From Concept to Consumer, which explains how ideas become products that get built overseas and ultimately sold back here). ThinkOutside went on to create versions for PocketPCs, infrared (to accommodate incompatible dock connector standards) connections, and then finally Bluetooth. The company was eventually purchased by accessory maker Mobility Electronics, which renamed itself iGo after its flagship power adapter product, and eventually cancelled the Stowaway. At the time, PDA sales were sinking and relatively few handsets supported Bluetooth; most of those that did supported only the profiles needed for headsets and speakerphones, not keyboard input.
