No Online Harmony: Very Disappointing

[MisterSchulz]

You’ll even be able to play with six players online, as long as all the singers are on the same console. This is mainly a technical issue due to the fact that voice takes up quite a bit of Internet bandwidth
http://rockbandaide.com/the-beatles-rock-band-preview/

Big disappointment, technical issue or not. I'd have to say this puts a huge damper on the game for me, since the person whose excitement about this game is most on par with me (who loves The Beatles, loves Rock Band, and ACTUALLY sings RB) is available to play with me online (distance).

Sucks that the only way to get top band scores is with in-person bands.

Harmony is the biggest billed feature of this game, it's a big shame you can't do it online. I really won't have many chances to do it offline.

[krammkracker]

Hopefully they can figure out a way for this feature to work onlone for RB3 and for a possible patch for RB:B

[MisterSchulz]

Just thinking about it, how much bandwidth do they really need? If Xbox Live can handle over 10+ people in a Party, all chatting with each other, doesn't it seem feasible that 3 voices could work. Maybe they are worried about sound quality.

But at the same time, hearing the other online voices isn't THAT important. What if they didn't transmit the voices online, just tracked the scoring of the Harmonies? If it would at least allow us to play with Harmonies online, I would take this over no Harmonies online at all...

[beingmused]

I think it might have more to do with the fact that, due to the system where vocalists can switch between primary and harmonies at will, it would mean each participating system would have to track the pitches of all 3 voices. It isn't that the voices need to be heard (which they don't), its that you would have remote consoles scoring the pitch of 3 voices from 3 locations, which would be very difficult to do technically I imagine.

[cutmaclass]

Why would you want to Harmonize with someone you can't hear?

[Oddbrother]

This is understandable. Nevertheless, I'll have better luck with my parents in harmonizing vocals anyway.

[vcalzone]

Why would you want to Harmonize with someone you can't hear?
Exactly. The system is designed specifically not to force a singer to stay on one track, so there's no way for the game to assign roles, which would be required for online play. Even when you have a vocalist online, you don't see them hitting the pitch. So what good would it do?

[Oddbrother]

Even when you have a vocalist online, you don't see them hitting the pitch. You do in Score Duels and Tugs of War.

[Max2323232]

Having harmonies online would be like have two people play drums, one person playing red and yellow and one playing blue and green, and either playing bass drum. Does it sound like a bad idea yet? If not, then add a varying delay between those two people. That is pretty much what online harmonies would be like.

[MisterSchulz]

Why would you want to Harmonize with someone you can't hear?

So we can get high scores. So we can both sing, a big part of the game. Plenty of reasons

[MisterSchulz]

Having harmonies online would be like have two people play drums, one person playing red and yellow and one playing blue and green, and either playing bass drum. Does it sound like a bad idea yet? If not, then add a varying delay between those two people. That is pretty much what online harmonies would be like.

I think this is a poor analogy, considering that with Harmonies, there are actually separate Harmony parts. Even if you can't hear the other player's voice through online, you could still hear the actual Beatles' separate harmonies.


Exactly. The system is designed specifically not to force a singer to stay on one track, so there's no way for the game to assign roles, which would be required for online play. Even when you have a vocalist online, you don't see them hitting the pitch. So what good would it do?

That's the thing I was worried about in my other post which initially made me worried about this issue when Harmonies were announced: Since all Vocal parts are essentially considered one "instrument," how would the system be able to detect Microphones on different consoles online? I was hoping that somehow the game would detect any Mic plugged into any console connected online. It appears this isn't the issue though, the issue is the Bandwidth. Yes, perhaps tracking 3 pitches is very Bandwidth-intensive.

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

Why would you want to Harmonize with someone you can't hear?

Sound logic. Works for me.

[MisterSchulz]

Sound logic. Works for me.

Let me just repeat a main point: Just because you wouldn't be able to hear the other player's voice, doesn't mean you couldn't still harmonize with the actual song.

Harmonizing with the other player's voice is not my concern: being able to play online as a full band is.

[Sargehalo51]

This is such a non-issue for me. One of the biggest and best parts about the whole Rock Band expirience for me has been getting together with friends, in person, and jamming together. It's the kind of thing you can never duplicate online with people whom you don't actually know, and aren't physically playing with.

TB:RB shall deliver more of that in person fun, with my favorite band of all time!

[Ehfahq]

This really comes down to people being pissed off about scores and how they wont be able to get the top of the top with out being in the same room.

I honestly dont care either way. I will be singing along even if there isnt a mic infront of me while im drumming.

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

Harmony is about singers working together as one unit to create a certain sound. Having the singers separated ruins the entire point.

edit: and what the two posters on top of me said ^^

[Sargehalo51]

I will be singing along even if there isnt a mic infront of me while im drumming.

This!!! Being a fellow drummer, and HUGE Beatles fan, I will be doing the same exact thing.

[fatalvendetta]

I almost never play just guitar or just vocals in Rock Band anymore unless there's enough people around to have four separate players. I'm almost always singing and playing guitar. Harmonies became a major selling point for me as I could still sing and play, but I wouldn't be hogging the vocals. I could sing harmonies. Or switch around. I don't get people over very often that want to play Rock Band. Most of the time my guests want to drink and play cards or beer pong and whatnot. I've had my fears for a while that online harmonies wasn't going to be possible, but I had hopes. It has nothing to do with score; that's just how I prefer to play. This is very disappointing for me and might actually be a deal-breaker.

[MisterSchulz]

I Most of the time my guests want to drink and play cards or beer pong and whatnot.

Haha... exactly. I need different friends, they never want to play RB. Beer pong is the most overrated game ever.

[MisterSchulz]

But to expand, that is a great point: With the difficulty of most of these songs being on the easier side, I was looking forward to doing a lot of Bass/Guitar + Vocals. Especially since I know the lyrics and vocal parts to Beatles' songs better than any other songs out there. It was a double plus: easier Guitar parts and familiar vocal parts would allow me to have a blast voxtaring, and at the same time up the challenge from just guitaring or just singing alone.

But if I wanted to play as a band online (which usually is my only choice, online), and we have a dedicated Vocalist on another console, I am left with just Guitar/Bass/Drums. I can't do harmony.

[DookieMan]

Can you play online with it if you had the three singers on the same console?

[MisterSchulz]

yep

[Daytripped]

Why can’t other people hear me singing online?

Simply spoken, LAG. It takes a second to transmit voice over the network, and that's far enough behind to make it sound awful if you're singing. Because of this, we don’t transmit the voice.


(Source from Rockband FAQs)

[Rod_Stixx]

That's too bad, but I'm not too upset. The game will still be quite awesome, and I'll be singing the harmonies while I'm playing whether I'm hooked up vocally or not. Won't contribute to the score, but I'll be singing the harmonies anyway. If you do that , you'll be getting most of the fun anway.

[IErrantVentureI]

I gave up on Rock Band online a long time ago.

[MisterSchulz]

I gave up on Rock Band online a long time ago.

True. I guess I've given up RB Leaderboards/Scoring too.

[nbalive2005]

I almost never play just guitar or just vocals in Rock Band anymore unless there's enough people around to have four separate players. I'm almost always singing and playing guitar. Harmonies became a major selling point for me as I could still sing and play, but I wouldn't be hogging the vocals. I could sing harmonies. Or switch around. I don't get people over very often that want to play Rock Band. Most of the time my guests want to drink and play cards or beer pong and whatnot. I've had my fears for a while that online harmonies wasn't going to be possible, but I had hopes. It has nothing to do with score; that's just how I prefer to play. This is very disappointing for me and might actually be a deal-breaker.

If this little thing is a deal breaker for you then i dont think you honestly like the beatles that much

[nbalive2005]

Can you play online with it if you had the three singers on the same console?

Yes it says right there in the OP:confused: