DIY: Using a drum kit with RockBand

[drumrolfe]

Hello Folks:

I'm a drummer. I'm interested in picking up this game. I have two drum kits. A Tama Acoustic drumset fitted with electric pickups for soundstage performance, and a Roland V-Custom Electric Drumset.

My question is what type of interface is used for the piezzo pickups to the game console. I will be buying for Xbox360 and I plan to wire my Roland into the game so I have a more sturdy platform to rock out on. My drumset is already fitted with pickups and they feed into 1/4 Mono or Stereo instrument cables. Is there any product on the market that converts the MIDI signal into a signal the xbox can use or should I wire my pickupleads into the drumset provided with the bundle?

Thanks!

Yes, Ive read the FAQ

[AVC808]

im not an engineer, but im not sure what youre trying to do is even possible. only the bass pedal seems to run a simple signal. the rest of the pads are button maps and you wouldnt be able to plug in pickups to your existing set.
it's possible all the drum pads run simple signals all to a brain and i suppose you could gut the drumset and patch it into your own set, but it seems like a lot of work and chance of ruining two working drumsets if the final product doesnt come out right.

[govdet1]

We are all thinking on the same line. I am posting under a post that can be found under Rockband & Electronic Drums under general in this forum. Aelius has a post on youtube but I am still looking for other possibilities. We will figure this out in the next few weeks.

Thanks,

[AddictedtoKaos]

Rockband uses a controller - which are just buttons.

Red Pad = B button
Yellow = Y
Blue = X
Green = A
and the Kick is?

Personally, it would be a big waste of time trying to convert a midi signal to a I/O signal. plus the Yellow and Blue pads switch between Toms and cymbals...

Honestly the game was made for a extremely simple kit - you will go through more trouble than whats its worth and then wonder why you even started to being with...

[Delmonte]

Honestly the game was made for a extremely simple kit - you will go through more trouble than whats its worth and then wonder why you even started to being with...

Honestly, the game was made with an extremely flimsy, inaccurate kit which fixing is more trouble than it's worth. How can you blame someone for wanting to use hardware that is sturdy and (most importantly) accurate?

Furthermore, this has already been done as we've seen so it's not an exercise in futility. As for colors being used for multiple drums, you would just assign the output of multiple triggers/midi instruments to a single color. i.e. red to snare, yellow to hi hat and high tom, blue to ride cymbal and med tom, green to crash and floor tom, and orange to kick pedal. Why is that an impossible concept?

[darkforcesjedi]

It is entirely possible.

http://egyokeo.com/midihero/

[joegibes]

Rockband uses a controller - which are just buttons.

Red Pad = B button
Yellow = Y
Blue = X
Green = A
and the Kick is?

Personally, it would be a big waste of time trying to convert a midi signal to a I/O signal. plus the Yellow and Blue pads switch between Toms and cymbals...

Honestly the game was made for a extremely simple kit - you will go through more trouble than whats its worth and then wonder why you even started to being with...
I saw a video of a guy playing Rock Band on an electric drum set... He rigged up a midi to something converter.

[jra64]

Link? I can't find it anywhere...

[drumrolfe]

Thanks for the support people. I particularly like the solution darkforcesjedi posted. Looks like I'll be busy.

If you have any more ideas, please let me know!

[govdet1]

Has anyone been able to use a regular ps3 contoller pad to play drum in rock band?

If it will recognize it to play the drums that would be the starting point to wire up a trigger interface. The simplest solution would involve just triggers to match game buttons, not an actual midi interface.

Look for Aileus on youtube to see someone who has made a midi interface for his Roland Kit.
Thanks,

[Blacklisted]

Switches are switches are switches. Anything that can complete or break a circuit can be used as a switch.

I've been thinking of running the switch wires out of the instruments and into a microcontroller's I/O pins so I could program the perfect Rock Bot. Muahahahahaaha!