Alesis DM6 Drums for Rock Band?

[Levante]

Hi guys,

I've been searching the internet for ways to play Rock Band with my Alesis DM6 drum kit, but nothing I've found seems to indicate that there's a sure way of doing this.

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to this, so my question is basically this, is there any way at all for me to use my DM6 kit to play Rock Band? I read something about it being USB to MIDI, so connecting it to my computer as some sort of bridge might produce results? Other than that, I found nothing.

If platform matters, then I have Rock Band 1 and 2 for the Playstation 3, and Rock Band 1 for the Xbox 360 :)

Any help with this would be massively appreciated, I really want to play Rock Band with this kit, it's superb for someone like me ^_^

Thanks!
Rob

[drumshroom]

yes you can do it. from what i understand you just need an ion brain or gh:wt controller to patch into. i am looking at moving to the dm6 kit or maybe a roland td4sx in the near future as i am about to start lessons

there is alot more info over at docs. about what you need and how it is done http://docsrockbandmods.netforums.us/

there is alos a guy who sells the needed controller/brain

[Levante]

Thank you :)

I've had a quick look, but will take a more thorough approach when I get home. It seems all the places and people that sell the things I need are American; being from the UK, I'm either on the wrong Rock Band forums, or I need to search harder if I need to buy anything. :D

[mbnasir6]

As I explained to someone else

Simplest way to do it, is to buy an ION Drum Module, then a standard 1/4 to 1/4 cable for each pad/cymbal, because the cables that come with the DM6 are different.

But since you said you are from the UK(Like me) buying an ION Drum Rocker Module will be quite expensive

And what do you mean buy wrong RB Forums?

[Levante]

I figured these might have been American forums, and there may have been a separate set of forums for Europe, I've seen that before so I wasn't sure.

I'll take a look around for an ION Drum Rocker Module and see what I can get. Thanks :)

[mbnasir6]

No there isn't a Europe forums

[jabbarata95]

As you know the alesis dm6 comes with two pedals, bass kick pedal and a hi-hat pedal. So my question is what kickbox should i bought to work with both of them?

http://rockbandparts.com/rockbandkic..._pedalbox.html

Would that one work?

[GRNDPNDR]

rockbandkickbox.com

DO NOT buy from RBP.

[bigtax]

Can you make ROckband 3 use your own electronic drum's sound track ,not the game's?I have a Roland HD-1

[bigtax]

And by the way ,why cannot I post in Software support forum and hardware support forum?

[Doc_SoCal]

And by the way ,why cannot I post in Software support forum and hardware support forum?

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225033

http://www.rockband.com/forums/announcement.php?f=20

[emsegs]

You can't post new topics, only post in existing ones that have been moved here. It's a measure taken to prevent people from asking the same questions over and over creating a new pointless topic every time. To answer your question, no. You can't make RB3 use your e-kit's sound. You can however, play your e-kit outside of RB3 if you like the sound of it.

[Tamster6T4]

I just have a thought.

Everyone keeps saying you can not use the Alexis dm6 drum kit(499.00)...
Is it possible to connect a female to female USB coupler(1.00)...
Into the USB midi out of the Alesis Dm6 kit...
Then get a USB midi interface cable for guitar hero(6.00)...
Attach to the Rock Band Midi Pro Adapter(30.00)...
Hook into the wii, in my case.
Program and go?

Will this work??? I have not bought the drum kit to find out. What do you guys think?

[PeskyDarkWorld]

I am currently using a DM6.. I bought it thinking I could hook it up using Midi but as suggested earlier, I needed to buy a Ion Controller. When I looked at the price of Ion controllers plus import charges, I looked for an alternative. The best I could come up with was a used DM5 controller. I use it all the time now. You still need a Midi adaptor (around £36.00 on Ebay, UK supplier). Thing is, you have hardware you can sell at the end if you want to upgrade later. Total cost for DM5 brain and Midi controller was around £100. Just a touch higher than the Ion controller, but keeps the drums as a drum set you can listen to and record from as well as play RB.

Hope this helps.

PDW

[Tamster6T4]

So I guess you don't think my idea will work? When you say the midi controller - are you talking about the midi pro adapter? I already have one of these, I purchased a while back thinking I would be able to use my keyboard with it (still haven't tried it). So it would less expensive for me to go the route above.. Did you have to have a kickbox also?

[PeskyDarkWorld]

The Midi output on a DM6 controller is a USB connection for direct connection to a PC. It may be possible to find something that converts USB Midi to standard Midi but I couldn't find anything. I imagine it would be expensive too if it existed. It may be that you can connect to PC then connect the PC to (somehow) an Xbox (or PS3) Midi controller but this seems very excessive. Xbox (or PS3) + TV + PC. Not sure the PC and XBox would cope with the lag either.
My DM5 controller cost me £50 used from ebay (although they can go higher). £36 for the midi pro adaptor controller new from ebay which connects direct to the DM5 module (can be used for midi keyboards and guitars too). Then I had to buy all the leads for the DM5 controller to connect to the pads etc (less than £20). £106 in total which is around the same as it would cost to import an Ion controller from the US to the UK including import duty.
If I lived in the US where I wouldn't be hammered with import duty and a first class private seat on concorde to deliver it, I would have probably bought the Ion controller. Saying that, I wouldn't be able to play the drums freestyle with headphones on as I can now. The Ion controller as far as I can see is just a controller to connect to the Xbox. At the moment, when I play, I have my headphones connected to the drum module so I can hear what I am playing (I only wear the headphones on 1 ear so I can hear the Xbox (TV) at the same time in my other ear). The next thing I want to do is combine the audio output of my Xbox to my audio output of my drums. Full Stereo.. Wahoo.. Should have this done within a month or so now.

[Tamster6T4]

I saw where someone said I believe 1/4 size leads for the controller? So instead of buying a DM6 maybe I can find a cheap DM5... What about the Kickpad and Hi-Hat Controller? Did you do anything special in the setup with them? Thanks for the help!

[PeskyDarkWorld]

You should get a kickpad and hi-hat pedal with a DM5. Mine worked perfect when I connected it all together. The Midi Pro adaptor recognised all 4 pads, both pedals and 3 cymbals without any need to change anything. All I had to do was recalibrate the audio for the drums on the RB game itself.

[Tamster6T4]

Has anyone tried Trap electronic drum modules with rock band E450? I believe the more current one is E500? From what I'm seeing it does have a midi in and midi out system.
Here is a link to the web site.
http://www.trapsdrums.com/products/e500-electronic-drum-kit

This is the link to the older version

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Traps-Drums-Power-Pads-E-400-501210-i1435080.gc

Thanks everybody!