Rock Band Guitar Overdrive not working?

[ryank285]

How do i get overdrive to work? I tried raising the neck and i have full green bar on the left side but nothing happens.

[Guibs]

ThaT's usually it... but I have a hard time as well to pull it off compare to my Les paul from GHIII. I have to lift it a full 45 degree or more to get it to register. I'm currently considering getting it replace because of this myself...

[ryank285]

I have tried raising it to a 90 degree angle and still nothing happens. You are supposed to do it when the green bar on the left side if full, correct?

[Apulo1]

Nope, you activate it when the yellow bar on the bottom (right above your multiplier) is half full or more.

[ryank285]

What is the green bar on the left side for?

[batsu336]

The green bar on the left has nothing to do with overdrive. That is how wll the audience likes you. The overdrive meter is a horizontal bar at the bottom, just below your scrolling notes. It fills up yellow if you play all the white notes properly. Once it gets 1/2 full you can tip up your guitar to activate overdrive.

[ryank285]

Ahhhhh, i will have to try that. Does it automatically do it when you get all the notes because i see the screen flash with yellow when I get all of them.

[jader201]

I have to lift it a full 45 degree or more to get it to register. I'm currently considering getting it replace because of this myself...

Don't. I just got a replacement the other day (for the strum bar issue), and while the strum bar is quite a bit better (but still not perfect), the overdrive mechanism makes it *much* harder to activate than my original guitar.

I'm wondering if they changed this because the first batch was too sensitive. Maybe you got an "updated" guitar after they adjusted this? I don't know. All I know is I essentially traded the overdrive functionality for the strum functionality. I can still get over drive, but I basically have to slam it up, fast and high.

[batsu336]

If you play with your guitar cocked up around 45 degrees you might be automatically setting off your overdrive by mistake. My son does that a lot when he plays. He actually has to dip the guitar down and then up because he always holds it cocked up at an angle. You will know if overdrive is on because the yellow meter at the bottom will drain and the scrolling fretboard will have some transparent yellowish swirls on it. Your point multiplier also doubles and your green bar also glitters.

[Destnaru]

That seems to be an "undocumented feature" in the new model guitar.
The overdrive doesn't work most of the time or in some cases not at all.
On the previous model the "undocumented feature" seems to be that the strum bar only works at irregular intervals or in some cases not at all.

One of the biggest draw backs to locking a program into proprietary hardware is that if the hardware turns out to be substandard quality and no alternative hardware is permitted to work with it, it puts people off on the whole product, in this case the game.

But what can you do?
Some people just don't get it and won't listen to reason.
Just my opinion.

[ryank285]

I very well could be setting off the overdrive automatically... I play the guitar at on angle like i do a real guitar.

[batsu336]

I wonder what changed on the new guitars? I have one from the first batch (October 13th) and it plays great. I opened it up and re-inforced the metal contact strip for the strum...took 2 minutes. The older guitars simply have a ball bearing in a tube for overdrive. You tip up the guitar and the ball rolls to the end of the tube, completing a circuit. Can't get easier than that. If you play with the guitar always cocked up, either the circuit is always completed, automatically triggering overdrive, or the ball gets hung up before the end of the tube, so you have to tip the guitar down and up again to give the bearing a running (rolling) start. Maybe they switched to an electronic sensor on the newer guitars. Bummer...I like it when you can actually see how the thing works.

[batsu336]

I very well could be setting off the overdrive automatically... I play the guitar at on angle like i do a real guitar.

I hear you. I had to shorten up the strap and play with the guitar body higher up than I do in real life, so that the neck wouldn't be at as much of an angle. I would accidentally set off overdrive every time I moved the neck too much.

[jader201]

The older guitars simply have a ball bearing in a tube for overdrive.

I believe this is still the case, at least for my guitar, because I can hear it. Knowing, now, how it works, I may pay more attention to see if I'm not tilting it down enough when in "underdrive". It could be this, or that they've adjusted the angle of the tube to require more of a tilt than before (to make it less sensitive).

I have no idea, though -- this is just speculation.

[Destnaru]

Mine has the ball in the tube for the overdrive too and no problem with the strum bar yet but I have seen quite a lot of negative reports about the poor quality of the guitar for the PS3 which is what I have.
I don't know about the 360 hardware so I can't comment on that at all.

[ryank285]

As for the strum bar being of poor quality, i agree. I can't repeatedly hit the same very fast without it not registering a note or two.

[jsadek3]

First off, I hear a slight rattling in my guitar and was wondering if that was the sensor.

Second, here's what mine is doing. If I'm leaning back in my chair and my guitar with me, I will not be able to pull an overdrive once i flick the thing up whether 90 or 45 degrees. I'll literally have to sit straight up and make sure the guitar is held straight up before the sensor will pick anything up.

[batsu336]

There are two different strum bar types out there that I know of (maybe more). The early ones simply have a thin strip of metal inside, just above and below strum bar. When you strum, the bar pushes on the metal strip, so that it contacts a second metal strip a couple of millimeters away. What was happening was repeated strumming was bending the second metal strip out of place, leaving a larger gap, so that not all the strums registered, because there was nothing directly behind the strip to support it on the downstrum side. Also, on fast notes the strip was still bent out from the first strum and had not recovered yet. I simply filled that space behind the strip with a thin piece of plastic, so there was support behind the strip. Problem solved.

The second type uses a plastic contact sensor (the same thing used for controller buttons if you have ever opened up a controller) in place of the two metal strips. I don't know of an easy way to mod/fix those. I haven't gotten a chance to mess with one. Maybe putting something under the sensor to make it closer to the contact that pushes it? Those might have to be returned without being able to tweak them.

[batsu336]

First off, I hear a slight rattling in my guitar and was wondering if that was the sensor.

Yes, that most likely is it.


Second, here's what mine is doing. If I'm leaning back in my chair and my guitar with me, I will not be able to pull an overdrive once i flick the thing up whether 90 or 45 degrees. I'll literally have to sit straight up and make sure the guitar is held straight up before the sensor will pick anything up.

Yes, that sounds right, too. I either stand or sit forward when I play, so it is not an issue. I'm too used to playing a real guitar to be able to lean back and constrict my fret arm. Just feels wrong to me. My wife leans back and can't get the guitar to trigger either, unless she yanks on the guitar like an angler landing a swordfish. That's why she drums...
I have to tilt my guitar up to about 70 degrees to get it to trigger, but if I'm playing with the guitar already tilted around 45 to 60 degrees, I have to dip down before tilting up in order to get the bearing to seat properly. Once you find the particular spot it becomes a lot easier to set off.

[NoD]

If you play with your guitar cocked up around 45 degrees you might be automatically setting off your overdrive by mistake. My son does that a lot when he plays. He actually has to dip the guitar down and then up because he always holds it cocked up at an angle. You will know if overdrive is on because the yellow meter at the bottom will drain and the scrolling fretboard will have some transparent yellowish swirls on it. Your point multiplier also doubles and your green bar also glitters.


Cool, I noticed that to. If I stand up and play OverDrive is ok, when I setdown/Reclinded with the Guitar at angle OverDrive kick off automaticlly as soon as the meter was 1/2 full.

[Guibs]

I also play with the guitar almost to 45 degree. So I'll check to see if I move it down then move it up after and see if I have an easier time pulling the Overdrive.

Like Ryan though, I though have issues hitting fast constant notes in a song, always seem to miss a few, while my strum shows no issues with slower notes and menus...

There is no denying that the Fret is CHEAPER than the Lespaul or X-Plorer. the plastic use if so soft sometimes I'm scared to bend the stick and break it. The entire guitar feels cheap and fragile, which isn't the case with the X-lorer and Les Paul.