Other than the awful background noise that can be turned down (but not all the way), and the active track volume boost (which is helpful and a nice touch, but REALLY doesn't work on some songs) the game sounds fine. All 5.1 channels are being used here, and it sounds every bit as great as Rock Band 3.

EDIT: On second thought, it's probably just one of the sound filters set up on the home theater that simulates 5.1. The game could truly be in 2 channels, but it sounds fine either way.

From my limited time playing, Blitz isn't using the surround tracks. But I don't understand how that translates to "Blizt sounds terrible!!" The songs themselves are stereo. They are being played in stereo. They aren't any worse sounding then listening to the songs by themselves. (well, they are compressed, but you'd be hard pressed to tell a difference, particularly when trying to concentrate on playing) You said it sounds like mono. Maybe you have a processing thing going on that's shifting most of the audio to the center speaker. Try changing your receiver to a "direct stereo" setting.

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Originally Posted by RobbySuave

The music in the gameplay isn't mixed to 5.1 in Rock Band 3. The sound effects and ambiance might be. But songs, like on a CD, aren't mixed and they can't technically be played in true surround sound (in most cases); they're 2 channel. Thus, stereo sound is fine for Rock Band Blitz.

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Rock Band 3 does give you discrete 3-channel stereo from the song (if outputting 5.1) - mono stems go to the centre speaker, stereo stems to go left and right. Also, any sing-along goes to the rears. That's not earth-shattering, but it's an advance on a basic 2-channel output.

I need to double-check, but it looks like Blitz may have taken a step backwards. It's still outputting multichannel on my PS3, but the centre channel is only outputting effects. Music only seems to be going to L+R.

Not noticing any quality problems though.

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Originally Posted by LordRavenBaja

Yes, music is not recorded in 5.1 Dolby, generally. So to be more precise: RB plays out of all 7 of my speakers on Dolby Pro Logic II - music. You can definitely hear a guitar, drum, bass, and vocal (or keys) coming from different areas within my room. Blitz sounds like it is only coming out of my center channel, unless I use the Cinema mode on my system, which simulates 5.1 Dolby.

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Some sort of technical fault there. Can you expand? What platform? Does Blitz only come from the centre channel in DPL II Cinema mode? If so, it's outputting mono for some reason. What is the Cinema mode you refer to in the post?

How are you connected to the receiver? What does the receiver say it's getting as input? Is it getting 2-channel PCM or 5.1 DD or 5.1 PCM?