I have been meaning to write this review for close to a week now, but I kept putting it off because I wanted to make sure my review did justice to the product, since I think the product is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately that was causing writer's block, so I decided to go ahead and write the review, and quit trying to make it perfect. So, here it is.

Ever wish you could use a real electronic drum set with Rock Band?

Well, now you can, by using sethmeisterg's Rock Band EDRUM-USB Adapter. It's this simple:

1. Attach the adapter to your electronic drum's brain (drum module) using a MIDI cable.
2. Attach the adapter to your PS3 or PS3 using a USB cable.
3. Play Rock Band.

Here's some pictures.

The adapter has all the buttons you'd find on a regular controller, plus a couple of extra ones. It's small, measuring 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1".

The adapter works by assigning various MIDI notes to each of the RB pads. So, for example, the default mode maps snares to the red pad, open and closed hi-hats to the yellow pad, etc. If you don't like the mappings, you can easily change them. The adapter has lots of ways to customize it, and I won't go into all of that here. But suffice it to say that it has probably everything you'll ever need, and if it doesn't, you can upgrade the flash memory easily if Seth sends you new firmware.

I have noticed no difference in controller lag using this adapter, versus my stock RB drums (SL model). It just plain works.

Bottom line: It works. Get it. (see contact information at the end of this post)

Here's some details:

• PS3 and PS2 only. Why not XBOX 360? It's not for lack of trying, or some misguided fanboy love of one console over another. It turns out that the Rock Band controllers for the PS3 and PS2 use relatively open standards, and Seth was able to reverse engineer them. However, thanks to Microsoft, the controllers on the 360 use encrypted communications. Unfortunately this means that Seth has not been able to reverse engineer them. As of this writing, he has sent emails to Microsoft but unfortunately hasn't received a response. If you want to use electronic drums with other platforms, see the thread Rock Band with Electronic Drums (HOWTO) that deals with how you can build an interface between an electronic drum set and Rock Band.
• Lovingly hand-made. Among other things, this means the labels are hand-written, and the buttons are a little odd-feeling. But it works well and most likely will hold up pretty well.
• Nice manual. The manual is clear and well-written, and explains all the things you can change.

Contact Seth for pricing information.

On the Rock Band forums, he's sethmeisterg. You can PM him here.

Email: rbusbadapter at gmail dot com. I didn't want to type the email address exactly, just so spambots would have a harder time picking off the email address. The first part stands for "Rock Band USB Adapter" in case you couldn't figure it out.

Conclusion

If you have questions, go ahead and ask. I'll try to answer them as best as I can, and I'm sure Seth will chime in also.

Dan

Price? Can you assign more than one drum/cymbal from the kit to a colour?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryder35

Price? Can you assign more than one drum/cymbal from the kit to a colour?

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As I stated above, PM sethmeisterg for pricing.

Yes, you can assign more than one drum/cymbal to a color. It comes with a bunch of standard assignments, including 7 different drums/cymbals for yellow. The default assignments are pretty inclusive, but you can change them or assign your own. It's really easy.

It also has two different "modes", so you can swap between two sets of assignments easily.

Dan

Midi to usb game controller adapter?

Interesting idea. I would love to play on a real set of vDrums but I wonder... Could a box like this lead to cheating? Creating a perfect performance on a sequencer and hitting play?

I'd rather see a box tat takes the trigger outs directly from the pads, bypassing the sound module.

Something like this http://www.fullcompass.com/product/330326.html
with it's data output translated for a gaming console.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Killbasa

Could a box like this lead to cheating? Creating a perfect performance on a sequencer and hitting play?

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Quite easily, yes.

Now if he'd just figure out the X360 one, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. My TD-20S is just sitting there waiting to be used in this game! :)

Don't you think it would be easier for everyone if you just posted the price here? It seems silly to encourage hundreds of people to send private messages for this information.

Why the big secret?

emailed.

I've been waiting for someone to do this so I didn't have to figure it out myself (and probably burn my house down in the process)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cleee

Don't you think it would be easier for everyone if you just posted the price here? It seems silly to encourage hundreds of people to send private messages for this information.

Why the big secret?

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It's just not my place to quote prices for someone else. It's not like he's a store or anything -- he's one person who thought it would be cool to make something like this.

Let me give you an example: Let's say I quoted a specific price. What if Seth got a lot of orders and decided it took too much of his time to make one for that price. What could he do now? The logical thing would be to charge more, thus decreasing the number of people waiting, and making it more worth his while. But if I quoted a price, it would be more difficult for him to change prices.

Look, I have no ulterior motive here. Seth did an *incredible* job IMO, and I just wanted to let other people know about it. It's up to you what to do with the information.

Dan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by creamcheese

I've been waiting for someone to do this so I didn't have to figure it out myself (and probably burn my house down in the process)

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Ditto. :p

Dan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Killbasa

Midi to usb game controller adapter?

Interesting idea. I would love to play on a real set of vDrums but I wonder... Could a box like this lead to cheating? Creating a perfect performance on a sequencer and hitting play?

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I thought about that also. But where's the fun in that? I know it takes all kinds, but if that gets you off (not you personally, but the cheater), then you've got bigger issues to deal with.

Quote:

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I'd rather see a box tat takes the trigger outs directly from the pads, bypassing the sound module.

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Actually, when he first started working on this box, I asked him for just that. But then I realized I'd rather be able to hear the actual drum sounds. (I was right about this by the way -- very cool and it helps me understand what's really being played instead of just some notes to hit.)

And yes, he could probably make one with "through" ports so you could still hook it up to a drum module, but I suspect it's a lot of work to process trigger signals, when you consider the possibility of crosstalk and the like, so I doubt it would be worth the effort. But you could ask him.

Dan