Rock Band with Electronic Drums (HOWTO)

[MrSamurai]

Swiftflow - I did the same thing. I spent about $40 on a cheap throne and then I ended up getting the Roc n Soc, which I absolutely love. I've got an old computer chair that's fallen apart, and I'm planning on trying to salvage the backrest from that to put on my throne instead of paying another $40 for just the backrest. If you're looking to get one, I'd suggest RMCAudio.com, their prices are lower than anything you'll find readily listed.

Flash - I do plan on converting the bass drum, once I get it. Right now I have two rack toms (12"X10" and 13"X11"), the 14" snare, and the 16"X16" floor tom. I'm waiting for the store on ebay that I bought my other drums from to list one with a matching finish again. They did have one before, but I didn't win that auction.

[jdim]

Hi Well; my fun times with rock band is over for at least two weeks as I have had to send my 360 in for replacement (finally succumbed to the red ring of death).

In the mean time, I was think of changing the pulse lengths that the MSA-P is sending to the RB controller. I was currently on 25ms pulses as per recommendations from a couple of posts. I am, however, getting a lot of miss hits and was wondering if the 40ms pulse might give me a little more leeway.

Any thoughts on the 25ms vs 40ms pulses?

PS. I was going to put pics of my drum set and MSA-P enclosure, etc... but after seeing all the amazing TD12s, 20s, 9s with all mesh kits... my dinky little TD6 seems insignificant... I have electronic drum set envy!
Regards
Trigger Happy aka jdim

[bandaddy]

I think the general consensus on pulse length is it doesn't matter in the way you are thinking. There is a minimum duration, it seems, just to get the RB controller to recognize a "hit". Once it registers the hit, your extra duration does nothing (since it clicks off the drum, and won't hit twice or "hold" the note) other than limit the time in which you can send another note.

In other words, a duration of 200ms won't allow you to hit 150ms before a note and still have it count, but it will keep you from being able to play another note until the end of the 200 ms cycle.

I've got mine set at 31 ms (started with 40) and I'm happy with it. The hits all register, and it allows timing down to 1/32 notes (which equal .0312 seconds, or about 31 ms). I can do all rolls that I am physically capable of doing with this setting.

On another note, I got some new cymbals and mounts and put them on last weekend. Now I am getting some cross talk somewhere, and can't figure out where. I'm presuming the mounts are sending vibration through the frame and causing it, as they are pretty heavy and cantilever off a bit. I can see them shake when playing other pads, but I can never see any pads inadvertantly going off. My TD-5 has a light that goes off for each pad, and I never, ever, see one light up that shouldn't, even if I bang the hell out of them. But in Rock Band, I can see that I am hitting the notes (no miss) and the streaks end and I hear the "click" of a miss, but I never see where it came from.
It still does it with cymbals unplugged, so it's gotta be a pad getting some jitters. I have some extra frame pieces, so I'm going to revamp my frame and try to get the cymbals off the same bar as the pads and see if that helps. If I could just see it happen, I'd know where to check, or alter sensitivity. Driving me up the wall right now.

[MrSamurai]

Bandaddy, the setting you want to change for the pads that are triggering when they shouldn't be triggering is "threshold". Turn this up a little bit, but not too much, otherwise you'll have to really bash your pads in order to get them to trigger.
Also, make sure that the trigger types are set correctly
Here's a link to the TD-5 Manual
http://www.soundprogramming.net/manu...D-5_Manual.pdf

I was hoping that the TD-5 would have crosstalk groups, but this is the next best thing from looking through the manual.

[bandaddy]

Thanks Samurai. I guess I'll just have to trial and error it. If I could determine which pad is the culprit, I'd have it narrowed down a lot more, but I just can't seem to get it to do it when I'm looking. Usually occurs when I hit the "green" tom along with a bass hit, but I don't ever see blue or others also trigger. Thought just hit me, maybe it's green triggering twice and I'm not able to see that. Anyway, I pulled the cymbal mounts off and it's fine, so it is definitely some extra input to the frame from those. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend, since I really want the cymbal pads vs. the PD-5's I was using for cymbals up until now. Not that it plays any different, really, but it looks better

I also got a second KD-7 today and it chains to my existing one for double bass capability. Pretty cool. The KD-7 is just a rubber trigger for bass pedals, not a stand up sim type bass, but it works really good. This has got to be the easiet e-drum double pedal setup there is. I tried "and Justice for All" and this is no ****, I hit both of the quick runs of bass kicks with it. Pretty cool. Too bad I suck so bad on the rest of the song.

[Flash]

Hey Samurai (and others who have the Roc-N-Soc throne):

Does the thick padding and softer upholstery (is it velvet?) help keep you cool at all? I think my cheapo Guitar Center vinyl throne is contributing significantly to my super-sweatyness...

[MrSamurai]

I wouldn't say it keeps me cool, but but since it's upholstery and not vinyl, it absorbs rather than contributing to that "sitting on a hot car seat during summer" feeling I imagine you're getting.

I'm not too worried about it getting all smelly or funky, it seems to be well built and I'm sure I can wash it out if I really need to.

[gclabbe]

I've had mine for years. Doesn't even show much wear.

Only complaint is the swivel and adjustment business. Now that I've got the RB thing working my kids want to play and adjusting the throne to their height and back to mine is a bummer ... doesn't take long, but one more thing to mess with.

[gclabbe]

to genuflect in the presence of the Flash I know a lot of people contributed to the knowledge base, but that DIY doc is priceless.

Can you put a link in there to my PS3 info so that others that follow your work won't make the same mistakes I did???

[Flash]

gclabbe,

Thanks, I had not thought about the adjustment/readjustment thing. Also, I will get a link to your PS3 post up today as well.

Thanks too for the compliment on the guide. Considering, though, that with your post, this mega-thread just surpassed 1000 posts, I think its a good time for everyone to recognize and thank Aelius27 for getting everyone started and being the first to get his e-kit working with RB.

Also lets not forget some great contributors to this mod, like zolon, who basically discovered the MSA as a solution; Blanko who put together an awesome video presentation/demonstration and has helped many people on this thread, including me; bandaddy for the sick enclosure; and all the other users who have posted their tips & ideas.

I just tried to contribute by writing about all the great work in this thread. Think of it like a sports reporter writing a story about the Red Sox winning the World Series All the credit for this improbable victory in modding goes to the team.