Discussion Thread: DLC-10/2/12 - 3 Pack from 311! Down, Beautiful Disaster and Amber

[Lowlander2]

So this week was pretty surprising.

Pro Drums:

1. Down: Excellent but typical ghost snare/bass syncopation pattern.
2. Beautiful Disaster: 8th/16th hi-hats with an occasional fast snare roll
3. Amber: 8th/16th hi-hats with no rolls

Pro Keys:
1. Amber: Varied stuff. Single note ascension mirroring the guitar, two-note chords with a rooted alternating single and a semi-fast ascending pattern.
2. Beautiful Disaster: Ska chords. Relatively simple, but interesting for a tier 0 song.

Guitar:
1. Beautiful Disaster: Variation galore, but altogether simple. I think I liked the WT chart more. It seemed to make more sense.
2. Amber: Chill, but the HOPOs still feel good to play.
3. Down: HOPO chords abound. A lot easier than Crawling In The Dark.

Down was still a better Pro choice than Amber, but I would have gone with Beautiful Disaster anyway.

Musical opinion:
Ska, in my opinion, sits up there with Chicago blues as one of the most repetitive and shallow genres around, but I applaud 311 on two of these songs for rising above this. While I don't like Beautiful Disaster and Amber much, I can at least respect that the songs are theirs and theirs alone. Down, on the other hand, is nothing more than typical early nu-metal/rap metal. I'd rather we just remember the best of it and not this, thanks.

Random thought:
I could have sworn the cover for From Chaos looked closer to Vapor Trails than it does to Fragile...

Good week. Better than last month combined. We do, however, have a pretty large amount of '90s alternative out of the DLC this year by now. I'm happy with what we have, but let's take a break from this and modern pop, sil vous plais.

[www1221]

Down
Vocals/Bass

Amber
Vocals/Bass

Beautiful Disaster
Vocals/Bass

[grumblevolcano]

Blitz
Amber: Good note density on all tracks, Road Rage gives you an average of 9,000 points per full OD activation. Guitar solo is nice too.

Beautiful Disaster: The first couple of checkpoints seem impossible to level up because of the guitar solo being so early on. Make sure to keep an eye on keys as its note density is very low.

Down: Very high note density compared to the other songs, Road Rage gives you an average of 20,000 points per full OD activation, GS is extremely easy to get.

[Bront20]

the band that lost their masters in another country should be named

Why? Who does it help when HMX says "(insert band here) won't be coming to Rock Band because they lost their masters in Tijuana."? It makes the band look bad for losing the masters, and cuts off all hope if the master turn up, they go the live route, or do rerecords, or release new material. It may not even be true (because it's never happened where something was misplaced due to communication errors, or someone is just misinformed).

As a community, it's not hard to know some bands are just not accessible for one reason or another because of statements they make, or just the age of the masters. Others will remain a mystery.

And then there's Muse, who we'll never get more of since their band kicked Pope's dog.

[peterock2007]

Tell you what....rather than just coming off like a douche and calling anything I've done stupid, and other people who are passionate about what they'd like in the game clowns I welcome you to add me to your ignore list. I will certainly be doing the same. We KNOW you don't like older music, you've made that abundantly clear...but the Rock Band world doesn't revolve around any single group (nor should it...we need all the players we can get) and that means that variety is key to at least keep everybody at a reasonable level of content.

A) You don't know anything about what I like. I've never said I don't like older music. In fact I've said numerous times my fav band/album of all time is Beatles/Sgt Peppers.
B) Is this the 311 discussion or the USL?
C) If you're reading this you obviously didn't ignore me.
d) Clowns as in the Muse people who continue saying HMX isn't trying to get Muse nad/or predict them every week when it's safe to asssume we're prolly not getting anymore Muse.

[hmxhenry]

...the band that won't return your phone calls at all and the band that lost their masters in another country should be named because A) you have done everything on your (HMX) part and the end result is that these 2 bands are never coming to RB .... B) it will stop the forums from asking "why no band X" because now they will know the answer and....C) NO WAY it reflects badly on HMX because for goodness sakes this band NEVER answered the damn phone and that band had zero masters to give us....

Unfortunately that's not really how it works. If we started calling out bands and labels that were uninterested or uncooperative, it would only damage our relationships with other bands and labels. It certainly won't help our chances of licensing further content if labels think we'll throw them under the bus or make bands look foolish by talking about how they can't even find their own masters. A lot of licensing is maintaining good relationships with all parties involved, and airing their dirty laundry in public is not a great way to maintain a good relationship.

Beyond that, things change. Bands find their masters or labels hustle to try to provide live versions, re records or some kind of alternate. Artists that weren't interested 3 years ago may change their tune, embrace digital technology or wrap a stretch of touring and recording and turn their attention to licensing opportunities. Why burn a bridge today if they decide to come visiting tomorrow? It's an awful lot to risk just to satisfy the curiosity of the community.

Or you can not let it get to you.

That's as valid a response as me saying the same thing to anyone upset about DLC, a feature in the game or their ignored requests for changes. This isn't a one way street where select members of the community are allowed to be personally offended by every song we release and I'm not allowed to feel anything. It gets to me because it's dismissive, disrespectful and disruptive of other discussion.

This is still the 311 discussion thread, so I'll be practicing what I preach by avoiding any further questions / comments about off topic content. If you've got a question or comment about the DLC, feel free to send me a PM or post in a thread that isn't about the 311 DLC that came out today.

[defdog99]

These boards do police themselves pretty well though.

When someone brings up Skid Row, someone will immediately chime in with a lost-masters-in-the-flood post.

Saying "the Eagles progress is at a standstill." doesn't burn any bridge in my eyes. And it allows the "policing people" to re-inform board members and lower-expectations gently.

[Lowlander2]

This is still the 311 discussion thread, so I'll be practicing what I preach by avoiding any further questions / comments about off topic content. If you've got a question or comment about the DLC, feel free to send me a PM or post in a thread that isn't about the 311 DLC that came out today.

I disagree with this. An unfortunate trend I've noticed is that once the DLC comes out, about five posters, myself included, actually say anything about it.

[MagicMurderBag7]

These boards do police themselves pretty well though.

When someone brings up Skid Row, someone will immediately chime in with a lost-masters-in-the-flood post.

lol.

That's only cause I like messing with Daxx

[Sargehalo51]

I'm pleased with the 311 DLC offerings and will be downloading them after work today. However, like the DLC I have purchased in the past several weeks, I doubt I'll be playing the songs before Sunday, if even by then. Right now my personal most played game is Rocksmith, and my friends who come over every Sunday for Rockband are currently bringing their Borderlands 2 disks with them (and my wife is obsessed with the game), so until Borderlands 2 wears out on the gang, there won't be much RB going on.

Yes, I download songs on a weekly basis even when I have no immediate intention of playing them. But that's because I love this game and want to continue to support it, plus they will get played at some point (and money is never an issue).