Quick Pro Mustang Questions

[latenightrocker]

1. I can't remember, is this one which you could use in both pro and "regular" modes, or only pro?

2. What are your opinions of it?

3. How well does auto calibration work on this or any other RB guitars?

Basically for the same price I could get this or a used RB2 guitar. I don't have any RB guitars. I sue a GHIII Les Paul, and I am tired of having to try to calibrate on my own, with it never working out well.

One bad thing about going with the pro guitar is that it can only be used with RB3, though. So if I ever choose to buy the original Rock Band, I am screwed. I am using the wii version, which is even more screwed over, of course, as it is.

I don't necessarily care THAT much how "realistic" the pro one is.

It really sucks that MadCatz chose to stop producing anything or I would elan towards a RB3 stratocaster, probably.

[raynebc]

1. Yes, you can use it for 5 lane guitar, but it doesn't work very well for that due to problems with the guitar accurately registering fast picking. If you're not planning to make pro guitar your focus, you may be better off with a "traditional" guitar controller.

2. It's perfectly usable for pro guitar, easier to get working than the Squier.

3. I don't remember this controller having an auto-calibration, but maybe I just never tried it.

[mikeyts]

1. It can be used for 5-lane, but they map GRYBO to the first five frets, making it a horrible stretch; chords like G-O, G-R-O or G-B-O are excrutiatingly hard to pull off and people with small hands need not apply. They should have started at the 3rd or fourth fret.

2. It's okay. While I had it I was able to learn a song with it and pick up my acoustic and play it. It's only 17 frets and the game uses a different chart for it than for the Squier (for songs using frets above 17). As is also true of the Squier, if you aren't playing a real guitar out loud as well, you can develop bad playing habits. Using either instrument the game is insensitive to your casually touching strings (or buttons) on the fretboard in ways which would mute them or cause buzzing if you used the same technique on a guitar played out loud.

3. It works fine for auto-calibration, but can only be used to auto-calibrate RB3. AFAIK, only it and the RB3 and RB2 plastic Strats can be used for auto-calibration. I bought a plastic Strat which I only use for that purpose.

Last I looked you can still get the RB3 plastic Strat online, at least for the Xbox.

[Alternity]

1: Yes the mustang can be used to play basic, I wouldn't recommend it though, it's awkward, the same situation with basic guitar/bass on the keyboard, it's not made for that, but you can still do it.

2: It's a good piece, however, if you're used to a real guitar, you will find that the frets are significantly smaller, and buttons isn't the same feeling as strings at all. Also, the plastic strings are a bit loose, it usually isn't a problem, unless you go in extremely fast strumming (like raining blood, for example) it can be problematic, however, you will get used to it. It works good as a MIDI guitar, you can plug it into a computer and use it as a MIDI device, so if you don't have a guitar you can still practice the stuff you want this way. 17 frets, 5 less than a regular guitar, keep that in mind. Everything you will learn on that will not translate very well on a real guitar, how you sound, the feeling on your finger (you wont build up resistance on the tip of your fingers for the strings at all), etc. It's a good piece, especially if you want only to play the game and/or screw around on a MIDI instrument.

3: It's fine, but as with the basic guitar, not perfect, you might have to readjust after, but it will be pretty close to the optimal setting.

Personally, since I've got it, I pretty much stopped playing 5 button mode, too much to learn, so little time, and also, the challenge is way beyond 5 button.

[Dentata]

1. If you want to play 5-button guitar/bass on anything above medium, you will end up smashing it on the ground and lighting it on fire.

2. I love it as a game controller. It will not teach you how to play guitar/bass. It will let you learn songs if you know how to play guitar/bass already. As mentioned above, the tension of the strings makes fast playing a challenge.

3. I am too fussy about calibration to ever trust auto-calibration.

[latenightrocker]

Blah, I am not sure what i will do. And if want to stick to the 5 button RB guitars, my only choice is a used RB2 one because for wii it's impossible to find unopened RB2 or RB3 guitars for anything other than ridiculous prices of hundreds of dollars. I am happy with the GHIII guitar except it doesn't have auto-calibration, obviously, and can't be used with the original RB for wii, as I believe the RB2 and RB3 oens can.

No matter how many tiems I try to calibrate manually, nothing seems to work out well in that regard. And when i use the in-game tests to estimate it, it coems back with crazy numbers like way into the negatives for video lag, which cannot even be CLOSE to true.

[Alternity]

When calibrating manually, turn off sound, choose a song you're confortable with, and test the timing window only using your eyes, then when it's done, turn on sound, and well, play with the sound, not with what you see, test it until you have the right numbers... and voila.

[ricecake]

When calibrating manually, turn off sound, choose a song you're confortable with, and test the timing window only using your eyes, then when it's done, turn on sound, and well, play with the sound, not with what you see, test it until you have the right numbers... and voila.

Here is a video illustrating the first part of the procedure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GZdZX9f_-U

Here is a more in-depth explanation of the second part:
Short version: http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/...=617592#617592
Long version: http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/...=604101#604101

[skyp1e]

I love my Mustang for calibration. I never was happy with mine until I did the auto thing. Even with the helpful (not sarcastic) youtube video that I did refer to before my purchase.

I also love playing the Mustang in PRO guitar more. As for bass it's acceptable but certainly not what I would hope for.

It's no real guitar. It doesn't feel the same, play the same or punish/forgive the same. But it gets the job done quick and easy and again I really enjoy it.

Never ever consider using it for 5 button playing. Unless you have some sort of masochistic streak then go ahead and enjoy.

[mikeyts]

I'm a huge auto-calibration fan. I get better results than I've ever been able to achieve manually. Of course, I pretty much only play guitar controllers.