Drum and Guitars

[Viper5]

I am looking to buy a nice drum set which I can use with GH and RB for xbox360. After doing some research, I have come to find out that I don't know sh*t about what I want because of the many options (i.e. OEM, Aftermarket, electronic kits, etc...) Can somebody please give me some advice? I am so frustrated with the stock drums because I constantly am getting hits registered as mi****s and I can't advance in the game the way I'd like to.

Additionally, the guitars suck. I have a couple v3 Rock Band guitars and I am also getting mi****s registered on the down motion (up motion appears to be fine).

I would just like to know what are my options here to get good equipment that actually works the way it is supposed to. I would not be against getting an electronic kit for the drums. I did read something about a MIDI adapter which allows you to increase the utility somehow. Not sure about what I would be able to do with that.
When I was younger, I always wanted to play the drums so maybe I could somehow combine that interest with the game and a computer (or have additional functionality).

I am not sure what I am getting into as far as options go, but I would be able to spend $500 for drum set (provided it can at the very least be used for RB and GH) and $100 per guitar (2 total).

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks.

[whypick1]

"Mis-hits" might be a better term to use :P

Guitars: You have 3 options really: RB stuff, GH stuff, and 3rd party stuff. RB guitars are out, based on what you said, so that leaves either GH gear or the few 3rd party options out there.

Now any GH guitar that works on 360 will work in RB. The only caveat is that the touch slider present on some of their models will do absolutely nothing in RB.

The 3rd party boils down to either the Wooden Stratocaster Replica (an RB guitar in an actual Fender Strat body; buy this unless you absolutely hated the frets on the RB guitars you tried or your budget is inflexible, since I doubt you'll find them for $100 each...again) or the Logitech Telecaster (can't comment, never even seen one in real life).

Drums: Your best bet is either RB drum kits or an electronic drum kit. Since you've already seemed to rule out the official RB drum kit, your options are either an electronic drum kit or the ION Drum Rocker, which is basically a cheap electronic drum kit with a brain designed specifically for playing on Rock Band. If you go with your own electronic drum kit, you'll need a MIDI Pro Adapter and a drum brain that does MIDI out (not MIDI-over-USB, unless you want to have a computer between the drum brain and the MPA to do the translation) and preferably has configurably MIDI assignments. Failing that, if the assignments are fixed but follow what the MPA is looking for, then you're set. It will be hard to get an electronic drum kit for $500, unless you go super cheap (basically one step above the IONs) or used.

[shimwood]

which would be really handy to specify

He said XBOX360 in the first sentence unless he edited that in afterwards.

I don't know much about the guitars, but whypick is pretty dead-on with the drums. A lot of people are satisfied with the IONs if the stock drums aren't working out for you. Otherwise you're looking at an entry-level e-kit with a midi pro adapter. I think most people on the forums either choose between Simmons and Roland, though there are other options out there.

[whypick1]

He said XBOX360 in the first sentence unless he edited that in afterwards.

I caught that while I was making my post, but I missed that phrase when I corrected my post. Fixed.

[Viper5]

I didn't realize that I could use my guitar hero guitar with rock band. I have one of the really older styles (back when it first came out). It seems to be solid in terms of build quality and accuracy. If somebody has a different opinion, I'd like to hear it. As for the drum set, I'd rather not buy one that can only be used with rock band/guitar hero. I'm guessing the ION set I am referencing can be used for Guitar Hero too even though it says Rock Band above.

So as I suspected, I am stuck on figuring out which drum set I want. The MIDI adapter just transmits the signal from the drum set to the xbox360? Is the MIDI to USB not desirable to use with a computer?

Believe or not, I am actually fairly tech savvy, but the topic of audio is probably my weakest. Maybe somebody could go in depth a bit more with the drum option? Thanks.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

Guitar Hero's drum charting is completely different from RB's. Even if you get a kit that's compatible with both, playability may still be a concern (sort of like how the Mustang *can* play 5-button charts, but I don't know if anyone ever uses it for that on a regular basis).

[Viper5]

I don't see how playability would be an issue for the electronic kit option. I thought the programability function would take care of that.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

Guitar Hero drum charts use 3 pads. Rock Band drum charts use 4.

You could fill a thimble with my drumming experience, but it just seems to me that even if you had a kit that was compatible with both, one or the other would be bound to be awkward as hell.

[jibjqrkl]

the guitar hero chart will change to a 4 lane chart with any non-gh drumkit I believe (could be wrong on this, but I do know it does that with both the IONs and the RB kit)

IIRC you can however make it switch to 5 lane by plugging a midi(?) cable from your drums into the GH drumkit brain, and then connecting that brain to your console. or something. never tried it and dont know a lot about it so you might want to check all of this