No player-created tracks for Rock Band 2

by Randy Nelson { Jul 3rd 2008 at 9:44PM }

Guitar Hero World Tour is going to let players make their own songs, so it only stands to reason that Rock Band 2 will as well, right? Right? Not according to Alex Rigopulos, the CEO and co-founder of Rock Band developer Harmonix.

Speaking to CNN, Rigopulos states that his company "wanted to do [song creation] right." He adds that Harmonix is "taking a radically different approach" to player-created tracks – presumably he means from the way Guitar Hero World Tour dev Neversoft is handling it – and will "take more time to do it." So, Rock Band 3 with a song creator it is then, right? Right?

Tags: harmonix, mtv-games, rock-band, rock-band-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:48PM

Translation: We want the game out as soon as possible to make more moneys.

Still, RB2 remains the purchase for me over GH World Tour.

Cian @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:51PM

It could be taken that way but at the same time I think Harmonix wants to make sure that it has the best possible music creation tool it can. And I faith that when they do that it will blow GH:WT's out of the water.

Sora267 @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:53PM

"It could be taken that way but at the same time I think Harmonix wants to make sure that it has the best possible music creation tool it can."

I'd believe that, but that was pretty much their excuse for not giving RB on Wii online capabilities, so if it means they'll cut short on RB2, I'd rather not believe it >_>

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:53PM

Well, I believe Harmonix does want the quality. That said, I can't say the same for EA.

Fatass of Rebuttalness @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:28PM

From what I've seen, GHWT looks like it's bringing plenty of the 'quality'.

jsn @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:38PM

who cares about some gimmicky song sequencer? That's all it is. It's not easy to make good sounding rock-ish tracks with good software, good samples and a keyboard and mouse. Doing it with a controller or worse is going to be nonsense. You're going to have 1000 horrible versions of everything. The only people interested in this are tards that don't know how hard it's going to be to make anything worthwhile.

Ghen @ Jul 4th 2008 7:13AM

jsn, I assume you've never made a song for guitar hero before? Look up the program Feedback. I'll wait for your apology.

Its easy to do and requires very few buttons. If you have an ear for music then you can make perfect tracks.

Shadow El @ Jul 4th 2008 1:50PM

I plan on re-making one of my favorite songs in World Tour, and am well aware that it will take many agonizing hours.

It'll all be worth it when I'm finally playing it, though.

Sora267 @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:51PM

"So, Rock Band 3 with a song creator it is then, right? Right?"

Yep, right, but it's going to go like this: Rock Band 2 -> Rock Band:Rockin' in teh 90s lul(sans song creator) -> Rock Band franchise sold to (insert company here), who implements song creation into RB3 -> Harmonix released Recording Studio, which allows you to "compose" your own songs, record them, send them to a PC, play through them using any instrument, stream them to other players through the game and play your creations with others, along with pre-made tracks (with backwards compatibility of RB, RB2, and RB: 90s DLC) which you can edit, and an encyclopedia of user-generated songs which is on par with the Sporepedia. (insert same company here) then shamelessly rips off of Harmonix for RB3. It's a vicious cycle.

gore on the floor @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:04PM

Trying to read that just asploded my brain.

Ridgecity @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:38PM

man, you need to get laid.

Chase @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:55PM

I'll take the bullet for us, Ridgecity. But I don't do anal!...

Andrew @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:58PM

I truly see GH World Tour's create feature to be a fairly large gimmick.

I don't see the large appeal for user generated (especially composed in game..?) instrumental only songs, and hazard to guess that shared songs will be made up in bulk by recreations/"covers" of other songs sans vocals and any other instruments/effects outside what is possible in the editor.

Fatass of Rebuttalness @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:29PM

The music creator is pretty deep, from what I've read. Even though it's instrumental only, you can choose different sound sets for each instrument, and it seems pretty versatile. I'll be using the 8-bit guitar set pretty often.

jsn @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:45PM

haha from what you've read it seems "pretty deep". c'mon man. There have been far more robust sequencing packages out there for a decade. There's a reason every Tom, Dick and Harry hasn't been cranking out music from his computer. It takes a lot of time and patience and a little know-how to make good sounding music, and that's with better tools. This is nothing more than a gimmick. Some people will jump in it thinking they can really do something, but once reality and their ADD kick in, they'll never use it again.

Hafk @ Jul 4th 2008 12:52AM

I see Guitar Hero's Create a Track feature as something completely different.

The ultimate practice mode.

Need trill help? Make a song of trills. Need decending triplet help? Make that. Need fast BPM strumming help? Do that!

This could really be nice for those who want advanced practice.

Jakka @ Jul 4th 2008 4:37AM

That's what Sony said once said about Wii.

DCBlack @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:03PM

Maybe no created tracks, but hopefully a new peripheral or two to add to the band. Hoping for keyboard...

Jake11 @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:27PM

yea, or an organ, so we could play some Doors

OMGOMG @ Jul 4th 2008 2:58AM

God no. Please no Doors. Jesus please no.

OTAM @ Jul 4th 2008 11:42AM

Yeah,because that won't completely isolate the original Rock Band buyers from the full band experience by having us pay another $100 some dollars for a Hasbro instrument.

DCBlack @ Jul 4th 2008 2:09PM

You don't want pay it, don't pay it. That's why they sell it all separately.

Marzz @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:06PM

If harmonix wants to take their time making a music creator, i can wait.

They did an excellent job on the remix feature of Amplitude, one could only imagine how well a music-creation feature in rock band would be.

I'd bet it had vocals too.

Akukami @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:21PM

That better mean we're getting Online World Tour mode with the ability to form bands online.

Matthew @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:33PM

I fail to see how taking a radically different approach from what Activision is doing equates to them not implementing the feature in some manner.

Let's wait and see before we make definitive statements, mmmkay?

Tiptup300 @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:37PM

NOTE: Guitars hero's track creator is almost certainly a gloried MIDI studio.

Ridgecity @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:41PM

Pro tools is a glorified midi studio. I would be amazed if Guitar Hero track creator is a glorified midi studio, but it end up costing about $20,000 used...

josh @ Jul 7th 2008 12:42AM

what? pro tools is not a midi studio. perhaps you are thinking of cakewalk. pro tools primarily deals with audio tracks, which are basically (very long) samples. its a multitrack replacement. it can also work with midi, but calling it a glorified midi sequencer is forgetting about 99% of what pro tools does.

OMGOMG @ Jul 4th 2008 2:47AM

I see the music creation feature along with any sort of map creation system, even along the lines of the Forge, are irrevelant to 95% of the crowd that'll play the game.

Maybe I am just really stupid, but I could never make a cool map on Far Cry, or make anything that great in Gary's Mod, or in the Forge. Very few will be able to take advantage of the song creation system.

Hafk @ Jul 4th 2008 2:59AM

Absolutely true. But still, it is a nice feature to have for us hardcore players. Especially someone like me who would use it as an advanced practice mode.

Jeff @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:48PM

*sigh...boooooooooo.

Roto13 @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:55PM

User created songs in Guitar Hero basically means an unlimited number of free songs. What's not to love there?

Chase @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:59PM

If Guitar Hero's "create-a-track" feature isn't gimped, I would be surprised.

Kyera @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:13PM

Have you seen the quality of most user-created charts?

They fall somewhere between Limbo of the Lost and Cheetahman, only without a good soundtrack.

Roto13 @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:14PM

There's plenty out there worth checking out. It's the entire premise behind Frets On Fire.

Roto13 @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:16PM

Not to mention there will be a much larger pool of talent to draw from when it's so much more accessible and easy to do.

Kyera @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:18PM

Yes, and with all due respect to the people who put the effort into it, most a large portion of the charts put out there are crap.

There are a few fantastic ones (Power Rangers theme is delicious), and I expect the same with this tool from time to time, but once John Smith gets to fiddle with it, expect a torrent of crap.

Sure, it's a nice feature to have, and final judgement will be reserved for the finished product, but it doesn't exactly scream "must have feature" to me.

Donald @ Jul 4th 2008 12:48AM

The difference between Frets on Fire and the GH user created songs is on FOF they use an actual song and then put the notes over it, which when done right people can make a song that would fit in on any real GH/Rockband game.

You have to make the song from scratch on GH:WT. Which basically means everything is going suck.

Roto13 @ Jul 4th 2008 12:55AM

You mean you've never heard a good cover song before? Look forward to an interactive OCRemix with Guitar Hero IV.

Donald @ Jul 4th 2008 1:15PM

I've heard good cover songs before, but not by my next door neighbor.

Roto13 @ Jul 4th 2008 3:36PM

Well my neighbour could be Ailsean.

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00206/

There are tons of amateurs out there capable of making great music, either written by themselves or someone else. There's no law that says the only people capable of making good music that works in music games are signed under a big name label.

Jhongerkong @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:24PM

Those saying custom tracks arent a big deal should see an ITG2 machine. Theres one in the my local arcade and a DDR machine right beside it but everyone puts their money in the ITG machine along with their custom tracks.

ab @ Jul 4th 2008 12:18AM

I just want two things that haven't been mentioned:

1. I want an option to play an album in order all the way through from quick play.

2. I also want to be able to make setlists from the quick play menu.

Bobby @ Jul 4th 2008 12:13AM

I think the user created music requires you to play the instruments to create the track. I don't think you can just upload an mp3 and then drop dots into it.

J.Goodwin @ Jul 4th 2008 12:41AM

Or, they could patch it in, like the store.

FSK405K @ Jul 4th 2008 1:39AM

Did everyone forget that Actvision said that there would be no vocal track in custom songs? It's probably a good thing, because now people will create more Yngwie Malmsteen and Rodrigo y Gabriella covers, and less Fallout Boy covers.

Lekko @ Jul 4th 2008 1:58AM

hmmm... This reminds me of Forza damage Vs. GT5's no damage.

"We won't implement it until it we can do it properly."

While I applaud the ambition of trying to strive for perfection and the ultimate game, it kinda comes off as lazy when everyone else is doing some form of it, however trivial and bland.

Keep in mind this is a game, a videogame. This isn't a test track, this isn't a studio, this is not NASA shuttle sim. A rough approximation of something is better than nothing at all.

Kevin @ Jul 4th 2008 5:25PM

You make a good point generally, but I think Harmonix has more credibility than most in this situation. They were doing this in 2001, so I can see where they don't want to put out a music creator they don't really feel good about.

You might say that makes them even *more* lazy, but why get into a contest with Activision over who can implement a feature as old as the 3D note path? I'd rather them spend their time delivering real improvements now than throwing in a checklist of features half ass.