Back in July, a GameSpy preview for Rock Band 2 claimed "the phoneme detection system used for the 'talkie' parts [in Rock Band] has been completely stripped and a new one has been put in place [for Rock Band 2]." Well, Harmonix definitely stripped out the old system, but it seems to have forgotten to put a new one in its place, as the new game seems to award perfect vocal points if it detects any noise during the "talkie" parts.
We first became aware of this problem when we saw this video of a singer using a bunch of gibberish to pass the Beastie Boys' "So Whatcha Want" with a 100% rating on Expert difficulty. It's an impressive illustration of the faulty phoneme detection, but it's not wholly satisfying -- the singer is occasionally on rhythm and his voice occasionally does kind of match with the on-screen words. We wondered: how bad would a vocal performance have to be to fail this song?
The answer, apparently, is "worse than a monotone recitation of the U.S. Declaration of Independence." As shown in the above video we've put together, even a dry reading of a 200+-year-old political treatise can be victorious in a Rock Band 2 vocal battle. Rest assured, there's no computer trickery going on here -- this video was taken as a direct feed from the Xbox 360 and has not been edited in any way. Now we only have one more question: when will Harmonix put in that improved phoneme detection system it's long been promising.
Declaration of Independence reading gets perfect vocal score in Rock Band 2
by Kyle Orland 
on Sep 16th 2008 8:30AM
47
Reader Comments (47)
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 8:39AM Freddie Mercury said
Yes but the real question is: will it work with the Magna Carta?
Reply
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 9:03AM failedninja said
Out of curiousity, how well would this have done in RB1?
Reply
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 7:30PM (Unverified) said
there was also Debaser, which is the song I got my 100% on. I actually sung it accurately, though.
Reply
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 6:19PM Haggard said
Oh dear. This just happened while drumming to And Justice For All:
http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00188zh6.jpg
I imported my copy and instruments.. how am I meant to get them replaced? -_-
Reply
http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00188zh6.jpg
I imported my copy and instruments.. how am I meant to get them replaced? -_-
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 9:19AM Kindrik said
I remember when my friends and I were playing the Beastie Boys song in the original Rock Band and I was on vocals. During a break I had some of my drink but I sort of choked on it and started coughing. The thing is I was coughing into the mic and was hitting everything perfectly.
Reply
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 9:49AM (Unverified) said
Er... there's no singing in that song. I'd say it's a non-issue.
(Doesn't bode well for Rap Band, of course.)
Reply
(Doesn't bode well for Rap Band, of course.)
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 10:04AM Burritoclock said
I hate the talky parts anyway so Id rather just be able to pass it trying then to fail miserably no matter what I try (looking at you "Hey" by the Pixies)
Besides, everyone knows you can score good on singing songs by make noises or humming, but it's not as fun.
Reply
Besides, everyone knows you can score good on singing songs by make noises or humming, but it's not as fun.
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 10:06AM (Unverified) said
This was true in Rock Band 1 as well. It's just that in RB1, the talkies were harder because you had to be precisely on rhythm, and making an enunciated sound (which is why coughing worked) at the moments that the note chart required a word. You could beat the Beastie Boys talkies in RB1 just by going "dah-dah-dah-dah-dah" to the rhythm of the original rap. It could never tell whether you were saying the right words or the right "kind of phonemes" and from what they said after the development of RB1, using that kind of speech recognition technology made the whole thing even more impossible to do accurately.
It seems like in Rock Band 2, the window for when you're supposed to talk has been opened way up, so you can say pretty much anything as long as you're making words during the general section where words are spoken.
So yeah, I don't know what they ever meant by phoneme detection except that it detects whether you are saying "dah" (or any other "phoneme") at the right moment. They just made the timing window a lot less strict, which is easier but not necessarily improved unless you mean "now people can gold star the songs and not get so frustrated" as an improvement, which I suppose from a certain experiential point of view it is.
Reply
It seems like in Rock Band 2, the window for when you're supposed to talk has been opened way up, so you can say pretty much anything as long as you're making words during the general section where words are spoken.
So yeah, I don't know what they ever meant by phoneme detection except that it detects whether you are saying "dah" (or any other "phoneme") at the right moment. They just made the timing window a lot less strict, which is easier but not necessarily improved unless you mean "now people can gold star the songs and not get so frustrated" as an improvement, which I suppose from a certain experiential point of view it is.
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 11:59AM darkinchworm said
Those are better lyrics than the original ones, for sure.
Reply
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 11:53AM FakeJamaican said
this song is great
the beastie boys are great
just not in rock band
Reply
the beastie boys are great
just not in rock band
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 11:51AM (Unverified) said
Sounds good to me. I hate those parts of the songs on RB. Especially songs like Sabatoge. Anyway, this is ROCK BAND, the songs are performed in front of an "AUDIENCE" so it's "LIVE". You should be able to say those parts any way you want to, or not at all. Ever been to a live show. The singer sings different from the recorded track all the time.
Reply
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 3:45PM Bridget said
I don't see the lack of "grading" on these segments as a bad thing. It's not like the player has any guide to follow.
If anything, I had more than a few frustrations in RB1 where the game would dock points for these parts and I'd have no idea what I was doing wrong.
Reply
If anything, I had more than a few frustrations in RB1 where the game would dock points for these parts and I'd have no idea what I was doing wrong.
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 1:49PM Dashx747 said
Does this means I can just improvise vocals? Well, it sure would be funny to sing "Never gonna give you up" during a song even if just to anoy everyone playing with me (it would be like a Rock Rick Band Roll thing).
And also, the Declaration of Independence rocks.
Reply
And also, the Declaration of Independence rocks.
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 2:14PM ludwigk said
This kind of reminds me of the hip hop interpretation of Swift's modest proposal video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0LH8FtHAc&eurl=http://www.videosift.com/video/A-Modest-Proposal-A-hip-hop-rendtion-of-a-300-year-old-political-essay-about-eating-babies-to-s
Now, Joystiq, can you give the Declaration of Independence flow?
Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0LH8FtHAc&eurl=http://www.videosift.com/video/A-Modest-Proposal-A-hip-hop-rendtion-of-a-300-year-old-political-essay-about-eating-babies-to-s
Now, Joystiq, can you give the Declaration of Independence flow?
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 2:37PM DerickDBrown said
Its kinda creepy. and kinda strange
but when the audience cheers at the end?
thats awesome.
Reply
but when the audience cheers at the end?
thats awesome.
Posted: Sep 16th 2008 2:37PM DerickDBrown said
Its kinda creepy. and kinda strange
but when the audience cheers at the end?
thats awesome.
Reply
but when the audience cheers at the end?
thats awesome.
Posted: Nov 11th 2008 3:45AM (Unverified) said
I didn't know Thomas Jefferson closed the Declaration of Independence with "Word." Hancock must have signed over it.
Reply
Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.
Featured Stories
The most popular posts
in the last 7 days
- Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 218 comments
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 152 comments
- David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
- Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 95 comments
- Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 93 comments
