Guitar Hero World Tour's mystery instrument: a MIDI sequencer

by Jason Dobson { Sep 17th 2008 at 8:45AM }

That's right, a MIDI sequencer. While a far cry from our keytar-brandishing dreams, the addition will allow those savvy enough to wrap their heads around the process to compose music on the PC and then import their creations into Guitar Hero World Tour. The feature, however, doesn't sound like it's suited for the faint of heart, as Neversoft's Brian Bright tells Shacknews that "it's going to take an FAQ on the Guitar Hero site--it's not something that your average user is gonna do."

However, MIDI aficionados planning to compose their digital masterpieces on the Xbox 360 will likely find the experience lacking. While the PS3 sequencer will reportedly support a variety of instruments, including rhythm and lead guitars, bass, keyboards and drum tracks, the Xbox 360 alternative will be limited to drums alone due to "hardware issues." Then again, for those planning on channeling their inner John Bonham, what more do you need?

Tags: activision, drums, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-4, guitar-hero-iv, guitar-hero-world-tour, guitarhero, instrument, midi, neversoft, sequencer

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 17th 2008 8:54AM

This is, frankly, incredible.
Yeah yeah, cue the whines about "its too complex, i can't be bothered", but a fair few wannabe musicians will be ALL over this.

I'm reminded of the 90's, when Atari stuck a midi port in the ST, and this allowed massive uptake in small studios and bedroom musicians.

And "hardware issues"? Oooooo, burrrrrrrrn!

Solid Chief @ Sep 17th 2008 9:03AM

Wannabe musicians probably have perfectly good things to do this already though.

Unless this WT including everything is going to be much more cost effective

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 17th 2008 9:37AM

True, but importing your songs into this game for easy practising, and offering it to the world to let everyone else do the same is pretty sweet.

Its the keyboard channel thats something interesting, that allows pretty fully fledged cubase songs to make it out there, and not just some random stuff knocked up with the in-game studio.

Kizzle @ Sep 17th 2008 9:47AM

Kind of torn on this - yeah it's cool that they are doing it, but the number of GH:WT owners that will actually be able to use it well is absolutely miniscule.

jsn @ Sep 17th 2008 9:47AM

this is just a gimmick man. People who have the patience and talent to do this already have even better tools to do it with. Combine this with the 3 minute song limit and 1200 note per instrument limit, it's a weak gimmick.

Roto13 @ Sep 17th 2008 1:31PM

People with the patience and talent to make quality midis have something better to do it with than any standard midi program?

mrwhitethc @ Sep 17th 2008 8:54AM

I dunno that's pretty meh, I mean did they say instrument? Because I would classify a midi sequencer as more of a tool. And come on if you are going to make something like this it needs to be cross platform!

Superstar90 @ Sep 17th 2008 9:00AM

Way cool. But aren't they trying to make all versions similar? If hardware issues limit the 360 to drums, I guess the wii version won't even get it... or be limited to woodblock.

Deeznuts420 @ Sep 17th 2008 9:05AM

or flute.

Xoviet chiK @ Sep 17th 2008 9:07AM

Woohoo!

Ian Anderson's Flute Solo from Jethro Tull's "My God" confirmed for User Generated DLC!

Boffo the Sock @ Sep 17th 2008 9:29AM

You'll be praying 'til next Thursday
To all the gods that you can count

Xoviet chiK @ Sep 17th 2008 9:01AM

Can you use your own MIDI sequencer I wonder? Will it be proprietary software created for GHWT, or can you use any sequencing software? Will the transfer (or required software) be Windows PC only?

These are the questions whose answers will weigh heavily on my decision to get GHWT!

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 17th 2008 9:40AM

The interview says you can use anything, and mentions cubase, and there is a specific keyboard channel, 3 guitar channels, ect.
Seems pretty fully fledged, i'm surprised the amount they are packing into this game.
If anything it bumps up the quality of the user-created music we'll be getting massively.

dark_inchworm @ Sep 17th 2008 9:01AM

My 360 and I are gonna have a heart-to-heart tonight...

natetk @ Sep 17th 2008 9:02AM

"the Xbox 360 alternative will be limited to drums alone due to "hardware issues.""

Why not just do that to all the other systems to make it fair. I know this will probably make someone RAGE.

Roto13 @ Sep 17th 2008 11:49AM

Because why should all versions of the game be gimped for the sake of a few angry Xbots?

natetk @ Sep 17th 2008 11:54AM

I meant that to be sarcasm, but I should have wrote that a little better to reflect that more. I'm a pc gamer myself.

Roto13 @ Sep 17th 2008 1:28PM

Well I've seen enough people ask that question seriously so, I can't really be sure. xP

Poke4Christ @ Sep 17th 2008 9:02AM

What? So the 360 crouwd get's screwed? I'm not sure if I would ever do this, but I'm still kinda pissed about it. However, I like the idea of importing songs you compose on the PC in.

Monkeys Suck @ Sep 17th 2008 9:13AM

Pretty sure other consoles, like PS2 and Wii, got screwed on this one too.

RavenPaul @ Sep 17th 2008 9:34AM

Why should PS3 owners get screwed because the 360 can't handle it. All games should be made for PS3, then dummied down for 360. And I don't care anything about a MIDI sequencer. How about putting out a game with better songs on it.

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 17th 2008 9:49AM

Don't forget all the websites that will spring up from this, offering midi downloads of ALL kinds of songs. So no need to compose anything.

Should be a piece of cake to get them onto the PS3, and presumably from that to the GH online user-created section.
Can't wait for all that free content.

Rollins @ Sep 17th 2008 9:15AM

Well, their inability to get around the aforementioned "hardware issues" just resulted in my purchasing of the game being canceled as the result of "budget issues."

ToRo @ Sep 17th 2008 9:26AM

Instead of putting stuff that a very small minority cares about, they should focus on making the gameplay better. Cause seriously, the bastards still going to be adding guitar battles into the game.

deaftly @ Sep 17th 2008 9:29AM

Who cares? Rock Band 2 is out!

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 17th 2008 9:34AM

Who cares?
How about the *entire world* other than the USA.

Cos most of us haven't even got Rock Band 1 yet, and will probably never see RB2.
So fuck Harmonix, we'll have this in November.

deaftly @ Sep 17th 2008 9:37AM

haha like you guys matter

JoeTheBlow @ Sep 17th 2008 9:44AM

Luckily EA seem to disagree, which is why they'll be utterly dominating the rock band genre game very shortly indeed.
Hey, i'm a Harmonix fan myself, but their inability to get the instruments outside the US will be the end of them.

Emophia @ Sep 17th 2008 10:12AM

EA dropped to fucking ball with Rockband in the UK.

Fuck supporting them, I'd rather support Activision, because at least they actually care about bringing the game over to countries that aren't American.

Tokomak @ Sep 17th 2008 9:41AM

Bah!

I was sort of expecting the 'mystery peripheral' to be some kind of PC link given all the talk about user content creation and how they got one of the leading 'modders' of the earlier incarnations in to work on it.

My dreams of getting my own little collection of tunes into GHWT were initialy dashed by the unbelivebly cumbersome looking 'manual' way of generating content now I have my hopes rasied by a MIDI Sequencer only to be dashed sentences later by not supporting the 360 other than with drums.

Honestly whats the point of that! of all the instruments the drums are surely going to be the easiest to do directly from whithin the game.

I dont even see a reason to buy GH:WT now :/

Antagonist @ Sep 17th 2008 10:40AM

Might as well get the users to create new tracks on a regular basis since Activision sure as shit isn't going to do it.

Martin @ Sep 17th 2008 11:01AM

ROFL, nice one

CJLopez @ Sep 17th 2008 12:57PM

Man, that pic brought back pretty awefull memories!!!!!

Breakfastmachine @ Sep 17th 2008 1:34PM

Can tracks created on the PS3 be downloaded on the 360? If so, there's little reason for 360 owners to bother with the in game studio. Somebody on the PS3 will already have done it.

I've also been wondering about copyright issues. I assume Activision doens't want to be sued for what the user base does. I also wonder if there's any insidious small print. Like, "If you put your bands song into the game we own it".

Bluebrake @ Sep 17th 2008 2:43PM

As a PS3 owner, this is just about the best announcement they could have made.

But I don't quite get these "hardware issues." What could be easier than importing and utilizing midi data? That's like saying the next Intel processors won't support Windows Calculator because of hardware issues.

If anything, instruments other than drums should be easier to implement, because drum sounds vary between soundbanks. Half the time you won't get out anything resembling what you put in.

In any case, the drums are pretty much the one instrument I *would* prefer to do in-game, since using a real pseudo-drumset has got to be a lot easier and more fun than tapping out beats on a keyboard.

So yeah, lame about that. I guess it doesn't matter much to me, though.

Rk0n @ Sep 17th 2008 4:45PM

Xbox can't handle a simple MIDI machine, haha.

Kyle Nichol @ Sep 17th 2008 5:03PM

MIDI compatability is going to be easy for those who understand DAW software but for the general gamer who hasn't played the MTV/Music series on PSone and PS2 it's going to be complicated trying to teach things like velocity levels, note lengths and tempo changes. It's odd how the 360 can't seem to handle more than a few imported MIDI channels but luckily I own a PS3 so that isn't an issue in my case. I foresee copyrighted songs not being allowed to be uploaded to the GH:WT network but this will be easily bypassed with general online sharing, most likely by a dedicated website like there are with Frets On Fire. I'm more curious about how GH:WT will handle machine gun playback (think of a snare roll, a constant row of hits with no velocity change). Drum samplers include a humanisation option that'll vary a string of hits so it sounds more like a live drummer. If Activision plans to include this I hope it will be controllable with a on/off switch for those who want complete control over the playback of their tracks.