RedOctane unveils Guitar Hero 5 drums
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Jul 16th 2009 at 10:30AM } 
This revelation brings up two interesting points -- first, RedOctane is viciously taking the wind out of the sails of Logitech, who revealed its own cymbal-equipped drum peripheral yesterday at an unwelcoming price point of $229. Second, it looks like the leaked pictures and list of features we received earlier in the month were legit -- and as you surely know, every time a leak is proven legitimate, an angel gets its wings.
[Via Engadget]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ferdasyn @ Jul 16th 2009 10:33AM
Cool story bro.
JoeTheBlow @ Jul 16th 2009 11:32AM
Lame attempt to be "FIRST!" without actually saying the forbidden word, or anything of value.
Downvoting you anyway.
Ferdasyn @ Jul 16th 2009 11:34AM
I wish I was as awesome as you.
No, seriously. i do.
Orion @ Jul 16th 2009 10:34AM
I see they still have no idea what a kit looks like. How you're supposed to feel comfortable playing with the drums set like that (and with a couple missing) is beyond me.
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 11:07AM
To be honest, neither does the RB kit, or any kit that has a flat array of snare/toms.
If anything the snare pad should be parallel to the ground, and closer to the center.
The only true way to get a good "real" kit would be to buy the Ions, or buy any e-drum kit and run it through the MIDI port on the GHWT kit (if you have the GHWT kit, then this is a better option, that way you get 5 lanes in Guitar Hero, and 4 lanes in Rock Band.)
Shagittarius @ Jul 16th 2009 11:21AM
They still haven't figured where to place the hi-hat.
The Rockband kit is better because its more versatile. The poorly placed cymbals really just get in the way of the proper flow of playing a real kit. Then again to the 12 year olds I'm sure it "looks" more like a real kit.
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 11:34AM
Well, frankly, if you put a hi-hat on the left of the snare, someone who has never play drums before will sit down and hit it with their left hand because they don't know better. They will complain that the game is hard to play, and then they will not buy the game again, because they aren't left handed and didn't play it right at all.
And given that 1/50 people who will ever touch these will have touched a real drum set before, it might be better to put it to the right.
Shagittarius @ Jul 16th 2009 11:55AM
Your right it would be way to hard to demonstrate with a simple picture in the tutorial or at the beginning of play the first time how to use the set.
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 12:14PM
I know that was sarcasm, but really, some people just don't get it.
The game tells you how to activate star power, but yet rarely do I see a vocalist or drummer activate. The only reason people get it in Rock Band is because the game tells you that you can activate in drum fills or shouting in an orange section.
People will be playing a simple YYY(RY)YYY(RY) pattern at a decent tempo in WT/M/SH, and still not activate when everyone else is talking at them. I understand intense songs like Dyers Eve and Raining Blood are hard to activate in, but simple songs like Today and Stellar?
And vocals? All you have to do is hit the microphone, or press a button on the controller. Hell, if you want to have fun, you can scream something into the microphone (This is actually a problem in some songs. Every time I "metal scream" the word fuck in Laid to Rest, it activates (due to the censor gap).)
Problems or not, I like the ability to activate whenever in the GH games. Many times, our band has failed the song because the vocalist, who had overdrive, was doing a 3 minute cowbell-fest during the long complex guitar solo and couldn't activate.
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 12:20PM
But of course, in the WT era games, it is pooled, so it doesn't really matter. Pooled SP is bad, though. Glad they are cutting it.
andy @ Jul 25th 2009 3:09PM
the reason they dont do that is because they need to make the kit symmetrical for the lefties out there (like me). if they put the hi-hat to the left of the red pad(the "snare" for all the righties) it would be nice for all you righties out there but for the lefty population it would be almost impossible to play. they wouldn't make a special lefty kit too because there aren't enough lefties in the general population to justify this economicly, but if they make the kit just for righties the lefty pop. is just big enough that they would lose a lot of money. so they have to make the kit just right so nobody complains.
in my opinion i think the wt kit is very good and this is a great improvement. i like how they put the controls for the kit in front of the pads because it always bothered me that i couldnt hook my mic up to the 360 version without it falling out because the wire is too far away. i think that the ions are still the best kit to have but im not willing to spend 250 bucks for a video game peripheral.
and finally, i loved my wt drum kit. the rebound for them was incredible. the first thing wrong with them was the kick pedal, but with extra one i had from pre-ordering metallica it was all alright (btw it looks like they did some major improvements to that in the new kit). after a little less than a year of me beating on those pads, they finally broke on me about a week ago, (which, when you play consistently is a very good lifespan for both rb and gh drums imo) so the next drums im getting are going to be the gh5 set and im very excited for them, they look like a good cross between the gh4 set and the ions
Akuma FTW @ Jul 16th 2009 10:35AM
Do the drums really need color accents? Bad enuf I'm playing a videogame with fake drums, they could at least make them look cool
Ferdasyn @ Jul 16th 2009 10:48AM
I've just had this crazy idea. Maybe the colours are to represent the buttons onscreen? Surely Not!?!?
Akuma FTW @ Jul 16th 2009 10:57AM
Is it that obvious I only have the one guitar?? What does the pedal do? It should be for a bass drum but I see no colors
Hashbrown Hunter (OneGiantCluster.blogspot.com) @ Jul 16th 2009 11:04AM
The pedal is for the bass drum.
Akuma FTW @ Jul 16th 2009 11:10AM
does the bass have it's own "circle" or does it act like the wammy bar on the guitar?
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 11:18AM
Bass drum is a horizontal line across the highway.
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/956/956318/guitar-hero-metallica-20090223014657981_640w.jpg
See that purple line?
bongoes @ Jul 16th 2009 11:20AM
The bass is a line that comes down. Unless you're playing Rock Revolution, then it's a triangle. But no one plays Rock Revolution.
Shagittarius @ Jul 16th 2009 11:23AM
I see what you did Akuma.
ronEbear @ Jul 16th 2009 10:35AM
IS it necessary to release new "instruments" every time a sequel is produced? All that spit will make its way to the garbage dump eventually. It is absolutely ridiculous. What will Guitar Hero 6 bring us?
U U D D L R L R B A SELECT START @ Jul 16th 2009 10:45AM
USB groupies?!!
*waves crossed fingers up and down excitedly*
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 10:59AM
Well, if the Rock Band 1 set was perfect, we would never need another drum controller. But that terrible thing was FAR FROM perfect, and the RB2 drums are much better.
This was a much more radical design change compared to Rock Band 1 to Rock Band 2, with almost everything except the layout itself changing. Looks more like an e drum kit.
GH sets use larger piezo sensors than RB drums, and if you get a good kit, they ARE better. However, RO needs to up the consistency this time around. RB2 kits are really consistent with their sensors. (Most drops are of result of the pads bubbling.) GH:5 kits need to be consistently good, to get any reputation at all.
Young_Nastyman (a.k.a. Thor von Clemson) @ Jul 16th 2009 12:51PM
@Hafkie
The red pad on my RB2 kit bubbled and it still hits at 100%
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 1:43PM
Whoops, I mistyped. I meant worse rebound after bubbling, not dropped notes.
Eric @ Jul 16th 2009 10:36AM
Rock Band 2 drums are still my fav.
WINterfang @ Jul 16th 2009 10:42AM
Looks a lot better than the last ones.
Also I have a question, what is this Band Hero? I saw a lot of flyers and posters on my local gamestop and I though it was gonna be GH5 but then I saw a poster for that game.
U U D D L R L R B A SELECT START @ Jul 16th 2009 10:48AM
Band Hero is the second of Activision's Hero trifecta for this fall. Don't be confused, Band Hero is completely separate from Guitar Hero. Except it's very similar -- it's Activision's attempt at a family-oriented Guitar Hero game, rated E10+, and will be facing off against Harmonix's Lego Rock Band later this year.
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/07/activision-announces-guitar-hero-5-band-hero-and-dj-hero-for-fa/
WINterfang @ Jul 16th 2009 10:54AM
Doesn't sounds like as bad a Lego RockBand as long as it's only a CD and It's compatible with the other drums/guitars/mic because I wouldn't mine my little cousins playing without scaring them with death metal.
But I'm not into Guitar Hero games because I can't play them. (horrible player)
WINterfang @ Jul 16th 2009 11:01AM
Sorry for asking again, but what's Guitar Villain about?
Danny @ Jul 16th 2009 11:01AM
GameStop still doesn't have full band pre-orders
THX256 @ Jul 16th 2009 10:51AM
They better sell these separately from the Deluxe edition because my drum controller broke (cheap piece of crap!!) and i don't want to get another full kit again! Not like my room is filled with enough large plastic "furniture".
MrCartoonfox @ Jul 16th 2009 10:54AM
That central control pod is gonna get smashed to pieces!!
It only took a few days before I accidentally smashed off both stick holders on the GHWT kit.
Still, my current kit is broken so I might have to buy this one anyway : [
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 16th 2009 10:57AM
Then you're not doing it right. I ONLY play my drums and my stick holders are still in tact.
You need to practice more and not wale on them like a 5 year old.
MrCartoonfox @ Jul 16th 2009 11:01AM
Thanks for the "tip" but I don't need to be told how to play drums.
Thanks.
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 16th 2009 11:35AM
You're Welcome!
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 16th 2009 10:58AM
These look better than the WT Drums, that's for sure.
Noticeable key improvements include: crossbar to stabilize footpedal and improved symbols. Hopefully the symbols don't sound like I'm drumming on a piece of hard plastic like the WT drums do.
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 16th 2009 11:00AM
Though I think they need to have the cord from the kickpedal coil like the rockband drumset so it's not in the damn way all the time. I have mine wrapped around that middle bar so it's not getting tangled around my pedal.
Spike @ Jul 16th 2009 11:18AM
symbols? i see no symbols on that kit, you mean cymbals?
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 16th 2009 11:35AM
Really Spike? Come on, you knew what I meant, I knew what I meant. You don't have to point out slight grammatical errors like that.
Billy @ Jul 16th 2009 11:02AM
I'm actually quite glad of this. They look better than the World Tour ones and since I have yet to buy World Tour I'm going to wait it out and buy the GH5 kit.
QAguy @ Jul 16th 2009 1:27PM
AGREED!!! These look alot better as long as they are made more consistent this time than last I'm ALL IN...I like the GH drums 100X more than RB's. Plus I get 5 notes!
spikeylee @ Jul 16th 2009 11:02AM
they do look pretty snazzy, but hopefully they've got their act together this time around and the drums won't need calibration STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX because i need to smash the orange cymbal with all my might.
Spike @ Jul 16th 2009 11:04AM
i'll stick with my RB2 drums, you can't get much better than those
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 11:16AM
Actually, you can. The Ions (or any e-drum kit, for that matter.)
But yes, for the price point, the RB2 is the best kit you can buy right now.
Spike @ Jul 16th 2009 11:19AM
i meant with toy drums, you aren't getting much better
razer922 @ Jul 16th 2009 11:17AM
I've had enough problems with plastic drums. I'm just going to get a set of Ions and the Destroyer Pedal once I get a job. Considering I play almost all the time, I'll put my $400 to use quite a bit.
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 16th 2009 11:36AM
I saw those Ion drums set up at a Best Buy for the first time the other week. After actually seeing them on display, I want them for sure.
Luke @ Jul 16th 2009 11:47AM
Interesting. The drum pads look like they could be replaced easier than the ones on the WT kit. Not that you should have to, but my green pad died and I bought a new one for $30 on eBay. Replacement was a pain in the ass. They also removed the plastic tabs that hold your sticks, which are broken on almost all of the kits I've seen. And controls below the pads is definitely the better way to go.
Some notable improvements, but not enough to justify buying another set. Love or hate Activision, RedOctane does make the better fake instruments though.
Matt @ Jul 16th 2009 12:13PM
Do all GH instruments require you to plug in a Wii remote like this one does in the central panel? That's a good reason right there to never go the GH route. I've only got two Wii remotes and don't see a reason to ever get another since SBB uses cube controllers.
Hafkie @ Jul 16th 2009 12:18PM
Yes. When they made GH3, Nintendo's controller standard meant that you HAD to use Wii Remotes for peripherals. Be it classic controllers, zappers, you name it. They changed it by the time Rock Band came out, and they got around it.
They should have switched over to non-wiimote controllers in GH:WT, and keep the code for Les Pauls as well.