GM-1 connects real drums to Guitar Hero, Rock Band

Was going to say the same thing, you darn gliding echidna.

Let me try to explain this.

I'm a musician as well, but I enjoy Rock Band and Guitar Hero. My main instrument in real life is guitar, as such, I don't have much of an interest in playing a plastic one. However, if I could plug my guitar into the game and play along with songs I enjoy and get some score out of it, that'd be fun as all hell.

Right now, I usually turn on my stereo and play along with that or something, but if I could do it with Rock Band, I would. Why not? To me that only enhances the experience of playing the real instrument.

I think what he did was pretty cool, and I think this gaps the bridge between real instruments and plastic peripherals quite a bit.

/end rant

It might be 'cool', but not $750+ cool.

My concern is that you have to mention "real guitar". What a world.

What the fuck? You ragged on it cause you said he should just play his fucking drumkit, not that it's a waste of money. What does the pricetag have to do with anything?

You're weird...

Because who wants to spend $750 on a gaming peripheral that you have to hook up too? I can almost buy 3 consoles for that amount of money.

No, I think you could buy all three current gen consoles for that price. If you got them through Amazon, you'd even have a little money left!

Ok, you guys are fucking stupid. This is what you guys are saying:

"I don't like breakfast biscuits with sausage, they're greasy"
"ok, well, you can always leave the sausage of of it, and have eggs or cheese"
"Yeah, but sausage is expensive"

But if I'm paying for the sausage, then I'm going to eat it!

We're saying it's an absurd idea, and FAR too expensive.

No, you were saying it was just a stupid idea, initially. Then all of a sudden you started bitching about the price tag that was involved.

You should change your name to Bradwart The Brick Wall

What you fail to realize is that this isn't targeted at the general populace, but the specific niche of drummers that already own a $500 (or even higher, usually) drum set who want to hook it up to RB or GH.

So stop saying it's $750, because no one that doesn't own drums already would even consider this.

Playing along is great and all.. but it's considered useless unless they can read the tune correctly... and even then, your instrument in the game would need to be turned off (except for electric instruments) so that you actually sound like you're playing with them.

For drums, it's kinda' okay. But for a guitar? ... I'm not so sure it would even read it correctly.

I suppose if you take it from the Wii Fit standpoint it's okay: You could do the exercises without the board, but the screen and board gives it a different feel. You could cheat and fake your exercises, but that would be counterproductive as the whole point was to exercise.

Though I wouldn't be too sure that everyone would be "playing to sound good" with their instruments... as they'd probably just hit the right cords and beats without actually adjusting the tuning or technique in the right fashion it should be done to play for real.

as a drummer, I can honestly say that playing along to the drums in these games can actually help you learn the real instrument. The biggest obstacle is that the pads don't sound like the real instrument. When you work up to the higher difficulties, the drums are supposed to be as close to the real drum track as possible. Put that idea to a real drumset, and I can honestly say that this could be a viable way to begin to learn to play the drums. You would only be missing out on learning sheet music or drum tabs, instead learning Rock Band tabs. Think about it though, you play a song enough times on difficult, the muscle memory will allow you to play to the real song without the screen. Bridge that gap, and you've got a blossoming drummer.

When I can go 200mph on the highway here, let me know, and I'll stop playing racing games.

If you had the money to own a 200mph car chances are you wouldn't be in front of racing games much. You can go 200mph on the highway. Might be illegal. Although unless you're playing Ridge Racer you are hardly ever going 200mph in a racing game.

Actually I think someone has actually done that. Not for the sake of playing a video game, but hooked up their car so that it could switch it into controls to their PC.

.....just call me a liar because I would have no idea where to start looking for proof of that. But I just made an intriguing lie.

No, I remember hearing about that, Soshi.

see my post above. I've been saying forever that if you could play a real set to the game, it could be a viable way to begin learning the instrument. Work your way up to the more difficult modes, learn the songs in Rock Band like the back of your hand on a real set, then just replace the game with a stereo. Guarantee that would familiarize a person unfamiliar with real drumming to the structure of a drum track.

Yes but think about it. $250 for hook ups, and they recommend a $500 drum set. So if you buy a RB drum set to practice coordination, then upward of $500 on a drum set, you're coming out ahead in money. It's just the principal of cost, time, and effort. Still it is pointless to buy a drum set and hook ups specifically to play a game.

Totally agree.

There's an attitude amongst many (too many) musicians that if someone isn't "good," or can't play blistering guitar solos, or whatever, that they suck and are the scum of the earth. I can't believe how rude and inconsiderate some people can be. It's like they forget that not everyone is born with the ability to play, and not everyone even aspires to be Hendrix or Neil Peart. Everyone starts somewhere, and musicians should be happy that more people want to play music, and if that means they post crappy videos of themselves on YouTube, so be it. You don't have to be a dick to them. If it means they start out with a music game, like Rock Band, then why is that so wrong? I'd rather encourage someone who is just beginning, rather than tell them how great they will never be. A little encouragement could go a long way.

This is coming from someone who started out as a musician and didn't necessarily look down on Guitar Hero originally, but didn't really "get" it until he tried it for himself. The wife wanted to learn drums, so I bought her Rock Band, and now she's doing some basic beats on an acoustic kit we bought for each other for Christmas. It's a start. A start of something good.

exactly! That doesn't work for guitar, since it's really nothing like playing real guitar. For drums, though, I was surprised from the first time I played it how similar it is to real drumming at its core. I played it in a Best Buy, threw on a Nirvana song on difficult, and was blown away that it was just like playing it on a real set. It totally helps teach the basics of drumming.

Not sure if you're aware or not, but you come off as a huge douchebag right there.

How? I'm stating a fact. If you wanted to play actual drums, you would not play plastic ones and would instead opt to learn how to play. Instead, you/I play Rock Band because I have no desire to take the time to learn how to do something more than hitting four plastic circles with fake drumsticks.

Not really, because hooking it up to Guitar Hero/Rock Band can create a reward system that will encourage the user to continue playing instead of waiting to see unmeasurable progress when playing on their own. Besides, your comment just sounds a bit snobby, but who am I to judge.

but BUT the drumsticks are real

"I'm stating a fact. If you wanted to play actual drums, you would not play plastic ones and would instead opt to learn how to play."

Is that a fact, or a sweeping generalization?

I have played bass guitar for about 10 years, and have enjoyed the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series since they came out (note that I was a musician first). I was looking forward to the drum portion because I had good rhythm, but no idea where to start when I sat behind a drum set and didn't want to make an investment for an instrument I might not like as much as the one I already played.

After a year of Rock Band and doing well on most songs on Expert (standard drum beats, if not odd time signatures and lightning-fast fills) I started playing in a band. They just assumed I was a bit rusty until I told them at the end of the summer that I had never played drums before that summer.

I continue to play, and my only 'formal' education came from Rock Band and little tips on technique from drummers. I never would have learned drums were it not for Rock Band. I'll say it again for you:

I NEVER WOULD HAVE LEARNED TO PLAY THE DRUMS IF IT WEREN'T FOR ROCK BAND

Rock Band is a step for people to gauge their interest and affinity for the drums before they make the leap to lessons and gigging, while at the same time teaching the fundamentals of limb separation and standard rock beats. Now, tell me again that it's a fact that people who want to play the drums don't play Rock Band.

weird OP, I play real drums AND rock band. Kinda like how I used to skateboard, yet I still want to try Tony Hawk Ride. It's two different things, a real activity and a game, two separate hobbies. I mean, take it even farther... "if I wanted to ride a go-kart, I'd buy one, not play Super Mario Kart."

Jack Thompson's been trying that for a long time.

That'd be more disastrous than the first few weeks of people, their Wiis, and not putting on their strap correctly.

..... if the Wii wasn't a console, that would sound very odd.

You just gave me a brilliant idea.

Coconut peripherals.

Holy Grail Game Confirmed!

Forgot to say, I do play drums for real and didn't but the TD-9k just for RockBand (that would be silly).

EXACTLY@@!@!!!!

I'm doing the same thing, except I have the control box of a GH drum set mounted on my TD-9K, so much easier. No soldering, just fiddling a little with the midi outputs and hey presto.

I'm amazed at how people don't get this. If you are a real drummer and feel like playing a game, why not use the kit you already have and are used to playing?