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Free Drum Machine on PC - Works with Rock Band Drum Set!!

andrewrudson.com — Just found this application that allows you to play your rock band drum set freestyle. This application lets you reassign each pad to whatever you want (including .wav files of your own), save pad settings, and record/playback your playing. Pretty great considering it's FREE

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  • cracksmith, on 01/18/2008, -1/+10He also made a demo video, which you can find here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYbSxknJFBU
    • RedS0x, on 01/18/2008, -0/+3Wow...that actually has a pretty nice UI, too. Looks good!
    • jon02129, on 01/18/2008, -0/+4FINALLY. I was very disappointed when i booted up Rock Band only to not find any sort of "Freestyle" or "Just mess around" mode. I had to resort to using the Drum Tutorial to mess around, but after a minute or two, it automatically resets. :(

      Can't wait to try this out.
      • jon02129, on 01/18/2008, -2/+3Actually, just tried to get it going, but is it just me, or do the "hacking" instructions not make any sense. "Copy this file" -- where the hell is this file??! "I've made it easy, here's an installer" -- the installer doesn't do anything!

        Please, someone explain this to me.

        **EDIT: My brother's retarded and didn't search online for the drivers during the initial plugging in of the drums. That solved everything.
  • demon666girl, on 01/18/2008, -1/+29This drum machine is the greatest contribution yet made to science and technology
  • Barricade, on 01/18/2008, -2/+20great man! all i need now is Rockband :)
  • pilotboy, on 01/18/2008, -3/+4can't wait to try it out. Looks sooooo cooooool!!!!
  • blackflame4747, on 01/18/2008, -6/+3Awesome.
  • palmerized, on 01/18/2008, -1/+27I'd hit it.

    Rock Band is one of the best games I've played in ages...
    This hack looks pretty awesome.
  • TomMcBaum, on 01/18/2008, -0/+3Looks beautiful. Kudos to the author. The best music game ever got just got a little better.
  • k1ds3ns4t10n, on 01/18/2008, -3/+53needs more cowbell!!!
    • NeoCortex, on 01/18/2008, -0/+5Just find .wav file of one (I think Windows even has one somewhere built in) and assign it to one of the pads.
      • k1ds3ns4t10n, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Already did! found some classic 808 samples too!
    • jd72277, on 01/19/2008, -3/+2is this joke really not over? add it to the list of unspeakable "jokes" please, right beside "I've fallen and I can't get up", "Cant we all just get along", and "Talk to the hand".
  • eminem213486, on 01/18/2008, -9/+3its missing one awesome feature. How about letting you use an MP3 and analyze a songs drums so it lights up the pads at the corresponding time effectivelly teaching you the song? or just have the community share *time tables* of songs?
    • Malchus89, on 01/18/2008, -1/+3Well, considering that it's so easy to do that by yourself.....just listen to the song and play along...provided you CAN drum....
    • smoger, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2..because that would assume you have the same set of drums as the band playing the song, which in most cases is not going to be the case. for example, Rush's drummer plays with no less than 18 drums in his set. yes, i counted them.. there might have been a few that i missed.

      so,.. what you said would basically be just making new rock band drum tracks that have no bearing on actually playing the song IRL
  • DCJoeDogaswell, on 01/18/2008, -1/+2Does the RB guitar work on XP for say Frets on Fire?
    • Gerz1219, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah, a PC just sees it as a USB joystick. I'm pretty sure I had to map FoF keyboard commands to the guitar using third-party software, but your mileage may vary. I gave up on it after about 30 minutes of playing around, because pretty much all of the songs I downloaded were tabbed very poorly compared to Guitar Hero.

      Presumably, now that we have a drum kit, we should start seeing drum-coded songs for FoF. I'm guessing some sort of software update would be required for the kick drum to display as an orange line instead of as the fifth fret.
      • blahtastic, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1The GH Xplorers work very well for FOF... I haven't tried the RB one but it is recognized when you plug it in.
  • dysyng, on 01/18/2008, -1/+1Sexy!
  • 133seven, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2Nice find. Dugg.
  • bjs3171, on 01/18/2008, -10/+1so, you would use this through the PS3's web browser? (assuming the PS3 has a web browser, i don't own one)
    • bjs3171, on 01/18/2008, -2/+3why do i constantly get dugg down for asking questions?
      • jon02129, on 01/18/2008, -0/+5Because your question is just ridiculous. Did you even read the webpage?
      • Scrappy1850, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2put your PS3 away for 30 minutes and plug your drums into your computer.
  • oyourmom, on 01/18/2008, -3/+1I have Cakewalk drum plug-ins because I record and master a lot of music and that kind of stuff. Does anyone think Rock Band will work with it or theres some sorta driver that will let me?
  • truspect0r, on 01/18/2008, -9/+3I bet the mac and linux fanboys are jealous! HAHA!
  • dcrooks, on 01/18/2008, -2/+12Makes me want to bang on the drum all day!
  • kmoonlight, on 01/18/2008, -1/+0niceeeeee! i wish i had the drumset so i could try it out.
  • kepsux, on 01/18/2008, -0/+8For the PS3 version, try this: http://www.adventure-today.com/crap/RockBandDrums. ... [adventure-today.com] It's a small java app my buddy wrote that does kind of that this program does, just without the record features. Make sure you have the newest version of java, plug in the USB controller and go. It's brainless to setup.
    • Bando, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1It works for PS3 kit, too, you'll just have to add a line to the config file. The only problem is that the drums are out of order. Not that big of a deal though.
      • Bando, on 01/26/2008, -0/+1Never mind, its fixed now, and response time is much better.
  • AdamTReineke, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2This program is a .EXE that runs on your PC. You connect your Rock Band drum set (I used the Xbox 360 version) to a USB port, and let Windows find the drivers. It is quite easy.
    • doshindude, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1the .zip is easier for portability. plus then if you need to remove it, there's no uninstall required.
  • zephc, on 01/18/2008, -7/+5Cool and all, but Rock Band drums are the Scooty Puff Jr of percussion. Much more fun: http://www.roland.com/V-Drums/
    • Malchus89, on 01/18/2008, -1/+7Yeah...but people who CAN'T play drums aren't gonna drop around 2500 for V-drums...despite being an awesome set.
      • zephc, on 01/18/2008, -1/+2You cant play the drums until you practice, and if you can spend dozens of hours beating Rock Band, you could spend them learning to play the actual drums. (This is unlike the guitar parts to Rock Band/Guitar Hero which don't resemble playing the guitar at all)
    • EricAnderton, on 01/18/2008, -4/+6This just in: RB drums are 80% as capable as those v-drums at one tenth the cost. If you're learning, the extra cash could be well spent on *lessons*.

      Hell, you could probably hack four RB sets together into a big kit and still come out ahead.
      • blahtastic, on 01/18/2008, -1/+4Ok, while I'm all in favor of the RockBand drums, and do believe they are a good way for someone curious to determine whether or not they might want to try the real thing, they are nowhere near 80% as capable as those particular drums. Maybe 40% if you're lucky.

        Rockband does not have varying pressure response, and you're lucky if it registers every hit if you're trying to play something quick.
        Rockband does not have dual trigger heads to register the difference between hitting the rim and the drum (Yes, you hit the rims sometimes...Rimshot?)
        The pads feel nothing like real drums (though they're not bad and completely manageable, where as these rolands are pretty good, and most importantly, have a real bass pedal, which is pretty terrible on the RB kit.

        Just a few things that make them not comparable, as you would lead people to believe.

        Also, by the time you "hack" 4 sets together, at around $85 a pop (they're supposed to be 80+tax I believe) you've spent 340, which is close to some real, lower quality electronic sets ( http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/electron ... ) and more than some cheap acoustic sets http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/complete ...

        So yes, the game is fun, the drums are pretty awesome, and the drum tracks are very similar (if not the same) to real drums. Using them for real drumming purposes, however, is nothing like acoustics, or an electronic set of the quality mentioned in the above post (there are cheaper crap ones, that are probably not too far off).
    • nj10ii, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2I do like playing the electronic drums like these, I play sometimes at Guitar Center, they are cool to play. Plus you can use headphones so there isn't a noise issue with practice.
      What I can't get over though is the aesthetics of them, they just look weird to me....
      • NinjaBoy, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah i feel like a giant when i play them. I wish i could spread out each drum head.
    • Ataxia2008, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1I have a Yamaha DTXpress (original) set, amazing for practicing, they sound good and they don't annoy your neighbours. Paid £400 (About $800). It also has MIDI out, which I find quite useful.
    • UnkelJethro, on 01/18/2008, -0/+0I have a full V-Drum kit and love it -- now if only I could play Rock Band with it :(
  • razmig, on 01/18/2008, -0/+4I just tried it out, make sure you update your directX if it says it can't find a .dll file. It runs pretty smoothly, only minor complaint is the delay/maxing out, it kind of felt like playing a very old childrens keyboard, which only allows you to press 2 or 3 keys at once. If you are banging away at three things (snare, hihat, bass drum), sometimes certain hits won't register. That and it needs more toms...or cowbell. But other than that it is actually really cool!
  • namuh, on 01/18/2008, -0/+3OMG, so sweet. Now I can stop annoying my friends when I freestyle some beats on Rock Band right before the song starts! Good job.
  • ElectricKetchup, on 01/18/2008, -0/+8this is way cooler: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qATieto9tA8
  • Mr.Gone, on 01/18/2008, -8/+3Oh yes! tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

    I love that song!!!
    It's almost as good as
    Click click click click click click click clickity click click click click click click clickity clickity click click click clickity clickity click.

    I love the sound of a classical guitar
    • undershirt, on 01/18/2008, -0/+3Southpark mocked the guitar hero controller is nothing like a real guitar. The drum controller is an actual set of drum pads, so you can't really make fun of it.
    • nj10ii, on 01/18/2008, -4/+2Yeah, you can. The drum pads are NOTHING like a real drum. tappity tap tap. How do you even hear the beats when your hitting the pads? I can't get over the tappity tap tap. The feel is totally different and alien. Both my son & I play drums, and just hated playing the RB drums.

      Though the UI would be an awsome training aid for a real kit. I'll bet it won't be long. If I didn't have a real job (one that lets me slack off and read Digg most of the day) I could probably come up with something....
      • vsaint, on 01/18/2008, -0/+7Awesome, you have a real job! And feel aliens!
    • Ataxia2008, on 01/18/2008, -1/+0I doubt they have the same kind of kick proper Yamaha/Roland/whatever electric drum kit pads have, which mimic real drum skins very well. It probably feels like when you were younger and used to play on set of saucepans in the kitchen.
  • blackhole82, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1awesome. i can't wait to try this out
  • KidDeath, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1this is cool...

    it's much cheaper than synthesized professional models... althrough, the construction and everything is cheaper, but you have much more of a range of abilities using something like this..

    add this to the Guitar Hero 3 guitar mod, and you could have a band using synthesized music, and toy 'insturments'... cool
  • Hoogs, on 01/18/2008, -0/+6This is cool, but the physical sound of hitting the drums always seems to drown out the sound that they're supposed to be making. Why couldn't they have made the drum pads out of a softer, quieter rubber or other material? I'm thinking of something like one of those gel bike seats.
    • blahtastic, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2This is on a computer. Wear headphones. Problem solved.
      You have to wear headphones/earplugs/sound dampening something or other with a real set to not damage your ears anyway, so you cant even say that's inconvenient and takes away from the realism, because,well...not so much.
    • ukfoole, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Ah.... you haven't modded your drums with foam and felt yet.

  • aryo, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1that's awesome. i wonder how it works though, does it send MIDI data?
    can anyone point me to where i can find info on this?
    • etx313, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2No it just registers the key press, no MIDI.
  • etx313, on 01/18/2008, -1/+1I usually just go into practice mode and slow the track down to 90% so it stops playing the audio and just plays the samples. But you can't change the samples on each pad. Then I get sick of the piece of crap and walk downstairs to play my real drums.
  • wvstephens, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2Just tried it out and works great alot of fun to just play around with.
    Note: when installing the drivers in xp choose search internet and it will install the driver without any hacking anything.
  • UnkelJethro, on 01/18/2008, -1/+0I was wondering if you could do this -- glad somebody stepped up and did it.

    The site, however, is the ugliest thing in history. I had to highlight the text just to see it. It does give it an authentic "I'm a programmer" feel to it.
  • Lonecow, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Someone should make a mac version that works with Garage Band.
  • ninja0, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Too bad it isn't for linux. I would use it. Anyone know if you can run this in wine?
  • tjdoom, on 01/19/2008, -0/+1Before this I used the JoyToKey/Fruity Loops modification, it worked well except for the 1 second delay.
  • sprinkles8, on 01/20/2008, -0/+0My PS3 drums are recognized by windows but not the program. When I added the g_useDirectInput = 1 line to the config file it still doesn't accept that they're there and it still won't run.
  • JBravada, on 01/24/2008, -0/+0I think one of the coolest things about Rock Band and music in video games is that there are so many more people interested in taking the leap to playing real instruments to experiment. While I was at NAMM last week, I saw a new drum company launching this spring called Dixon Drums and they're making high quality, aggresive drum sets on the cheap. If you ever wanted to be a drummer, nows a good time to make the leap. Check out their site @ www.myspace.com/dixondrums
  • iceberg1414, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1This is cool....

    Super - just when I thought I had spent enough time on Rock Band - this is going to make me spend more! Only comment - these things really needs pads which you can get at http://www.drumpads4rockband.com so you can actually hear the music
  • maryjay9, on 07/05/2008, -0/+0it's much cheaper than synthesized professional models... althrough, the construction and everything is cheaper, but you have much more of a http://generic-purchase.info range of abilities using something like this..
  •  

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