Reader JCR writes with a question that I thought we could all benefit from.
“I have yet to invest in a full band kit,” he says. “I bought Guitar Hero III for my 360 a couple years ago, but never played it much. Now my fiancee wants to rock out, but I don’t know which box to get — I’m still seeing World Tour boxes available (not seeing GH5 though), but there’s also Band Hero, Rock Band 2 and Beatles Rock Band on store shelves. I’m not loyal to GH over RB, or vice versa. I just want a good set that I can use with whichever disc I want to pop in.”
Well, JCR, this would have been easier to answer without Rock Band 3 on the horizon. Now things are a bit more complicated. Here’s how I see it:
For games and instruments available on store shelves right now, I’d have to go with the World Tour bundle. The game is solid, the drums are the quietest stock kit on the market (unless you have a Wii or are outside the U.S. and already have access to Band Hero drums for your 360), and the guitar and mic are perfectly adequate. If your tastes run more to pop, you could even upgrade the guitar a bit (and currently, save some serious cash) by picking up a Band Hero bundle
instead.
But here’s the thing: In a couple months, everything’s going to change. We’ve finally gotten confirmation that the redesigned Band Hero drums will be available in the U.S. with Warriors of Rock. And I’ve had a bit of hands-on time with the Warriors of Rock guitar and it’s probably my favorite of all the Guitar Hero controllers I’ve played through the years. So in terms of a single-box solution, a Warriors of Rock bundle is probably going to be your best option, if you can wait until September 28.
This is the problem, though: If you have any interest in Rock Band 3′s Pro Mode, these instruments aren’t going to do you any good. Because of the way Pro Mode cymbals are authored, Harmonix says they’re not going to support Guitar Hero drums in Pro Mode. And Pro guitar requires a special controller, anyway.
Now, the new guitar should work fine in older games. And recent Guitar Hero games smartly recognize if you’re using a Rock Band drum controller, and transpose the drum track down to four pads instead of five. So I would say the best solution would be to wait for a Rock Band 3 bundle and get that.
…Except there isn’t going to be a Rock Band 3 bundle.
So.
Here’s how it breaks down, for me. The World Tour or Band Hero bundles give you the broadest compatibility for what’s currently on the market, and will work fine with Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3′s legacy mode. And you should be able to get somewhat better instruments and equal functionality and compatibility with a Warriors of Rock bundle, though that won’t come out for two more months.
If you think you’ll want to eventually step up to Pro drums in Rock Band 3, then the Rock Band 2 bundle might be your best bet, since adding an inexpensive cymbal pack will allow full Pro mode functionality.
But if you’re expecting to dive into Pro guitar, then you probably want to hold off on any bundle at all, and use your Guitar Hero III controller until the new games hit.
I realize that’s a very complex answer to a very simple question. Blame it on Harmonix and their damn innovations. And the market. And, oh, I dunno, astrology? Whatever works.
Have a question of your own? Feel free to drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer.
I’d rather blame Activision for pulling out new incompatible crap every time a new Hero comes out.
The Rock Band 2 bundle for me is still the best bet. Future-proof ’cause of the cymbals, very quiet and many new options will adapt to it with RB3.
Quick tip for Joe: if the RB drumkit is too noisy for you, get a Rock Band official drum silencers pack ($20). Improves the drum bounce and is quiet as a mouse fart. Worth every penny.
In Canada at least, there’s been a handful of retailers clearing out the giant music game boxes recently. The best deal by far was the Premium The Beatles: Rock Band bundle for $40. If you can find a store doing such a thing, then you’re in pretty good shape.
Ignoring price, you’re probably best off getting instruments for the game series you’re likely to play most. Especially as far as drums are concerned. Guitar feel is more of a personal preference, but I’ve found I got used to the one I used most. (Except the RB1 Strat. That one just sucked, IMO.)
I actually waited until The Beatles Rock Band to upgrade from my Rock Band 1 bundle. I have the 3 cymbal expansions for the drum set, basically making it pro mode already for practicing cymbal hits apart from tom/snare hits. Although some people complain about the size of the Hofner bass, (I’ve a friend at 6’2″ who can’t play it, go figure) the buttons have a much better feel than the RB1 strat or any Guitar Hero controller I’ve used.
I’m using the Hofner bass now. The longer neck is a bit off-putting (I’m 6’3″ myself), but I think the sharp-ish edges on the body are more my beef with it. That and the thicker body make it a little uncomfortable. And I find the Start button and Xbox Guide button take some extra effort to push. (Same on the drums. This may possibly be by design, or they may need to be worked in.) But the fret buttons and strummer on the Hofner are very nice.
Tip for RB1 guitars (PlayStation owners): Get the latest RB1 PS3 bundles or any RB1 PS2 bundle. Guitars with bad strums (pin-clamp switches) came in the very first PS3 bundles. The newer magnetic switch guitars (same mechanism as the RB2 guitars) came out late for PS3 and in all PS2 bundles. Some online retailers sell the guitars for $25. Great deal.
I have Rock Band 2 drums and official covers….and I never heard a mouse fart but it must be pretty freaking loud since unless you’re playing on Medium or Weezer on Expert its still way too loud for me to ever play them in my NYC apartment.
Maybe I should’ve said “way less loud than the regular RB2 drums”. Bad neighbors you might have, since mine don’t notice the noise. Mouse farts FTW!
This is *extremely* bad advice if you ever want to drum, since all the Rock Band drumming parts are pretty much unplayable on the Guitar Hero drums.
There’s just a massive disconnect between one pad being a cymbal all of a sudden. More detail:
https://fakeplasticrock.com/2008/11/guitar-hero-and-rock-band-drum-compatibility/
Remember that all the GH games support a 4-lane mode for RB drums, but RB games do *NOT* support 5 lanes, so there’s that incredibly clumsy and painful remapping.
(I do agree that the Guitar Hero guitars are generally quite a bit better than the Rock Band guitars, however. But the drums thing is a showstopper and people need to be warned.)
I dunno, Jeff, maybe I’m a freak but I generally don’t have much trouble readjusting my brain to play Rock Band parts on the Guitar Hero drums. I mean, occasionally it doesn’t feel quite right, but I’ve found it just takes half a song or so before I’m hitting notes where they should be.
The thing for me is that the Guitar Hero kit (and hence charting) is dramatically more realistic than the Rock Band kit, in both layout and feel.
Joe, the RB2 set with the cymbal expansions is more realistic than the World Tour, Band Hero or Warriors of Rock drum kits will ever be. Sure, that’s an extra $30 to spend on cymbals, but not only is it the most realistic drum kit you can get, but it’ll be fully ready for Rock Band 3 pro drums.
Trying to play Rock Band with a World Tour drum kit was near impossible for me. I’d never recommend getting the GH drums if you ever considered buying Rock Band and really, if you’re into music games and you AREN’T buying Rock Band, there’s a big problem.
Best solution? Keep the GH3 guitar for now. Find somewhere that is clearancing out the Rock Band 2 drum kit or even just find a used Rock Band 2 kit on craigslist or something. I picked up a near complete Rock Band 2 bundle (I needed to upgrade from my RB1 drums) for $50. Drums, guitar, Rock Band 1 and 2 games for $50. No Mic, but I have my LIPS mic already.
JCR should steer clear of the Guitar Hero drum kits especially if he’s looking into eventually picking up Rock Band 3. Go with the Rock Band 2 kit.
walmart for a while here were selling RB drum kits for $10 but only for 360 and PS. I started out with the GHWT kit because at the time it was the only good gig for the Wii… and you were able to use the kit with RB2. Still to this day i have never played a RB instrument.
I had to recentley buy new wires off ebay to replace a broken yellow cymbal wire in my drum kit, but now its back to tip top shape. And the wire is longer so i dont have to worry about the stretching problems the old wires had.
Here’s my take:
MY CHOICE: When I got into the whole rhythm gaming idea just before Christmas 2009, I had to make a similar choice to what JCR is facing now. Back then I didn’t know, which of the many fan-sites were any good, so I based my choice on the official compatibility chart found on the rockband site. On the Wii, RB drums can’t be used for Guitar Hero, and as I only compared on-disc tracks (and not DLC availabilty), the GH:WT bundle seemed like the best idea. The BH-bundle was already out, but as I wasn’t too excited about the soundtrack, I passed. (I got the game-disc anyway recently, as it has some great songs for a party setting with guests that are not as much into the “rock” side of things…) Had there been a GH5 bundle with drums, I’d probably have gotten that.
LEARNING DRUMS on the GH:WT kit worked out well, and playing RB2 on it is also a lot of fun. (I just remove the orange cymbal and have hardly any problems playing most songs. Admittedly, I have yet to gold-star any song, so that might have something to do with it. Could also be inadequate drummuing, though…
)
GH:WT DRUM PROBLEMS: When after about 4 months my red pad wasn’t very reactive anymore, I needed to open it and re-solder the loose wire. While I was also “in there” I also attacked the lacking sensitivity using some hot glue (according to this guide: https://5frets.com/1/guitar-hero-world-tour-drum-sensitivity-repair-guide/ ). After I did this and additionally readjusted sensitivity with the free drum tuning kit that Activision is sending out, I am quite happy with my GH:WT drum kit for both GH and RB games.
WISHES FOR RB3 KIT:
As I am really eager to try out the Pro-Mode in RB3, I will probably get the new RB drum kit, once it comes out. I would prefer only having to use one kit, so I hope that it will also be compatible with GH games. But as charting GH’s 5 drum lanes into 4 lanes for RB drums sounds a little awkward (is it?), I very much hope that the 4 pads and 3 cymbals will be recognized by GH in a way that 3 pads and 2 cymbals will correspond to the GH layout. @Joe, could you try and find that out for us?
Well, I hope, this helps JCR form his own opinion, depending on his preferences.
Read about how awkward it is to play a song intended for Rock Band (4-pad, 3-optional-cymbals) drums on Guitar Hero (3-pad, 2-cymbal) drums:
https://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/11/03/guitar-hero-drums-rock-band/
“my brain literally melts”
So did mine.
So I stand by my original assertion: you do *not* want to have just the Guitar Hero drums if you *ever* plan to play *any* Rock Band games on drums.
This has nothing to do with brand fanboyism of any kind, it’s a practical reality.
So I agree with Joe Cam: get whatever guitar floats your boat, but you must have a Rock Band 2 drumkit..
Jeff,
be fair and quote the whole thing:
“My mind, used to playing with the “Rock Band” drums, would suddenly forget everything and for me to actually look at the drum set, trying to remember where to hit. It’s even worse when the colors disappear during overdrive. My brain literally melts.That’s also something that can be overcome with more time on the “Guitar Hero” set.”
I think the imperative phrase here is ‘used to playing with RB drums’. Could that also be the problem for you? I started out completely fresh, and experienced no mind-melting at all, when using GH:WT drums for playing RB2.
I remember having read something about strange conversion of GH charts for the 4-pad-RB-kit. What do you guys say? And finally: Anybody else hoping that the RB Pro-Kit will support the 5-lane GH charts?
I’m a Rock Band fan over Guitar Hero myself, so I’d lean towards the RB kits, but it all depends on what you want to do.
If you want a specific game, go with the kit for that game. The drums will work better for you there. Even though they are cross-compatible, it’s easier to play drums on the set made for each game. Guitars are a preference, but you need 2 of them anyway, so getting 1 of each isn’t a bad plan eventually.
If you’re talking price, The Beatles full bundle can be had for $129 or less, the RB2 bundle can be found for $99, though most have it around $139. The GH bundles run at similar prices, though for retail they seem to sell for more (Then again, I still see GH:Aerosmith bundles for $79). The GH kicker is that GH5 doesn’t have a bundle, so it’s WT or Band Hero.
I personally like the RB2 kit myself. My RB2 kit is pretty quiet, though I have XCell pads on it, and if I get a cymbal kit, I can play pro on it. Besides, RB has a much better DLC selection and hence likely more songs to suit anyone’s likes, and that’s what I think the game is truly about.
When using the Rock Band drum kit in Guitar Hero games, my (admittedly limited) experience has been that the blue pad and orange cymbal are mashed together into the blue lane. Red, yellow and green all stay the same.
It ends up being confusing for me, if you have a series of tom 8ths or 16ths. In Rock Band, you would usually move your way straight from the left to the right, ending with a green cymbal. In Guitar Hero, you end up going Red, (skipping Yellow, since it’s always hi-hat) Blue, Green, and back to Blue for the cymbal.
Then for songs like “Everlong”, “Run to the Hills”, “Orange Crush”, etc., in Rock Band, hi-hat and snare switch spots to red and yellow, respectively. So you’re doing your hi-hat 8ths or 16ths to the left, then hitting snare to the right. With anything Guitar Hero in the mix, you more or less have to flip that around, because hi-hat will always be charted or located to the right. This may just be a failing, or lack of practice on my part, but I haven’t been able to work this out in my brain/technique yet.
@Zaphod42
i heard that the rock band pro drums will not support guitar hero’s 5 lane drums.
@Maztuhmind: thanks. Can you recall, where you heard that?
Well, too sad! Also, wouldn’t it be scary, if RB3 would incorporate ALL of our wishes?