Rock Band 3

[Arwin]

Well, I thought about using the old RB and GH games thread, but Rock Band 3 is looking so cool that I think it deserves its own thread now. I hope to pick it up tomorrow, with the keytar if at all possible, and once that real guitar with proper MIDI out and fret detection comes out (early next year apparently), I'll be all over that too!

Good blog at the Rockband site:

http://www.rockband.com/blog/rb3-features-pro-guitar

And to top it all off, here's a 10/10 from Eurogamer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-28-rock-band-3-review?page=3

Lowest score so far seems to be IGN giving it 8.5, which reading the article basically means "might not be quite as awesome if you're just going to be using Rock Band 3 as you were using RB2, i.e. without any of the Pro stuff". Which is probably fair.

 

[Rotmm]

I must admit, even if I'll probably only use RB3 as RB2, I far, far prefer the eclectic range of music compared to the pure metal focus of the latest Guitar Hero release.

 

[rendezvous]

I had hopes that my MIDI synth would work in Rockband 3 with my MIDI -> USB adapter. Rockband 3 refuses to recognize it so I'll just have to wait until the Madcatz MIDI Pro adapter comes out

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, I didn't expect that to happen, however unfortunate that is. But I guess with the keytar only costing 50 euro more when bought with the full game, I'm going for that one for now - my MIDI keyboard is big and not in that great shape anymore anyway. I can't wait to get that Fender though, wow. Though I just read that even that button version can be used as a MIDI device, which is very interesting.

Finally, it's worthwhile to note that the game has an option to show Pro mode guitar much like tabs, where all finger positions are indicated with numbers. I've seen some complaining about that not being in there, but it actually is, together with from Medium difficulty up showing actual chord names and such. This is a big thing for me, I'm really thrilled.

 

[mrcorbo]

I figured I'd wait on keys and focus on Pro Drums until the real Fender comes out and then I'd focus on that and then eventually get a full-sized keyboard to use with the midi adapter, but I have to say there are several songs in RB3 that make we want to re-assess that. Especially since the guitar still doesn't have a release date AFAIK. I might do the full-sized keyboard/midi adapter combo first. The Mustang is a no go as I am following a "no more fake instruments unless an existing one breaks" policy after purchasing the Rock Band 3 pro drum kit to replace my busted RB1 set.

For now, I'm really enjoying the Pro Drums and am using the instrument specific challenges to provide some direction that I felt was lacking in solo play in prior iterations of the franchise (obviously group play is a different dynamic and is pretty much all about having fun). I find this provides a better structure than the touring metaphor and is much more like the Guitar Hero 2 and 3 structure that hooked me in the first place.

I'm actually disappointed that they didn't go all out and include note tracking of the hi-hat pedal in gameplay (apparently it works in freestyle mode and during fills), but I guess if you can get proficient with the other 3 limbs you should have enough juice to develop the last one on your own.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So there's an upcoming MIDI adaptor that allows any MIDI device to be used? If so they may find an unlikely purchase from me!

 

[Cyan]

I have the game and the Keyboard -infinitely fun by the way, so yeah go for it Arwin.

What can I say..., this game is a true dream, probably the ultimate music game and candidate to the GOTY award.

I think I've never ever felt as fulfilled buying a game as I did in the case of RB3, really.

Not to mention there are 2000+ songs to choose....

 

[patsu]

A belated discovery for me !
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/19/rock-band-3-mad-catz-keyboard-and-midi-pro-adapter/

As the official peripheral manufacturer for Rock Band 3 instruments, Mad Catz was at E3 showing off its new Rock Band products (sans game). On the outside, the MIDI PRO-Adapter (pictured above in all three flavors) looks like a chunky, 16-bit era controller -- in fact, in can be used as a gamepad, confirms Mad Catz global PR manager Alex Verrey. Inside, the device contains the technology to convert a real MIDI instrument into a Rock Band 3 controller. (The adapter is not compatible with other music games.)

 

[mrcorbo]

A belated discovery for me !
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/19/rock-band-3-mad-catz-keyboard-and-midi-pro-adapter/

This is actually required for the Squier by Fender guitar since they will only be making the one guitar that has to work on all platforms.

 

[AlNom]

Got the game... will have to get the keytar and a new drumset later though... It'll take me awhile to go through the career stuff for Guitar and Bass and er... uh... [strike]Vocals... [/strike]. Riiiiiiight.

Kind of neat how they structure the career as a number of goals to complete in order to gain even more fans (like the challenges in RB2 as opposed to just playing through the setlist in different places). There certainly are a ton of menus, but it seems really cluttered... character customization (not the character creation) just feels overwhelming, but maybe I'm struggling with the new sorting of clothing compared to RB2's categories. A shame they don't import any RB2 character data.

Hoping they sort out the website-game link soon. Actually, it seems that it no longer allows Canadians to access the same US site... It's considered international, but none of the alternatives are applicable. Hope that's just a bug with the site restructure.

The graphics seem smoother too... will have to look into that at some point.

 

[Arwin]

So there's an upcoming MIDI adaptor that allows any MIDI device to be used? If so they may find an unlikely purchase from me!

Yes! It should come in November!

And both the new Pro mode guitars as well as the current Keytar have MIDI out, too though the Keytar and the 102 button with 6 strings guitar at least don't need it. That Fender real guitar that's coming out is more than just a MIDI guitar too, as sensors in the frets can tell where your fingers are so the game can track you playing the right position, not just the right note. And being a full guitar that can be hooked up to any amp, AND being a MIDI guitar that I can hook up to my Roland XV-5050 module and PC, AND being a perfect learning / training instrument with Rockband 3 which has (in Europe) over 1500 songs available, the thing is effing hard to resist for me!

Support for my Guitar Hero peripherals is great, and the drumkit works perfectly also. Shame that the cable connector for my left cymbal was ripped out the other day. I'll have to find a way to make a new connector (mono-Jack). I could still play by setting the song I was playing up for lefty, so that the most common hit was on the other cymbal.

 

[patsu]

Now Sony, this is where you bring RemotePlay in... coz my MIDI keyboard is in another room (... and I need a really long MIDI cable ! ).
[size=-2]Guess I have some exercising to do...[/size]

 

[Arwin]

I've just played a stretch of two hours straight, arms and shoulders hurt, still using my trusty old Guitar Hero 3 guitar (WTC one doesn't seem to register hits properly). I've got to say that it's a treat to have not only non-upscaled graphics in a game like this (looking at you GH), but also the timing being pretty much flawless without calibration (also of course thanks to my receiver and tv, but still).

I'm getting a lot of songs really right even if I've never played them before (I've never played any of them before, as this is my first Rock Band game, but I've played a bunch of GH), and I'm only playing Hard and Expert (mostly Hard, but now always Expert straight away if a song has 3 dots or less, and I'm sure I'll be doing all my favorite songs on Expert).

I also somehow survived even Free Bird on my first attempt (Hard, it looked scary), and even got my first perfect solo (yeah, on the first solo obviously not the second ). That second solo though, I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out or dry up, because there was no time for blinking and that thing just kept on going!

Loving the game so far. I also bought a Police pack, downloaded the free Doors DLC (which is up now), and bought the full Red Hot Chili Peppers album, which is one of my favorite albums of all time (and which is installing now).

I definitely need more friends on my (PS3) list who play this though, so patsu and Shifty, you know you want this.

Wonderful game and I can't wait to take it to the next step too with a Pro mode instrument. Hopefully I can fix my yellow cymbal connector on my GH drumkit soon, and not too long after get my hands on one of the Pro guitars and use the MIDI connector to hook up some MIDI keyboard or other. Still wondering if I should get both of them or just wait for the real guitar and only get that.

 

[mrcorbo]

Having separate cymbal notation in Pro Mode drums truly makes a huge difference in how the game "feels" vs the prior Rock Band games. I never played the full-band GH's so I don't know how much of a difference the third symbol makes. It may only be minor.

 

[djskribbles]

Does anyone know if RB3 will correctly distinguish cymbal from tom if I were to use the RB2 drum set with the madcatz cymbals in pro mode? I can play most songs on Hard/Expert, but as someone who doesn't actually play the drums, I dunno when the fill is a tom or cymbal (other than listening to the note). I was gonna pass on RB3 because the on-disc tracklist doesn't interest me all that much, but that's a nice addition by itself.

edit: nm, yes it does.

 

[patsu]

I definitely need more friends on my (PS3) list who play this though, so patsu and Shifty, you know you want this.

Yeah well… you need to wait a month or two while I settle my son's waning interest in piano. ^_^

I reckon some sort of Garage Band 11 and Rock Band game can help to invigor him, but it sounds corny to my wife at the moment.

 

[Arwin]

Check out some of the tutorials. It has actual music lessons in there.

I played until 4am - Blood Sugar Sex Magic is a perfect album to play guitar, bass or drums along with and the sound quality is great. I managed most songs on Expert partly because I have that album pretty much memorised!

 

[patsu]

Yeah, it's not a problem with the lessons. It's to make learning more fun for him instead of drilling. ^_^

I'll check out the game, the tutorials and the MIDI adaptor regardless. May be I'll get 'em for his Christmas present.

 

[Malo]

Was great to get this, especially for Pro Drums since I've always played like that anyway on an ION kit. I moved to Pro Expert without really any changes to how I play, it's just nice having it actually display the cymbals now for those parts of songs where it wasn't obvious on the first couple of plays what I should be hitting.

I think Harmonix has really done a disservice to the Rockband community with RB3 though. It seems their implementation of the keyboard and some other unknown factors has meant that all their touting of keyboards and harmonies now in Rockband really isn't completely integrated when playing with a full band.

If you play Rockband 3 with any combination of instruments that include Guitar, Bass and Keyboards then it automatically switches into an "All Instruments Mode". This mode removes vocals from being an active player and makes it Karaoke only. All the vocal charting becomes easy level, there is no scoring or overdrive for vocals, you contribute nothing to the game when in this mode, just sing along. Also you cannot play online at all in this mode which means there is no G+B+K online ever.

IMO they really fucked up Rockband 3.

 

[Cyan]

Was great to get this, especially for Pro Drums since I've always played like that anyway on an ION kit. I moved to Pro Expert without really any changes to how I play, it's just nice having it actually display the cymbals now for those parts of songs where it wasn't obvious on the first couple of plays what I should be hitting.

I think Harmonix has really done a disservice to the Rockband community with RB3 though. It seems their implementation of the keyboard and some other unknown factors has meant that all their touting of keyboards and harmonies now in Rockband really isn't completely integrated when playing with a full band.

If you play Rockband 3 with any combination of instruments that include Guitar, Bass and Keyboards then it automatically switches into an "All Instruments Mode". This mode removes vocals from being an active player and makes it Karaoke only. All the vocal charting becomes easy level, there is no scoring or overdrive for vocals, you contribute nothing to the game when in this mode, just sing along. Also you cannot play online at all in this mode which means there is no G+B+K online ever.

IMO they really fucked up Rockband 3.

There are workarounds to avoid this, and they work, although they should allow singers getting scores when they play in big parties, so they need to patch that particular issue;

http://www.rockband.com/forums/show...-What-works-what-doesn-t-what-needs-to-change

There are more important things to fix. It's probably the best game I've ever had, and I love it to death, but the distribution in Europe has been horrible! Ill service to such a great, great game.

I like EA, but they are to blame for the lack of instruments and games here.