Rocksmith 2014

[Arwin]

Downloading! I should definitely be good enough for the session mode, so will give detailed impressions. I may end up double dipping on this one for PS4 if it comes out.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Should be awesome on the PC, especially if you have an SSD. The load times on the 360 are already really good. Songs start up really quick. PC should be just about instantaneous.

 

[Arwin]

The original was already instantaneous on PC, to the point where I missed fooling around while loading with the random amp settings like I had on PS3. I don't install games on the SSD, only OS and default applications that I use a lot, like Office and VB.

 

[Arwin]

Played it, and so far am loving it. The Session mode instrument quality isn't that hot compared to some imho (e.g. Garageband on iPad) but the way it presents the various ladders that you can play and allows you to change the positions of them makes for a very good exercise. The game adjusts itself to your quality through the main progression fairly quickly too, now giving me about half the song difficulty at the start of the song and allowing me to move (usually) up from there, hitting around 70-90% accuracy now on most songs the first time.

Had to get used to the tuning which seems a tad more finnicky than last time, but otherwise great so far, great improvement. Will probably shell for the Rocksmith 1 song import option a little later as well (10 euro or so).

 

[Davros]

I generally liked the first one, but the audio lag on my PC was a bit hard to deal with.

Does your soundcard support ASIO that might help

Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) is a computer sound card driver protocol for digital audio specified by Steinberg, providing a low-latency and high fidelity interface between a software application and a computer's sound card. Whereas Microsoft’s DirectSound is commonly used as an intermediary signal path for non-professional users, ASIO allows musicians and sound engineers to access external hardware directly.

If your soundcard doesnt support asio this may help
http://www.asio4all.com/
never used it myself as I have asio support so do your research

 

[Scott_Arm]

So far my favourite songs to play are the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" and La Sera's "Love That's Gone."

I'm not a Rolling Stones die-hard, but I'm a big fan of the 60s albums and I'm happy the songs are fun to play.

 

[Arwin]

Does your soundcard support ASIO that might help


If your soundcard doesnt support asio this may help
http://www.asio4all.com/
never used it myself as I have asio support so do your research

The lag is horrible for me through HDMI (which is all Nvidia/Windows fault probably as I have no lag over HDMI with the PS3), but if I plug in headphones into the PCs analog out i have a lag free experience.

 

[Arwin]

So far my favourite songs to play are the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" and La Sera's "Love That's Gone."

I'm not a Rolling Stones die-hard, but I'm a big fan of the 60s albums and I'm happy the songs are fun to play.

First song I've played that really clicked with me is Arctic Monkey's R U Mine. I wouldn't immediately take to the song if I heard it on the radio, but getting intimate with it in Rocksmith is really satisfying. Getting really close to fully mastering the song.

So far I'm thrilled with Rocksmith 2014. There are always some things I'd like to still see, but generally it fixes all the important issues I had with the first one (which I still really loved) and it's really a joy to play now. Especially dear to me is how the Riff repeater is now well integrated into the song, how it suggests different things for you to practice in relation to the song you're playing, and how you don't have to master a section to still level up.

The only downside so far that I've found is that it seems to sometimes have difficulty picking up hammer-ons for me.

 

[Davros]

theres an alternative if anyones interested
http://grayhairedgamer.co.uk/index....o-rocksmith-includes-short-qa-with-developers
there is also this (free)
https://guitarbots.com/landing

 

[Arwin]

Interesting, thanks. Will check prodigy out on iOS first and report back

 

[manux]

I'm also digging la sera's love that's gone. Chords and picking them is quite interesting on that song.

I had trouble calibrating my guitar. Turned out to be that the calibration needs to be done with pure down strokes... Incorrect calibration caused the thinnest strings to act funny and notes were not registering properly.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I had to play with the input lag adjustment and get used to the way it calibrates. If I play the string it wants and it takes to long to register, I do it again.

 

[Arwin]

The only way I got acceptable (=barely noticeable) lag was by using the analog output instead of the HDMI output on my PC. Ymmv, but this really helped me a lot.

And it's not so much downstrokes, as that you need a lot of volume. So you may need to use accurate and quite hard strokes if the volume balancing isn't great or if your guitar outputs a weak sound.

 

[manux]

My issue wasn't really with lag. Thinnest strings really acted up But I'm happy camper now.

I especially like the lessons. They give a good and motivating way to learn.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yah, I recommended it to someone who had zero guitar experience and they're really enjoying it. They're playing through the lessons quite a bit.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Available for Xbox One and PS4 this November!

Playstation has remote play, but it won't score your play, which is really weird.

Xbox One has voice control with Kinect, which fucking rules. No more fumbling with the controller while I hold the guitar. Don't see why PS4 should not have voice control as well.

Same cable.

You can transfer your DLC across the same platform 360->One, PS3->PS4. You can't go 360->PS4 or PS3->One. I'm assuming it's because they're reliant on store data. You basically re-download.


http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/924044-Rocksmith-2014-PlayStation-4-amp-Xbox-One-FAQ

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Xbox One has voice control with Kinect, which fucking rules. No more fumbling with the controller while I hold the guitar. Don't see why PS4 should not have voice control as well.

Yeah, seems like an obvious inclusion. I guess the support for voice control isn't as readily available or something, so MS provides the tools while maybe Sony requires you to source/write your own? Otherwise, considering you provide a mic for input, voice control all round seems a clear plus for the users.

 

[Arwin]

All I need is a demo to find out how well it plays in the living room setup. Then I may transition to PS4 from the PC version.

 

[FarticusMaximus]

So, we know the lag-minimising effects of using analog audio outputs vs. audio-over-HDMI, but do we have anyone here with insight into how (if possible) audio lag could be reduced through software tweaks?

I seem to recall that originally a Ubisoft guy said they had no plans for an X1/PS4 version due to there not being any analogue audio options, and that it would take considerable coding effort to provide an acceptable experience over HDMI. This implies that there are possible software fixes.

Ubisoft are now releasing that HDMI-only version of Rocksmith, so what has changed? Have they worked out how to sample from the Realtone cable faster, i.e. is the lag reduction at the input end rather than output?

What kind of encoding/decoding is needed at either end of an HDMI signal, and are there transfer formats that require different levels of processing before the audio is usable?

I'd love to upgrade my 360 copy to X1, but using a component+stereo cable currently produces only just acceptable lag. More would not be useable IMO.

 

[Arwin]

Well like I said, the PS3 version was practically lag-free for me. That to me suggests that it is not inherently impossible to do. With some luck, the X1 and PS4 just didn't mess up their drivers in the first place.