Rocksmith

[nightshade]

I would not suggest going for a super cheap guitar, their build quality is quite bad imo.
Among the entry level Guitars I think Yahama Pacifica, the body style is based off Fender's Stratocaster. It has the best bang for bucks because it's build quality is equivalent to mid level guitars, though you should replace the strings with better ones as soon as possible as the stock strings are very filmsy.

 

[Arwin]

Seems like a really cool game, actually. I've thought about getting it. Not sure I want to invest in the guitar though.

You should be able to get a cheap second hand guitar for next to nothing though. You may even know someone who you can borrow one from (lots of people have one gathering dust ).

You don't need anything fancy - all that the game uses is the electrical output.

In general, when buying a cheap guitar, the most important thing to make sure is that the neck of the guitar is rock-solid. If it bends easily (usually betrayed by strings that are way too 'loose'), it's trash and should be avoided.

 

[liolio]

I would not suggest going for a super cheap guitar, their build quality is quite bad imo.
Among the entry level Guitars I think Yahama Pacifica, the body style is based off Fender's Stratocaster. It has the best bang for bucks because it's build quality is equivalent to mid level guitars, though you should replace the strings with better ones as soon as possible as the stock strings are very filmsy.

Well I've a Yamaha and honestly the rondo is just fine enough. Better play on a ROndo and buy a proper instrument latter than investing more on a barely finer instrument to possibly quit learning guitar.
Those cheap instruments have gone quiet good. Back in the early 90ies low end guitar sucked badly.
I would avoid anything from a known brand in the realm of cheap guitars.

Edit for a beginner those have to be the pretty perfect guitars:
24' telecaster
25.5" telecaster

The telecaster is the bare bone instrument yet so versatile. Easy going, not tremolo to fix, etc.
An awesome instrument I love the butler scotch color of the second one... I wonder about buying more guitars from them before moving back to Europe, I'm so pleased with what I bought

 

[Arwin]

Ok, my first test with the PC version has been with hooking up the PC with HDMI to the TV that my PS3 is also hooked up to. In these conditions, the PC loses from the PS3 version big-time because lag is worse, and seems a little variable too. Could be a beta-issue of course, but I've played them back to back, and in comparison the PS3 feels completely lag-free (which of course it isn't, but close enough) and I preferred it immensely over the PC version.

I'll try again tonight or tomorrow plugging in headphones directly into the PC to see if that improves matters.

 

[Arwin]

Here's a Spotify playlist for Rocksmith by the way ... I've been finding it a surpringly neat and balanced set of songs so far, especially for a game. Like it much better as a complete set than, say, Rockband 3.

http://open.spotify.com/user/12410514/playlist/0iK1WbtxO0LwGRWxekrsEx

 

[Arwin]

Would you say that it is completely lag free? I'm running standard stereo speakers with my onboard Realtek chip, but I'm using the jack on the front of my case (haven't tried those in the rear - but that shouldn't make a difference, right?). I can definitely notice some tiny bit of lag when playing fast songs. I also noticed that the lag seems to be mostly gone when simply playing on a loading screen - so maybe it has something to do with how they post-process the sound to simulate the amps.

I think I have made all the necessary settings in my OS (e.g., same sampling rate for recording and playback device), so it must have something to do with the program. Maybe they can fix this after the beta ...

I've also just tested again using the jack on the front of the case, and now it is pretty much lag-free. The most lag you see now is actually the small delay for the game to confirm you've played the right note and played it correctly.

When I play using the built in amps, it has even less lag than the PS3 had, it's pretty much direct. I only got the impression that the timing between seeing you've played a note correctly and playing the note itself is bigger on the PC, but that may well be simply because the response from the guitar to your headphone is also smaller.

So pretty happy with the PC version now and I can recommend it to anyone. I think as long as you use the analog output on the front (or back) of your PC, you'll very likely be fine and able to play this game.

The PS3 is a very good alternative though, and the fact that the game has no issues even over HDMI (at least for me), which is very different from the issues the PC has with that, is a great bonus (much less hassle than having to rewire your audio just for this game, even though it is worth it). I'll probably 'complete' the game on PS3 first, we'll see.

 

[Arwin]

There seem to be some issues when you've retried a song a number of times in the tour and the game suggests you to lower the qualifying limit ... Sometimes (I think when you press before the AMP sound has finished loading or something) you can't press cancel anymore, only accept, and I quite frequently have crashes here too. This part seems unstable on all platforms so far (certainly 360 and PS3) going by reports on the forums.

I'm only running into these issues now that I'm up for level 8 I think (close to the first silver level trophy at any rate) and the difficulty is ramping up quite a bit. But I'm down with that.
Otherwise I'm still really enjoying the game on PS3, so hoping I can finish it there eventually (I will definitely have to work at some of the songs - I've played Going Underground about 10 times now I think to get to a score in the 80k (84k I think I'm at now, it lowered the score earlier from 88 so I've actually moved on to the next song, to have some variation and give my downstrokes some rest).

 

[Arwin]

So there are some advantages to being a programmer as well as a guitar player.

Sure enough, if I just wait until everything is loaded (i.e. your song replay starts playing in the background) then I never have any issues or crashes. I just practiced through most of hte remaining of my setlist very smoothly (including one suggestion for lowering the qualifying barrier, which I politely declined) and then played a smashing concert. (well except the encore sucked, my first time at Sweet Home Alabama was everything but sweet at 25k ... )

I posted this as feedback on the Rocksmith forum as well, so hopefully that helps them squash the bug (or they can just prevent you from being able to press x until the replay starts playing of course )

 

[Arwin]

I'm about 80% away from level 8 / silver trophy territory. Man, they do really make you work for getting there though, don't they? Starting to think I need to master songs to improve scoring or something - I am getting close enough with many songs now already anyway (often in the 90k+) - as this is taking forever. I think since my last trophy I've done 4 concerts at least, quite a lot of songs, and if I look at the bar, it's like you need 3 million rsp's or so to move from 7 to 8? Pff.

Well, at least I seem to still be able to play the songs well enough, after some practice.

(And have had no more crashes)

 

[mrcorbo]

I've also just tested again using the jack on the front of the case, and now it is pretty much lag-free. The most lag you see now is actually the small delay for the game to confirm you've played the right note and played it correctly.

When I play using the built in amps, it has even less lag than the PS3 had, it's pretty much direct. I only got the impression that the timing between seeing you've played a note correctly and playing the note itself is bigger on the PC, but that may well be simply because the response from the guitar to your headphone is also smaller.

So pretty happy with the PC version now and I can recommend it to anyone. I think as long as you use the analog output on the front (or back) of your PC, you'll very likely be fine and able to play this game.

Interesting. I might double-dip on the PC version since the one-click access through Steam, faster loading off of SSD and potentially lag-free audio via headphones could make it worth it. Think I'll wait to see if there is a public demo to make sure of how well it works on my specific setup, though.

 

[Arwin]

Interesting. I might double-dip on the PC version since the one-click access through Steam, faster loading off of SSD and potentially lag-free audio via headphones could make it worth it. Think I'll wait to see if there is a public demo to make sure of how well it works on my specific setup, though.

There is already a demo on Steam, so if you have the cable you can test it right now. I did that too before getting the full version (I'm so in love with this game, I was actually happy to buy it twice, to support the developers)

 

[Arwin]

I've just been doing Riff Repeater Top Level exercises to work on my solos for Between The Lines and Slither. The practice tools are very good (exercise on upping the difficulty, and if you have trouble with a section, practice those slowly increasing speed, etc. m- if you don't get it right, it's not always clear, but practicing gets me there so far)

Those bends are killing my fingertips - I have a slightly thicker than average E string and that's really killing me. You also want to retune more often and retune by ear if you can or it can get tricky to get it exactly right (unless your strings are more flexible). It hurts just to type, and the last time I tried a session like this has added a nice layer of protective dead skin to my fingers ...

I've had to put in some serious work just to get the first Solo of Slither up from 42% to 57%. It will be incredibly satisfying once I can play that solo at 100% though - I'll probably post a youtube online if I ever manage that, and then find a way to play that live on stage somewhere.

Anyone else still going at this? @Shifty: still highly recommend this, you'll not regret if you half-like the music selection.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Anyone else still going at this? @Shifty: still highly recommend this, you'll not regret if you half-like the music selection.

Tempted, but I've little free time. XCOM will be next on my leisure options. Ended up missing Borderlands 2.

 

[Arwin]

Very interesting indeed:

This will probably interest people

http://code.google.com/p/rocksmith-custom-song-creator/downloads/list

Looks like the real deal too.

 

[WhiningKhan]

Got Rocksmith PC version as in-advance Christmas gift.

Bad stuff:
Latency sucks. After tweaking buffer sizes, it sounds like ~50ms latency - tolerable for game play, but not good enough for actual guitar playing.

The user interface is indeed one of the worst I've seen in a long time. No intuition in what keys to press at what point.

The first half an hour was really annoying, having to watch the narrative tutorials and beginner stuff. And the initial single note arrangements are quite antimusical, plus they expect you to play on one string, shifting fretting position continuously up and down, which is not exactly a good way to make someone learn to play guitar IMO. I really hope the more advanced parts make more sense in terms of actual guitar playing.

Good stuff:
The amp and effects modeling isn't bad at all. If only the latency could be cured...

The basic premise is good, and implementation of the pitch recognition seems surprisingly robust.

 

[NRP]

I wanna start playing this again, but I have somehow misplaced my 360 guitar cable.

 

[liolio]

Quiet some guitarists here

Too bad for the lag, I wonder if they should work a partnership with line6, their marketing is pretty active I wonder if could the tech working along their guitar port /I'm not sure about the product name.

 

[NRP]

I believe Line6's thingy is called a "Pod".

 

[WhiningKhan]

Quiet some guitarists here

Too bad for the lag, I wonder if they should work a partnership with line6, their marketing is pretty active I wonder if could the tech working along their guitar port /I'm not sure about the product name.

You mean interfacing a multieffects/amp modeler board with the app, doing the tone processing externally instead of the PC? Technically that would surely work, but I suppose it would raise the cost of interface to around $100, I think sales wouldn't be that great.

 

[mrcorbo]

Interesting. I might double-dip on the PC version since the one-click access through Steam, faster loading off of SSD and potentially lag-free audio via headphones could make it worth it. Think I'll wait to see if there is a public demo to make sure of how well it works on my specific setup, though.

Woah, haven't looked at this in a while. Song creator? And <$20 on Steam. Done.