Rocksmith

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.

Did you try an analog output on your PC? My PC HDMI lag was awwful, but analog out is near perfect.
 
Did you try an analog output on your PC? My PC HDMI lag was awwful, but analog out is near perfect.

I don't have HDMI audio on this computer, only analog out.

I had an hour more to play with it today, it's getting more interesting after the third set of songs. The pitch recognition is indeed working surprisingly well, and the preset tones for the songs are mostly quite cool. The lag is mostly tolerable now after I've tweaked everything there is to tweak (including the windows scheduler to prefer background processes instead of applications), although it seems to vary a bit.
 
Bought this recently for PC as well, with a few songs and for some reason my Guitar isn't getting detected by the game....don't know what's going on.

Also dumb question, how do you set the options on PC so that it only outputs through analogue and HDMI is used only for display.
 
Bought this recently for PC as well, with a few songs and for some reason my Guitar isn't getting detected by the game....don't know what's going on.

Also dumb question, how do you set the options on PC so that it only outputs through analogue and HDMI is used only for display.

If you right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and select playback devices you can set your analog output as the default device.
 
Bought this recently for PC as well, with a few songs and for some reason my Guitar isn't getting detected by the game....don't know what's going on.

Also dumb question, how do you set the options on PC so that it only outputs through analogue and HDMI is used only for display.

This usually means that your cable isn't installed properly yet (needs a USB driver)?
 
I'm going to get myself a guitar and this game(360) this weekend. I've never played before. My brother showed me how to play two notes once over a decade ago, so I have zero knowledge whatsoever. I will post impressions.
 
ADDICTED.

The menus are awful. I'm sure there was some kind of mode where you could just play freely, but I can't find it anymore. The "game" itself is great, and that makes up for it by a longshot. I'm terrible, but after sitting down with it for about three hours, I made some very obvious improvement. Just gonna keep going and see where I can get. Just playing the songs as single notes. I love how it adjusts the difficulty dynamically.

Oh, and based on recommendation from a review by a guitar teacher, the first thing I did was invert the guitar strings that are shown on screen to match guitar tab (E string on bottom).
 
Yes, good decision to reverse, I always recommend that too. When you look down on your fingers while playing, this is what you see. The other way around only makes sense if you are always practicing in front of a mirror, have a transparant guitar neck, or are very good at imagining where your fingers are without actually seeing them.
 
I need to go through some of the technique videos as well. The game did throw muted notes at me before it even showed me what they were or how to play them. It was sort of confusing, and then suddenly I play a song and it shows me how to play muted notes in the intro. Right now I'm not so good at even playing the single notes, but I'm pretty much looking at the frets and then at the bridge to see where I'm picking, and I'm almost always using my index finger wherever the not is on the fret board. I imagine there is a much easier and better way to play using all four fingers.
 
There is a techniques section in the game. If you're a beginner, I'd definitely recommend working your way through them, and improving your score at them from time to time. It will also teach you about hand position and fingering, and it helps having those lessons close together, without to much distraction from individual songs. ;)
 
Yeah, I'm going to spend more time on the techniques section. I just hate that you can't quickly restart a techniques challenge like you would with a song. The UI designer for this game was not thinking straight.
 
I seem to remember it was made by a team of just five guys ... pretty impressive if true.
 
That definitely would be impressive. I imagine whenever Rocksmith 2 comes out, all of the UI issues will be sorted out.

I'm having a lot of fun with it. Put another two or three hours into it last night. It definitely isn't a game. It's going to take me a while before I can progress to playing chords.
 
Is there an option to connect your guitar with something other than a usb cable?
And is the lag that bad?
I want to buy it through steam, but I'm not sure I'll find a shop to buy just the cable...
 
You need their cable. The cable has an analog to digital converter built into it. The lag, for me, is not bad at all. The default lag compensation set in the game is 50ms. I use analog sound output and a computer monitor, so I was able to lower that to about 15ms. If you have a tv with a lot of input lag, or are using a receiver that does HDMI switching with any kind of extra processing, you might not have the same experience.
 
I'll be using it on my pc, since my guitar is always next to it and 15ms sounds acceptable :p
I guess I'll have to buy the cable on ebay.

Thanks!
 
Are you a competent guitarist? I'm just wondering because I've read some reviews by experienced guitarists that didn't find the game to be really enjoyable. I think it's more suited to people who are learning. A number of reviews I read complained that you couldn't choose to jump into the chords right away. You have to start with the single note versions of the songs and work your way up. Might be worth considering.
 
Are you a competent guitarist? I'm just wondering because I've read some reviews by experienced guitarists that didn't find the game to be really enjoyable. I think it's more suited to people who are learning. A number of reviews I read complained that you couldn't choose to jump into the chords right away. You have to start with the single note versions of the songs and work your way up. Might be worth considering.
I haven't tried my self but the presentation looks awkward. You don't really much about what is coming "in advance".
At least in something like guitar pro, either if you use Tab or proper music notation (superior imo but I can't read it proficiently) you see multiple "measures" (/ I don't know the word, I mean a rhythm "block", like if I get that right a 4/4 is four blocks each last 4 beats).

I think proper music sheet is superior because it is way easier to see how the music is moving (up or down). You also have the armor, so you know the key and the note that are "in", assuming one master that and have it constantly in time, it is only a matter of spotting the 'movements', and alterations (natural, sharp, flat).

Overall I feel like if a lot of people manage to go away with tab, it is quiet a lacking for most.
I lack discipline to wrap my head about it, and work on it but standard music notation make the whole thing comes together, it is not as tough as it looks but there is a possibly high entry cost.

Though it should be nowhere near as tough as for pianists that looks at two different staves thank the the instrument impressive range (for a guitar 8va at some time is all most needs).
 
The tab format is actually pretty easy. They also show you quite a few notes in advance, so as long as you aren't spending too much time looking at the frets to get your fingers in the right place, you can follow along. I'm not there yet. I have to look at my hands a lot, having only played guitar for 2 days. I kind of wish you could slow the song down, even though it would sound ridiculous. I did a couple songs that start introducing chords, and they were flying by so quickly (for me) that I couldn't even see what they were and find the right positioning on the frets before it was gone. It'll be a while before I'm at that level. There is a "Chord book" option. I don't know if that involves some type of practice mechanic. Another thing I'd like is if it actually showed you the name of the chord/note you're playing. You just play it, so you get the mechanics of doing it, but you don't know what you're playing. I'm taking some time to find music theory stuff online, so I understand better what I'm doing.

Eventually I'd like to learn to read music properly as well. Tab is handy for starting, but I'd really like to have a better understanding of music in general.
 
Are you a competent guitarist? I'm just wondering because I've read some reviews by experienced guitarists that didn't find the game to be really enjoyable. I think it's more suited to people who are learning. A number of reviews I read complained that you couldn't choose to jump into the chords right away. You have to start with the single note versions of the songs and work your way up. Might be worth considering.

I wouldn't say competent... :p
I'm mostly playing power chords and pentatonic minor solos...

I can play the rhythm in this.


And I can play the solo in this


But I can't play this!!!!


It's not that I don't like it!

I can't play regular chords... I find learning them dull, but I need them, so I'm thinking I can pressure myself into it if I see it as a game. :oops:

I really like arpeggios, and I'm OK with my right hand technique, but I can't bar the strings for shit!
What I need is practice and more practice.

What about you?
:D
 
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