The Sound of Music

How we play music is just as important as the music itself, and all the hardware has been revamped and made better compared to the last generation. While the microphone is exactly the same, the guitar and drumset have plenty of new things to make worth getting.

First is that they’re both wireless. Using just three double-A batteries, we’re told they last long and work flawlessly. The new guitar/bass is a bit heavier and sturdier, making it feel more like a real guitar. It retains the same size as the previous model, but also has quieter buttons that don’t slam loudly against the fret board when playing. The best part of the guitar is the integrated calibration tool, which instantly calibrates the guitar for the accelerometers to activate overdrive. By the push of a button, you can calibrate it. Clean and simple.

The best part of the revamped hardware is the drums. They’re quiet. For anyone who really got into drumming in RB1, it would get very loud in the room and often unbearable even for the drummer. The new drums have more absorbent rubber on the cans, which dissipates most of the sound, making it a much friendlier environment when playing. The kick-pedal has also been upgraded, now featuring reinforced metal for the “heavy American leg”.

Best of all, it’s all velocity sensitive, so soft hits will produce soft sounds, and smashing them will make everyone hear it in-game, not just in-your-living-room. The drumkit is also built for expansion, meaning 3rd parties or even Harmonix will put out more hardware to integrate into the drumset, such as cymbals.

Speaking of the drums, while they were the bigger instrument in Rock Band, many people never really got the full experience. Harmonix has always been about getting people to not just play games, but to get into music and make their own, and with the drumkit, they can really learn how to play the drums. But RB1 offered a very limited drum training regiment which didn’t really teach how to play them. That’s been fixed.

The new Drum Trainer mode allows players to both practice and learn how to play drums. That training regiment “is just like the first 14 weeks of taking real drum lessons,” Drake told us. A choice of over 70 different beats with adjustable tempo and speed gives unsurpassed training options.

Included in the Drum Trainer is also a Fill Trainer, which trains players to play through the fill sections (to activate overdrive) more musically than just wailing on the drums. While this mode won’t help you become better at the game, it definitely will make you look like a more competent drummer by giving you ideas for the drum fills that activate your overdrive.

Finally, there is also a freestyle mode for those who just want to make a lot of noise with their drums. You’ll even be able to switch between several different types of drum kits. We personally liked the “Trashy Kit” that makes your drums sound like trash cans.

Along with Harmonix’s hardware, a ton of 3rd party hardware is also in the works from companies like MadCatz, ION and PDP. Some examples of these are the Premium Microphone Controller with 360 buttons directly on it, the Full Sized Squire Stratocaster Guitar Controller, the ION Drum Rocker (which is an electronic drum kit that also plugs into your PC or 360), the Drum Set Cymbal Expansion Pack, and more.