RockBandProDrums

This channel is for videos of Rock Band 3 Expert Pro Drums.

I have been hooking up my Roland electronic kit to my PS3 since the first Rock Band using a MIDI adapter and attempting to play songs realistically. Initially, there was not support for separate cymbal sounds or velocity sensitivity. Rock Band 2 introduced both of those features, but still did not have separate cymbal gems. With the arrival of Rock Band 3, cymbals are treated as separate from drum strokes, and songs that had been awkwardly charted for 4-pad gameplay now match better to a real drum kit.

The Rock Band franchise has now become the ultimate drum practice tool. It combines my love of drumming, good music, and video games into a single package that is both fun and skill enhancing.

My videos will focus on playing songs correctly rather than getting high scores. I do not consider myself an amazing drummer (merely adequate), nor am I an elite Rock Band player. I'm just a passable drummer that loves Rock Band. My videos include console audio mixed with my drum module sounds as I hear them from my headphones as I play.

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Rock Band as a drum practice tool does have some limitations. Please note the following before posting comments:

1) Drum dynamics (how hard you hit a cymbal / drum) are not scored in Rock Band even though it does have a simple velocity mechanic. You either hit the right pad / cymbal at the right time or you don't. Dynamics can certainly be practiced, but you will get no feedback as to if they match the original recording.

2) Open / close hi-hat notes are a bit tricky. Most drum modules allow you to change the MIDI note for an open vs. closed hi-hat stroke (especially more advanced ones), and therefore it is in fact possible to map an open stroke to a different color gem than a closed stroke. However, my experience is that "in-between" states of the hi-hat generally map to the open state MIDI note on drum modules. Because of this, opening and closing the hi-hat with its pedal must be timed perfectly to avoid missing a gem. Further, half open or trashy hi-hat strokes in most songs are mapped to the closed hi-hat gem color rather than the open hi-hat gem color. It's really only songs where there is a distinction between closed and open hi-hat notes that the secondary gem color is used.

3) Cymbal mapping is not always ideal for drum modules with less than 5 cymbal inputs. My module, for example, only has inputs for 4 cymbals. Yellow cymbal strokes can be either h