If you're looking for something to make your Rock Band drumming more authentic, this is the way to go. The hi hat over the snare gives for a somewhat comfortable semi-crossover posture, and the crash over the green tom makes for an awesome finish to your freeform fills. The reason I said somewhat comfortable with the hi hat is after a while, and after some hardcore songs, your arm gets tired after a while. On a three song random set, I put my difficulty to Hard and just so happened to get Endeverafter's "I Wanna Be Your Man" and The Acro-Brat's "Day Late, Dollar Short" in that order, finishing up with the President's "Lump". The next day, my right arm was even more sore as the day after the Nintendo Fusion Tour when I played the Wii before it was released. I also noticed both cymbals were registering double hits when hitting it on the edge, thus losing my multiplier. After some trial and error, I discovered that if you hit either cymbal above the center line close to the wing nut you don't get the double hit and save your multiplier. They're very loud, but then again aren't real cymbals? One of my biggest complaints would have to be the track. All four notes are the same and all four colors do the same thing with the exception of the free form fills, so you have to use your ears (if you can hear the music to start with) and your instinct on if you should hit the cymbal or tom. Would be very nice if they had a smaller note like a hammer on note from either guitar track to symbolize a cymbal (no pun intended) and a larger note for the tom. Other than that, I love these things. If you do get them, show everyone what you've learned and jump on the freestyle mode. On freestyle, the drumheads are snare and three toms and the cymbals are hi hat, ride, and crash. Crank up the volume and go crazy!
Overall rating
3/ 5
Design
1/ 5
Performance
2/ 5
GameGodDude
Great Idea, Poor Execution
PostedNovember 22, 2008
I really liked the idea of having cymbals on my Rock Band 2 wireless kit. I could never find a pack anywhere until the other day. I grabbed the pack and headed home to start playing. After spending about 30 minutes setting up the cymbals (I didn't really read the instructions until I felt like I was doing something wrong) I thought they looked great on the set and felt very durable. Although well built the cymbals do not perform well at all. I set one cymbal as a yellow and another as the green notes. The first song I played didn't use the yellow pad much at all but did use the green quite a bit. The cymbal seemed to pick up all my hits but would make me loose my multiplier for some reason. I always play on expert so it was kind of hard to tell what was going on with the cymbal since I was concentration more on playing the song. The second song I played used the yellow as a high hat more often. Then I noticed every time I had to hit the cymbal more than once in succession it would loose my multiplier. I figured the cymbals weren't tight enough and tightened them as much as possible. This made the cymbals very rigid and uncomfortable to play on but I figured it would fix the problem. It didn't. I finally figured out that the cheap piece of foam that you put between the wing nut and the top of the cymbal doesn't do a good job of keeping the back of the cymbal from hitting itself on the wing-nut/foam and causing it to double hit, thus making you loose your multiplier and sometimes completely miss the correct notes. This is unacceptable and makes playing the drums on expert very frustrating. If you only play on medium or hard you might get away with using these without a problem. But when you're an expert drummer and used to playing fast parts and whaling away on the kit then these cymbals are not for you. In my opinion, if you want cymbals on your kit for Rock Band 2 then save up the cash and get the ION drum kit instead. I am sure, seeing how as it is a real electronic kit, that the cymbal pads on the ION do not cause the same problems that these add-on's do. I am returning my cymbals immediately and will wait for the day that the ION kit either drops in price or I can save up enough for them. Until then, stick to the four pads.
1 of 1 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
5/ 5
Design
5/ 5
Performance
5/ 5
Chris Kreider
Excellent Addition to an already great set
PostedOctober 29, 2008
I am a big fan of drumming. I really loved the feel of these add ons and would highly recommend them to any rockband 2 players using the RB2 drumset. It was great to play semi cross-handed with the yellow hi-hat mounted above the snare as well as to play the crash cymbal (and I am looking forward to completing the set with the 3rd). These cymbals had great feel and so far have stood up to the beating I put on them (I broke 3 of the RB1 drums sets because I play a bit hard from time to time so if something stands up to my playing, it is pretty good). It is a lot of fun to play drum fills (and the free-form trainer as well) because the cymbals map to there appropriate sound (even though they are the same color). I did have a one minor issue (nothing that could not be fixed). First off, the mounting was a bit light. While it was sturdy, it was incredibly hard to fix it into place (I.E. either the pole rotated in the bracket or the bracket rotated about the set) which caused me to occasionally stop and adjust the cymbal back to the starting position. Overall, this gets a high rating as it gives a feel much more like playing an actual set.
1 of 1 found this review helpful.
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Comments (1)
Posted byDakotaKirk
massachusetts
take it from a(n) actual drummer.
onDecember 31, 2010
i have been a drummer for years now,and i would very much recommend this to anyone intrested.i originaly bought this about a year and a half ago,they work very well,and still work like they did when i first got them.these are easy to hook up,they work in freestyle mode.they work on the beatles rock band,green day rock band,lego rock band,rock band 2,and rock band 3.they have very tight locks,and srcews to keep the supports nice,and sturdy.you can raise,lower,and move them around .overall its a great piece for your kit.if your learning to drum,want to learn,or just want to have a great time.
