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Wired is reporting that at E3, Guitar Hero director Brian Bright confirmed that Rock Band (the original one) instruments would not only work fine with Guitar Hero: World Tour, but that you could use any electronic drum set with the game as it will ship with a MIDI connection on the back of the drum kit.
This also allows for the addition of another bass pedal if you want to play dual-bass drums. This news flying in the face of Rock Band 2’s almost unchanged drum setup that will allow for 2 cymbals to be added for another $30 or 40 fee for the accessories post-purchase.
Thanks Laurence Hartje and Wired!
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August 28th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I’m not sure I’m understanding it well. If the MIDI connection is on the back of the drum kit we get with the game, does it mean we need to have both our own MIDI drum kit and the GH Drum Kit to play with our MIDI kit ? Can’t we just buy the game with no instruments, with just some kind of adapter to plug our MIDI kit into the console ?
It sucks if I have to pay for a toy drum kit when I own a real Yamaha MIDI kit…
October 8th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I agree, there should be a midi adapter of some kind made available. If they were smart they would have given more thought to the production value here.
Try thinking of this like you are creating a piece of audio production gear as opposed to a cheap toy. Look at the implementation of midi capable instruments/devices in a studio setting, and ask how your “toys” can integrate with what is already there.
FYI buying a secondary drum kit in order to get a midi input is absolutely ridiculous. What about midi mapping? Like if my hi-hat is producing a tom sound can I change it or am I stuck with a default map?
They are close to blowing the doors off of next generation music production and gaming. The potential is pretty much boundless if GH can start thinking like a musician first, and a gamer second.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Well the set acts as a converter. There is a guy who made it possible (egyoko i think his name was….look up “Through The Fire and Flames Midi Drums or something like that) to play the guitar and drum portions of songs with his midi drum set. it took a lot of work and wiring and such. this is an easy way to make it mass accessible to people who otherwise wouldn’t normally have the means to accomplish such a task.
October 28th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I was really confused when I saw a MIDI In port and not a MIDI Out.
I would love to have MIDI Out so I can rig it up to my computer and record some beats into FL Studio.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am
I’ve made a unit called the “MIDI Rocker” which is designed to act as a MIDI-to-game controller adapter. It’s easily programmable so you can have up to 10 MIDI notes assigned to any of the “drum buttons”. I have not had a chance to try it out with World Tour yet though. It works natively with the PS3 and can be adapted to work with the 360. See the website for details and let me know if you have any questions or comments.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I’ve made a unit called the “MIDI Rocker” which is designed to act as a MIDI-to-game controller adapter. It’s easily programmable so you can have up to 10 MIDI notes assigned to any of the “drum buttons”. I have not had a chance to try it out with World Tour yet though. It works natively with the PS3 and can be adapted to work with the 360. See the website for details and let me know if you have any questions or comments. We are also working on a version for guitar.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
J – you read my mind. This could be so much more than a toy. I personally hate trying to use those dinky controllers, and I hate staring at the screen trying to match colors. There could be other game modes with different performance metrics, like matching actual notes or tab. Tempo adjustment would be sweet, allowing variations on songs. Having real instruments as input devices would take this out the ‘complete waste of time’ realm and into ‘time well spent’. just MHO, of course, my sons love it as is, I just won’t enjoy the game until I can convince myself playing it is actually improving my real life chops.
December 4th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
If I buy a midi-usb cable, can I use my millenium mps-200 e-drum with guitar hero Wt for wii?
Thanks!
March 5th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
You don’t need to buy any extra hardware to set up you electronic drum set to Guitar Hero: World Tour. Sorry (Byte Arts). Just get a midi-midi cable. Then plug it into your ghwt drum set. or if your like me and don’t want them both sitting in your living room you can take your ghwt drums apart by taking all he screws out of the bottom and just remove the controller and midi parts. It was really easy. Then on my drum set (the Simmons SD7K Electronic Drum Set that I got brand new for $500). I just had to adjust to voice setting on each drum until it registered the color I wanted that drum to be. Again this was really easy. Found all the setting in about 5 min, just by putting the game in practice mode and tapping the drum while adjusting the setting until one of the colors hit. Then you know that number is for that color and you can set any drum to be that color. If someone wants the setting I can put the on here later. It may be different setting for different drum set I don’t know. Hope this all made sense i’m not a writer but you can save yourself 200 bucks.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
True – you can use the GHWT drum set as a MIDI interface, but it doesn’t support the cymbals in Rock Band. Our device also includes the ability to switch note mappings “on-the-fly”, assign notes to multiple outputs, or multiple outputs to the same note, and will emulate both the GHWT drums or the RB2 drums, and can be connected to a PC to load/save setups and examine the MIDI data. We also have a new lower-cost version (the MIDI Rocker LX) available at http://www.bytearts.com/midi_lx.
The GHWT-MIDI interface is a great feature and may be all the some people need, but if you want to have a compact, simple and flexible device, which will be upgraded to support new features as they come out (like the 2nd pedal in RB), then I hope you’ll consider the MIDI Rocker as an option.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:13 am
@ByteArts: I don’t understand how the Midi Rocker interface works. Since it’s MIDI to USB, how does it work with the Wii, since the GH official drumset in not plugged on the USB port, but wireless via the Wiimote bluebooth ?
March 7th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Stefan -
Sorry, I should have clarified my answer. On the Wii, our device only works with Rock Band. Once they update Guitar Hero World Tour to work with wired drums (such as ION or RB drums), then our device will work.
On the Playstation (2 or 3), our device works with both games (RB and GHWT) and supports all the features of the drums in each game.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Hello guys, i have Sesion Pro DD505 drum set, i am from Lithuania and sorry for my band english language, i want to ask something, if i buy this: http://i.ebayimg.com/08/!BNY!1Vg!Wk~$(KGrHgoOKj0EjlLmTLjuBJpV!BT-PQ~~_1.JPG then, connect my session drum kit with this unit and with xbox 360 it will work for Guitar hero: World Tour and Guitar Hero: Metallica, maybe u can tell me what to do? I have just electronic drum kit and xbox 360, i can buy MIDI to USB cabble, what i need to do to connect my electronic drum kit to xbox 360? Will it work like this: Session Pro DD505 -> GH:WT Drum Unit -> Xbox 360 thank you, i will wait for your answers.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Sorry for the bad link, here is good http://www.ipix.lt/desc/17944578/
March 25th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Hello again, i saw now that midi infterface isnt in GH:WT drum unit, its in the drums hardware, i thought that in drum unit, so its no use to buy now just drum unit, so maybe u can offer something for me without buyind GH:WT drum set, i have electronic drum kit with midi out, is there any possibilty to connecth to GH:WT?
March 26th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Dovydas -
The GHWT drums have a MIDI IN interface — you can connect the MIDI OUT from your drums to that and it should work with the Xbox 360.
The MIDI IN on the GHWT drums doesn’t appear to work with the Playstation.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I see that if i want to play with my electronic drum kit i need to buy GH:WT drums set, i thought in first that MIDI IN is in the Drum Kit Unit: http://www.ipix.lt/desc/17944578/ ,and then i can buy this Unit seperately, but now that i know that MIDI IN is in the Drum Kit hardware, i cant buy that part, i need to buy all set, or is there any opinion? Cuz i am from Lithuania (poor country that was in Soviet Union) and here GH:WT drum set costs about 200$, so i dont want to pay them just for that i can play with my drum set, maybe i will check in Ebay. Thank you for helping me, if you have to say something more i will wait, bye for now.
April 5th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Dovydas, just wait some days. The GHWT Drum Kit will be available in Europe in late April.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I can buy drum kit here, but price is 150 pounds for drum kit in Lithuania, not for whole band set, but just for drum kit 150 pounds, but i ordered from ebay, xbox 360 drum kit module + MID connections, so just need to wait when it comes to me, and i can play with my Electronic Drum kit, thank you for helping, i will write you my experience with drum kit later
, bye bye.
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
Hello, i connected my drum kit, its working, but i have one problem, i cant make all colors working on one drum set, i set one drum set works all collors but dont work one collor, if i change drum set, other collor dont work, all works, i can change voices but no sense, same, any ideas? I will wait for your answer.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Is it possible to use MIDI compatible drums without having to buy the Guitar Hero drums?
May 6th, 2009 at 9:33 am
There are several ways to use an instrument with a MIDI interface with Rock Band (or Guitar Hero) without having to buy the Guitar Hero drums. The MIDI Rocker (which I designed and sell) is one option. Google “MIDI drums rock band” and you’ll several ideas.
May 10th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I have the GH:WT drum kit for 360. Is there a way to connect the kit to my computer (vista) so I can record the beats onto my computer? I only have a MIDI Input jack on the back of the set, not a MIDI output. Any help would be nice. Thanks.
May 11th, 2009 at 7:31 am
I don’t think it is possible to connect the GHWT drums to a PC since they use the Xbox wireless protocol which isn’t supported on the PC (at least not without special hardware). You can connect a WIRED drumset (like RB1 drums).
Our MIDI Rocker (http://www.bytearts.com/midi_lx/index.htm) can record the MIDI notes that it receives while connected to a PC. It’s pretty handy for troubleshooting and setting up the drum brain. It does require a “modified” Rock Band drum controller to work with the Xbox though.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
My friend has the guitar hero drums for the ps3. We want to use them as a midi controller. Is the midi on the back actually an out of any kind or is it just a tease. i’ve seen people converting it to usb but why would i use that horrible latency connection if i have a good audio card with midi in.
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Thanks to Jason’s post above, I purchased the SD7K and it works great with GHWT on my Wii. The only thing I can’t figure out is how to change the pad mappings. For example, I’d like the alter which symbol triggers orange in GH. I’ve tried changing the voice settings but that doesn’t seem to do anything. It’s as if I need to be able to change the actual MIDI note ouput that the various pads/symbols generate and I can’t figure out how to do that. If anyone can shed light on this it would be appreciated. Even without better mappings, it’s still a blast.
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I maked video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=132WZiRUG90 This is my video, i am trying all drum kits, but in no one works all collors, always one or two collors dont work, in one drum set one collor works in other drum set no. With Rock Band all ok becouse there is one collor less, but in gh:wt i can make all collors working :/
June 21st, 2009 at 10:59 am
I just bought a Eastone PDK-8X drum kit with a midi-out port on the condition that it would work with Guitar Hero. Plugging it into the GuitarHero World Tour drums that I use with my Sont Playstation 3 console it works, almost. I cannot get GH to register the snare dum or the bass/kick drum. All the others work fine (not the hi-jat pedal, the ride or the third tom, but that was to be expected as they are not represented in the game). I have tried cycling through all voices, gain and volume settings, but to no avail. Has anyone had any success with this drum kit, or have any advice? Christopher
August 1st, 2009 at 3:12 am
Hi, I saw this question asked many times and no one ever answered (I think many didn’t understand the question).
1 – I have an electronic drum set with midi-out
2 – I DON’T want to buy the guitar hero or rock band drum set
3 – I have an xbox360
Is there a way to play with my electronic drum set at any of those games on xbox360 WITHOUT their proprietary drum set?
Thanks
August 1st, 2009 at 8:03 am
Unfortunately not. The Xbox only works with officially licensed controllers (the controller has a Microsoft encryption chip in it), so you have to have a Rock Band or Guitar Hero drum controller connected, or the game won’t recognize the drums. The encryption is pretty robust, and AFAIK no one has “cracked” it.
The Wii or Playstation don’t have this limitation and so it is possible for third parties to make a controller.
The MIDI Rocker LX (see http://www.bytearts.com/midi_lx) that I make can work with the PS2,PS3, Wii, and an Xbox360, but the Xbox configuration requires connecting to an Xbox Rock Band drum controller in order to satisfy the licensing requirements.
I’ve contacted Microsoft on many occasions about obtaining a license, but the only response I’ve gotten was that they are not currently seeking any more licensees for music game controllers.
-Scott (Byte Arts)
August 1st, 2009 at 11:30 am
Thank you for the answer.
I actually considered your HW, which is a nice workaround, but my question was hypothetical, because i don’t have either a electronic drum set or a proprietary one, and i was considering, in case i buy something, what is the best thing to do.
I would have liked to buy a real electronic drum set and somehow use it with the games, but for xbox i should also buy an additional rock band drum set and hack it.
another solution i am considering is this:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ION-Drum-Rocker-Premium-Set-Pro-Upgrade-w-Throne-XBOX_W0QQitemZ200312604072QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea38fc5a8&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177
it works with all rock bands, also with guitar hero (i hope) and would be a good funny starting point for take confidence with drums.
the upgrade allows it to be a normal electronic drum set, whatever the quality since i never played a drum before.
my biggest fear is the price. that one doesn’t include shipping and most of all the duty cost USA to germany
September 15th, 2009 at 9:40 am
just spotted this, ive got a korg padkontrol on order could it just be as simple as mapping the midi notes to the correct colors ?? if so i cant wait to test it out
finger drumming ftw
November 11th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Hi,
I’m the creator of the original standalone Rock Band EDRUM-USB adapter. It’s super-compact and is the most feature-rich and cost-effective solution for rockin’ out with Rock Band / Guitar Hero / DTXmania. Email me at rbusbadapter -at- gmail -do t- com for details.
–s