Rock Band Drum Silencers

by PDP

Product Features

• Game sold separately.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0016KGNOA
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 1.8 inches ; 1 pounds
• Media: Accessory
• Release Date: July 22, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,975 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #13 in Video Games > Wii > Hardware > Controllers > Drums
  • #17 in Video Games > PlayStation 3 > Hardware > Controllers > Drums
  • #21 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Hardware > Controllers > Drums
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

The Rock Band drum silencers are an easy and effective way to eliminate excess impact noise. Quit bothering your neighbors and relatives during game play at night. Silencers are cut-to-fit and lay perfectly over the Rock Band drum. Silencers can be removed without causing damage to the drum. Universal and work for any Rock Band drum set on any system.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

182 of 188 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, but here's a trick, October 6, 2008

By 

David (California) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rock Band Drum Silencers (Accessory)

At first I got the drum pad silencers and held them up to the rock band drum pads and thought "this isn't going to work." Check out your RB drums. You'll notice a thin plastic rim around each drum. Well I expected these drum pads to fit inside that ring. Nope, if you stuck them on, they would go over the ring and then sort of float on top of the actual drum pad and MAYBE make contact in the center, where the pressure transducer is that picks up your drum strikes.

So, to install these drum pads, you must TAKE OFF THE PLASTIC RIM around the drums. It takes a few minutes, but isn't hard. You have to pull the striking part of each drum off individually. It takes a lot of force, but be careful not to yank out the wire underneath. If you look at your RB drums from below, you'll notice 3 or 4 small rubber wedges sticking through the plastic base. These are what hold the drums into the frame. Once you've pulled off a drum pad, unscrew the plastic rim, take it off, and reassemble the drum (make sure all the rubber pieces are back in place, sometimes they stay attached to the drum surface half and need to be taken off and screwed back into the base. Push the drum pad back onto the base and make sure all 4 rubber feet click into place. THEN stick the drum silencer onto the drum pad.

After performing the installation as I mentioned above, these pads make the RB drums much much much quieter and WAY more pleasant to play, especially in groups or at night. There are no installation instructions included with this kit, but there should be.

Another option is to trim the pads so they fit inside the plastic rim. I thought it would be easier and cleaner looking to remove the plastic rim instead.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very affordable solution, July 28, 2008

By 

Vexed - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rock Band Drum Silencers (Accessory)

Considering how much bad press the Rock Band peripherals have received since the game's launch last November, it's not surprising that something like this would be looked upon as a gimmicky, band-aid solution to a less-than-perfect drum set.

Sure, there are better kits being developed by Harmonix and Red Octane for their respective upcoming sequels, but if you own a Rock Band drum kit now, then these silencers are actually pretty good for the price. First of all, they're a bit more stylish than the gray plastic pads that you'd normally drum on. Second, they reduce the drum noise considerably, even during more demanding songs. Third, the material reverberates much, much better, allowing for better runs and rolls, and you get far fewer missed and/or duplicate notes in the process. Finally, these things are easy to apply, sticking right over the pads themselves. At first, it seems like a cheap way to attach them, but the adhesive holds up--just make sure you center them properly.

This is definitely a product for people who are tired of the dull plastic noise during game sessions, and if you have friends over who tend to overhit or flat-out miss the pads entirely, the pad silences those errors as well. Other than a reinforced pedal, this is the best add-on I've seen for any rock band peripheral.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Silencers, But Watch Your Accuracy Drop, August 10, 2008

By 

Travis Illig "Software Engineer" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rock Band Drum Silencers (Accessory)

I picked these up liking the idea that they'd make the drums a bit quieter and add to the bounce on the drum head. They do make it look a little nicer, they do make it quieter, and they do add a little bounce...

...but they also kill your accuracy. I put these on and started playing and immediately started wondering if maybe the calibration on the system had somehow gotten off. What I ended up doing was going to practice mode and doing a roll on each pad at the beginning, just before the song started. I could watch the pad missing hits. Take the pad off, everything gets caught correctly again.

I tried hitting the pads in different places, with different amounts of force, but it pretty universally took down about 10% of the hits, regardless of force or location.

I'm taking these back today. It's unfortunate because they do look good and they totally do a good job at noise reduction.