71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
Accurate and FUN, but replace the kick pedal
For the serious Rock Band drummer, these drums bridge the gap between the video-game plastic drums and a real electronic kit. Each 4 pads and two cymbals (a third can be added, sold separately) can be adjusted, tilted, moved, and spread apart to feel more like playing a real drum kit.
PROS:
-Spot-on accurate with no missed notes or any kind of...
89 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
Fun Kit, but HORRID Ciustomer Service
I, sadly, have a mixed review of the DrumRocker.
When I initially received the product, I was very happy with the apparent quality, etc. As noted by some other reviewers, the foot pedal is not great, but is still a marked improvement over any other `stock' pedals to date.
After using the kit for about a week, the foot pedal broke (9/30/08). There...
This review is from: Xbox 360 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set (Accessory)
For the serious Rock Band drummer, these drums bridge the gap between the video-game plastic drums and a real electronic kit. Each 4 pads and two cymbals (a third can be added, sold separately) can be adjusted, tilted, moved, and spread apart to feel more like playing a real drum kit.
PROS:
-Spot-on accurate with no missed notes or any kind of crosstalk between the parts
-velocity sensitive in Rock Band 2
-wide range of positioning of all main parts
-good build quality and solid for $300 e-drums (except *)
-assembly was quite easy, albeit intimidating and lengthy with the numerous parts (between hour and 90 minutes)
CONS:
-HATE the *kick pedal... noisy and cheap feeling.
-velocity doesn't have much dynamic range between light tap and hard bang -- minor point
-somewhat noisy, especially the high hat yellow cymbal
-customization/positioning can lead to confusion and frustration
On that last point: there's a reason the stock Rock Band drums are positioned the way they are... the 4 pads close together makes it easy to play the game, especially for non-drummers. This kit allows moving all the parts around, which is nice for creating the feeling of playing a real drum set -- but once back in the game, it becomes harder to play. Plus, adding cymbals makes additional (albeit optional) targets that take getting used to, so there some "swing and a miss" to overcome. Having a closed high hat cymbal "yellow" to the left of the snare pad "red" is cool to play crossed arms, but during the game yellow is always to the RIGHT of red. Also, the reach to hit "open high hat" on the blue tom is far from yellow cymbal, and it doesn't feel quite right.
There is a learning curve to get used to, and it takes a couple hours of playing and adjusting to get everything just right. Once all the parts were where I wanted and I replaced that awful kick pedal (a high-hat controller on other kits! ...minus 1 star) with a Pearl "Omega Pedal" (mini to 1/4" jack needed), this kit becomes INSANELY FUN in Rock Band 2!!!!
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This review is from: Xbox 360 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set (Accessory)
I, sadly, have a mixed review of the DrumRocker.
When I initially received the product, I was very happy with the apparent quality, etc. As noted by some other reviewers, the foot pedal is not great, but is still a marked improvement over any other `stock' pedals to date.
After using the kit for about a week, the foot pedal broke (9/30/08). There is a small metal tab inside the pedal that hits a trigger/switch when the pedal is depressed.
The next day (10/1/08) I called the manufacturer and notified them of the breakage. I was told that I had to complete a "Customer Receipt for Replacement Parts" and return it to them by fax (a bit archaic, but whatever...). I completed and faxed the form that same day (10/1/08).
After about a week of not hearing anything from them, I called back and was told that nothing had been done with my original request because they "didn't stock replacement parts for the DrumRocker" because they "didn't expect it to fail so quickly" therefore, they could not fill my order. Nobody bothered to tell me this they simply ignored my replacement parts request. I am wondering how long they would have let that sit had I not called them.
The customer service agent with whom I spoke also told me that despite there not being replacement parts, he would "do me a favor" and get one shipped. After a week on inaction, they acted as if THEY are doing ME a favor by shipping a replacement for a defective part after ignoring the request for a week?
When the replacement part arrived a few days later it did not work. To replace my faulty bass pedal, they sent a hi-hat pedal - I guess the two are similar, but the switch inside seems to be different. The original bass pedal will register multiple consecutive hits as a bass pedal should. The replacement hi-hat pedal they sent me would only register a single hit, and not subsequent hits unless there was a 1-2 second pause. Presumably, this is how the hi-hat pedal is supposed to work.
The next day, I called back and explained what happened previously and what was going on with the replacement pedal. I specifically told them that there seemed to be a difference between a DrumRocker foot pedal and the hi-hat pedal they sent me as a replacement. The parts department sent another replacement pedal; unfortunately, they sent me ANOTHER hi-hat pedal - which we had already established does not work...
At this point, I am pretty miffed.
The second (wrong) replacement pedal arrived the evening of Friday, 10/10/08 which meant that I had to wait through their 3-day weekend to make yet another phone call. After waiting 15 minutes for my call to be answered, I told them that I wanted to speak with a manager - this request was met with resistance. It took 5 minutes of talking to them so they could "find" my account - they also took my phone number "in case we get disconnected".
Once they had all of my info, they asked me if I could hold on so that they could transfer me to a manager... yeah, that never happened. Instead, they disconnected me (accidentally?), and despite taking my phone number "in case we get disconnected" (their words), nobody bothered to call me back.
I tried harder than any customer ever should, to give them the opportunity to make this situation right - they simply were unwilling or unable to do so.
The only positive here is that Amazon.com HAS stepped up and IS taking care of this. They shipped a replacement for overnight delivery on the day that I reported the issue to them. This is why I shop here.
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This review is from: Xbox 360 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set (Accessory)
I received my set via Fed Ex yesterday. Everything was very nicely packaged and labeled in the box. Instructions were included but I feel could have been a bit more detailed. Not that I needed the help but I could see where some people new to setting up electronic drumsets might be a little confused or possibly set it up wrong.
Setup took maybe 45 minutes and they supplied a tool to tighten all the bolts on the stand. One thing to note: There is an adjustment at the top of the cymbal stand to keep them from rotating. This adjustment is an allan wrench which they did not provide for me. Luckily I have my own set.
Another thing to watch for... the cymbal holders are held in place with a metal loop with threads on the end. The wingnuts they supply are very large and the threads are not that long so I found myself stripping the very end of the threads trying to get the wingnut on. A trip to the local hardware store fixed this where I bought replacement nylon wingnuts. They are a lot more shallow and tighten down much further on the threads.
After putting it together and getting everything plugged in I noticed right away that the pads were amazing. Great rebound and very quiet. Single and double stroke rolls are a breeze. The cymbals felt pretty good but didn't quite have the same rebound. The kick pedal is really made to simulate a hi hat pedal so I was a little off-put at first but it still works quite well and is lightyears beyond the original stock RB1 pedal. I'm thinking about upgrading to either a Rock Pedal or an Omega Pedal soon. I've read that these will work just fine with the ION.
My first impressions of the kit with the Rock Band 2 game were very good. The pads never miss hits but unfortunately the cymbals still drop notes quite frequently. I have read others are having the same problem and I haven't quite figured out yet how to correctly position and hit them to make them more reliable. Some people suggest hitting the edges of them with the stick, some say tighten them down very tight and some say remove the felt padding beneath them. None of these have worked for me yet. It's for this reason that I'm considering removing the yellow hi-hat completely, unfortunately. It's not fun playing it when it consistently drops hits. I'm considering changing it to a blue ride.
I'm an expert RB drummer and usually score around 95-99% on most songs and after a few runs over songs that I'm quite familiar with I find myself having less trouble with those passages I couldn't quite get right because of controller conditions. My first try at Tom Sawyer on my new kit yielded gold stars and put me in the 16th spot on the leaderboard. I was nicely surprised with this seeing how I'd never been in the top 500 before.
This is an excellent buy if you have the money and want to take your Rock Band drumming to the next level and possibly move on to a real kit.
Edit: 9/23/08 - Well the Nylon wingnuts held for one or two moves but I ended up replacing the nut within the plastic wingnut. A simple 6mm 1.00 hex nut fixed the problem. I will probably replace all the stock nuts just to be safe. Still LOVE this kit! I've tweaked the setup a few times but I think I finally have one that I like.
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I ordered these on December 9th (in the evening) and thanks to a free trial of Amazon Prime, I got it shipped next day for just $3.99. Anyway I received them today and......WOW!!!! This peripheral single-handedly has made Rock Band FUN again!!! It's a completely different experience than the standard drum kit. The symbols add a level of realism that could not come close to being achieved with the standard kit. There is a learning curve, as the symbols will confuse you at times (when to hit them vs when to use the regular pads,) but it's fun figuring it out! The kick pedal is very good (way better than the one that comes with Rock Band and Rock Band 2, but not as good as the Omega Pedal.) It does take a while, took me about 30 minutes, to set up out of the box. There are wires going everywhere, one from each drum pad/symbol, to a central hub but you can zip-tie the cords up so it doesn't look like a rats nest. The kit can be set up to your liking as all the drum pads and the symbols are move-able. The pads themselves are more quiet and give more "bounce" than the rock band kit as well. Over all this is a very good drum kit, I have been playing Rock Band for almost 1 year, got to the point where I could play about 1/2 of the 250+ songs on expert so I have put a lot of time in on the old kit. I love the Drum Rocker and am looking forward to hours and hours of fun using it!!! The BEST kit on the market for playing Rock Band/Guitar Hero World Tour!
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In a nutshell, this is a fantastic electronic drum kit for Rock Band. It's worth picking up if you have skill and the drums and want to advance to the next level.
Some notes before starting out:
- When I compare the Ion Drum Rocker to the standard Rock Band kit, I am referring to the original R.B. drum kit, not the R.B.2 kit
- I have the Rock Pedal (which works for this kit with a simple 1/8 to 1/4 adapter) and will not discuss the pedal that comes with this kit (though it seems more responsive than the standard pedal)
- I have been a "Rock Band drummer" for about 10 months, and can play roughly 75% of the songs on Expert
Let me explain some specifics about this kit via a pros/cons list:
PROS
1) Drum pad placement. Lots of flexibility to move drums pads around--change the angle, height, and placement on the bar. You can set the four pads to wherever is most comfortable for you. The L-shaped rod under each pad gives you some flexibility in height.
2) Noise reduction. The drum pads are much quieter than the standard Rock Band kit. (There are some YouTube videos that demonstrate this, and it is a noticeable difference.)
3) Sensitive pads. The drum pads are velocity sensitive and also have more 'bounce' to them than the standard kit.
4) Easy adjustments. The kit comes with a drum key (an allen wrench, really) that lets you make every adjustment that needs to be made.
5) Cymbals. Come on, you really want this to have the cymbals, right? :> The cymbals are also quiet and really add to your enjoyment when playing. It also makes you focus more closely on what's going on in the music (not just blinding hitting the blue pad without noticing whether you're hitting a tom or a ride cymbal).
CONS
1) Cymbal placement. Well, it's okay, but you're a bit more limited when it comes to placement and angle. The kit comes with a short (~12") bar and a longer (~24"-30") bar, so you have some flexibility in height. The drums give you more freedom of placement.
2) Ships with two cymbals. You can order the third for $50, though.
3) No option for a fourth, or "red" cymbal. Some songs ("Run to the Hills" or "Rio" amongst others) have you hit the red pad as a cymbal, but there's no option to plug a cymbal into a "red" input. Not a huge problem, just a tad annoying (I'm actually more annoyed at the RB programmers for ever turning the red snare drum into a cymbal!).
4) Bigger/Bulkier than the original RB kit. Or maybe this is a con. :> It's not too much bigger, but it is heavier and a little trickier to move.
As a sidenote, I have not had any problems with the cymbals dropping 'fast' notes (mine are set to Ride/Blue and Crash/Green currently, so I haven't tried the Hi-Hat/Yellow).
Overall, the pros vastly outweigh the cons. These seem to be very high-quality drums, and it adds to the challenge of drumming when you have to differentiate between cymbals and toms when you're playing! If you are really into Rock Band drumming, I highly recommend this kit.
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This review is from: Xbox 360 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set (Accessory)
I also was shipped a defective product. Amazon is helpful as usual but they require that you have all of the parts for them to replace.
I foolishly followed the procedure in the packing material that said to contact the manufacturer for any problems. They wanted me to ship the item to them. Then the agony of dealing with the antics of Numark/Ion Customer Support as mentioned by other reviewers. Yup, they treated me exactly the same way. Terribly.
I've contacted Amazon and they are willing to help but only if I can ship all the parts to them. SO now I have to rely on Numark/Ion to ship back the defective part before my replacement window with Amazon expires.....
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This review is from: Xbox 360 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set (Accessory)
The greatest addition to Rock Band 2. Ion Drum Rocker creates the realistic experience.... Almost.
The foot pedal seemed 'lightweight'. I purchased the Drum Rocker pedal from Amazon. A 1/8" to 1/4" converter was not provided, but necessary. There was a significant improvement from the foot pedal provided by ION.
The ION Cymbals are not as responsive as I would have preferred. After reading reviews and technical posts, and tightening the kit as much as possible, there was marked improvement. Still, I went to my local Guitar Center and purchased 3 Roland electronic cymbals, with hardware. There was immediate, significant improved response. Also, since the new cymbals are not as loud when hit, I am considering replacing the pads with other parts which I noted at Guitar Center.
As a fan of Guitar Hero World Tour, I am extremely disappointed that the ION drum brain is not 100% compatible. Let me explain. As I understand it, the Guitar Hero World Tour kit uses 5 colors and a pedal. The ION kit for Rock Band maps only 4 colors, even though it can recognize the cymbals separate from the pads. I now have all three cymbals hooked up and have no orange cymbal.
Finally, If I had realized how much fun I was going to have playing the drums, I might have purchased the ION drum brain and the drum kit separately. The overall weight of the set has increased since adding the new hardware. If I purchase the new drum pads, and a new frame to properly hold and mount the hardware, the only original ION part will be the "Drum Brain". It seems ironic that, to turn the set into a "real" drum kit, the only part that needs to be replaced from the ION drum kit is the "drum brain" that connects the unit to the game console.
I beleive some manufacturer (ION) will produce an expensive solution and produce a drum brain for the "ION Drum Rocker", that would properly map the kit to the Guitar Hero World Tour game. BUT may I suggest a little software switch that actually recognizes my now REALLY EXPENSIVE hardware...... I know that that would be too much to ask.
Still, I beleive you can really learn how to drum using this kit with the Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour games. I am now an amateur but aspiring drummer.
11/20/2008 - Replaced red ION drum pad with a Roland V-Drum PDX-8 to use as a snare.... WOW!. More responsive than needed for the game(s).
But this post was edited re: DrumRocker Drum Pedal.
FYI: To enable a second Pedal, use a stereo headphone cable splitter (Y-Connector/splitter cable for use with mp3 players) and connect both pedals to the same line/wire. Not a true "double kick" drum pedal, but this will allow you to use both feet.
Also, to see if the drum brain was capable of multiple inputs on the same color, I added a cable/headphone splitter on the blue cymbal input and installed a SECOND blue Roland cymbal, positioning one left and one right. They both work great! This proves the ION the set can be extremely expandible. I have installed 12" yellow ride cymbal, 8" and 14" blue cymbals and 15" green crash cymbal; all Roland cymbals instead of ION cymbals.
My ION Drum Rocker is now a REAL drum set with 4 cymbals, a 'real' snare drum, the original ION drum pads as the 3 tom-tom drum heads and it is also ultra quiet and extremely accurate. I can now achieve 95-99% on most songs.... with some practice. AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Perhaps I initially got bad parts (cymbals) from ION, as many people have related, but nothing compares with real drum parts. I feel inferior parts will encourage bad drumming habits that could result in repetative motion injuries (RMI), such as carpal tunnel syndrome. I beleive that all game controllers should carry RMI warnings, but especially for any item that simulates a musical instrument.
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I ran into a few problems with the Ion Drum Rocker right out of the box.
First off, the sensitivity of the cymbals are about 65-75% of where they should be. If you're at an expert level, you'll definitely see the difference when you're hitting drum rolls on the high hat (middle of Everlong, YYZ, etc.). Second, you have to hit the cymbal a little harder than usual, which increases arm fatigue. Third, the cymbals are quite loud (not as loud as the RB1 drums, but damn near) in comparison to the tom toms. You can purchase aftermarket cymbals (several available for purchase online & amazon.com!) that would work extremely better.
The bass pedal is also an issue. Sturdy, but it is prone to sticking at the bottom. The pedal is also prone to static issues which cause the entire drum set to disconnect (http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107816).
Also, my drum module was triggering buttons sporatically (due to a manufacturer defect), but a replacement from amazon.com is on the way to my home.
In conclusion, the Ion Drum Rocker could've been a great drum set, but there were a few quirks that keeps it from greatness. You can get replacements for your cymbals($40-50 a piece) and also the Rock Pedal(great buy for your aspiring fake drum career :D); but it retrospect, you shouldn't have to spend money to upgrade equipment after just spending [...] bucks. Do your research!!!
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This review is from: Xbox 360 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set (Accessory)
Ok - I'll start out by saying I think this item is totally worth it. I am a drummer in "real life" and I even own a real drumset. This is a huge step up from the plastic pieces of crap they give you with the original rockband. I have not ever had the pleasure of trying the rockband 2 drumset but jumped immediately to this one seeing how flimsey the original design was (I have already gone through 4 drumsets playing rockband alone). Being a real drummer I play everything on either Hard or Expert (with this set I've played about 95% Expert and 5% hard) on drums. That being said for some background I'll now review the product at hand.
As I said this drumkit is totally worth it overall. It's pros outweigh it's cons in my book and the reviews I've read on it are pretty darn accurate. The drumset takes about 45 min to setup and an additional 30 min or so to make minor adjustments while you start to test it. It is a pretty sturdy set and it's "footprint" (how much space it takes up) is considerably more than the rockband set. That's neither a plus nor a minus other than the fact you'll need more room to set it up and play it. I guess a small minus to that effect, though, is that there is no easy way to take the set down or make it smaller for storage. It would take you 30-45 min to take it down into it's pieces and then another 45 min - 90 min to set it up and tweak it to where you want it again - which is highly impractical. Ok - the drumpads are VERY responsive and velocity sensitive - I'm actually pretty impressed there. They are MUCH MUCH quieter than the other drumkits I've tried. However the cymbals make a bit more noise and are almost (still quieter) comparable to the noise given by your drumpads on an original drumkit. Also - the kickpedal is VERY noisy. I don't like the kickpedal because of that fact - it's been VERY reliable and picks up all my bass drum kicks but it's noisy as hell so I switched it out after a couple of songs. Although the drums don't really drop a beat - the cymbals do. I tweaked them quite a bit and got it from about 20% of the notes registering to about 80% now. But still that means 2 of 10 beats I hit at fast speeds are being dropped and to me that's unacceptable. I've tried tweaking almost everything on them, their angle, height, the tightness of the hinges/screws they're on, even my sticks and my grip! On slower beats I can hit about 90-100 but on faster beats it misses more. Because of that and the fact theye're semi-noisy (MUCH noisier than the pads) I find myself using the drumpads far more than the cymbals. I use one for a crash cymbal so it looks cool (real) when I do a big crash at the end of a fill or whatever but the high-hat one I rarely ever use. I use the drumpads for that as they are much much quieter and actually reliable. And when I'm trying to 100% another song on expert that makes a big difference to me. On that note I'll mention that if you're not playing expert or if you don't care that you'll drop a note fairly consistently even though you're playing it, then by all means use the cymbals to your heart's content. They do add to the game and the general look and feel of playing though. Needless to say I will not be ordering the 3rd cymbal unless they come out with a newer more reliable model. Oh - I might also note that the drumpads have better rebound (more like a real drumhead) than any other rockband set I've tried.
Let's see...what else...oh yeah...the drumset is highly "flexible" (customizable) in that you can move the parts and pieces to better fit where you want them and how you play. I have mine setup exactly as my real drumset (spacing is almost exactly the same) which is nice. The drumsticks it came with are pieces of crap though - almost feels like balsa wood and they came with major chips in them. Also the set is not wireless - you do have to plug it in to your xbox like the old set (unlike the rockband 2 set).
Another huge positive - I ordered my set from Amazon and I ended up getting it 4 days earlier than the expected delivery date. It was amazing! It made my weekend (-: (especially due to the fact I chose the free super saver shipping).
ok so to review --
Pros:
- Drums are velocity sensitive and pick up notes VERY well
- Highly customizable to how you want it and where you want your drums, etc
- Sturdy, long-lasting looking design of a real drumkit
- Good rebound-ability on the drumpads
- Shipped super super quickly and free from Amazon
- Awesome, realistic look and feel
Cons:
- Cymbals are noisy and unreliable
- Kick-pedal is VERY noisy
- Drumsticks are extremely lousy
- No easy way to compress it's footprint for storage
- Perhaps a little pricey (I'm fresh out of college) -- but I still think it's worth it.
So that's my 2 cents - probly mostly stuff you've already heard (-: Hope it helps though.
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I wouldnt recommend buying this product YET. From all the reviews I have read and from my own personal experience it seems like it is a crap shoot whether you will get one that will actually work properly. I would wait until they come out with a "2nd Generation" before considering buying this product. I actually returned mine for a refund because it kept cutting out in the middle of songs. Dont get me wrong, when it actually works this thing is awesome, but as I said getting one that works is the problem, so for now I have bought the rock band 2 wireless drum set with expansion cymbals. These are not nearly as cool but they work great and are a good alternative for someone looking to enhance their rock band experience. When Ion comes out with a better product that has all the bugs worked out of it then I will definitely get one. You'd think for over $300 they would get it right the first time though. I hope this review is helpful to anyone considering this item.
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