Drum Challenge 13 – 26 May 2010

[jimcallumuk1812]

Okay – new challenge time. 5 songs this time with Medium to Medium Hard difficulty all fairly recent. The challenge runs to Wednesday 26th May and the songs are:

Different People – No Doubt (Tier 5)
The Climb – No Doubt (Tier 4)
All Star – Smash Mouth (Tier 3)
Thunderbirds are Go! – Busted (Tier 3)
The Broken – Coheed and Cambria (Tier 5)

Good luck everyone – I’ll try and get the results posted on time for this one

[wadopotato79]

Some good choices there, Jim. I had only picked up All Star prior to this, but this gave me a reason to get the rest of these. Not sure why I hadn't picked up The Broken prior to this...very fun song and a cool chart. I'm not any good at it yet, but it IS fun.

[jimcallumuk1812]

The latest challenge is over and the scores are in:

Different People

1) Wadopotato79 – 220,850 5pts
2) Pickford – 212,650 4pts
3) Jesse1367 - 175,625 3pts
4) Stikboy – 145,875 2pts
5) JimCallumUK1812 – 142,375 1pts
6) Hamreus – 132,025
7) BlackCHerry831 – 123,275
8) Saccian – 92,675

The Climb

1) Pickford – 254,550 5pts
2) Wadopotato79 – 251,975 4pts
3) BlackCherry831 – 237,875 3pts
4) JimCallumUK1812 – 233,350 2pts
5) Stikboy – 225,825 1pt
6) Hamreus – 217,250
7) Saccian – 209,650

All Star

1) Wadopotato79 – 135,775 5pts
2) Pickford – 133,875 4pts
3) JimCallumUK1812 – 128,850 3pts
4) Jesse1367 – 125,775 2pts
5) Saccian – 108,200 1pt
6) BlackCherry831 – 101,375
7) Hamreus – 100,700
8) Lavory – 91,375
9) Hellstar – 65,875

Thunderbirds are Go!

1) Wadopotato79 – 143,575 5pts
2) JimCallumUK1812 – 116,475 4pts
3) Hamreus – 114,650 3pts
4) Saccian – 110,225 2pts

The Broken

1) Wadopotato79 – 165,650 5pts
2) Pickford – 149,350 4pts
3) JimCallumUK1812 – 133,475 3pts
4) Stikboy – 129,875 2pts
5) Lavory – 125,400 1pt
6) BlackCherry831 – 114,600
7) Hamreus – 89,725

So in first is Wadopotato79 – one of these weeks I’m actually going to have time to play the tracks more than once or twice and try to win some off him – with a huge 24 points

In Second is Pickford with 17

Third is me with 13

In joint fourth are Jesse1367 and Stikboy with 5 points each

In joint sixth are BlackCherry831, Hamreus and Saccian with 3 points each

And in ninth is Lavory with 1 point

Well done everyone and thanks for playing

[BlackCherry831]

Congrats Wade. Great job to everyone who participated.
Thanks for the challenge, Jim. I can't wait for the next one.

[Saccian]

Woohoo! Nice work. I couldn't even pass The Broken although I forgot to try to work on it. My kick pedal is busted anyhow.

While I'm in a drum related thread, I'm just curious if anyone else uses the Guitar Hero drums for Rock Band. I've been using the GHWT drums since I bought the game but I've just broke my second kick pedal and Red Octane is now out of business. While I could just Ebay one, my current set has taken a beating from a few drunken RB parties so I am looking at getting a new set altogether.

So far I much prefer the GHWT to the regular Rock Band 2 ones. The yellow high hat makes it feel more like I am playing drums although for songs where yellow is designated as a tom tom or snare it can get a little tricky. I also like the kick pedal better for the GH set.

I'm not sure where I want to go from here. I can get a cheap GHWT, or get the Band Hero Kit for $70 more, or for even bigger cash get the Ions. I was going to wait until RB3 before I picked up the Ions but now I am not sure. Anyone here have recommendations?

PS - One of the reasons why I am looking at the GH sets is that I prefer the GH guitars over the Strat, especially the Band Hero and GH5 one. I also need a better mic so the bundle deals look ideal. I will likely just trade the game it comes with back in though.

[jimcallumuk1812]

Well I can’t help you with the GH drums as I find them insanely counterintuitive – as if they are designed to make you play worse. The set up of the RB drums – essentially a snare and 3 toms with the three toms doubling as cymbals is very logical and similar to a real drum kit. The 2 tom arrangement of GH is bizarre and the fact that 2 pads are always cymbals just means you can have very little variety. The RB design is much cleverer and allows for far more variety despite having 2 one less pad.

I’ve been using the ions with 3 cymbals for well over a year now and it really is a totally different experience to any of the other kits. It’s a lot easier to play fast parts and when you add in a decent metal kick pedal (I use the Rock Pedal) it transforms the game. So whilst it’s pricey it’s tough to break and makes the game so much better. I’ve never regretted buying mine for a minute and I had to pay a massive import duty as well.

The problem is its so much fun to play I can never be bothered to practice guitar or bass

[Saccian]

Thanks for the info.

Well, there is an electronics franchise here that sells the Ion's on their online website. If they have them at one of the local retail stores here I may just pick it up. Having a RB party tomorrow and I am a little nervous of letting drunken newbies play on it, but we'll see.

[wadopotato79]

Thanks, guys! I really ended up liking all the songs in this challenge. Actually ended up buying them just for this...wasn't even planning on getting them.

I second Jim's comment about the IONs...I've had mine for about a year and they have been well worth the price. I am interested to see what kind of tweaks (if any) that Harmonix makes with RB3. I agree that it is scary watching others beat on my precious IONs, but they have held up nicely. They are a lot more durable than the stock sets, but I can't really talk to the GH set...my only experience on them is tooling around on them at Best Buy, but I can't stand them. I've only got the normal 2 cymbals that come with the IONs, and rarely play with them, but even having just the crash and the high-hat with a snare 3 toms seems a lot more natural than the GH layout.

[Saccian]

I appreciate all the tips guys. I went ahead and got the Ions. I am very pleased with them although that kick pedal is as bad as I thought it would be. From others I've talked to, I think I am going to go ahead and buy the Rock Pedal. Mine didn't come with cymbal either so I'll pick a few of those up at a later time. I still need some time to get used to the new layout first.

I just love that pad response though.

[wadopotato79]

You'll really be glad you did. Yeah, some people like the Roadie pedal that comes with it...from what I understand, it is actually a hi-hat pedal. I have both the Omega and Rock Pedals...I'd lean towards the Rock Pedal as my favorite. Until recently, I had it hooked up to a Gibralter practice pad, but took it off a few weeks ago due to getting double hits from the rebound in some fast, steady bass sections (All that Remains, Disturbed, etc).

If you want some freakishly good response and rebound, look into the mylar replacement heads. I got them a while back, but took them off and went back to rubber heads after pissing my apartment neighbors off...they are about as loud as RB stock heads. I play with noise cancelling headphones and get a bit carried away at times. ha ha