After further play last night I'm really liking the mouse pads. The dampening effect and loss of sensitivity is less of an issue than I originally thought. It's only taken a slight adjustment to get back to the scores I was getting before (I'm only playing on medium though).
Anyways, I was able to keep playing with some headphones after my wife went to bed, that's really the only thing that matters. :-)
OK, so I should hit up Staples and look for these circular mouse pads?
Are we talking the really thin ones? I have an office depot nearby and the promise of an instant solution is very appealing. Do you just set them on top or is glue needed?
Yeah they are thin mouse pads. About 1/2 cm I'd say. Any kind of tape I tried to use to secure them to the drum pad didn't work. That drum pad surface is kind of rubbery and tape didn't like it. I ended up just using some black electrical tape on top of the mouse pad and on to the edge of the drum pad. You can't just set them on the drums because they'll fall off.
You also want to make sure that they sit nice and flat on the drum because any space between the mouse pad and the drum is going to cause a slapping sound which kind of defeats the purpose.
Here's the mouse pad I used:
http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/st...&cmArea=SEARCH
They had some the same size with wacky patterns on them that were only $.50. But they only had 2 left.
Link appears to be broken, even on Staples' site.. is it this one? Appears to be the only round pad they sell, but it's a house brand which implies they'd have permanent stock..
Staples Round Mouse Pad
Item 502501
Model 15902
Provides excellent accuracy
Non-slip backing
Durable material
Just got back from Staples. These $2.98 Staples round mouse pads look ideal! Great find CharlesC!
Measured the dimensions with my Schaedler ruler-- they are 8 1/2" diameter, 1/8" thick. Very thin fabic layer over neoprene.
Someone was actually playing drums during lunch when I came back, so I slid it over the yellow drum. Definitely works-- I noticed a significant decrease in drum hit noise-- and he was hitting all the same stuff with it in place (albeit only on Medium).
So far so good. I need to trim these to fit, perhaps using the trick described above.. and figure out a way to attach them. Did I hear rubber cement?
Last edited by wumpus; 11-28-2007 at 01:57 PM.
Can't take credit for it. I saw it on another forum. I just used a compass and scissors to trim them, a bit sloppy but it got the job done.Originally Posted by wumpus
Also, you guys shamed me with your clown nose comments about the red plasti-dip. I got some black to try on the Xplorer guitar buttons-- which worked reasonably well-- so I re-dipped everything in a hopefully cooler looking black.
I also realized I dipped the sticks wayyy too much*, so I cut off the old dipped heads (surprisingly easy) and re-dipped just 5 times vs. the 10 times prior.
You bastards.
* My motto is, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.
Update on the Staples round mouse pads.
I ghetto-taped them on, as is, to try during tonight's play session just to see what happens. I don't want to undertake a potentially permanent glue mod until I know it's going to work.
Conclusion? EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE!
The thin round neoprene mousepads are far more effective than anything I've done with the stick tips. This one change probably muted the sound by 60% or more. It is a dramatic and unarguable noise reduction. You can actually hear the goddamn music now, and not a mind-numbing, repetitive, sometimes erratic tok tok tok a tok tok. OMG so much better.
Best mod ever. Get yourself to Staples! Warning, though.. my closest Staples only had 3; I cleaned them out. They did a stock check for me, and I gotta drive to the Pinole Staples to get more.
I'm gonna cut them down to size now, and glue them on using the recommended (theoretically reversible though I have my doubts) rubber cement I just purchased. I got my compass and xacto knives ready.
I realize this is going in the opposite direction of drum quieting, but if anyone comes up with a way to use an actual drum kit with Rock Band, post it here, eh? I wonder if the sensors in the RB drum kit can be attached to heads of real drums...
The real drums I have in my den (if you can call a Rhythm Traveller kit "real") is the main thing preventing me from getting the RB bundle (well, there's also the price).
jb
Thanks for jumping on the grenade. I ordered some online (free shipping yay), and now I just have to dredge up some of that rubber cement from my local art store.
Unfortunately I was only able to get 3 of the pads today. Here's the result of xacto knife + compass + rubber glue:
(note that my re-dipped anti-vibration sticks are visible as well. Black Plasti-Dip FTW.)
Tip: glue the CRAP out of the edges of the circle. That's where you'll have adhesion problems, as I did on my first one. On the second, I painted the entire cloth back with it, and paid special attention to the edges. Then I did the same to the rubber drum surface, and slapped them together. Mash down a bit, and no problems.
This is a GREAT mod. It is cheap! The staples round mouse pads were $12, the rubber cement is $2, and I had the Xacto knives (or scissors, I guess, though I think you'll get a much cleaner cut with the Xacto). Under $15, and this easily cuts drum noise in half. It is incredibly effective.
I would *guess* that the RB kit uses the same piezo trigger elements that are in electronic drumsets. You can attach these to mesh heads using instructions readily available on the net. I suppose you could also tape them to real drum heads if you didn't want to make any permanent modifications to your drums.
However, I don't know for sure. I doubt many people would be willing to disassemble their RB kit to find out.
Also-- meant to mention. The pads (just the pads, not the rim) are 7" in diameter. This would work with any fabric mouse pad as long as you can cut a 7" circle in it. The Staples pads are convenient because they're almost exactly the right size and shape.
Huh. I had no idea that Jeff Atwood read Qt3. Odd to see this thread featured in Joystiq.
Edit: Oh! It's Wumpus. Silly me -_-
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/29/ch...ck-band-drums/
Here comes the Joystiq parade.
Someone linked another approach in the Joystiq comments:
http://generationgamerz.com/v2/insig...rts-crafts.php
Self-adhesive felt + self-adhesive foam rubber, from Michael's. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the bright primary colors, but you could do it in black as well.
From the picture, the mouse pads on your drum kit were black. The ones I ordered from staples are a Staples ad with bright red. I'm planning on gluing them on upside down; is that what you did?
Thanks for the experimentation on this!
Yep, glued them on upside down. You could theoretically paint the red tops with Vinyl (rubberized) paint, but flipping them over is easier. :)
Unless your drummer is sponsored by Staples..
That was linked a while back by Kotaku, I looked it looked cool. And you could go all the way to the edges.
The mousepads work really well. Rubber cement was painless once I got over slathering my new fake drums in it, and the difference in sound is remarkable. All I really hear now is the drum sounds from the speakers, and every now and then when the stick hits the edge.
Yep, it's worked extremely well for us, too.
The red drum is still a little sketchy on one of the two sets at work. I'm thinking we might have to tape it up, like that guy did in the Expert Metallica Youtube video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9XLiMfBRo
yeah, my drumset is the bad model; thus the red and to a lesser extent, the rest of the drums are very unstable, the tape helps keep it sensitive, but it's only a temporary fix; i'm still sending in my kitThe tape is on my drums because the drums were faulty out of the box; the tape holds the pad closer to the sensor inside of it, which allows for more sensitive hits for the time being, until I get it replaced
The mousepads worked really well for me, too. They do a good job at noise reduction, without impacting sensitivity. The drums still make noise, but it's a lot quieter and it's a lower-pitched sound--more of a "thump" rather than a "clack," which makes the sound a lot less annoying. I cut mine so that they don't go all the way to the rims, so you can still see the colored rings (but the gray part is completely covered). I think the set looks better now than it did out of the box. The black, textured rubber of the mousepads has a nice look and feel to it.
I adhered mine first with spray mount (basically rubber cement in a can), but it didn't hold too well. I think because it's a little more fluid, and you end up with a thinner coat that just soaks into the mousepad fabric. Regular rubber cement (the kind that you brush on) is definitely the way to go.
That's what I used, and once I focused on getting a good coat on the drum itself rather than the pad which soaks it up, it stuck on really well. As a bonus, I can see where I'm hitting on the drums.
Update on this mod. It's incredibly effective at reducing drum noise, however, after using them for a month, the bottoms of the mousepads are fraying a bit from the stick hits. Still works of course, just looks a bit ratty over time.From the picture, the mouse pads on your drum kit were black. The ones I ordered from staples are a Staples ad with bright red. I'm planning on gluing them on upside down; is that what you did?
For my 3rd version of this mod, I am using the fabric top side UP, neoprene side DOWN... after painting the fabric tops black using Vinyl paint.
Vinyl paint is amazing stuff, intended for chairs and other irregular surfaces that get a lot of wear. It takes two complete coats to get rid of the bright red/white Staples logo, though.
So here's the set with the Vinyl painted Staples mousepads and the aluminum pedal reinforcing plate I got off eBay.
Last edited by wumpus; 01-01-2008 at 11:20 AM.
How much was the metal plate? How did you attach it? I was planning on doing the paint-sticks-and-duct-tape method before it breaks, but this is much sweeter. And since I already dropped $75 on a stool a better pedal just seems like a no brainer.
search eBay for rock band drum pedal, and you'll find the one I have. I paid $15 plus shipping as I recall.
EDIT: here's a link to the search.
http://search.ebay.com/rock-band-pedal
The guy did a great job with this. Nice little set of full-color instructions included, and a plastic baggie with the self-tapping screws. And he ships super fast. He earned his $15, I think..
Last edited by wumpus; 01-01-2008 at 10:44 AM.
Ordered! Thanks.
Tomorrow's task will be to visit Staples.
I had to get rid of the mouse pads. They were causing me to miss hits if I didn't slam on the drums. That was fine in the early parts of the medium tour but as the difficulty rose I needed a lighter faster touch. Now I can only play when my wife is out of the house. :-(
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote