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If you're a fan of blockbuster music videogame Rock Band (casually referred to in the Mac|Life office as the Greatest Thing Ever Invented, Ever), you've probably banged on those plastic drums quite a bit. Perhaps you've even wondered if you could turn them into a real electronic kit.
Well, you're in luck, Rock Band rockers. We've discovered two different methods for using the drum controller to record into GarageBand. First we'll give you the cheap and easy way, and then a slightly more complicated method that's free to try, but costs more to keep the rocking rolling.
What you need:
> GarageBand (part of iLife '08, included with new Macs or $79, www.apple.com)
> Rock Band USB drum kit
> Either the GamePad Companion controller driver ($15 shareware, free to try, www.carvware.com) or the MIDI patch program JunXion (about $95, with a free feature-limited demo, www.steim.org/steim/junxion_v3.html)
> If you're using the Xbox 360 version of the drum kit, you'll also want the donationware Xbox 360 Controller Driver (tattiebogle.net)
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METHOD ONE, CHEAP AND EASY
1. Set the stage.
Install GamePad Companion and, if necessary, the Xbox 360 Controller Driver. Now fire up GarageBand, create a new project, and select Track > New Track. Make sure Software Instrument is selected and click Create. Choose Drum Kits and select a specific set—we'll start with a Rock Kit.
Are you ready to rock?!?! Rock Kit, that is. (Click to embiggen.)
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2. Rock with your fingers.
Select Window > Musical Typing to bring up GarageBand's keyboard input. Hit Z or X until the octave is set to C1. If set correctly, hitting A will trigger a bass drum sound, and hitting S will trigger the snare.
The Musical Typing window lets you input notes with your keyboard. Soon we'll sub the Rock Band drums in for the keyboard... (Click to embiggen.)
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3. Get everybody talking.
Now plug your drum kit into a free USB port. (If you're using the Xbox 360 version, go to System Preferences and click on Xbox 360 Controllers to verify the kit is being detected.) Go to System Preferences and open GamePad Companion.
Xbox 360 Controller to Major Tom... commencing countdown, drivers on. (Click to embiggen.)
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4. Letter rip.
Tap on the drum kit's red pad. You'll notice GamePad Companion's Selected Element drop-down will switch to a numbered button. (It's different for each version of the kit.) That's good. Now select Single Key from the Action drop-down, and hit S on your keyboard; this assigns a snare sound to the red pad.
Following the same procedure, assign T to the yellow pad (for closed hi-hat), Y to the blue pad (relaxed hi-hat), O to the green pad (crash cymbal), and A to the foot pedal (bass drum). Once you have all the pads mapped, choose Save A Configuration from the Configuration drop-down menu. The click Start to begin the emulation.
GamePad Companion lets you map keyboard controls to your drum kit, then save that configuration. (Click to embiggen.)
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5. Let's rock, let's rock, today.
Switch back to GarageBand. Verify that the Musical Typing window is still on top. Now tap on your kit. Hey look, drums! One problem: Even on very fast machines, you'll experience some lag when playing, enough to frustrate serious drummers. Luckily, we have another trick in our bag...
With the Musical Typing dialog still on top, you're ready to pound those plastic drums till you break your sticks. Watch out for the lag, though. (Click to embiggen.)
Next: How to fix that lag, and even how to use the guitar controller.
Travis J. Lee
December 11, 2012 at 3:30pm
Any idea if adding/purchasing the 'rock band cymbal' pack will add additional midi triggers?
ChompChomp
April 02, 2011 at 2:16pm
Ok, so i've done this like 15 times. I've installed everything and restarted over and over and the 360 Controller preference still won't recognize the RockBand drums... or the guitar for that matter. I'm using OS 10.5.8 and the pref says "No Devices Found" under "Device." Please, for the love of god help me. This is SO frustrating... Thanks!
machead13
December 08, 2010 at 9:49am
Cool Cool Cool. Now I don't have to buy the other game, just the game's controller, haha. Any word on if/when they'll be adding in ear headphones adapters? My hubby hates it when I'm rocking out too late. I get to sleep in and he doesn't so it would be nice to have the option. Cheers!
journojulz
February 03, 2010 at 11:35am
tried changing the plist information and adding the id for the mad catz kit, but nada
Tried xbox hid driver and still nothing.
ANYONE got it working?
if so, can you upload the library/extensions/xbox controller p.list file?
cheers journojulz@gmail.com
j
charliex5
December 30, 2009 at 1:30am
I've been having the exact same problem as Cons19. I've tried this in both Snow Leopard as well as Leopard. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. When I open up system profiler and look under USB it shows that the set is connected but in system preferences and xbox360Controller nothing is showing up.
Cons19
December 29, 2009 at 7:24pm
I’m having some frustrating issues. I get the things set up in garageband etc. like the instructions say, but when I plug in the xbox controller into the usb it flashes on then off and it doesn’t get detected by the Controller Driver!! Any solutions/tips/ideas? HELP!
luvkings4ever
June 11, 2010 at 9:21am
Hi. I saw your post that your drums were not detected. Neither were mine. Did you find a way to resolve this. Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Dave
p_reitz
January 04, 2011 at 4:55pm
Hi. I had the same problem but found this patch that will probably work for you guys as well:
http://specialdark.tumblr.com/post/1126601367/convoluted-xbox360-rock-band-drums-garage-band-onI tried it using Junxion and Garageband and it works perfect now without any noticeable latency ...Though the green light still wont stay on as promised in the tutorial - but i think i can live with that
Hope it helps you too.
willyap
December 14, 2009 at 5:37pm
Awesome tips, thanks! It's seems like a good reason for me to get the GarageBand application from Apple. Rock on!
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JohnDiP
December 05, 2009 at 8:56am
hi there, I would like to know how to play both the guitar and drums from the rockband kit since I have two boys plus myself :)
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ANvi1
March 09, 2009 at 1:50pm
Hey everyone, people on other sites have already figured this out but I've tried it and it works. If you do it the cheap way as described above, and download a program called midikeys you can get rid of the horrible latency issues with musical typing. It also lets you play notes simultaneously. It works very well to be honest. If you want to record into garageband all you have to do is hit record in GB and then switch to midikeys. It will play the drum kit that you loaded from GB but without the latency. You will have to re-map the keys to midikeys controls but it's just an issue of hitting the keys on the keybouard until you figure out which key is set to which sound you want. Enjoy!
kevkevallen
November 11, 2008 at 2:52pm
While I don't have a RockBand drum set myself (Its on the Christmas list, trust me!) I can definitely see the benefit of having one of your favorite games also be an input device for GarageBand. While I'm no recording artist, I have a ton of friends who will be egging to come over and try to create their mix at my house in GarageBand.
Good job Mac|Life, keep up the good work. :)
Joe Rybicki
November 03, 2008 at 9:57am
The wireless kit adds an extra hurdle, but it's not insurmountable: If you're using the PS3 or Wii version, you should be able to get a Bluetooth-enabled Mac to recognize the device through normal BT channels. For the 360 version, you need the Wireless 360 Receiver, which the 360 Controller Driver will recognize as soon as you pair it with the drum set (tap the button on the receiver, then hold down the sync button on the drum set). I haven't tried the optional cymbal attachments yet, but I suspect they'd work just fine with either method. The real trick is getting the velocity data recognized...haven't been able to figure that one out yet.
stoosepp
October 29, 2008 at 10:06am
This has been working for a while with the RB1 kit, anyone know of a way to get it to work with the RB2 kit?
Symbols would be sweet!
