METHOD TWO, LESS CHEAP AND SLIGHTLY MORE DIFFICULT
1. What's your function?
Follow Step 1 from the Method One walkthrough, minus the installation of GamePad Companion. Instead, download the JunXion demo and fire it up. As soon as you start JunXion, you should get a notice from GarageBand that the number of MIDI inputs has changed. This is a good thing.
Yep.
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2. Patch things up.
In the left-hand pane of JunXion, select the drum kit. Tap on the red pad and note which button shows a change in value. If you see two changing at once, test the other pads to eliminate the one that triggers with each pad. On our Xbox 360 kit that's Button #8, so we'll ignore that one.
Once you've isolated the correct button, click on the title and drag it into an Input Sensor field. A drop-down menu in the Action column should automatically appear. Tap on the pad again and you'll hear a sound sample—but probably the wrong one. Let's fix that right now.
The first thing we'll do in JunXion is figure out which "buttons" are triggered by each of our drums. (Click to embiggen.)
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3. Get the right sound.
Click the Actions tab in JunXion. Near the bottom, you'll see a field labeled Note NR with a slider next to it. This determines which sound is triggered by that button. For the red pad, we want a snare sound, so let's drag the slider down to 38.
Now repeat the last two steps for the remaining three pads and pedal. For the yellow pad, choose note 42 for a closed hi-hat. For blue, choose note 44 for a relaxed hat (or 46 for a fully open hat). For green, choose note 52 for a crash cymbal (or 51 for a ride cymbal). And for the pedal, choose note 36 for the kick drum.
JunXion lets you assign specific sounds to all the pads on your fake plastic drums. (Click to embiggen.)
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4. For those about to rock...
You've done it. Switch over to GarageBand and give it a try—virtually no lag! Just don't forget you've only got 20 minutes until the JunXion demo quits, and you won't be able to save your patches without buying the full version. But $95 is a small price to pay to turn a toy into a functional electronic drum kit, isn't it?
Once you see how cool this is, you'll want to pony up for the full JunXion license—we did. (Click to embiggen.)
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5. Go avant-garde.
We've talked about the Rock Band drum kit here because it's the most like a real instrument. But the exact same procedures can be followed for any USB guitar controller. You'll only get six notes (five buttons plus the strum bar), but you'd be surprised at what you can do, especially if you set buttons to trigger multiple notes simultaneously. Experiment, have fun, and enjoy your virtual rock-stardom.
Want to use the guitar controllers too? Go ahead, write a five-note pop masterpiece. (Click to embiggen.)
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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October 28, 2009 at 7:14pm
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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!
