Rock Band 2 Triple Cymbal Expansion Kit

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Second Update 12/16/2008: UPS just dropped a package from Mad Catz. They didn't fix my broken cymbal, they sent me an entirely new package, cymbal, mounting hardware and all.

No note included saying what was wrong, or anything, just a new cymbal. It looks like it's been handled, which probably means that someone tested it out to make sure it worked right, before they sent it to me (or that it's a refurbished.)

I tried it out, and all seems well. Kudos to Mad Catz for the excellent customer service. Their site says 4 to 6 weeks, and it only took 12 days from drop off, to return. I'm psyched.

Update: After playing for an hour or so this afternoon, it's evident that one of my cymbals is defective. It's sometimes registering two hits, instead of one. I called Mad Catz, and the guy I got was super friendly, extremely understanding, and set me up with an RMA. He said the website suggested 4-6 weeks, but realistically, it's more like 2 to 3. I'll update again when I get the new cymbal to see if it's working properly. I'm glad I didn't just try returning it to Amazon to get another, they appear to be completely sold out everywhere I've checked today. Glad I pre-ordered mine 3 months ago.

My three pack finally arrived last night, and I was psyched to get them. Ever since they were announced, I've been excited about them. The way I assumed they worked, was actually different than how they do work. More on that later.

First, some images, to show how freaking cool they look:

The whole kitHi-Hat CymbalRide Cymbal

The cymbals certainly give the drums the look of a real drumkit (okay, at least a real electronic drumkit,) but how do they play?

They take some getting used to, that's for sure. I just got them last night, so I'm still in the adjusting phase. But right from the get go, my wife said "You look like you're having more fun." Which I totally was. It felt like I was playing more realistically than I had without the cymbals.

When I first bought the cymbals, I assumed that they would just act as extenders of their respective colors. So when you'd hit the blue, it made whatever sound the blue one should at that specific point in time. As Rock Banders know, the drums pretty much all double as cymbals or drums, depending on the part of the song. I was pleasantly surprised that the new cymbal pads are dedicated as cymbals. So, if you hit the "ride" cymbal, it makes the ride cymbal no matter what. Same for the hi-hat, and crash cymbals.

It may throw your brain off, when you hit the cymbal when it's a tom-tom in the game, and you hear the wrong sound, but it won't break your streak, or count against your overall score. As long as you hit the right color, the sound that the game makes doesn't matter.

My favorite thing about the other game, you know, that one I returned already, was that there were dedicated cymbal pads with their drumkit. The Rock Band 2 drumkit, with the Mad Catz add-on cymbal pack (a measely $29.99) is 100% totally, absolutely better than GHWT's, hands down.

The game is more fun when playing drums, with the cymbals. It's more realistic, and more creative. I especially dig that during the "Overdrive fills", you can be a lot more musical with the drums, with dedicated toms/cymbals. If you're a die hard drummer for a Rock Band band, you absolutely need to spend the $29.99 to get these cymbals, pronto.

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First of all the Mad Catz Triple Expansion Cymbals works like a charm. It adds great depth of play when playing as the drummer in Rock Band.

I've seen several reviews here that says that the cymbals slips when it was hit too hard and sometimes the cymbals double-hits when hit too hard.

Well I found a fix for these problems.

Cymbals Slipping:

You must ensure that the plastic locks that holds the aluminum tube snaps 'locks' into place with the other half of it. There must not be a space in between the two plastic locks other than the circular areas which hold the drum aluminum tube and the cymbal aluminum tube. But be careful once they're locked it can be very difficult to separate the two plastics.

Cymbals Double-hit:

I noticed that one of the three cymbals I got was too sensitive. When I hit it hard, the game registers two hits. You can try this by going to the main menu and assigning the sensitive cymbal into the BLUE (ride) port. Try hitting it hard and you will notice that on the Menu selection screen it will go down from QUICKPLAY -> TOUR -> TRAINING. This is clearly a double hit because it skipped the TOUR on the menu. And for the fix, try loosening up the wing nuts in such a way that the cymbals will bounce a little when hit. This would transfer the bounce force into the foam and not the cymbal sensor. After trying this and testing with songs with lots of cymbals (Dead on Arrival) I noticed that I never missed a note again when hitting the sensitive cymbal.

I hope this helps lots of people having problems with the Mad Catz Cymbals Triple Pack.

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I think it's great to expand the RB2 kit--just four pads and a pedal--using cymbals to add some variety to playing the tracks, but these come up a little short in that area.

Admittedly, they're something of a bargain when you compare them to real electronic cymbals, so the question becomes whether the shortcomings are worth the price.

Ultimately, I'd say these are for two types of player:

1. people who are really starting to get into drumming and are wondering if they'd want to take the big leap into the Ion Drum Rocker.

2. people who want to expand their Rock Band gameplay.

In the end, I'd say they really don't serve either group completely. They're a lot louder than the standard RB2 pads and have a tendency to come loose if you hit them a lot, so they're not really comparable to the sort of professional experience you get with the Ion.

The other aspect is a bit trickier to explain. While the cymbals add a lot of flash to fills and free-form playing by being mapped to their own sounds (Yellow Hi-Hat, Blue Ride, Green Crash), giving you eight total sounds in those modes, that flash doesn't carry over to the songs themselves.

In the main of the song, the game only knows you're playing Yellow, not that it's the Hi-Hat. As a result, you end up listening to the song while you play to determine if you're on the "right" target for the sound that's coming out...is that green note a Tom or a Crash? This adds an extra layer of complexity to playing and requires that you learn the song a bit differently from if you're just playing the drum pads.

The volume of striking the cymbals is kind of a turn-off, too: now that Harmonix has delivered a much quieter drum kit, adding the cymbals suddenly makes it about as loud to hit as the RB1 kit had been. It's not bad if you've got the volume up, but if you're playing at night and trying to keep the noise down, you may find yourself hearing the tap of your sticks against the cymbals and little else.

The last minus is the way they mount. The hardware is secure enough, though a bit difficult to assemble exactly as directed and very difficult to disassemble, but the design of the cymbal mounts doesn't work quite the way the instructions imply. Supporting the cymbal is a wedge that serves the dual purpose of keeping the cymbal's active edge turned toward you and which also allows it some tilt. The problem is, to get it to tilt, you need to loosen the nut that secures it in place. Given that that nut likes to ride the vibrations and unscrew itself while you play, getting it loose enough to allow for significant tilt can be pretty frustrating.

As a result, they end up mounted more-or-less horizontally, which takes away from the "real drummer" experience they're supposed to be providing.

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UPDATE: See the pictures I added at the top to get an idea of what the kit looks like, and what the clamps should look like when properly installed if you're having trouble.

I've has this set almost two months now and they still work and look perfect. No problems at all, and well worth the $. These have been played by both of my teen aged boys, and a professional drummer, and they all love them!

I bought these on release day and have not had the slightest regret.

My biggest gripe with the basic drums you get with Rock Band 1 and 2 is that they have no cymbals, and the pads aren't laid out like the real deal. It's not as big of a deal when you play the guitar parts, you expect them to be a cut down version of the real thing. It doesn't matter how much you play the guitar parts, it's not going to help much when it comes to playing a real guitar. The drums are different. If you actually learn the tempos, and get good at your timing, this will transfer to the real thing.

If you use these in practice mode they will output the sounds of a real set of electronic drums, including the bass, snare, toms, and floor tom, as well as the high hat, crash, and ride cymbals. You can play this set in practice mode, and accompany any song you choose to play through your system.

Are they as big a deal in the game itself? Not quite. But it's better to get used to playing on something laid out like a real set and a lot more fun. If you just want to play the game and aren't interested in getting good at drumming they aren't as big of a deal.

These are velocity sensitive and will react with more volume the harder they're hit.

These DO NOT work with the Rock Band 1 set of drums. They do work with all sets of RB2 drums as well as all game systems.

This set is very well constructed and well worth the money. If you like to play the drums on RB and GHWT, and want the extra challenge of playing with cymbals, don't pass up either this three piece kit, or the two piece kit.

For some reason the picture shows the cymbals really close together. If you set them up right they can be positioned like a normal drum and cymbal set. Not the bunched up mess the Madcatz picture shows.

See my photos at the top to get a better understanding of how the clamps work, and also how they can be spaced out better.

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Cymbals work, as advertised, and are a great supplement to the overall drum system.

I am a little bit perplexed about the negative reviews stating that they are "too sensitive" or that it was difficult to put together.

After reading said reviews, I timed myself to see how long it would take to put all 3 together. The result was 9 minutes and 23 seconds with no difficulties.

As for the "too sensitive" part, I tried 5 different songs and alternated between drum pad and cymbal use. Both pads and cymbals still responded with single hits, no missed hits, and no "double" hits. I suggest that if you are experiencing double hits, it might be that the cymbals are not screwed down tight enough and the wobbling could introduce more than one hit.

As for my own personal experience, the product is well-made and has already enhanced the overall experience. They are by no means a necessary addition, but they are certainly a fun one. What makes them even more fun is that they can be used in the drums' "free style mode" where all 4 pads play as different sounding drums with 3 different sounding cymbals. It's not a professional drum set, but you can certainly play it like one and it sounds great. Hit the "-" sign and you can play different drum kits programmed into Rock Band 2.

From an experienced gamer, I highly recommend this product and rock on!