Daisho Con

Ugh. Daisho is far too away and I can’t stop getting worked up for it already!

Anyways, I was curious to the status of the 2009 edition of the Battle of the Rock Bands at Daisho. Last year’s Rock Band event turned into my personal favorite part of the entire weekend and it seemed to garner a lot of attention. I’d like to pitch some suggestions for improvements and fixes for the ’09 version so that it rocks harder then f@#$ing diamonds. I remember a few suggestions and such popping up just after Daisho last year on these forums (one of which I believe I participated in) so I’m likely going to repeat myself with a few things.

1- Establish a List of Available Songs.
One issue that popped up last year was that all of the songs from the game were not available, nor were the Rock Band 1 tracks. It would be best to make sure all tracks are available right before the competition starts. Usually the profile that unlocked all of the songs needs to be loaded up in order to gain access to RB1, RB2, and DLC songs due to Microsoft’s silly DRM, a Live connection isn’t required that I know of but I’d be willing to bring my wifi adapter just in case. The fall back option for this is using the RB2 unlock code to at least get all of the RB2 songs at our disposal. Beyond that, hey, there’s always what my band did last year, have one of our roadies run to the room and get our 360.

2- More HD is Moooore.
While I personally didn’t have an issue with it (exceptional eyesight), some others seemed to have issue with the size of the HDTV used for the competition. If possible it would be nice to have a larger TV available to make things less eye straining on the band participants.

3- Morest HD is Mooore…est.
The setup last year at Daisho had a 360 hooked up to an HDTV via standard definition connections. This puts a slight strain on the eyes of band members. It also creates a little bit of picture ghosting and a slight bit of natural lag that is hard to compensate for. Next year component or HDMI cables are a must.

4- Sound That Reaches 11.
There was no problem with sound while actually playing in the competition, however the audience seemed to have a slight issue hearing things. This was obviously because the only sound came from the built in HDTV speakers. An external sound system is almost a must for next year, this way the speakers can be pointed out towards the audience and it would also drown out some of the clickidy-clack noises the RB instruments make. The all around best possible solution would be to have a 360 hooked up to a TV via HDMI. The 360 still sends out sound through its HDMI cable even if an external speaker system is detected, meaning you could have sound blasting out to the audience via an external system and still have HDMI sound reaching the band members via the TV connection.

5- Calibration.
I know there were a few complaints about the instruments not being as accurate as they could be timing wise. It would probably be a safe bet to make sure the instruments are all calibrated right before the competition starts up. A friend of mine could probably calibrate the guitars rather quickly.

6- Rock and Roll Feel?
This is probably the most “out there” idea of mine. It seemed like the RB event last year quickly turned into one of the bigger events of the weekend, I’d suggest taking that to a whole new level. Basically build it up as “the big thing” for the first night of the convention, including possibly even shutting down the rest of the game room during the Rock Band competition. This way the competition wouldn’t get drowned out by other sound, and it would probably bring about a larger audience and give things an even more rock-concert feel. So get as big an audience as you can, dim the lights on the gaming room, get one of those Rock Band Stage Kits, and turn the competition into a full out concert. Hey, it would at least get people ready for the dance later on.

7- Room to Rock
The bands last year were kind of tucked in their own corner of the game room. This lead to a few issues with band members crossing each others line of sight and also didn’t allow for much freedom of movement with bands. The next RB event should really give more room for the bands, this would prevent lines of sight from being disrupted as well as give performers more room to roam as well as allow for a few more awesome bits of showmanship. Would it also be possible to get a slightly elevated stage?

8- Let Them Witness The Rock
I’m skeptical about this idea, but I’m suggesting it anyway. A projector behind the bands would be a good way for the audience to see the actual note charts for each song being played. This would be a good thing because it would give the audience an appreciation for difficulty, however the downside to this would be that it could pull eyes away from the actual performers themselves.

9- Mic Stand
A mic stand would be a very welcomed addition for the lead singer. Use of it would be optional for the band however it would give us a chance to see some funky little stand tricks a la Aerosmith, or at least make things a lot easier for any 3-person bands entering the show that would require someone doubling up singing and playing duties.

10- We Are The Champions!
Once the judges announce the winners, the winning band should get to come out on stage and do a two or three song encore performance. It only seems right. The winning band gets their moment of glory and everybody else can just relax and enjoy the show.

Beware the return of Jizz Dr. Jasper and the Wu-Tang Wannabes!


Well, we're not the old name... you remember... because we lost half our "band", but we'll be back next year, and ready to rock!


And we need the RB1 tracks. That kinda hurt us bad last year.


Tom Sawyer FTW!

Sephiroth, thank you for some great feedback and ideas.

I'll be the one running the Rock Band tournament again this year and I'm very pleased that you posted this, and I agree with just about all of your points. I want to make things much bigger and better for this year, so it is great to see that others are excited.

Things may change between now and November, but here is how I'm planning on having the set-up as of right now:


* I'm planning on having the Rock Band tournament in a separate room from the video game room this year. This will allow for more space and set-up options, as well as room for spectators. We have a lot more programming space to work with this year as we are expanding the amount of rooms we are covering in the convention center.

* The bands will play on a stage this year

* The video feed will be split this year so that the spectators and judges can see the notes that the bands are hitting/missing. The band will have a large t.v. in front of them for their viewing, but there will also be a projector (pending that I can get one to use) showing the notes on a large screen behind the stage. I'm not sure if this will cause any lag/timing problems so it is something I'll have to test out.

* I like your idea of the winning band getting to do an encore! I will probably limit this to one song of the bands' choosing though, not two or three

* The ion drum-set will be back (the big fancy one)

* Wireless guitars

* External speakers for better sound

* HD cables

* Friday night event

* Maaaaaaaaaybe some fancy lighting effects

Also, I am going to put a larger stress on moving and dancing on the stage for this year. One of the main reasons we have the bands play on 'hard' difficulty is that we want to leave some room for improvisational movement to pump up the crowd (great live bands don't just stand around up on stage)

I wasn't there last year, but I avidly play with Monkeybotz as a duo. Out of curiosity will you have it set up to play when there is no turny going on? And if so, do all instruments have to be accounted for at that time?

Yes, and (typically) yes. However, there are tons of random people standing around our rock band set up at all times that will be willing to jump in if you are short on people to sing, play guitar, etc.

If there is no one around waiting to play, then by all means play with as few people as you like.

I don't think I ever actually played last year, I was running around doing seventy billion things. Woot for me. Maybe I'll get a chance to sing this year - although my kid brother'll probably play, him and his friend missed last year because of car trouble, but I think they'll be serious competition this year.

I'm musically disinclined far enough that I'll be happy just hearing about it/seeing it. Whichever happens to happen.

Spittin Wheelie wrote:Yes, and (typically) yes. However, there are tons of random people standing around our rock band set up at all times that will be willing to jump in if you are short on people to sing, play guitar, etc.

If there is no one around waiting to play, then by all means play with as few people as you like.

awsome

That tournament is going to be a blast.

Actually if i remember right the Ion drum set fell apart many times during the night, and the time I played it, one drum turn upsidedown and I fail the song because of it......I like the mic stand idea. On my xbox I have all RB2, RB1, and over 40 downloads, if that isn't sufficent then tell them they have to bring there Xbox, unless someone else has many dollars invested in it.

BMK, let's plan on your xbox this year for the time being. Mic stand is a great idea.

As for the drum set, we'll have to test that out before hand. However, the ion set can take waaaaay more abuse wear/tear than the generic rock band one which is why it's a major plus.

Well if you're looking for good drums that aren't the ION drums, perhaps look here. Goodwood mods take a little bit of modding to a normal Rock Band drum set but they're a hell of a lot more reliable, nor will they fall apart like the ION set did last year. And then maybe look at this for a bass drum pedal as well.

Also on a side note, it looks like the Rock Band Stage Kit's price dropped down to $60 bucks instead of the $100 it was at for the longest time. If you wanted lighting and fog effects I would go with this as an option since all of the lighting patterns in the Stage Kit are synced up with each song in the game. I'd only recommend finding extra fog packs as well so we don't run out.

hey, we should work on getting the guitar hero guitar. to be honest, rock band guitar sucks

No.... I've played with both, and Rock Band's is by far superior. Just... nicer.

I gotta agree with black hayate on this one, the Rock Band guitars suck. The raised buttons and the stum bar that actually 'clicks' on the guitar hero ones make them superior.