Other uses for Rock Band instruments

So ever thought, man I want to be like these guys. I want to play my Rock Band drums like real drums. I want to sing to more of my favourite songs! Well, now you can. Today, you will find out about some freeware programs that you may not have known about. Just configure your Rock Band instruments for your PC and you're set.

*Please comment if you know of any programs that I may have missed.

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Step 1: Microphone

UltraStar is a clone of SingStar, a music video game. Ultrastar lets one or several players score points by singing along to a song or music video and match the pitch of the original song well. Ultrastar displays lyrics as well as the correct notes similar to a piano roll. On top of the correct notes Ultrastar displays the pitch recorded from the players. Ultrastar allows several people to play simultaneously by connecting several microphones possibly to several sound cards. To add a song to Ultrastar, a file with notes and lyrics is required, together with an audio file. Optionally a cover image, a backdrop image and a video may be added to each song. - Wikipedia

Download here.

Cr4zy_Dud3_0n_F1r3 says: Oct 24, 2010. 10:40 AM

Awesome!!! I'm trying to build an electronic drum kit and this is exactly what I need for sounds!!!

Kindhamster says: Jun 28, 2010. 3:53 PM

does anyone know if this works with the cymbal kit for RB 2?

just13 says: Mar 30, 2010. 11:26 AM

i'd like to try it but the link doesn't work

tubajoey1 says: Mar 22, 2010. 6:43 PM

I got this program about a week before seeing this, and it works fairly ok.
My only complaint is that the time between hitting a head and hearing the sound is too large. Its just not instant. It makes playing along with a song, or even recording, entirely too difficult.

daniel05 says: Feb 7, 2010. 2:52 PM

awsome

nickelbackfan says: Nov 25, 2009. 11:52 AM

can u put ur own music on it

bounty1012 says: Apr 15, 2009. 9:07 AM

Joy2key doesnt work for me.

Sam the Wizer in reply to bounty1012Jul 8, 2009. 2:25 PM

Are you using Linux?

bounty1012 in reply to Sam the WizerJul 8, 2009. 2:39 PM

No, but I recently got my guitar to work with my computer so I dont need this anymore...

2cool4u_0 says: Jul 6, 2009. 8:26 PM

dose it work wit ps2 drums & how do you connect your ps2 drums to the computer plz answers

SanjayMaru1994 (author) in reply to 2cool4u_0Jul 6, 2009. 9:39 PM

Umm....you plug it in via USB. And then.....you're......done.

cacktuss says: Dec 21, 2008. 9:30 PM

i downloaded it and it doesn't work

snarfnugget in reply to cacktussJun 16, 2009. 1:36 PM

Worked great for me too!! This is awesome. I love that you can change the .wav sound for each drum pad. Thanx for the link.

stevie1 in reply to cacktussJun 15, 2009. 4:00 AM

worked for me?!?!?!?

rogueleadr in reply to cacktussJun 9, 2009. 6:19 PM

chek ur direct x

Sam the Wizer says: Jun 12, 2009. 1:13 PM

Good tips. I just bought some Rock Band drums last night and got them running through Hydrogen in Linux using Joy2Key. Super easy and tons of fun. I would like to be able to use the D-pad on the drums to change samples, but that may take a bit of programming. Anyone know of an 'ible or script where such a thing has already been done? Thanks

frannyloo says: Jun 6, 2009. 8:00 PM

so i copy/pasted to website you had but it brought me to the search.filefront.com website and from there i only found the JoyToKey and i downloaded that but i didn't find any electronic piano. am i s'pose to get this from another place? also i got frets on fire and that wouldn't work. Do these work on a Mac?

Fenwick says: Jan 12, 2009. 10:05 PM

Are there any programs similar to Drum Machine that won't produce a delay when I use my drum controller? I tried Drum Machine, but found the delay to be too much to be able to keep a rhythm going, unless I turned off the volume. I'm using Vista with a PS3 Rock Band 1 drums.

lokisox in reply to FenwickMar 23, 2009. 8:57 PM

its a chance but try DRUM X USA distributer was Guidecraft U.S.A telephone toll free 1-887-443-7869 igot the number off the side of the box its an old thing but still works and iff you get realy board then you can use the softwere with out the drums just use your mouse over the screen hope this helps

TMSheik says: Jan 2, 2009. 6:57 AM

yeah i have frets on fire but i wanted a guitar synthetizer, not a game =)

REA in reply to TMSheikMar 20, 2009. 2:28 PM

what version of FoF do you have? most people dont know that theres a 3.1 that can look exactly like GH or RB.

John Smith says: Jan 31, 2009. 8:34 AM

after i installed the directx thing for the drums, i was able to use them with my computer(the PS3 rockband drums). There is a slight delay which makes it hard to use but its just milliseconds on my computer...very very slight. cool

lolcat360 says: Dec 30, 2008. 10:47 AM

Can you use the instruments in FL Studio?

TMSheik says: Dec 30, 2008. 5:15 AM

I really want to use it, i could never download something from the link you posted :( maybe you can post a new one?

jaycraw says: Dec 27, 2008. 1:40 AM

i got frets on fire instead

jaycraw says: Dec 27, 2008. 1:28 AM

i just downloaded frets on fire and figured out the gh xplorer works but the rock band 1 stratocaster does aswell

stoopynoonoo says: Dec 2, 2008. 6:01 PM

I just got Drum Machine...and Rock Band 2 along with the drum set...The drum set is wireless...Could you help me with connecting it to my PC? Thanks

stoopynoonoo in reply to stoopynoonooDec 11, 2008. 2:56 PM

Oh I figured out what happened. I just need to get the wireless gaming receiver made for xbox 360 controllers (wireless) thanks for the help though!

SanjayMaru1994 (author) in reply to stoopynoonooDec 3, 2008. 3:16 PM

Once the wireless adapter is plugged into your PC via USB, go to Control Panel > Game Controllers. Then hit Properties. Configure the drum set. Then open up Drum Machine. Try this and reply back.