ION Drum Rocker

For those of us who became Rock Band drummers last year, there was always going to be a point where the decision had to be made as to whether we were going to progress to wanting to be real drummers, or whether we’d keep the peripheral as a just that, and drag it out when our friends came over for a bit of a Rock Band jam.

I immediately fell in love with the drumming aspect, and with that in mind, there was always going to be a point where that weak old set of stock drum pads, the atrocious bass pedal and the kit’s random inability to record every single note in a streak were going to put a hindrance on our progress.

In steps ION, makers of professional music hardware, to bring gamers a hybrid drum kit that not only works with Rock Band and Rock Band 2, but also can be used as a full midi kit – if you purchase an additional drum brain from ION. The kit is based loosely on ION’s DM5 range, and comes complete with the Xbox 360 drum brain (which accepts the input from the individual drums, cymbals and bass and also connects your kit to your console), four high quality drum pads, two cymbal pads and a solid looking (and feeling) bass pedal. From the get-go, it’s clear to see that ION meant business with this setup. After all of the complaints levied against the stock Rock Band kits, they have made darned sure that not only does their kit work, but also it’ll take one hell of a beating without so much as hinting at any chance of hardware failure.

The ION Drum Rocker will take you a short while to set up. It isn’t a case of popping two struts into two stands and dropping a set of moulded pads on top, and that’s for certain. Every part of the kit is adjustable, so you should take your time setting up the tilt angle and positioning of your pads and the height and location of your cymbals. The kit is made of really sturdy aluminium and plastic and has all-metal fittings and screws  – meaning that you’ll be able to adjust and readjust until your heart’s content. You’ll really feel the benefit – especially in your scores – if you take the time to get this part right. Once you’ve got everything set up as you’d like it, just take a step back and take in the view. Seriously. If you aren’t impressed at this point, then there isn’t much hope for you.

Getting into actual gameplay, you’ll find that it takes a while to get used to using the cymbals. Your brain will tell you to aim at that yellow cymbal, but unless you’re using proper playing form (which you should be, dammit!) and playing your hat and snare with crossed arms, it’s very hard to resist the temptation to go back to hitting that pad. And as for hitting those pads…wow. The pads that come with the ION Drum Rocker are so far away from the stock Rock Band kit that I just can’t put it into words. Instead of the tinny-plastic-sounding grey flat stacks that the default kit had going on, you’ve now got rubberised and rounded black pads that are so unbelievably responsive that you’ll never want to stop playing. Am I overselling this? Not a jot. When you can hit a roll across the kit and finish with a nice cymbal crash and just KNOW that the game has recorded every hit that you’ve played, the feeling is just something else. When you look up at your score and see that the game has finally realised that you’ve hit a 100% for the first time ever, you’ll want to learn more tracks and keep playing until your arms fall off.

When you add this to the very solid and awesomely responsive bass pedal that gives a great feedback and will improve your scores from the first time you play it, you have an impressive piece of kit. This pedal won’t snap in half, no matter how hard you stomp on it – although the positioning of the cable input on the pedal is a tad strange. It really should have been on the back, but instead resides on the side – which makes me feel as if one slip of the foot could cause some damage to the plug or socket. It hasn’t happened yet though, I hasten to add.

So, does the ION Drum Rocker justify the price? Well for me, a person who plays Rock Band several times a week and has ever since it was launched in the US, yes. In fact, I would gladly play twice as much for this kit. If you’re a casual player who only gets the drumkit out of the cupboard when you’ve got your friends over, then the stock kit will still serve you well. Rock Band was always an awesome game, but when you add this to it, it becomes that much better. Make no mistake, this is a serious piece of kit that bridges the gap between game drumming and real drumming incredibly well. I can’t recommend the ION Drum Rocker enough, and I think that the MIDI module, extra cymbal and expansion bass pedal might well be on my Christmas list…

Just an addendum in response to lots of searches we’ve been getting – the ION Drum Rocker will be released for the Wii in “early 2009″. At the time of writing, the Xbox 360 edition and PS3/PS2 versions are out. We’d recommend picking up a 360 or PS3 if you’re serious enough about Rock Band to want to purchase this kit – mainly because of the awesome DLC (without a memory card) and online functions that are available on those formats.