Ion IED08 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set
by Ion
(Click here)
Product Summary
Brand: IonRelease Date: 2008-12-09
Platform: PlayStation 3
Model: ION IED08
Publisher: Ion
Product features:
- Compatible with ROCKBAND, ROCKBAND 2, and Guitar Hero for the PS3. Also compatible with ROCKBAND 2 for PS2.
- Two Color Assignable 12" Cymbals
- Ultra-Quiet Velocity Sensitive Pads
- All-Metal Kick Pedal
- Sturdy, Fully Adjustable Aluminum Rack
- Rock Band Mic Stand and Drum Stick Combo
- Rockband Rubber Tip Drum Sticks
- Rock Band Illuminated Drum Sticks
Video Game Reviews of Ion IED08 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set
Customer Review: Great quality fun drums, more info for techies
Summary: 4 Stars
This review may get too detailed for the average user, but if you're like me, you want to know everything there is to know.
The first thing I need to mention is that the static issue is a serious problem. While playing on carpet, eventually static builds up and causes the Ion's module to disconnect with PS3 halting your fun mid-song. This can happen several times each song. Check the internet - there are some solutions to isolate the pedal and stand by using fabric softener sheets lol! Luckily I accidentally stumbled upon the BEST way to fix this problem. Take an extra 1/4" patch cord, plug one end into the Ion module and let the other end dangle on the carpet. This will ground the module and there will be no way for any static to build up and discharge. Once I discovered this trick, I never lost connection again.
For a Rock Band replacement drum set, this set is AWESOME. If you're already good at RB, these will make you even better. If you don't get 100% accuracy at the end of a song, it's NOT the drums' fault, is YOUR fault. The responsiveness of the drum pads is pure heaven. They bounce back and make drum rolls a breeze. They are nice and quiet for small home or apartment use. The stand is very sturdy and excellent quality. Everything is easily adjustable to put the pads where you like. It's true what others wrote about portability. Tear-down and set up is not easy. Luckily I have space in my house and everything stays together and simply moved to the corner.
Bass pedal - very mediocre. I started with Guitar Hero and quickly upgraded to a much higher quality kicker and loved it, so I don't like the pedal style at all. It is playable, but you may want to upgrade. If you do, be careful because although the Ions advertise that you'll be ready to move up to professional electronic drumming at any time because their drums are just like real electronic drums - that's not entirely true. Although their pads are like real e-drums, the bass pedal is not. Ion's bass pedal is digital - in other words on or off. And that's the signal the Ion's drum module is expecting. If you upgrade to a real bass drum kicker, it puts out an analog signal basically identical to the rest of the pads in this kit. But the Ion module cannot read an analog signal for this input. You'll need to buy a small device that converts the signal.
Cymbals - here I can't give as good of a review. The cymbals sound like you're hitting a block of wood and the responsiveness isn't great. They're only moderately fun to play on and they're too loud, but that's not the real let down. I'm a Guitar Hero player 1st, and a Rock Band player 2nd, so if you like to play both, read on. I closely checked all the compatibility charts for GH and RB games, and every recent game supported Ion's drums. I mistakenly thought that the Ion drums would act just like the Guitar Hero World Tour drums (or Band Hero drums). They don't. The GH games will "dumb down" to only 4 lanes of drums just like you were playing RB. This was a huge disappointment to me because I like the added difficulty and realism of playing 5 drums plus a bass pedal as opposed to RB's 4 drums plus bass. The Ion drum module (the "brain") appears to have 8 inputs (1 bass pedal and 7 "drum" inputs). This is NOT the case for GH games. The module really only has 5 inputs: 1 bass pedal and 4 drums. The other 3 inputs are merely duplicates of 3 of the existing drums. They are simply wired in parallel so that a drum (or cymbal) hooked to either input produces exactly the same result. Conversely, in RB2 the cymbals do make a different sound during fills and in freestyle mode. A good thing is that in RB3, the Ions support the pro mode which means the cymbals are differentiated from the pads and you have to play the correct one. If you want to play on more realistic feeling cymbals, I recommend buying Ion's basic drum package and adding other cymbals that are more playable. Either way, there is no way to make GH work with 5 lanes unless you want to buy some extra and/or modded equipment. If you do, read on.
There are ways to play Guitar Hero games with 5 lanes as it was meant to be played, but you have to use extra equipment. There are forums out there to give all the details, but I'll sum it up quickly. You can use a real drum module from a set of real electronic drums by completely bypassing Ion's module. You plug the drums directly into the real drum module, then use the MIDI out from the drum module to the MIDI in on your Guitar Hero drums. If you've thrown out your GH drums, you can buy just the modules (and/or the wireless dongles) on internet auction sites. Do your homework before actually buying a real drum module because the module will need to have reprogrammable MIDI channels so that the GH module gets the correct signal. If the MIDI notes cannot be reprogrammed, you'll need yet another piece of hardware that is made strictly to re-map MIDI notes.
The second way is to just get the MIDI box that accepts drum pad signals, and outputs (re-programmable) MIDI signals. These boxes are much cheaper than true drum modules because they aren't capable of outputting any sounds, only MIDI signals.
The third way is to buy a modded Guitar Hero drum module or mod one yourself. You can make the stock GH drum module accept input from the Ion's drum pads by putting 1/4" female jacks on the GH module and connecting them internally. Check forums for how to do this correctly.
Be warned that if you do use the Ion's to play GH, you CAN'T use Ion's bass pedal because it's digital. You'll have to use GH's stock pedal or some upgrade that's like a real kicker with an analog signal. Also be warned that Ion's drum pads output a VERY strong analog signal and can be too sensitive when used with a modded GH module. You can download a program to adjust the sensitivity of the GH module, but I've found that even at the absolute lowest setting, the pads are still too sensitive and you get false hits from vibrations from other pads. This can be fixed by attenuating each of the signals by using resistors, but that's even more modding!
The final part of this review is to talk about the most fun part to me. You can get rid of Ion's drum module and connect your Ion drums into a real electronic drum module and play along with either GH or RB. This can be done in practice mode, but if you want a real thrill, you can make it work inside a real game too. If you can program your drum module to re-map the MIDI notes, you can take the drum module's MIDI output and put it into Guitar Hero's MIDI input. Now your drums will register inside the game. You can then turn the volume down on the video game's drum track and then turn the volume up on your drums' amp or however you play your real electronic drums. Warning!!! This will make you realize how difficult it really is to drum. The video games have a (relatively) HUGE margin of error where you can strike a drum too early or too late and the music still plays perfectly. With this setup now the drums play exactly when you hit them. This is an extremely fun time. Even better is that you can keep adding more drums (like more cymbals and more toms) and map different drums to same colors making your drums still register in the game. It becomes much more like real drums.
If you're like me and spend too much on this type of video game, I have another suggestion for you. If you think you'll keep upgrading drums or adding lots of stuff, you'll be way ahead of the game if you just start with a real set of electronic drums. You can get basic kits for $500-$1000. I know it sounds like a lot, but trust me - if you start with Ion's drums and keep upgrading and adding stuff you'll end up spending much more in the long run. Just realize that you're spending this money on a stand and 4 pads. The Ion module will become useless and the so will the cymbals when you upgrade. If you're going to stay with Rock Band and not go to real e-drums, this kit is awesome, but like I said before, skip the cymbals.
Description of Ion IED08 Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set
Drum Rocker delivers the most realistic drumming experience available to any gamer, regardless of platform. That's because it was built by the engineers at Alesis, one of the largest manufacturers of professional electronic drums in the world. As a result, you get a kit that's designed to take a real beating, with all the positioning flexibility that professional drummers demand. While other drum controllers lock you down to a pre-molded plastic array of pads, Drum Rocker's professional aluminum drum rack lets you position your snare, tom and cymbal pads wherever you want. When you're ready to move from playing Rock Band to playing in a rock band, you can swap the game controller module with one of the professional drum brains made by Alesis, and you're ready to hit the road for real! Drum Rocker's velocity-sensitive drum pads feature a playing surface that is much quieter than other drum controllers. They also feel great ? the stick rebound off of the pad is much more natural and consistent than anything else available. The pad housing is made of high-impact plastic, designed to be whacked on stage night after night. No matter how much you punish them, the Drum Rocker drum pads can take it. Complete the experience with up to three cymbals. There's nothing like finishing a monster fill by whacking a crash cymbal. Or crossing over to play your hi-hat with your right hand while you keep the backbeat on the snare with your left. Or keeping time on a ride cymbal during the chorus. Drum Rocker lets you do all that and more, with cymbals that can be placed anywhere around the kit. Drum Rocker comes with two cymbals and mounting hardware out of the box, and a third cymbal is available as an optional accessory. You get to decide how you want to use the two cymbals that come with the kit ? set them up as a hi-hat/crash, crash/ride or hi-hat/ride combination, then add the third cymbal to round out the kit.The wait is over for the next generation of musical gaming equipment. Whether you are an aspiring amateur, or a practicing professional, Ion's award-winning Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set for PlayStation 3 lets Rockband players finally jam out with ease, letting your inner rockstar come out screaming.
 The Ion Drum Rocker Premium Drum set can be customized to fit your drumming style. View larger. |
 Professional-grade design allows you to unleash your inner rockstar. View larger. |
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Rockband, which took the gaming world by storm in late 2007, was followed by the highly-anticipated sequel, Rockband 2 that was released in September of 2008. With Rockband 2 came Ion's Drum Rocker Set, which quickly took the Game Critics Awards top spot in 2008's Best Peripheral/Hardware category.
Professional-Grade Aluminum Rack and Pads
While other drum controllers force you to use their configuration with a pre-molded, plastic array, the Drum Rocker's professional-grade aluminum rack lets you position your snare, tom and cymbal pads the way you want. Not only can you play your hi-hat with a right-hand crossover by placing your cymbals anywhere around your kit, but by mounting your pads to the drum rack with the included metal L-arm and clamp system, you can tilt, swivel, raise and lower the cymbals to whatever position you want.
Drum Rocker's velocity-sensitive drum pads feature an ultra-quiet playing surface and a more natural and consistent stick rebound than your average pad. The pad housing is made of a hi-impact plastic, which means that no matter how much you punish them night after night, they will always be ready for more.
The Drum Rocker's all-metal kick drum pedal is also designed to take abuse. It offers the perfect amount of tension to replicate the feeling of a real drum pedal. And keeping in line with its set-up flexibility, the kick drum pedal comes with Velcro and retractable spikes, allowing you to place it in the most comfortable position.
Go Beyond Gaming into Real Music
Built by the engineers at Alesis, one of the largest manufacturers of professional electronic drums in the world, the Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set delivers the most realistic drumming experience available to a gamer.
But when you're ready to move from playing the game to playing in a real life, you can swap the game controller module with one of the professional drum brains made by Alesis, such as their DM5 drum module, or any other drum brain that accepts a quarter-inch output. (Drum modules are sold separately.) And with the option of purchasing a third cymbal, you can round out your kit and move beyond gaming and onto the stage.
The Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set is compatible with both Rockband and Rockband 2 for the PlayStation 3.
 View cymbal, kick pedal, and drum pad. |
What's in the Box:
Aluminum drum rack, 4 drum pads, 2 cymbals, drum pedal, all mounting hardware and connecting cords, and 2 drumsticks.
Controllers Games
Computer and Video Games
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