Customer Reviews
Great Addition to the game
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.
Double-Hit Problem Fixed
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.
Sounds like you're banging on the hood of your car! But...
These do add a new dimension to the rock band drums. It does feel a little more like playing a real drum kit. So far, in the last 3 weeks, these have performed well as far as only dropping a note once in a while (you get what you pay for right?).
These are insanely loud man! It's like CRACK, CRACK, CRACK when you hit them. They're louder than the rock band 1 drums and not NEARLY as quiet as the rock band 2 drums. That is a major CON for me.
When my friends and I get together to play rock band 2 these are totally distracting to everybody else in the room, unless you play in a house and not an apartment where you can just blast the volume, that would be nice.
My solution was to put 1/4" neoprene material on the hitting part of these cymbals. It is a marked improvement. They have not lost any sensitivity and are now about as quiet as the rock band 2 drums. If you're going to use these that is a great solution. I bought a roll of this neoprene to pad a poker table I was upgrading and I used some of the leftover. By the way, you can get enough neoprene to cover these for like 5 [...] on ebay.
