The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller allows you to release your inner rock star. fully adjustable drum heads and cymbals that can fit your fingers and your style, help you play better and faster.
Product Details
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Editorial Reviews
From the Manufacturer
The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller lets you unleash your inner rockstar. Fully adjustable drum heads and cymbals can be positioned to fit your reach and suit your style, helping you play faster and better. The quiet, responsive drum heads have a lively feel, won't distract you from the music, and are designed to let you take advantage of all the latest features of Guitar Hero--in the game and in the Music Studio. (Game sold separately.) It is licensed for Xbox 360 to make setup a cinch. The controller sets up quickly and folds flat in seconds--open the box and start playing within minutes, and when the show is over, the set stows away easily.
Unleash your inner rockstar. Play on drums or expand to a band. Used to be that the lead guitar got all the fame and attention. That's about to change. It's time for the drummer to step out of the shadows. There's a whole band on stage. And anyone who really knows music knows that the drummer is the backbone. Tap your foot to mark time with the bass. Keep the backbeat with the snare. Color up your riff with the tom toms. Crash down on the cymbals to release your Star Power. Then revel in the glory of a tune well played. You've earned it. So whether you're going for career gold as a drummer, or just want to mix it up, when it's your turn to grab the sticks, it's you and your Logitech Wireless Drum Controller. Because you're not playing, you're unleashing your inner rockstar. |  |  |
Key Features
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Suggested games for the Logitech Wireless Drum Controller for Xbox 360:
What's in the Box
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Customer Reviews
Too Much Money For Too Little Rocking
>>> Summary
(-1 star on value, -1 star unusable pedal, -1 star noisy cymbals)
This Logitech kit is difficult to evaluate; one of the most puzzling products I've reviewed. Put simply, it's a significantly more adjustable replacement of the stock GHWT kit for 3x the price, which happens to be slightly less than the price of the Ion Drum Rocker.
The Ion Drum Rocker is more adjustable, quieter, explicitly supports RB, supports 3rd party pedals, ships with an additional pad (which makes playing RB easier) and a higher quality metal bass pedal for just $20 more. Granted, the Logitech kit doesn't suffer from some of the construction issues the Ion does (the Logitech kit is a one-piece, collapsible set - it's main advantage) although with the Ion you just get so much more.
Please have a read of my impressions below and comment if you think there's something I could be missing. As it stands, I'm just puzzled as to how Logitech could release this product at this price. If it were say, half the price then it would be a no-brainer. Sure it wouldn't be as feature-rich as the Ion though at half the price, understandably so.
The Good:
- Solid, one-piece construction means compact folding and storage is possible.
- Adjustable: orientation, height and tilt of cymbals, same for the pads. Height of the set is also adjustable.
- Pads are quieter than the stock RB set. Same muted sound as the GHWT set, which I prefer to the higher-pitched hit of the RB pads.
- Adjustability requires no tools.
- Rock Band compatible! Although to be expected given that the stock GHWT drums are as well.
The Not So Good:
- The cost is 5-10 times more expensive than the stock RB2 drums and 3x more expensive than the GHWT drums. If it came with a real pedal than I could forgive a big chunk of this as the after-market pedals are upwards of $100.
- Questionable support for 3rd party pedals. This is important because the included pedal is a no go for at least two reasons: GH logo on the pedal means you cannot play in bare feet or socks. The pedal has very little tension and because it's plastic, it slides around the floor.
- Without the big, rubbery GHWT-style cymbals to absorb the hits, they're really loud as they transfer the force of the hit through the structure of the set.
- It can get crowded around the control unit, if you find yourself having to adjust things. Really just a problem during initial setup, though if you setup and teardown frequently you'll have to deal with it.
- With all that adjustability you might find yourself having to tighten things every so often. Small price to pay, though it is there. Again, really just a problem during initial setup, though if you setup and teardown frequently you'll have to deal with it.
- The D-pad on the control unit feels really, really flimsy as though it could break or pop out at any moment. Not a big deal since you can use the drums themselves in place of the D-pad. Still though, for the price this should feel solid.
>>> Review:
I've been an avid (yet talentless) game drummer since Rock Band was released in late 2007 all the way through GHWT and RB2. To give you an idea of my exposure and time with the RB/RB2/GHWT stock drums, let's say that I've completed 100% of every song in each of those games on Hard and about 50% on Expert. I've also owned the Omega and Rock Pedal custom pedals (and broken the stock RB pedal a few times). So, plenty of hours with all 3 kits. When I had the opportunity to get my hands on the Logitech set for the 360 via Vine, I jumped at the chance.
I own only RB2 and RB:Beatles at the moment, having sold GHWT long ago. The GHWT and RB sets are cross-compatible so I figured this set should work with RB and good news: it works perfectly! I'm confused why the packaging is Guitar Hero-branded. There's a massive logo on the box (you could easily confuse with an official GHWT peripheral) and a matching GH logo sketched in to the pedal (more on that later). Why they wouldn't list RB2 compatibility is strange; likely some branding agreement with Activision. Anyway...
The first thing you'll notice is how compact the set is. It arrives in a box 6" x 25" x 31". It's thinner but wider than the RB2 set when folded down, and the one-piece construction means it isn't a clumsy pile of disconnected plastic behind the couch. It folds down (with effort - there's a lot of stuff to loosen) into a less-than-6" unit that you can slide right under the couch. Well, my couch at least ;)
Setup was a snap. It's all one piece so there was no fumbling around for spare parts. Extend the legs, rotate the base to the front, plug in the cymbals and you're good to go. The whole thing took about 10 minutes and most of that was getting it out of the packaging. This is where the Logitech kit shines in comparison to the Ion.
The construction of the pads is more reminiscent of the GHWT drums than the RB drums. The bolts around the pads give it a solid, well-built feel, identical in appearance to the Ion pads.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the cymbals. The cymbals seem cheap and plastic-y in comparison to the stock GHWT kit. Perhaps I'll end up forgiving this since the GHWT cymbals were a nightmare, both in reliability and sensitivity.
>>> After One Song: (Expert, Panic at the Disco - Nine in the Afternoon)
Nice slow warmup to get a feel for the set. About 30 seconds in to the song, I realized there was no way I could finish without reordering the pads which are by default setup for GHWT. While paused, I unplugged all of the pads from the control unit and removed them from the bar (the silver bar shown in the product image). I did all of this in about 30 seconds and was right back in to the song. Score one for quick adjustability of the set.
Towards the end of the song, I noticed two things and they were both about the pedal:
1) Where the heck was it and why is my leg practically outstretched?
2) Why does my foot hurt?
Coming from any of the custom drum pedals, there's just no comparison to the stock pedals. The pedal for the Logitech set is no exception. There's almost no tension (although this is adjustable, it doesn't matter) and with such a plastic-y feel, it's not surprising that it slides around on the carpet.
The worst part about the pedal though, that makes it inferior to even the stock GHWT or RB pedals is the "Guitar Hero" logo imprint. Unless you've comfortably walked over a bed of nails or hot coals, there's no way you can play in bare feet or with socks on. Had to put on shoes to play, which was a little strange. I've watched a LOT of expert FC vids on Youtube and nobody drums with shoes on. Why should we expect less from this expensive set?
By the end of the song, the blue pad had rotated 45 degrees to the left although I didn't stop to fix it, having too much fun. Just need a bit more tightening underneath.
>>> After Two Songs: (Expert, Dinosaur Junior - Feel the Pain)
Before starting, I removed the orange cymbal as it just gets in the way since the RB charts only have 4 notes.
Much more action on the yellow cymbal in this song. About 30 seconds in I was missing the yellow cymbal completely as it had rotated to the left and was pointing away from me; same problem I just fixed with the blue pad - when you've tightened them, keep going because it's not as much as you think.
After tightening the yellow cymbal, the hits on the cymbal became noticeably louder. I believe this is because the force of my hits was being dissipated by the weak connection to the frame. Now that I had tightened it, it sounds like the whole set is making noise when I hit. Loosened the grip on the main bar and yep - definitely more quiet.
I also noticed that my accuracy went down and I wasn't sure why. After playing these games for so long, things can just "feel" off and something felt off - reminded me of the feeling I got when the first two stock GHWT kits I had shipped with sensitivity issues in the cymbals. I went into the Drum Trainer Freestyle mode and didn't notice anything funky, so back to the game.
>>> After Three Songs: (Expert, Rise Against - Re-eduction (Through Labor))
By this point, I'm comfortable with the set in spite of the low quality pedal (p.s. it doesn't work with the Rock Pedal custom pedal, not that I expected it to). I've got the pads and yellow cymbal right where I want it and I don't even need to wear headphones to drown the drum noise (like I do with the RB drums).
>>> Summary:
The big question - is it worth it?
As of this writing, the Ion kit is just about $20 more. As I mentioned in the summary, you just get so much more with the Ion I can't see why anyone would consider this set.
Strangely enough, if there's one thing this set did is make me realize I should definitely pick up the Ion set. It's so much more fun with the right drums in the right orientation!
I'll do my best to answer questions in the comments, thanks for reading :)
Need to wait for version update #2
This is going to be a long review, so for those with the attention span of a gnat (like myself) here's the short version: Don't buy it.
I've included a lot of pictures, hopefully they'll help illustrate and inform.
What's Wrong:
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Compatibility issues, basic construction problems and cheap parts for very high price
What's Right:
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Nice pad bounce back, quiet drum heads, collapsible for storage, sturdy frame
The Pedal
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Issue #1 for any plastic drum fan of either Rock Band or Guitar Hero is the drum pedal. There are simply no good stock pedals out there. Whether you're buying the default "Band Pack" bundled with the game or if you're buying the former high-price drum master the ION Drum Rocker, the pedals always stunk. Unfortunately Logitech's entry does nothing to change this sad legacy.
On the plus side, the bundled pedal has a metal plate which reinforces the actual kick pedal, so the likelihood of the actual plastic snapping in half like the original Rock Band drums is lessened. There is a tension spring within the pedal which allows you to add a little bit of resistance (see picture) - unfortunately the spring is thin and even on the highest tension setting the pedal felt sluggish on the return. Guitar Hero Expert+ songs are all but out of the question with this pedal in my opinion. This is magnified by the fact that the pedal only has little rubber feet for friction control on the floor. By the end of some of my test songs I felt like I was trying to combine a Yoga session in with my Guitar Hero (ie: my pedal was sliding all over creation).
As of this review, the Logitech drum set is also not compatible with the Rock Pedal without an additional adapter (granted this is also true of the stock Guitar Hero drums). The set also does not include a Y-Spliter, so if you're double-bassing it, you'll have to supply your own hardware. According to Logitech there will be a replacement foot pedal offered in the future, and this will include the Y-Spliter.
The Drum heads and stand
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The tubular construction of the drum set is nice and sturdy - once you have this thing set up, it does not feel like it's going anywhere soon. The ability to quickly collapse the set and store (under a really tall couch?) is also a nice touch. However, unlike the ION Drum Rocker, the Logitech drum heads can only be adjusted up and down or back and forth. There is no acute or obtuse angle adjustment. This severely limits the customization options and makes you feel somewhat claustrophobic in terms of the closeness of the drum heads.
Big and Tall folks are still out of luck as this set is still pretty short. The minimum height is around 20" and the max height is around 28" (from the floor to the bottom of the drum pads). There is a little play in those numbers since you can tilt the drum heads up or down, but I'm assuming a slightly forward tilt to the drum heads for my configuration (again, see pictures for details).
The drum heads themselves seem quieter to me since they are softer, although I've read other reviews that say they seem louder. They also have a nice rebound bounce to them (similar to the IONs). The strike surface being slightly elevated above the rest of the drum head is also a nice touch and helps eliminate accidental strikes to the harder outer rim (and note misses because of it!)
The Cymbals
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Why do the cymbals get their own section?
Because for me, this is what rendered the Logitech drums unusable.
As I mentioned, I have included quite a few photos - three of these are of the bracketing system that holds the cymbals in place. One of my easy songs to test out the set was "Du Hast" from Guitar Hero: World Tour, a very yellow-heavy song. As I was playing along, the first thing I noticed was that the cymbals are loud - since they have no bounce back like the drum heads, you're pretty much striking a solid surface with a tiny bit of rubber coating. After I had started thinking "Wow, these are kind of loud," I started missing the notes because my cymbal was no longer where I thought it should be.
If you imagine that the cymbals start out facing you at a due south angle, about a third of the way into the song my yellow cymbal had rotated to the point it was facing due west. To make things even better, as I would miss my cymbal strike downward, sometimes my drumstick would catch the underside of the cymbal and effectively disarm me.
If you take a look at my included pictures, you'll see where the problem is; the friction bracket that Logitech uses to keep the cymbals from rotating is a simple smooth-on-smooth system. The bore of the bracket is smooth and it is holding on to a smooth cymbal rod. At first I had believed that maybe I had not tightened the brackets sufficiently, but test after test (and after tightening with a wrench for leverage), it was simply that the brackets didn't have enough to hold on to. I am assuming that if you have the drive to MacGyver something up with duct or electrical tape, you could probably resolve this issue, but for me it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Another option is to figure out an angle to set the cymbals so that your strike is always hitting straight down, not to the left or right (I have yet to find this perfect position).
I should also note that by this time I had been in contact with Logitech customer support - who were great, zero problems with those guys - and they sent me a second set of brackets which had the same exact problem.
Rock Band Vs. Guitar Hero
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You'll notice that the Logitech drums are branded all over the place with the Guitar Hero logo and if you read carefully it states that the use of these drums with any other game is not supported (thanks Activision!)
That being said, these drums worked fine for me on both Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Unfortunately there is no option to add a fourth drum head to the base frame, so "relearning" where everything should be will take a little time. For that reason alone, this is probably not the best drum set for Rock Band.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
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Don't buy these. It's really as simple as that.
While I love Logitech peripherals in general, this was just a badly designed implementation. The actual components (with the exception of the pedal) are of great quality. I love the feel of the drum heads, the frame is solid, and the cymbals (aside from being loud and... well wandering) are also nice. Unfortunately just because you're working with great parts, it's meaningless unless you put it together right. So what you end up with is a really great set of parts held together with Scotch tape and gum.
If you're in the market for a premium drum set, in my opinion the IONs still beat out the Logitechs. That being said, the lure of the basic wired drums being sold for about a 1/10 of the cost of the premium sets negates most discussions for me.
Fun until it starts sloshing around!
After receiving the Logitech wireless guitar and becoming a Guitar Hero/Rock Band family, we jumped at the chance to own the Logitech drum kit. Personally, I will remain the guitar/bass player while Hubby loves to rock out on the drums. Are they fun? Yes. Is it tricky? At first, as in most things. Are they noisy? Oh my... are they! It gets to the point that his drumming or my own, drowns out every other sound making us blast the surround sound. The drum kit is composed of rubber pieces, and in retrospect it shouldn't make noise, but it does because of the plastic rim that may be accidently hit with each "tap".
Now onto my serious issues with this drum set. That footpedal drives me insane, and not because I can't remember it; but rather because it shifts around my hardwood floors while my foot moves up and down making me bang down my foot so that it will record my "hits". I feel that it may be remedied only if you have carpeting in your home, but not by placing a small moveable rug underneath. I have tried to tighten/loosen the tension but it does nothing because I have to put all my might into stepping down, which doesn't equate to nice easy flow drumming. This footpedal also contributes to a lot of the noise because of the banging of my stepping down and it jumping off the ground. It is the most annoying & noisy thing!
The next very serious issue is the fact that the drums and cymbals to do not stay tight. We have improved in not banging & beating on them but I still find the cymbals turning/floating to the right as we play. The bottom drums (round red, blue & green) start off at the same level but throughout game play they will all be on different levels. Tightening the bolts at this point no longer keeps them snug and there is give/play now to shift a bit up and down; whereas before when you tightened they would not budge. It seems that with playing and the repetitive motions they will eventually crack. The stand that holds all the pieces up seems sturdy up until you accidently hit one of the legs; you will then discover that the whole drum controller will tip forward and come crashing to the floor (true story!)multiple times. We can't play in a corner tucked away, but rather in the middle of the living room. I assume that most play in the same living room scenario in front of their television. If that is the case, lock up the doggies, children & klutzy adults that may kick one of the rotating legs.
As far as game play goes, they respond and are fully compatible with Rock Band & Guitar Hero. We have played along with Guitar Hero World Tour, GH 5, Rock Band & The Beatles:Rock Band.
Recommend only for the "drummers" out there that enjoy this instruments play in these game series. Not for an in-experienced first time buyer who want to "try out" the drums for the game. The price point is rather steep and I hope that Logitech will make a point of replacing those bolts that pretty much keep the whole controller alive and redesigning the pedal. Logitech is a great company that listens to it's consumers; hopefully they will see the error in a cool accessory that needs a little more tweaking to put it where it belongs price-wise. I also wanted to mention that the kit collapses down for easy storage underneath a bed; but I do not recommend constantly turning those plastic bolts.
Price: $107.00
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