Rockband 4 customs. Would you do it?
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I was thinking to myself about this. If we were able to create customs on RB4, would you or not, and why? Me personally, no.
The things I like about it authoring wise:
The game looks pretty good, with nice smooth animations
The drummer looks like they are geting into it more, bobbing and moving around more than basically just sitting there and moving there hands in RB3
Now why I wouldn’t:
I can’t tell if it’s just me but all the venues are really dark, even when the lights are on
There are only a few animations, compared to RB3. There’s not alot of variety I can do with what I’ve seen.
With the huge catalogue of customs already in RB3 I don’t particuarly feel like moving over. If there was a way to simply convert into RB4 versions, thats another story though
The lip sync is bad. Watching a song or two it almost look like they are just opening and closing thier mouths most of the time. When the singer is supposed to be screaming thier mouth is open the tiniest bit. I cant get into it at all.
If I have to learn/buy another peice of software to make RB4 customs I may not do it. By the looks of it they are using Reaper so thats not too bad though
Thats my 2 cents at least, let me know what you guys think
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />No freefills (had to switch to no fills because of lag), poor audio engine/mixing and wandering calibration makie me say No. Tour Mode was a let down too honestly.
P.S. Reaper is still the tool to author in for RB4.
stubborn as it might sound, “no keyboard” is reason enough for me to avoid the idea of RB4 customs for the time being. potentially forever.
I would only prefer it if it meant authoring songs in the legacy RB manner for a more broad compatibility.
I’m in Australia, and just getting an xbone and RB4 would be a very expensive endeavor, If I just got a console, the game, and the legacy adapter from amazon I would have to pay around $700AUD.
Not being able to use a midi kit, no keys, no pro guitar, and no RBN, it’s a lot to pay for 2 (subjectively) gimmicky features and a new setlist.
If I already had RB4, of course I would use customs. But even with customs, while RB3 exists I just cannot justify the cost.
I’m just a bit bummed there’s a setlist and DLC of songs I can’t play, lucky it’s not really the best setlist…
Depends.
If the tools would let us keep RB3 and RB4 MIDI bits in the same REAPER file, with compilers for each platform knowing how to mix and match those bits as needed, then I’d be inclined to give it a shot. The freestyle vocals are pretty cool once you get the hang of them, and it’s always nice to have stuff to play on the latest iteration, even when you still prefer one of the older releases.
Getting the compilers to play nice would probably be a tall order, though. I’m willing to bet there are new MIDI events and such necessary for RB4 tracks that RB3 Magma would pitch a fit about. If new customs would necessitate keeping two different REAPER files, then I’d probably just stick with RB3 customs.
The only “positive” addition RB4 customs would have over RB3 are freestyle solos. Everything else is just a downside. I personally wouldn’t.
The freestyle vocals are pretty cool.
Cool to play, probably out of 99% of the authors’ league to author. And I’m not sure I’m not in that 99%. Remember that you can’t sing anything that can be a harmony or in key, it needs to fit certain parameters.
I haven’t played enough RB4 to say for certain, but I’m under the impression the freestyle vocals are based on the chords of the song, which may or may not be the chords of the harmonies actually being sung for any given word or phrase. That would explain why some parts that otherwise fit the song don’t register. If for example the song is on an E-minor chord but the vocalists are holding D and F# notes, leaping up from the vocal track to that F# is not going to make the game happy. That’s what killed me the first time I sang through REM’s “The One I Love”.
If this is how freestyle vocals are done, then charting them could be relatively easy: you just mark what each chord is in the song. So for like that part in “The One I Love”, you set Em and then all of the E, B and G lines in the vocal track are highlighted (but not any D or F# lines). Of course this would require knowing what the chords are, and being particularly careful about those jazzy 4-note and 5-note chords. Fortunately even the most basic of piano books usually have accurate chord maps, so at least for most pop songs there would be plenty of reference material.
I haven’t played enough RB4 to say for certain, but I’m under the impression the freestyle vocals are based on the chords of the song, which may or may not be the chords of the harmonies actually being sung for any given word or phrase. That would explain why some parts that otherwise fit the song don’t register. If for example the song is on an E-minor chord but the vocalists are holding D and F# notes, leaping up from the vocal track to that F# is not going to make the game happy. That’s what killed me the first time I sang through REM’s “The One I Love”.
If this is how freestyle vocals are done, then charting them could be relatively easy: you just mark what each chord is in the song. So for like that part in “The One I Love”, you set Em and then all of the E, B and G lines in the vocal track are highlighted (but not any D or F# lines). Of course this would require knowing what the chords are, and being particularly careful about those jazzy 4-note and 5-note chords. Fortunately even the most basic of piano books usually have accurate chord maps, so at least for most pop songs there would be plenty of reference material.
That’s why I think freestyle vocals are horrible. Too simple.
I turned off freestyle everything ASAP
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_frown.gif”>Anyway, if I could make RB4 customs, of course I would.
My two cents (not that it really matters…) Our relatively hardcore group prefers RB4 over 3. Individual lane speeds is a MASSIVE improvement. Live streaming and other improvements (Brutal Mode has been a surprise hit) along with the overall nicer experience on the PS4, has led us to play a lot more RB4. We flip over to the customs box eventually, but that ratio isn’t nearly as RB3 heavy as I thought it would be..
Late to this thread but hey I haven’t been on the boards as much as I’d like.
To answer the topic, yes, I probably would, though likely not right away, and very likely just for personal use to start.
My preferred feature set is still there, it would allow me to not feel obligated to author keys, I have hardware in ‘better’ shape, and the drawbacks of the new version of the game w.r.t. timing, etc., don’t impact my group as I’m the only Expert player and I’m usually singing anyway.
The upshot is, of course, that someone could just take the instrument tracks from the .mid and port it back to RB3 if they wanted since it seems the part authoring is 95% identical.
The fact that DLC is being made would certainly impact my song selection, though, and I’d probably go back to the obscure bits of video game music or niche Canadian classics that likely will never show up ‘officially’.
Individual lane speeds is a MASSIVE improvement.
RB3 has individual track speeds. It does not, however, have individual breakneck speeds if that is what you mean.
As for me, I initially thought I would love to have customs on RB4 (provided existing customs could be converted) just to have everything in the same game. Also, with the number of songs I own only going up, the removal of the song limit is a huge plus for RB4.
Now, after having played RB4 for a while, I’ve changed my mind. Being able to offer a keys chart alone outweighs a lot of RB4’s advantages. Plus, I lean heavily on the “band simulator” end of the playstyle, and I am very attached to my bandmates. I’ve only been able to recreate 1 (Ol’ Smokey, my male vocalist/backup bassist) besides my main character. My drummer based off Animal and my supercute bassist/female vocalist are hopeless. The bassist looks like some kind of drunk zombie Shelley Duvall, for Heaven’s sake!
Anyway, until they really spruce up this new game, make mine RB3!
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