Rock on!!!

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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Nope my English name is not Jack, and I don't have one. Call me Fai. But not Fai Lai (in self-deprecation style, Fai Lai sounds like Fried Rice - pronounced with silent 'R' it sounds like 'L').

I am a proud owner of XBOX 360 Elite, the 65 nm (Falcon) console, and yes I have verified it after reading this.

xbox360pile You could spot the XBOX 360 console amidst the pile of goodies that I painstakingly brought back from the States. But this post is about starting my own band, a Rock band!

I've been putting my Rock Band set to good use. After all it's a social game, I ain't playing the drums and singing the vocals at the same time, or possibly strum on the Fender Stratocaster and play drums at the same time. I've had many jammin' sessions at my condo, with friends, colleagues and even an ISV partner (see the benefits of partnering with Microsoft? :p)jamminsession [Did you notice the TechEd SEA 2008 bag on the floor?]

Now there's an inherent problem with the drum pads and bass pedal. Beating on the drum pads incessantly drowns the music on the Rock Band game. In fact I have a friend who's a "violent drummer" and he justifies that it's all part of the game. The bass pedal, you wouldn't want it to end up like this, would you?

I started a Rock Band drum pad modification project. Let's start with the drum pads. I bought real practice discs for the purpose. What caught my attention were the following features:

drumpracticediscs

  • Reduces Volume up to 90% (although I don't like the one-floor-below neighbor, I still want to be a good neighbor by not troubling her to ring my condo bell every time she detects the slightest noise from my unit)
  • Long lasting durability (remember my "violent drummer" friend, and you'll know durability is high on my priority)

1. Use an A4-size paper, place it on top of the drum pad, use a pencil to draw the outline of the drum pad circle. Use a pair of scissors to cut according to the outline.

2. Place the cut-out paper circle and place it on top of the practice disc. Start with the largest practice disc. I used the 16 inches toms practice disc to begin with. I was able to cut out 3 circles out of that. Use a sharp blade to cut around the cut-out paper circle. See diagram below, that was for the 4th piece, which I used the smallest diameter practice disc (12 inches).

cutoutpad

3. Use double-sided tape to hold the practice disc against the drum pad surface. I used industrial strength double-sided tape, and you already know why (remember violent drumming?)

4. VOILA! Drum pads mod done.

5. Next the bass pedal. I can't perform a DIY on the pedal, so I ordered this pedal metal with hinge from a private seller on Amazon.com.

Practice discs RM150, and pedal metal with hinge US$30.95 (inclusive of $11 shipping charges), the result: Better drumming scores on Rock Band, and no qualms of beating incessantly on the drums! I didn't know that my good colleague/friend, William Tay, from Singapore is a drummer. Anyway he told me that I should get the basics right, that is I need to master the 26 rudiments (and some say 40 rudiments). I shall try.

drumpads

Anyone game for Enter Sandman, Metallica on Hard mode? It's Friday after all.