There are many Drum Sets for Video Game Consoles in existence and i testet some of them like:
- Guitar Hero Word Tour Drumset: Basically it is processed quite cheaply, the kick pedal keeps slipping away and is a pain to play, the drums quickly fail
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Rock band drum set: Also processed quite cheaply, but the kick pedal is fixed but with all the other shortcomings like the Guitar Hero drum set.
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Logitech Guitar Hero Drumset: Better processed, kick pedal is unusable. Huge problem with the sensitivity of the drums (internal calibration software is crap)
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ION Drum Rocker: Based on a real Alesis drum set and plays like this. Perfect handling, great kick pedal, ... the only drawback: Guitar Hero only recognizes it as normal rock band drums and therefore only shows 4 drums.
The aim of this project is to mod the ION Drum Rocker drums in such a way that it works without restriction for both games (Guitar Hero, Rock Band). The idea is to build a board that connects the two control boards of the drum sets to the drums of the ION Drum Rocker with a switch to change between Guitar Hero and Rockband. Since the ION drum rocker absolutely needs a USB connection, this is used immediately to also supply the otherwise wireless Guitar Hero Box with power. This eliminates the need for batteries.
The following steps are carried out:
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Dismantle Guitar Hero drums, remove controller box and circuit boards
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Design a circuit diagram for the connector board
- Design and manufacture printed circuit boards
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Install the complete electronics in the housing, connect the two boards of the drum sets to the controller
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Calibration of the Guitar Hero drum electronics so that it works with the pads of the ION drum rocker
- Connect and rock your socks off !!
Part 1: Circuit Design
The circuit is basically a matrix circuit, which relays the drums to either the GH (Guitar Hero) controller or the ION controller. In addition, the circuit supplies the GH Board with 3V voltage. The whole thing should be switchable with a single toggle switch, so that you don't have to switch cables between the GH and the ION controller. The circuit looks like this (yes, I didn't bother with the design ...):
Part 2: Design the PCB
I made a few attempts to build the whole thing without jumpers as a single layer print, but without success. Therefore I routed the printed circuit board on both sides by hand (the Eagle Autorouter doesn't handle this so nicely)
Next, the printed circuit boards were made. Unfortunately it took a few tries because of bad pcb material until the double-sided print was finished. The result is impressive
Unfortunately there was another problem, the relays had such short legs that they couldn’t be soldered properly (the print has no vias) and I also found a bug. I decided to build the board in the old botch-up style on a breadboard with threading technology.
Then I removed the controller board from the original Guitar Hero World Tour drums and soldered it to the Ion Converter Board. The whole thing was then assembled for testing purposes. The next step was the calibration of the Guitar Hero part
The Guitar Hero electronics are matched to the pads of the original drum kit. Fortunately, the manufacturing company programmed a tool, which is now very difficult to obtain, to recalibrate the electronics' sensitivity. This is done using a midi to USB adapter and the software. After calibrating, I was able to test everything right away and it worked perfectly ! Only the ION kick pedal cannot be used on Guitar Hero. This is because the ION pedal is just a switch, while the Guitar Hero pedal has a piezo inside. I decided to install both sockets, so I can connect both pedals. Another idea would be to install the piezo under the switch of the ION pedal so that it hammers on the piezo. That would be like 2 pedals in one .. I might still build this in the distant future
Then everything connected and tried. Result: All drums available in Guitar Hero, no batteries required, switchable between rock band and Guitar Hero. A perfect drum kit for two perfect games and it works like a charme !