As a real drummer, the drum kit that came packaged in the deluxe bundle for Rock Band 1 frustrated me to no end. The cross talk was horrific and caused me to needlessly fail out of too many songs that should have been within my grasp. The pads had no bounce to them (as a real drum would) and the bass pedal was a dinky piece of crap that offered no resistance, making rapid pedal hits a frustrating affair.
Flash forward to nearly a year later and e-drum maker, Ion has created the antidote for the woes of real drummers languishing in the misery of having to deal with a substandard toy drum kit. They created a drum kit specifically for Rock Band players with the dual purpose of being able to use it outside of the game as a real electronic kit (with the addition of the drum brain). The cleverly-named Ion Drum Rocker is a fully loaded drum kit that gives both music gamers and real drummers alike a more realistic experience behind the skins.
What makes it so realistic? Well, right out of the box, the drum kit contains 4 "tom" pads and 2 "cymbal" pads that can be configured practically any way you like. If you felt comfortable with the pad setup of the original Rock Band kit, you can keep it the same on the Drum Rocker. Why pay over $300 dollars just to keep it the same though? The numerous clamps and in which the pads attach to allow you to customize your setup as you wish. In fact I highly recommend that you so as it leads to a greater sense of freedom and comfortability while playing. Setup time figures to be around an hour or less with the suggested drum configuration, however if you customize your kit as I had, then you better clear out a few hours on your schedule since it can take a lot of trial and error to get things absolutely perfect.
As much as you strive for perfection, there are certain aspects to the kit that make it tougher to achieve. The bolts, for one, can be easily stripped so you must be careful not to screw them in too tightly. You can't over-tighten the clamps, either. I found that out the hard way after trying to stabilize a swiveling "hi-hat" pole that the tighter you make the clamp, the more likely it is to snap in half. While you can RMA these things, thankfully you can find a suitable replacement for most of the faulty hardware at your local drum shop. What you won't be able to find, however, are replacements for the underly sensitive cymbals. My cymbals didn't really respond to normal sticking. In order for any of my hits to register, I had to first loosen the cymbal on the stand a bit (which is what you should do with real cymbals anyway), but then i had to literally slam down hard on them. Ion even recommends that you hit the cymbals harder than the drums. For those with proper drumming technique, that's a big no-no. Especially Ion's other recommendation to hit the cymbals at the top, not catching any part of the top. If you want the most realistic drumming experience possible, RMA your cymbals immediately and strive for something with greater sensitivity.
Despite these problems, the kit is a million times better than the original Rock Band drum kit. It is quieter, you get more bounce on the toms (though still not as much as an acoustic kit, which is a drawback) and even the cymbals - as insensitive as they can be - are actually a great addition and give added depth and realism to the game. It's so in depth that if you go into the freestyle drum trainer mode, the cymbal and tom pads actually register as separate entities, meaning that if you hit a cymbal, it sounds like a cymbal, etc. That's something you can't get out of the regular kit for sure.
Saying that the drum rack is durable and sturdy is an understatement. It's so sturdy in fact, that it has all but eliminated crosstalk and accidental double hits from my Rock Band vernacular. That's right! No more failing a song at the last second thanks to an unstable RB1 kit, shaky toms and a long succession of red pad hits!
The biggest improvement of the kit is the bass drum pedal. For one, it no longer attaches to the rack and you can now place it in a more natural-feeling position on the floor. Unlike the pedal provided with the original kit, this one provides greater resistance, allowing you to spring your foot up and down with greater ease. The greater resistance also allows for better weight support and allows for better use of advanced pedal techniques like heel-toe. I hope you don't have thin floors or downstairs neighbors wherever you play this! This sucker is loud, clunky and can scratch your floor if you're not careful, so I would recommend using a rug underneath the pedal.
Overall, from the perspective of a real drummer, the Ion Drum Rocker is the most realistic "fake" instrument intended for video games on the market today. It is customizable enough to make gameplay much more comfortable and makes good on every single pitfall that plagued the original Rock Band kit. The Ion Drum Rock is absolutely worth your time and money. Even if you're not into music games, it is durable enough to be used as a practice drum kit at the very least. However if you're serious about music gaming, want to pump up your scores or just want to look cool (and believe me, you will) the Drum Rocker is an absolute necessity.
