Product Description

The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller lets you unleash your inner rockstar. Fully adjustable drum heads and cymbals positioned to fit your reach and suite your style, helping you play faster and better.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15203 in Video Games
• Brand: Logitech
• Model: 939-000196
• Released on: 2009-07-15
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: 5.75" h x 25.00" w x 31.50" l, 27.25 pounds

Features

• Fully adjustable drum heads and cymbals help you play faster and better
• Quiet, responsive drum heads let you stay focused on the music so you don't get distracted by the controller noise
• Designed for Guitar Hero to let you take full advantage of the lastest features - in the game and in the Music Studio ( games sold separately)
• Licensed for Xbox 360 - just press the Xbox 360 Guide button and the controller, using Xbox 360 wireless technology, will automatically connect with the console.
• Sets up quickly, folds flat in seconds

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

		Fully adjustable The drum controller was designed to be comfortable. Drum heads and cymbals can be positioned to fit your reach and suit your style, helping you play faster and better. Quiet, responsive controls The drum heads have a lively feel and barely make a sound. You'll hear more music and less controller. The hottest hardware Rock out on all the features of Guitar Hero—in the game and in the Music Studio. (Game sold separately.)
		Xbox 360 compatibility Setup is a cinch. The controller uses Xbox 360 wireless technology. Just press the Xbox 360 Guide button and the controller connects to the console without missing a beat.
		Sets up quickly, folds flat in seconds Just open the box and start playing within minutes. And when the show is over, the set stows away easily. Roadies not required.
		Hundreds of hours of battery life Two AA batteries give you enough juice to perform a festival's worth of hits, encores included. The beat goes on, and on, and on...

Suggested games for the Logitech Wireless Drum Controller for Xbox 360:

Band Hero

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What's in the Box

Package Contents Logitech Wireless Drum Controller 2 drum sticks Quick-start guide 2 AA batteries 1-year limited hardware warranty Game sold separately System Requirements Microsoft Xbox 360 game console

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:
----------------------------
Compatibility issues, basic construction problems and cheap parts for very high price

What's Right:
----------------------------
Nice pad bounce back, quiet drum heads, collapsible for storage, sturdy frame


The Pedal
---------
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
------------------------
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
------------
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
--------------------------
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
-----------------------------
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.

A great alternative if you can afford it
Even though this is a Guitar Hero kit, I use it with Rock Band 2 and it works quite well. I'm not a real drummer so I can't speak to how well this kit compares to real professional drum kits, but I have owned both the Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2 drum kits and I've used them quite extensively. I've burned through 2 foot pedals and 2 sets of drum pads so I play pretty hard. This drum kit blows away the Rock Band drum kits with regard to durability. I find it more fun to use as well.

Rock Band Compatibility:
I was apprehensive toward how this would work in Rock Band. But Harmonix did a decent job to make sure the Guitar Hero kit would work in their game. This kit has 6 buttons (Red, Yellow cymbal, Blue, Orange cymbal, Green, Purple pedal) while the Rock Band kit only has 5 (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange pedal). The way it works is that the Orange cymbal on the GH kit does nothing in RB and the purple foot pedal registers as it should. Now that RB2 supports cymbals, the yellow cymbal actually makes a high-hat sound in free-play/drum fills. The only other thing I noticed was that the foot pedal no longer works for quick searching in the song selection page. When you press it, it jumps to the next category just like the RB kit, but when you hold it, it doesn't bring up the list. Not a deal-breaker at all.

Comfort:
This kit is pretty much fully customizable from the basic height to the angle and depth of the pads, to the height and angle of the cymbals. Even underneath the foot pedal is adjustment for tension. The foot pedal itself is not the most foot-friendly pedal. I guess they expect you to wear shoes, but I don't wear shoes in my living room. There's a big, ugly and uncomfortable Guitar Hero logo on the pedal and the plastic grips stick out a little far. A nice slick pedal would have done just fine. I tried plugging in my RB2 drumkit pedal but it doesn't register at all.

Quality/Design:
This thing looks like a professional kit even though it's not. The pads are large and solid. They're also sensitive. I hit pretty hard sometimes, but they still register all the hits just fine -- even light taps. One concern I have is for the cymbals. If you don't have them configured like the picture, with the bar on an angle, then they will likely shift and turn on you while you're playing. It's quite annoying. But putting the bar on an angle helps with that issue. The other concern is for the pedal. It doesn't stay put on a carpet and it's not anchored to anything. They give you a piece of velcro, but it does little good. I have to put weights in front of the pedal to keep it stable. So boo to Logitech for not figuring out a better solution to that issue. All in all though, it is definitely a quality kit. Everything but the pedal blows the Rock Band kits away.

Price:
Considering that an actual, professional drumkit costs around $500 and entry level ones run around $100 to $300, I think this kit is in the right price range. It is built to last, unlike the Rock Band kits which show wear after only a month or 2 of use. It definitely is a steep price for what boils down to a game controller, so you really have to be a fan of Rock Band or at least have a lot of disposable income. But if you're in the market for a new drumkit because your old one broke, it may be the best choice since this one can really take a beating.

Learning curve for Rock Band:
If you're a Rock Band drummer and not used to playing with the cymbals, don't worry. You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly and the rest of your skills will transfer over no problem. In the end it actually feels more like you're an actual drummer rather than just one in a video game.

Summary:
The good:
- Quality build
- Fun to use
- Highly customizable
- Wireless
- Works with Rock Band
The bad:
- Foot pedal needs improvement
- Some compatibility quirks in RB menus
- Pricey

Overall, I would definitely recommend if you've got the cash to burn.