The RB3 Squier is out?

Officially, it's the Squier® by Fender® Stratocaster® Guitar and Controller.   Some refer to it as "The Pro Guitar" or just "the real guitar for Rock Band 3" and so on.    Calling it the SbFSGaC for short is rather unwieldy after all.

The guitar

Like many of the peripherals for the game, as described here and elsewhere, the initial availability was either non-existent or in short supply.     However, once the "RB3 Squier" became available on March 1st 2011, it was a Best Buy exclusive, for what was understood to be a month but was never officially stated in any consumer materials.   Like all things though, dates slip and a more general availability was not seen starting in April.    This has in some ways recently changed.

And in other ways, it hasn't.

Part 4: Who to blame and why

Have you seen me?

At one point, the rhythm games were huge sellers, with millions of game players honing their skills, their rhythm and their coordination.    Of course, things slow down.   Then there's the difference between the parts here.  There are the people coding the games, the people making the hardware, and the people publishing the games.   In the end, what sells, and how, and when it's available, and how much it costs depends on how many people buy the games, which relies (or can rely) upon marketing.     Marketing has different focuses of course, and there is competition.    It should go without saying that not everyone is particularly good at doing every aspect of this, and part of the process involves capacity planning and gauging the desires of the customers.   It's a rough business.

Part 3: The missed opportunity.

Worldwide there are millions of game players, there are millions of musicians and more importantly, there are millions of people (many of them that play games) who want to play or learn how to play something.   Given the addition of keyboards and pro modes for drums, keys, guitar and bass to Rock Band 3, here was the perfect opportunity to market to all those people, especially the people who had been playing the rhythm games and wanted something more.   Wanted something more realistic.  Hence, the advanced guitar controller, the Mad Catz Fender Mustang.

A good first step, a bunch of buttons up top and string-like things at the bottom.

Yet, in general, it's all been strangely silent in the mainstream, but perhaps that's just because it's not all ready right now.   However, there also doesn't seem to be an understanding of the possibilities.   An underestimation to gross miscalculation of the potential here.  So on to the Rock Band 3 Squier by Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controller.

Yes, it's a real guitar.   You have to wait until March 2011 though. 

Heard of it?   You might have.   Imagine what you could do with one and this game, or even better, some learning software.  Although if you want to play bass, hope you have small fingers; there are no plans for a bass version of the above.

That is correct, I did say no bass version.  Rather shortsighted, but there you have it. So you'd have to play  bass on that guitar, whenever it's generally available; scheduled for March.

MIDI or amp out, and real strings,  too.

However, since all you can do is pre-order (from Best Buy only) for the time being, let's go over to the drums again.

Currently, there are many people using e-drums/v-drums ranging in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars either directly into these games (products such as the Ion Rocker) or by another adapter into games (using custom hardware or the Guitar Hero World Tour drum set).

Still as mentioned last part, the games previous to this are limited to what they offer.  In this case for the drums, that would be on the charts for the game.  Either 4 lanes/bass drum or 5 lanes/bass drum/dual bass drum, depending on the game and the equipment.    No such alternative existed for either keyboards or stringed instruments (guitar/bass) except in a limited way through home made hobbyist equipment if at all.


So one could make the case that even before  Rock Band 3 came out, large numbers of people realized there would be a huge demand for two things that use the one thing.

1.  Existing MIDI keyboards and drum sets to the adapter.
2.  The real guitar (with sensors and MIDI) to the adapter.

That is aside and apart from the console specific drum, keyboard and guitar controllers for the game available (or not) separately.

Sadly, that large number of people doesn't appear to include apologists or the people marketing the game.   At first, the only equipment available was the game-quality stripped down console-specific game keyboard and drum set.   The same goes for the advanced guitar controller, which has also been in short supply.  The real guitar isn't out until March,  months after release of the software.

So, no, since the release of the game in October 2010, the situation has not been a smooth one.  Many players have no desire to buy yet another controller for guitar or drums, and if you had a $600 set of drums or $200 keyboard already, or planned on getting a $280 guitar for the game, you might not want to either.


Lastly, part 4 will go over the reasons and the responsible parties.

Part 2: The hardware.

For a number of years, games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band have used instrument-like controllers or stripped-down versions of electronic instruments to mimic playing music.

Explorer, Keytar, 4-String Electric Bass

Rock Band 3 attempted to do something different.    There are game-specific drums and keyboard controllers that let you actually play music, in time with the game's screen or not.   There is also a sort-of guitar/bass that does the same thing.

The difference this time is that the drum pads and cymbals, stringed instrument, or (new to this game)  keyboard keys either more closely or almost exactly mimic the actual songs.   However, that's only available from the game and platform specific controllers, both of which are still game controllers and thus have certain limitations.  

To use the drums as an example, originally (depending on the game and hardware) there were four pads and a pedal.   The pedal did the bass drum, the red pad the snare, the green pad the floor tom, and the yellow and blue pads the cymbals.  However the yellow, blue and green pads change, and could be toms (floor, hi-mid, low-mid) or cymbals (crash, ride, hi-hat).  They moved around in function not just between songs, but within them. 

Playing the first set is not simple, but it's certainly easier.

For Rock Band 3,  more modes have been added.  For many songs, there are separate discrete actual pads/cymbals assigned to the actual sounds and item being played, if you have the set that does it.   You can get a more advanced version of the first set above that's more like the second set above, allowing you to access these additional modes.

It's almost like real drums!

However, with a platform-specific game drum set (keyboard, string controller) you're still on a game controller and one that only works with a single console.  Unless it has MIDI out, it will only work with a console, and only in software that recognizes it correctly.   It's limited as to how it can be changed or repaired without (often expensive) specific third-party hardware or modifications.

Enter the mystery box shown earlier, retailing for $40 for each console.   It converts the output of an actual MIDI instrument (that can be played on its own as well) to something the game understands.

MIDI interface

It allows you to use any compatible instrument with the game, said instrument also being usable outside the game.    Aside from the obvious, why exactly is that a big deal?   In part 3 we'll discuss just that, and more.

Part 1: The item that isn't there.

Here's what the Mad Catz MIDI pro adapter for Rock Band 3 on the XBOX 360 looks like:

Some things just don't go together

Imagine a rhythm game where during a selection process the users will pick songs to play.   During this song selection process, the selected song plays, so the users can preview it.    

Also imagine for that same game, there are various locations and settings in which the characters find themselves.   Inside a stadium or theater, or in vehicle like boat or a van or an airplane.   Each has background noise appropriate for the location.  

It's not a good idea to have the characters in a loud overwhelming location like the inside of a machine room or vehicle engine area while the songs are being selected.    A situation where an incessant droning rumbling noise is playing at a volume as loud or louder than the music of the song is a bad idea.   Seems like something which  would have been caught during playtesting such a game, doesn't it.

Imagine that.