Mouse Mats, Cutting Circles n Stuff!

Tiger Feet

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For some strange reason ive just had a load of mouse mats delivered to me at work - "Dont know why theyve sent them boss:D "

1) What size do i need to cut these? They dont look as big as they should!

2) Theyre all black underneath, so i was thinking of cutting them just a tadge smaller than the drum itself, so the drum colour would be visable round the edge.

3) When i find out the size, whats the best way to cut a clean circle? I was thinking of a pair of compasses (like at school) with a blade attached??

:)
 
I'd suggest waiting for the drums to arrive then see for yourself.
Then: drawing pin (or similar), string, pencil, scissors=sorted!
 
I'd suggest waiting for the drums to arrive then see for yourself.
Then: drawing pin (or similar), string, pencil, scissors=sorted!

Im no good at waiting though!! If i wait til the game is here, i'll rush, ballz it up and end up with 50p shaped mouse mats :rotfl: PLus i could have failed 2 songs in that time! :rotfl:

Might as well just draw a circle and draw round it if using scissors??
 
Haha! Love how you posted this in the GTA section 1st Antz!! :rotfl:

Sounds like your getting as excited as the rest of us around here mate! For the mats, I'd say the best way is to use a compass and measure the size of the drums (so yes, you'd have to wait till you get them I'm afraid, unless someone can give you the measurements now), then draw a circle and use a stanley knife or good pair of scissors for the cut!

However, as I have none of the above myself, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do! My gramps has got some kit, i'll see if he can sort me out with some fangled cutting device!
 
Just found this site:

http://www.rockbanddrumpads.com/


twosetpads.jpg


i think they look really cool with the black bit on top, already cut with sticky backs on, its really 2 pads, a coloured one and a smaller black on to top.

You also get something for the pedal, to improve traction.


$29.99 inc shipping to uk = £15


Cant find any videos showing how quiet they are though, i think i'd rather buy something, as spending £100 on something and making it look crap with my bad cutting and sticking skills seams daft.
 
oasismark said:
i think i'd rather buy something, as spending £100 on something and making it look crap with my bad cutting and sticking skills seams daft.

Thing is though mate, we shouldnt have to pay any money to improve the kit! Its costing enough as it is, at least it should be durable! Thats why Chrispy bought himself the 99p mousemats!! :smashin: For just in case. But I'm not shelling out a fortune on these things!

Oh, and by the way, here's your 'drum pads' in action!! :smashin:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wzqnVnJPZfQ
 
Just found this site:

http://www.rockbanddrumpads.com/


twosetpads.jpg


i think they look really cool with the black bit on top, already cut with sticky backs on, its really 2 pads, a coloured one and a smaller black on to top.

You also get something for the pedal, to improve traction.


$29.99 inc shipping to uk = £15


Cant find any videos showing how quiet they are though, i think i'd rather buy something, as spending £100 on something and making it look crap with my bad cutting and sticking skills seams daft.

I just ordered those. They look pretty cool.
 
Quieting Your Rock Band Drums

After the initial euphoria wore off, one of the first reactions I had after playing Rock Band was — “Damn, those drums are loud!”
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They are drums. Still, it would be nice if the guitarists and vocalist could hear the music without being drowned out by the frantic, relentless THWOK-THWOK-THWOK of wood on plastic. Turn the music up too loud, and it gets ridiculous.
Solution? Mod your drums to make them quieter, naturally.
When I initially looked at quieting the drums, I thought the drumsticks were the main source of noise. I found out the hard way that most of the noise comes from the drum surface, not the drumsticks. My drumstick experiments weren’t a total waste of time, though. I did discover one product that helps a little bit — the Tama Silent Tips.

These aren’t as “silent” as claimed. They reduce the sound maybe 10% at best. But they also provide a bit more bounce from hitting the drum surface, they’re easy to install on any set of drumsticks you might have, and they’re under 5 bucks. So on the whole I can recommend the Tama practice rubber tips.
If you really want to reduce drum noise, you need to place something on the drum heads themselves. I experimented with a bunch of materials until finally arriving on one that really worked — thin mouse pads. These Staples house brand mouse pads are perfect, about 1/8″ thick.

They’re three bucks each, so doing all four drums will set you back a mere $12. Here’s what you will need:
  • Four thin mouse pads (no more than 1/8″ thick)
  • Rubber cement
  • X-Acto knife
  • Drawing Compass
  • Black vinyl spray paint (optional)
Here’s how:
  1. The Rock Band drum diameter is 7″. Draw approximately 6 3/4″ circles on the fabric side of the mouse pads with the compass. If you’re not interested in leaving the small “ring” of color around the drum exposed, draw 7″ circles.
  2. Use the X-Acto knife to carefully cut the mousepad along the circular line you drew.
  3. Optionally, paint the fabric side of the mousepad with the black vinyl spray paint to cover the obnoxious bright red Staples logo. Vinyl paint is designed to be extra-durable, so it will survive an extended drumming beatdown.
  4. Wipe down the surface of your drums with isopropyl alcohol to clean them off. Use a little soap and water if you don’t have that, but the alcohol is a better choice.
  5. Apply rubber cement to the drum head surface, covering the entire surface and paying special attention to the edges near the colored circle. Do this relatively quickly.
  6. Center the mousepad fabric side up on the drum head, and smooth it down.
Note that the rubber cement is completely safe and not permanent. If you later want to remove the pads for any reason, they come off easily and clean up perfectly with a little bit of isopropyl alcohol, leaving no residue whatsoever.
Initially I placed the mousepads with the raw, black neoprene side up so I could avoid painting them, but the raw neoprene wore away quickly from intensive drumming. You must put the fabric side up. In addition to being more durable, fabric side up felt better and much more drum like, at least to me.
rock-band-drums-with-neoprene-mousepads1.jpg


Placing thin mousepads on the drums was far more effective at reducing noise than anything else I tried. The end result is outstanding — the mousepad mod muted the Rock Band drum sound by 60% or more! It is a dramatic and unarguable noise reduction. You can actually hear the music now, not a mind-numbing, repetitive, sometimes erratic tok tok tok a tok tok. And it feels better to play on, too, with more bounce. It’s a win-win mod, and it is the first thing I do to any Rock Band drum set I use.
If you don’t have the time or inclination to take on this mod, you can find lots and lots of pre-cut Rock Band drum silencers on eBay. I’ve used both the gum rubber and neoprene (mouse pad) kind and they work about equally well. But there are a few caveats. Know what you are buying:
  • Get drum silencers made of neoprene or gum rubber
  • Do not buy anything thicker than 1/8″
  • Avoid the cheap felt models!
If you’re not comfortable with eBay, Bryan Mentock sells gum rubber drum silencers for $30 including shipping. I’ve ordered a set from him myself and I can vouch for the quality. He includes double-sided carpet tape pre-installed on the bottom so they are ready to stick on and go right out of the mailer. Alternately, Drum Pads Inc offers a very similar product for under $20, although the adhesive backing will run you another $8.
Hear the difference yourself with this video of the gum rubber pads in action:

To my ear, neoprene/fabric (mouse pad) is slightly quieter, but it’s certainly in the ballpark. There hasn’t been much in the way of direct comparison, but this drum pad material super test is worth a read.
I can hardly bear to play on unmodded Rock Band drums any more. The noise and lack of bounce are distracting. I think you, too, will find it much more enjoyable when you can play drums and hear the damn music!
 
-- As an eBay Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases --
I've often meant to get some cleaning solution, like this isopropyl alcohol mentioned above. But where do you go to buy that in the UK?

I'm going to try the cheap mouse mats solution before expanding into the items suggested and available on the web. I tend to have the music up loud so I'll suck it and see first I think. I've been this -> <- close to ordering some though.
 
I just recieved the official Drum Pad Silencers, wish I had the drums already so I can put them on.

802865bbp8.jpg


They have a good rubbery feel to them about 6mm thick and 19.7cm in diameter, self adhesive at the back. with the rock band logo on each one of them.$35 delivered from http://www.gamestop.com/default.aspx. They shipped them on wednesday and arrived today.
 
Thing is though mate, we shouldnt have to pay any money to improve the kit! Its costing enough as it is, at least it should be durable!

Yes i agree on that, seams funny though that they are selling 'official Drum Pad Silencers', to quieten the sounds, so officially they know its too loud and choose to make more money from their own admitted production errors.

:rolleyes:
 
Yes i agree on that, seams funny though that they are selling 'official Drum Pad Silencers', to quieten the sounds, so officially they know its too loud and choose to make more money from their own admitted production errors.

:rolleyes:

I know mate, thats what the farce is! Its like admitting to the fact that their kit is completely shoddy, yet instead of fixing it, they're charging people more money to fix it themselves!! This is why I have massive problems with Harmonix/EA/MTV throughout this whole fiasco! Terrible customer care!
 
I just recieved the official Drum Pad Silencers, wish I had the drums already so I can put them on.

802865bbp8.jpg


They have a good rubbery feel to them about 6mm thick and 19.7cm in diameter, self adhesive at the back. with the rock band logo on each one of them.$35 delivered from http://www.gamestop.com/default.aspx. They shipped them on wednesday and arrived today.

You got some more piccies of what they look like?
 
Picked up some Wilko's mouse mats today in red, green, yellow and blue. I got 2 of each for the grand sum of £3.96 so just need to get them cut up on launch day now.
 
They look pretty neat TinoM. :cool:

For those performing more homemade tweaks, how are you going to attach the pads to the drums. In the short term I wouldn't want to apply any non-removable adhesive in case I need to return the drums......any idea on how to do this?
 
I just recieved the official Drum Pad Silencers, wish I had the drums already so I can put them on.

802865bbp8.jpg


They have a good rubbery feel to them about 6mm thick and 19.7cm in diameter, self adhesive at the back. with the rock band logo on each one of them.$35 delivered from http://www.gamestop.com/default.aspx. They shipped them on wednesday and arrived today.

I cannot bloody believe they have made official silencers. What a complete ******* joke!! :mad:
 

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