buying guitar controller

[dsm rocket]

Yeah the RB fender is quieter. My pc recognized it and I had to install nothing it did it all by itself. I dont know what it would cost to buy just the wireless fender guitar, Mine came with RB when I bought it. Got the complete set and 2 track packs for 40 bucks on kijiji. lol

Im going out right now but when I get home later Ill post a pic of the guitar I custom made myself. Its badass. haha

[DoctorM]

Yeah the RB fender is quieter. My pc recognized it and I had to install nothing it did it all by itself. I dont know what it would cost to buy just the wireless fender guitar, Mine came with RB when I bought it. Got the complete set and 2 track packs for 40 bucks on kijiji. lol

Im going out right now but when I get home later Ill post a pic of the guitar I custom made myself. Its badass. haha

You still needed a dongle for your PC, didn't you?

---- EDIT ----

Oooh. Even better, I had to buy this:
Wired Xbox360 X-plorer at NewEgg, the price just dropped today to $16.99 with free 3-day shipping: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16874117023

I got mine!

[dsm rocket]

Yeah but it comes with the set. Well the RB set I have anyway. Its the wireless Frender, it came with the wireless reciver which was a usb type one. The PS2 has usb ports on it.

And my custom guitar controller made by myself.




It works perfect, it doesnt have a whammy because Angus's guitar doesnt have one. I know he normally has the red guitar but he plays one just like this also. We went to a concert on the Black ice tour and this is what he had. Its not 100% finished but its looking pretty darn good and I love rocking with it. Its full size and wooden.

I ripped apart the **** red corded sg that came with the GH games and put the electronics in it.

[Kamen Rider Gumo]

I initially bought a Guitar Hero: World Tour controller for the 360 (Amazon.Com, $35), but was unable to locate a wireless receiver for the Xbox controllers for less than $70. Xbox.Com had them, but for a long time they were out of stock (they seem to have them again now, though). However, I managed to find someone willing to trade me a USB X-Plorer controller, which I find I like much better. I liken it to the Wii Les Paul controller (which I actually prefer to the Wii World Tour controller) in that it's smaller and lighter - the Les Paul and X-Plorer really don't even need straps. Hit detection for FoF seems to be dead on for all buttons and Star Power/Overdrive works just fine. You'll need the standard Windows drivers for Xbox 360 controllers for it to work, but you'd need those anyway. I can honestly say I prefer it this way, as there was no additional expense incurred nor do I have to keep changing batteries. If you can get an X-Plorer, that'd be my recommendation.

[jutei]

Hi! (My first post )

I found this amazing game this monday and first played it with my keyboard. After two days of keyboard strumming, I found used X-Plorer guitar with GH 3 (pc) game and bought the set. I'm definately keeping the guitar and planning to sell the game 'coz who needs these expensive games when we have FoFix and almost unlimited selection of songs!!!

Anyhow..when I first plugged X-Plorer to my to my PC (USB-port), Windows XP immediately recognized the controller and suggested to download driver. I ran the automatic driver-search-thing and after couple of minutes the driver was automaticly downloaded and installed!

Next I went to FoFix, defined a new controller and set the buttons. Everything is working fine and even the Starpower activation by tilting the guitar works!! The guitar makes pretty much noise when you're strumming (I've heard that rock band guitars are quieter?), but otherwise everything is just perfect! Great controller and easy to use!

[Gmod4ever]

I personally use a RB2 guitar controller (PS3). Since we were going to buy Rockband Beatles with the guitar (and only the guitar; no drums or microphone or anything else) anyways, decided we might as well try to rig it up for Frets on Fire, too, and was pleasantly surprised.

Just plug in the dongle that comes with the guitar (Wireless controller), wait for the light to come on, turn on the controller, make sure you have a solid light, and you're good to go. Set up a Controller in options for it, then bam-whoo. Next thing you know I'm playing some Dream Theater on hard.



--------- EDIT ---------

And to answer what seems to be a popular question, yes, Rock Band guitars are extremely quiet, unless you like try drumming on it (IE hit the buttons really hard; I tend to do it on ugly chords [Damn you Puppetz! ], but when I'm in my comfort zone [zigzags and fast repetitious notes] you can't even hear it unless you pull down the whammy bar and let it fling back up.)

If you're willing to spend the cash, RB2 guitar is where its at.

Plus mine is insured against everything but sandstorm damage (I live in Washington though. )

[DoctorM]

It sounds like the World Tour controllers are the premium way to go (but seem to be about $70).
For now I'll wait until my $17 Xplorer wears out.

I see a lot of people saying the PS3 wireless WT controller works out of the box on a PC with no additional adapters to buy.
I'm surprised the Xbox360 wireless doesn't work out of box as well... but IIRC that's the case for all Xbox360 controllers (they are incompatible with PC without an additional PC wireless connector).

That said it appears for anyone wanting the nity gritty of this thread:
Xbox360 Wired Xplorer for Guitar Hero III is a good basic no-nonsense option.
PS3 Wireless World Tour controller is the premium option, has more features (slider, etc.), is quieter, and of course wireless (and more expensive).

Other controllers may not support all FoF features or may require a dongle adapter in order to connect to a PC.
Anyone want to make changes to that statement?

[DoctorM]

Got my Xplorer today. It's not as flimsy as I expected (though by no means solid).
The fret buttons are quiet, but the strum is clickety.
Also surprising is how bit and far apart the fret buttons are. I have fairly large hands, but I expected something closer to keyboard size/space. I have to retrain my fingers.

My biggest disappointment is that I'm finding it much harder than with my keyboard.
I have a Saitek Eclipse and those keys have a very short fast quiet throw.

With the controller my scores are much lower and I'm doing poorly on songs I use to rock.
Maybe it's a lag problem, but I think I just can't time the strum bar. (I'm open to suggestions on this last one).

[dsm rocket]

I learnt to play these games with a guitar controller before I ever heard of FOF. When I tried fof i sucked bad with the keyboard. Its just cause I was used to the guitar. Keep at the guitar and once you get used to the feel you'll like it more then thekeyboard id say.

I have 3 guitars and played a few different others also. The guitar hero controllers strumbars make theannoying clickety noise. But the rockbands fender strumbar makes no noise. The frets buttons are a little noisey but no where near as bad and that stupid clicking.

There not really spaced to far apart, your just used to the keyboard.

[DoctorM]

Gah, ok. While digging for another deep option in FoFIX, I noticed the hit window was set to TIGHTEST.
It must have gotten changed when I upgrade the other day to 3.120.
Set it back to standard and I shred just fine again.

Btw, I don't know about the other controllers, but the X-plorer has a raised line on button 3 so you can align yourself. I'm going to get a callous from that thing.
Is that on all/most of the controllers?

[dsm rocket]

Yeah they do have the line on them. You can take a razor blade / utility knife and carefully cut it off and make it smooth like the onther buttons. Thats what I did.

[Stefan_Alfons]

I wouldn't really consider the PS3 WT Guitars as the premium option, I already have my Second, and AGAIN the strumbar is starting to fail. (Both Over and Understrums) The other one doesn't let itself downstrum at all anymore. Personally I don't like the PS3 Les Paul, on mine the connection to the neck sucks (I dunno, I have good luck in picking up breaking things) and the buttons are way too stiff. And the strumbar is too small. I would prefer the WT guitar to the LP, I don't know about the RB Guitar though. The look pretty good to me and the Solo buttons seem quite interesting. And do yourself a favor and turn the slider off if you have the WT guitar, it just is in the way while tapping, and kinda useless as the normal buttons work WAY better.

[DoctorM]

EA's Rock Band wireless controller for the Xbox360 is currently $19.99 with free shipping at New Egg (I think for the next 48 hours).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16874105605&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL120309&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL120309-_-Xbox360Accessories-_-LE6D-_-74105605

I don't recall anyone saying how these are. They seem to be made by EA rather than Red Octane so there should be some difference.

[magicmaximus]

How does the Rock Band Beatles guitar compare to the ROck Band 2 one. I'm looking to get a guitar and have been aiming at the RB2 one due to some good reviews on it and it being a quiet model. However I'm having trouble finding one locally, so I either order it or have to drive a bit and get a RB2 kit, then I have a PS3 game I don't have a use for. I think I can get the beatles one local, just wasn't sure if it was as good as the other. I have a xbox 360 but I don't have any of the GH or RB games for it, FOF is my first of this kind of game so I am aiming to get a guitar specifically for it really. Xbox 360 wireless controllers however don 't come with a use wireless adapter to use on PC so I would have to get one which I want to avoid.

[keithb77]

I have the Beatles Rickenbacker which works fine. I previously had a Rock Band standard guitar which didn't work even with Xbox so I took it back.
The Beatles guitar is a little more solid and 'real-looking' but not as much as I'd hoped. Don't regret buying it though (even though now cheaper).
I bought a 'Xbox controller for windows' which came with the adapter.
Both were quiet, both slight rattle inside, RB worse.
Download the GH demos for the Xbox, might change your mind... note GH3 doesn't work with Beatles guitar.
Cheers,
Keith