A cymbal short of a full kit
16th June 2009 – 5.41 pmI have given up on my orange cymbal. Certainly, adjusting the sensitivity of the Guitar Hero: World Tour cymbal made a significant improvement to the number of notes registered but errors still crept it. It is quite possible that my lack of skill contributes to some of these errors, but occasional notes are still being dropped when I am keeping a simple, straightforward beat on the orange cymbal, which involves no relative movement of my arms and so the same spot is being hit with a fair amount of accuracy. Missing notes through a lack of skill encourages me to improve, a note dropped because of faulty hardware frustrates me.
I revisit the e-mail from my previous exchange with technical support for the game and find the helpful link to the Guitar Hero warranty information page I was given. Opening that page I follow the simple questions guiding me through the warranty returns process. At the end of the diagnosis I am instructed to file a question at the site I used previously to request a USB-to-MIDI cable, so I submit another request for a replacement orange cymbal. The reply I receive tells me that I am in the wrong place and must address all such warranty requests to the warranty page, completing the circle. Hmm.
After double- and triple-checking my inputs to the automated warranty pages are both the correct inputs to make, such that I hadn't misread any questions or responses, and result in sending me to the technical support page I reply with this information. I can see no way to progress my warranty claim on the warranty page and my only option to submit further information is with the technical support page. With a confident response coming back that I must be submitting the wrong information somewhere I try again, even changing my inputs to see if the warranty page's 'choose your own adventure' game has some hidden options, depending on which page I turn to.
Unfortunately, the best automated response I can get is to check my manual for hardware warranty claims, which I tell the technical support fellow, along with information about the date I bought the game and from which company, as assurance that the equipment is within the stated ninety day warranty period. Although my previous exchange with technical support in asking for the USB-to-MIDI cable was a little frustrating I managed to get a helpful and positive result, and this time is no different. Technical support submits a warranty request for the orange cymbal, confirms the RMA number with me and my issue is resolved quickly and efficiently. I have to give credit to Red Octane's support structure because of their quick response times and positive attitudes, particularly as I raised both my issues, and got them resolved, during the evening.
With any luck, I'll soon have a new orange cymbal for my Guitar Hero: World Tour that is as responsive as the yellow cymbal pad and my problem with occasional missed notes will only be attributable to my own mistakes, which I am endeavouring to fix with more practice. In the meantime, I can still continue my drumming practice, although I might be better suited to playing a bit more in Rock Band 2 as it doesn't have and thus require the use of an orange pad, which at least dodges that problem. The game has some issues of its own, though.
2 Responses to “A cymbal short of a full kit”
If a replacement cymbal doesn't entirely do the trick, and you don't want to go through the warranty procedure again, it may be worth trying a bit of glue: http://www.powertuneplus.com/gh/ghwt_drumkit_sensitivity_fixes.shtm I'm thinking of giving it a try myself.
My orange cymbal stalk was also a little wobbly, which I may have mentioned in passing previously, but I could see no obvious retaining screws to hold it in place better.
However, rather than having the stalk at its maximum extension but instead moving it one 'click' down has had the effect of holding the stalk much more firmly in place, which gives a better feel to hitting the pad, which might also help.
That's excellent information about securing the transducers, I may well give that a go. Thanks for the link! I think I currently need to work on my kick timing more than the cymbals now. More practice needed!