That reminds me, steam won’t let you use the original rocksmith DLC in RS2014 unless you own the original game, even though those DLC’s were updated for RS2014. From the SA thread, apparently a handful of them work (I’m sorry I don’t remember which ones, I already own both games, so didn’t pay much attention) and they have been promising to fix the issue, but they have been saying that for a long time. The OG rocksmith often gets really really cheap during steam sales though, and not only would you get ~50 fully updated songs for like 7.50$ (I think that’s the cheapest it gets), but also you can then use any of the old DLC as well.
So bigweather, I don’t know if you yourself play guitar, but if you don’t and have even the slightest interest in learning, think of the gift as something you both can enjoy :)
edit: ah, you posted while I was writing this. So scratch that last paragraph.
Yup, I play bass (very poorly) and my daughter flits between guitar and bass (she plays cello in her high school’s orchestra). Luckily we do have the original Rocksmith on Steam already, so just have to pay that $10 import fee I guess for the base songs and all DLC should also work.
I am contemplating picking this and a guitar up. I have almost no experience with guitar other than some noodling while in art school. I’m wondering how the thing is for a total novice?
Also, if I can’t get an optical set up to work is it OK through HDMI? Or is it really optical or bust? (I have an Onkyo receiver some where that I think has an optical port but I’m not sure)
Its great. It has a tuner, virtual amps and pedals, a backing jam band and alone that would be good, but you have the songs and game on top of that. At its most basic level you play a handful of notes throughout a song, easily fretted and easily picked.
It largely depends on your goals for learning guitar. It isn’t a substitute for real lessons, music theory, etc. But for someone like me, who has no ambition beyond playing in my basement for fun, it is the best game ever. On the PC, there is also a wealth of custom DLC available - not that the base game + RS1 content + official DLC is short on offerings. But yesterday I was able to play R.E.M’s “Driver 8” for the first time, and managed to do middling well. This pleases me to no end.
Remember that things like Justin TV exist to learn from as well. That can help to maybe fill in some gaps if you hit a plateau in Rocksmith when it comes to theory, skills, etc. I love however that Rocksmith has you playing real songs, not just drills, right out of the box. Motivation to play is HUGE because of that.
I’m guessing it makes you play root notes until you learn the chords? I have been curious about this game for a long time (i play bass), only reason i haven’t bought the game yet is because people sell the stupid cable for around 60 dollars around here, and then i have to buy the game.
Yes, all official tracks (and many custom DLC) have a ‘dynamic difficulty’ feature that strips songs down to pretty much a bare minimum and you have to build up to playing the full thing. Very handy when you are new, but can sometimes get in your way if you already know how to play well (it isn’t optional - you have to play several times through to ‘unlock’ the full thing).
There is also a line of thinking that dynamic difficulty can stunt your progress, and it is better to learn a song at 100% difficulty from the start, but slow it down a bunch. This is doable via the Riff mode. As I get a little better at playing, I’m starting to find this to be true, but when I started out it would have been next to impossible to go this way - you are learning the basics of picking, fretting, and reading a note highway - a BUSY note highway with full chords would be too much (plus the fact that now rhythm is much more prominent - yet another thing to toss in the already full mix of things to learn).
Haha, yeah basement rocking is about the extent of my guitar goals in life. Truthfully I really don’t have any interest in learning guitar the old fashioned way, but a super complex version of RB that uses a real guitar sounds like a lot of fun to me.
I have hit a snag though. It seems my receiver does not have an optical port. Is there a workaround for that coming of a PS4? Do they make amps or speakers with optical in ports. I’m definitely not into the idea of buying the game, a guitar and a new receiver.
Unfortunately I don’t have any kind of gaming PC so It’s either PS4 or nothing for me. I agree that the custom DLC looks great, but I’m not buying a gaming PC for it.
I think I may have found a solution that will convert optical to L/R audio for my receive, but reports are a bit varied on latency for PS4/XBONE in general. Given that it’s looking like about a $300 outlay for something that might have latency issues I’m beginning to get cold feet.
Still if it worked I bet I would love it. I remember near the end of my RB career really wishing it was more complex and actually considering the Pro Squire. This looks like that, but better.
I’m using rocksmith on Mac and ps4 both. The Mac / pc version is a little more flexible, but nothing beats sitting on the couch in front of a bigger screen noodling along. Note that the dlc is not cross compatible.
Optical is supposedly really best for latency on console. I haven’t tried hdmi to the tv but have read that it isn’t great. IMHO not much harm in trying it that way and adjusting the lag in game to see if useful. The cable can be bought more cheaply stand alone online fwiw.
Regarding starter guitars. There are a million opinions, but personally I wouldn’t go too cheap (much under $300 us or so). Cheap guitars have gotten much better than they were, but you don’t want something so cheap that it inhibits you or makes you not want to play.
If you end up liking playing then suggest get a small modeling or practice amp to play with outside rocksmith too. Rocksmith is fun but the audio is so processed that the guitar won’t have much of its native sound and feel the way it would through an amp.
I’ve read a bit more adapter and it sounds like that is the way to go for me. Glad to hear that the latency isn’t a hot mess on PS4, it’s hard to tell what to believe on “the internet”.
My search for a guitar continues. Hopefully I can find one in my price range that I like. I was hoping to find something around $200, but it sounds like that might be too cheap. I actually have a number of friends who are professional musicians so I might chat with one of them and see if they have a line on some used gear.
Yeah your best bet is to find something used. If you have a store like Guitar Center you should be able to find something. I got a $900 guitar for $350 used, for example.
I’ve had mixed success with that… sometimes it still ends up dropping back. Not quite as far, but not sticking at 100% either. Granted, that is like because I just suck too.
Merryprankster - this is not a recommendation, but just an option. Apparently monoprice of all people sell clone Fenders at a heavily discounted price. And from what I’ve read they aren’t actually that bad. Obviously, these are starter guitars and not intended to compete with the real thing, or models hundreds of dollars higher. I’ve not seen one in action myself, so it could all be lies and they are garbage. Who knows, so do your research if you’re trying to dial back the cost a bit ( sounds like you may already have plenty of budget to not need this ).
A used mid level guitar is a GREAT idea I hadn’t considered! Since you have musician friends, ask them to help you assess local ones in different styles to find something you like.
So guitar research led me to stumble onto this…and Wow! Not exactly relevant to my search but kinda cool to see behind the curtain.
While a bit less guitar related this really is a cool one as well. It would seem that for some musicians simply playing one guitar is just not enough and they need to loop it back over themselves over and over. Kinda cool to watch though since I didn’t realize how technical the performance was and how much more than just “playing a guitar” it all is. Neato.
Yeah. I guess I never quite understood how all that stuff works. I doubt I will ever get to that level, but it really is pretty cool what seems to be possible.
