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Fix Your Rock Band Drums!
After playing through about three weeks worth of Rock Band nearly non-stop, the staff of OXM and its merry gang of stringers came upon a sad realization: we killed the drum set. Or rather, it was being “wonky,” in the sense that the yellow pad slowly lost functionality over the course of our rock adventure. It was as if we had whittled it away to a stump with our massive "Paranoid" pounding and crazy Coheed riffs.
We’re impatient, and while Harmonix has stepped up to the rhythm game table with a generous warranty service for its instruments, we decided to take matters into our own hands and attempt to fix the decaying drumset ourselves. We’re tinkerers by trade, so do not follow in our footsteps unless you're absolutely willing to acccept all the potential consequences of breaking the thing even worse. But if you're like us...hey, there couldn’t be that much involved in a plastic drumset, right?
As noted by the Post-It Note that says "yellow pad is wonky," the yellow drumpad is the one that was giving us the most grief. It worked perfectly when we received the drum kit. After about two weeks of frequent bashing later, we were noticing a distinct increase of misses on songs that any reasonable drummer should never miss (here’s looking at you, "Say It Ain’t So"). Disaster struck soon after that. We’re not sure when the final breaking moment was, but we quickly determined the yellow pad was utterly unplayable. No amount of begging, cajoling, or furious pounding would bring forth any semblance of notes from this poor, dead drumkit.
Taking off a drum pad is relatively easy. Some merely snap off with a little bit of force. For whatever reason, the yellow pad does not. I had to root through the ol’ supply cabinet to find the smallest screwdriver possible before removing the six tiny screws on the read of the pad. From there, you just give the front of the pad a bit of a tug, and off it goes!
Well, sort of. For the drum pad itself is connected to the kit via two tiny wires. So if you also plan to disassemble your drumset, don’t give the pad too hearty of a yank, or you could very well rip the wires clean out. Note the cushy foam on the kit side; that must be what helps muffle the noise, as well as provide a pleasant little landing pad for the drum to hit. The center of the yellow drum pad is more recessed than the subsequent red pad we disassembled. This is what likely gives each drum pad a bit of a different sound. The four rubbery connectors are covered in grease, but they are the sole means for lifting the pad up and off of the main kit. That way, the pad moves down when you smack it with a wooden stick. Science!
Looking closer at the pad itself, the center unit is covered by a screwed-in top. I was a little curious as to what the Band-Aid-like adhesive was covering. But to figure that out would require more unscrewing! We grabbed our tool and dove in to get a closer look, shown below.
Here’s the underside of the cover. The spring contributes to the overall “how the drum pad recognized that you hit it” mechanism, but as to how that works, well, we’ll put in a call to Harmonix. Perhaps it’s just there to act like a little shock absorber for the “complicated” equipment that rests on top of it. That’s my best guess.
The bandage covers a silver disc that also has another bandage covering where the wires meet the rear surface. So I did what any intrepid geek would do — tore off the bandage. Slowly though; I could never yank it off quick-style.
And here we have the problem — this damned wire. You can’t really see it well in this shot, or any shot for that matter. But the wire has come loose from the dried mess of an applicator that was sticking it to the silvery disc. And it hasn’t so much come loose as it has broken in half. A part of the wire remains stuck in the dried adhesive, which means that I’m not going to be fixing this drum anytime soon without something more powerful than a screwdriver.
So how, then, did I go about fixing the drum set? The process is simple on paper — somehow, I had to get the end of loose wire A reattached to the outer ring of shiny-disc-thing B. The adhesive on the circular Band-Aid-like sticker was wearing off, meaning that I’d have to get a little bit more esoteric in my method of connecting the wire. The wire itself merely split into two, as shown before. This forced me to grab a pair of tiny scissors and strip the wire as best I could, as there was no way I was ever going to get an adequate connection using the stub-end of the original wire. After a few botched attempts, I came up with what you see in the photo above. After that, the real juggling started.
You’ll note that there’s no picture for the actual process of reattaching the wire to the disc. That’s because I was holding the wire with one hand, holding a strand of solder in my mouth, and pointing around with a freakin’-hot soldering iron with the other hand. Holding a camera at the same time was out of the question. And in hindsight, repairing a Rock Band drum is really a two-person process. But once that wire was connected, I reassembled the rest of the drum pad, plugged it in, and said a tiny prayer to Bruce Dickinson. Voilà — one perfectly functioning drumset!
Just for giggles, here’s where all the bits and pieces come together. The central hunk of silicon houses the inputs for the drums, as well as the external USB connection for the drum itself. On the tippy-top-center, you can see the tiny input for where your external headset plugs into. Cool beans.
And here’s the other side of the controller mechanism, underneath the top part of the drum kit itself. I’m still trying to figure out if there’s going to be an easy way to fix the quasi-functioning directional pad on my own unit without both voiding the warranty and/or making a complete mess of things.
But there you have it. One Rock Band drum disassembled, fixed, and ready to rock once more. Good luck!
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myphtools
February 13, 2011 at 9:03am
Always loved this type of "How To" articles. Great job. http://www.myphtools.com/sawstop-cns175-sfa30
ockthniel
July 18, 2009 at 7:49pm
I had a similar problem with my green drum. Seeing as how I don't own a soldering iron, I simply used electrical tape (stick stuff) to affix the wire to the outer ring of the disk. It worked all night tonight. I'm sure that soldering will last longer, but if you don't have one you can use electrical or probably duct tape.
csroncella
May 08, 2009 at 12:53pm
I'm having similar problems with my Red drum pad. I've taken out screws and tried to pop off the top and it still won't come off. Ugh! Anyway, I'm sure the main problem is with the wirering and to be honest I know absolutey nothing about soldering. What should I do then? Just give up or what? I'm pretty sure my warrenty has expired so I don't have the option of sending it off to get fixed. Can someone please help me? This is getting so frustrated!
hawke777
March 20, 2009 at 2:22pm
Awesome instructions... and nice nod to Bruce Dickinson, lol. The cymbal expansion kit for the next-gen Rock Band 2 drums were my problem. I looked all over for a tear-down article until I came across this one:http://www.protoolreviews.com/how-to/build-it-yourself/repair-broken-rock-band-2-cymbals
Might be helpful for your readers in the event they are looking to make the same type of repair with a current-gen set of RB2 cymbals. I'm a bit rabid about getting this info out since I couldn't find anything on it until recently and nearly all of my friends have had the same problem (double taps on the drums and missed notes).
voiceofed
March 09, 2009 at 4:33pm
I have soldered, taped, padded and all kinds of other stuff and now have a new problem. You know the yellow connector at the end of the yellow wire from the yellow pad? The socket it connects to is now broken. It is connected to a circuit board located between the black parts of the unit, but I cannot figure out how to get in there to re-solder it! Ack!!! I need to completely disassemble the pads, but after removing ALL screws, it will not come apart. It must snap together. Any ideas on how to unsnap this beast? Snap to it!! And thanks.
bethd
January 06, 2009 at 10:22pm
You Rock David! My yellow cymbal bit the dust after 2 weeks of use....After removing the the 4 screws from the under side of the cymbal, i located the loose red wire under a small plate that also had 4 screws, used small sissors to strip it (bifocals and flashlite to see it!) and took it across the street to my neighbor who is an electric train buff and has soldering stuff. All said and done it took about 45 minutes (I chatted with my neighbor!) So easy. Thanks for the tip.
joshleblond
October 30, 2008 at 5:00pm
hey will im starting to get really pissed off about one week ago i plugged my drum setinto my little 4 usd port extenshions that comes with the bundel and the circle turned yellow red then red again and then shut down then i tried plugging it into my usb ports on my xbox 360 and nothing happened it just will not work can you help. e-mail: josh_leblond@hotmail.com thank you
oxmmod345
October 06, 2008 at 9:09pm
There are better drum sensors at www.rockingrepair.com I have their sesnors installed in boht my kits, and I have never had a problem to date.
Nibbla
September 02, 2008 at 4:06am
Hi does anyone know how to open the rockband drum controller? i smashed mine and need to repair it. i have the "EL" model. when i unscrew the 12 screws at the back of the two centre pads i still cant open it. and i dont wanna use to much force cause then i will break it permanently what did i miss? been looking for at least 3 hours in forums and i only could find pictures of opened ones.
bobby
August 08, 2008 at 4:55pm
ok i was rocking out to hard.. and i snaped my green note off it still conected to it like the wire is in it and it works. i =need some help how the hell do u fix it?
steve2442
July 12, 2008 at 3:51pm
oh yeah and i didnt touch any thing inside just unscrewd screw thought oh screw this hah a pun then screwed them up again
steve2442
July 12, 2008 at 3:40pm
i unscrewd screw bu didnt take pads off is my warranty void now send an email to icecreamman42@hotmail.com and tell me
h4lofodder
June 30, 2008 at 2:47pm
Racer I've got the same problem. The sadthing is that OXM had a sidebar to this article in the magazine and my wife threw that one away. OXM, which month was that article? Or even better how about publishing that whole article on the website?
racerx303
June 26, 2008 at 7:09am
I need help with my drum set. Basicly they worked fine till last night. Now the drum controller in not conecting. It does not matter if i use the hub or not nor which usb port i plug into. It lights up just for a split second while connecting, than goes out and does not work at all. Any help would be great.
marcenary
June 14, 2008 at 10:21am
i had the same problem with my blue drum and i took it apart and checked all the connections and they both were still in good shape. so if anyone knows anything else i can do please let me know it would be greatly aprieciated. Marcenary360@hotmail.com thanks.
saif
June 01, 2008 at 7:26am
my drums have big holes wth rubber peg type things instead of screws!!!!!!!!!!!! y cudnt harmonix only make the ones wth screws!!!! anyways if anyone knos how u fix these ones plz tell me............. my email address is saif_skulls@hotmail.com
DeRayd
May 25, 2008 at 4:56pm
Yeah I have the same problem with my green pad. It will only let me hit the green pad in songs when I SMACK the darn thing as hard as i can with my sticks. I took apart my green one like the guy said in his advice and I see the 2 wires. They dont appear to be loose..? And it doesnt look like they need to be tangled together or whatever?? It looks like the 2 wires are joined and then separated and they go into to little metal holes or something? If anybody has any idea why my set is only letting me hit the green on massive impact, please message me at Skrehder511@aol.com THANK YOU!
rudeboi67
May 05, 2008 at 5:50pm
I dont think the drum sensor ones look too bad. I went with the ones from www.rockingrepair.com though because they came with tape, and the wiring looked better. It was spun, not like the weird speaker wire stuff drum sensor has.
eliterocker
May 05, 2008 at 5:46pm
I bought the ones from drums sensor and they were pretty crappy. I bought better ones from www.rockingrepair.com and they worked a lot better. Even came with replacement protective tape !!
David_Bohm
April 12, 2008 at 4:33pm
I have just installed the RadioShak $1.99 piezo 2-lead element. It is too large so it needs to be ground to size with a dremel. But I recommend not grinding where the wires are attached to the disc. Leave this area alone and you can form a nice little notch that will serve you well when placing the transducer in the drumpad. You have to be patient (I did most grinding at the Dremel's lowest rpm setting) but you can slowly take that outer brass edge down to size without having to remove or damage the two wires already soldered to the transducer. Then I just twist and soldered the the wires to the original wires leading to the plug (Red-Black and Black-Gray). I attached some band-aid to top and bottom. Tried to tuck the wires neatly as I popped the drumpad back in and it works great. An hour of your time and 2 bucks.
kamikazetestpilot
March 10, 2008 at 8:32pm
For those of you that are asking about the 4 rubber nubs on the bottom of your kit instead of the screws shown in the photos -- on later versions they changed where the press fit tabs are screwed in, from the back side of the kit to inside of the pad itself. The 4 rubber nubs are the ends of the press fit nubs. Pull away (gently) on the pad, and follow the rest of the article as he states.
xsirxx
March 04, 2008 at 3:00pm
I tried this route but the wires were still soldered on nicely(underneath all the epoxy on them). I did find on my set though they had installed it wrong. The piezo had been placed on an angle with one side on top of the plasic spaces that are in there. So when I took it out it had a nice bend on one side of it which I bent back but unfortunatly could not get to run again. So im waiting on my new set to get sent out. This way im still under warranty. But if this happens again I will just fix them on my own by replacing them like alot of u have. Thanks btw!
Jackson5
March 02, 2008 at 7:20am
All you have to do is firmly pull the pad off. Might take a bit of muscle, but the rubber things are just press fit. Btw, I noticed that www.drumsensor.com now has replacement sensors that don't void your warranty. Wish I would have waited for those. I have been super happy with the ones I got form them though.
flipside232
February 18, 2008 at 7:00pm
My drums have rubber things on the bottom in those holes. How would i get my drums open to fix it? If anyone could help that would be great. Thanks
KenKatuku3
February 17, 2008 at 10:28pm
This mod is pretty cool also - http://www.drumpads4rockband.com
Jackson5
January 29, 2008 at 10:38am
I ended up just buying a replacement sensor after I noticed a reduction in the hits being picked up. It was $8 which was worth trying. I have been really happy so far with the new one. It was from www.drumsensor.com
Happieboy
January 21, 2008 at 1:09pm
I had the exact same problem... in fact, not only did we(there are 4 of us who take pretty regular turns at beating the snot out of the yellow pad)knock the wire loose, we managed to crack the plastic drum head too! I had an easier time reconnecting the wire. I was able to strip the casing away using my finger nails, laid the wire across the length of the metal disc and reapplied the band-aid looking-thingy(very techincal I know!) I then reinforced the cracked drum head with some foam board and good old-fashioned duck tape, then tested my handy work with a rousing rendition of Run to the Hills. No smoldering required! (Except for my wife after 4 hours of listening to me sing foreplay/longtime)
boodboy
January 20, 2008 at 12:47am
the back of my drum kit looks different... i dont have accessable screws to unscrew... there are 4 rubber pads on the underneath side of each drum pad, only 3 on the middle two pads... how can i get inside of this rockband drum kit??
flash121000000
January 15, 2008 at 4:10pm
is the wire used, copper wire?? so, say i needed to replace one, or extend the wire, i could just use copper wire?
bigern
January 12, 2008 at 10:13am
Using this guide I just fixed my green drum pad, thanks. This is my third set of drums and I'm not sure how many sets EA will actually send me for free. It's not hard at all, it actually took longer for my soldering iron to heat up then to do the repair.
stevecooley
January 09, 2008 at 1:34pm
I'm building my own e-drums, and it's nice to get a look into how harmonix went about making theirs. Exactly the same way I'm making mine... Now what happens to the signal after it leaves the piezo, I'm sure they're doing much more intelligent things than I am. :)
Thanks for the nice post! Hey, FYI, solder in the mouth is generally a bad idea. That _is_ lead in there. :) I realize the need for the 3rd hand when soldering.. but still... -steve
Jackson5
January 05, 2008 at 2:36pm
For what its worth, there is somebody selling replacement sensors on ebay. They look the same. Seems easier then sending the whole kit back I guess.
shnerf90210
December 30, 2007 at 8:36pm
when u unscrewed the drum set and saw the mother board what did u have to do after that
akkare
December 29, 2007 at 5:59pm
Thanks for posting this. I used the guide to repair my own yellow drum pad, worked out great.
pulykamell
December 20, 2007 at 7:46pm
Yes, it is a piezo transducer. Our drumset broke, we took it apart only to find that the plastic had actually cracked (on both our yellow and blue pads). I hopped into Radio Shack, and got part #273-073A (piezo transducer). When you take it out of its casing, it's very similar to the part in the game, only a bit bigger. We swapped it in, and it works, but we're still trying to figure out the best way to mount it. There's lots of DIY drum trigger tutorials out there on the web, and it looks like it might be worth it to try to make a trigger from an old Remo practice pad.
123mac123
December 20, 2007 at 4:10pm
BUDDY, I LOVE YOU!!! My drums pad broke, I followed your guide and Now it works!!! THANK you!!!
almightycav
December 12, 2007 at 6:42am
It looks like a simple $1.99 RadioShack piezo you can extract from a buzzer. I have been making my own electonic drum kit triggers for years and I had a sneaking suspicion this kit used a similar method. Rock on kids!
TW Fox
December 08, 2007 at 8:26pm
Good article, I also encourage heavy footed drummers to reinforce the kick pedal with a piece of wood on top, like base board, and some hockey tape... Mine broke, but we fixed it up lickity split!
Dan OXM (not verified)
December 06, 2007 at 12:59am
Seems like a lot of work? Hey, we didn't say it would be simple, we just said it worked for us. :)
CAWeissen
December 05, 2007 at 6:53pm
Hopefully this will help people fix their drums. Good guide! Will this be in a future issue of OXM?
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