How can I get all the basic instruments for Rock Band 3 on 360?

Question

I would like to purchase Rock Band 3 on Xbox 360. At the moment, I have no instruments.

How can I ensure that I get:

• 2 guitars
• A keyboard
• A drum set
• 3 microphones
• The game itself

I prefer if the instruments were 1st party - not made by MadCatz or something (do such exist?). I don't care about the expert guitars, but drum cymbals and auto-calibration guitars would be nice.

Obviously I would prefer to not waste money - if there were a special bundle that came with most of this stuff all in a cheaper package, that'd be awesome. Unfortunately, as of yet I haven't been able to find any bundles for Rock Band 3 that contain all of the above. It might even make sense to purchase a Rock Band 2 bundle and then some standalone instruments.

What are my options for getting all of this stuff?

Answer 1

It seems Minamimoto's is the best solution. Last year I bought Rock Band 2 Special Edition (bundle with one guitar, one mic and one set of drums) for $99 on GameStop, but they don't seem to be making that deal at the moment (at least not online). On Amazon, it's $113. The Beatles instruments are prettier, so I think this set is worth the extra buck.

As for the other instruments, consider getting Lips. At $30, they come with 2 wireless microphones.

Harmonix is only selling one Rock Band 3 bundle, with the keyboard controller, so I guess you don't have much of a choice there. And it's sold out at Amazon, which is even worse.

As for the cymbals, both RB2 cymbals and the new Pro Cymbals are being sold by the same price, $40. The only issue is that the new Cymbals will only be released on October 30th. According to a review, the new cymbals are much superior, so it might be worth the wait.

The only thing missing is the guitar. There are several options. You could pick a RB2 Wireless Guitar for $60, not much to go wrong there. With $20 more, you could get the Beatles Guitar, which could be nice if you get the rest of the set. If you prefer the Guitar Hero controller, it would be the cheapest option, at $50. And, for $70, you can get the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock guitar bundle.

You'll be spending at least $360 on all this stuff. But your parties are never gonna be the same. :-)

EDIT: Ah, and if you want to crank it up to eleven, get this setup.

Answer 2

If you like the Beatles, their RockBand set comes with drums, 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 microphone, along with the Beatles game. For ~$120, that's a deal for all those instruments, even if you don't play the game.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Beatles-Limited-Premium-Bundle/dp/B001TOMQUS

Then you could get the Rockband 3 set that has the game and keyboard.

The only thing left would be two more microphones, which are just standard Logitech if I remember correctly.

Answer 3

I haven't seen anything about full RB3 bundles..but I can tell you I have never seen a full setup in a box (2 guitars and 2+ mics).

As previously noted, Harmonix decided (correctly I think) that their thing was software and music, not hardware and Mat Kats is the first party maker of RB3 gear.

Without knowing if you are dedicated player its hard to answer you question: RB3 introduces Pro-Mode gaming and instruments--and if you don't have the Pro-Mode gear you are can't play Pro-Mode.

Now I know there is a bundle for the Keytar (already a Pro-Mode piece of gear) with the game for $130 saving $10.

The drum kits for Beatles RB have a good reputation and already have support for 3 cymbals and 2 pedals so that you can turn your Beatles drum kit into a Pro-mode kit with the cymbal pack. RB2 drums can be converted with kit too, though I think its still unknown if the extra port can support double bass.

For mics I would probably go third party--RB3 uses simple USB mics and there is no need to pay a RB3 premium, and I would avoid the "controller in the mics" set up too--its a big premium to pay for an awkward controller that you can only use in music games. I strongly suggest just using your existing controllers for your singers. (Additionally the regular game controller is the fastest way to get through significant music libraries. Our regular band's Xbox has 500+ songs on it before RB3--no fun to scroll through without a regular controller. )

With guitars it gets easy for now. I don't know of any new features in the RB3 guitars that would make it a bad thing to buy GH2/Beatles hardware. The RB3 controllers should be another fresh iteration of existing hardware and should come out even better than before--but I don't know anyone who has any hands on time with the RB3 guitars. Everyone I know is avoiding the 102 button pro-mode "Mustang" guitar controller and holding out for the real stringed guitar, due out in 2011 and probably north of $250. The real stringed guitar is starts as a Squire Strat and then gets the RB3 hardware added--so you can plug this sucker into an amp and play.