Guitar Hero IV Drums Info and Picture

Update: We’ve included an additional photo after the break below, it’s not as crisp but, it contains more of the drums. 

It looks like the upcoming issue of Game Informer also contains a picture of the new Guitar Hero IV drum kit, and someone at Demonoid was nice enough to upload a scan of the magazine page that the drums are on.

The interview with the development team also had them talking about how the Guitar Hero IV drum kit differs from the Rock Band drum kit.

Activision hired John Devecka to help create the drum kit.  Devecka Enterprises created the first arcade drum simulation, MTV Drumscape, back in 1996 before DrumMania, and held patents for “method and apparatus for simulating a jam session and instructing a user in how to play the drums”. These patents are now held by Activision. 

The most significant difference with Guitar Hero IV’s drum set is that instead of 4 drum ‘heads’, it will have 5, with 2 representing dedicated cymbals(plus a bass drum pedal).  This is modeled after MIDI type electronic drum sets where the ‘cymbals’ are raised.

Like MIDI drums, the Guitar Hero IV kit also features velocity detection.  While the article did not specify exactly how this would come into play, the velocity detection on the MIDI kits will allow the drums to tell how hard they were hit and the sound is produced accordingly.  Harder hits will be louder, while softer hits will be quieter.

The development team also said they wanted to make a drum kit that was more durable and quieter as well.  Game Informer playtested the drums and said that the Guitar Hero IV drum kit was in fact quieter.

Did we mention it’s wireless?  More info and an additional photo after the break

Related Links:
Console Hero - New Guitar Hero IV Details Released
Console Hero - Guitar Hero IV Preview

Destructoid - First Shot of Drum Kit
Drumscape - Home Page