Rock Band 3 Pro Keyboard Review

Hello all. As you may remember (the 2 or 3 people that may actually read this blog), I posted a rant at MadCatz for their continual delay and what I felt was their deceptive way in how they handled the entire delay of the XBox 360 MIDI PRO Adapter. This of course prevented me from playing RB3 as I had intended. Last week that little box finally showed up and I had a chance this past Sunday to utilize it.



First. Hats off to Harmonix on a well designed way of taking the experience of playing keys in a video game. I played about 99% in Pro Expert Mode on Sunday. I played part of a song on Medium just to see the difference. I also played the regular keys on part of one song for the same reason. It does a very good approximation of what the actual keyboard part in a song is.

There are some other aspects about the game I'll cover, but let's talk about how close it is first. For someone that grew up playing piano and getting a degree in music the accuracy of what I hear versus what I see on the screen was pretty important. For anyone that had the impression that you were going to "learn" the exact keyboard part of a song, let me dispel that right now. OK, maybe for Animotion's Obsession you will - got my 5 Star Pro Perfect score with that one ;) For most other songs it ranges from pretty damn close to close enough.

I didn't play all of the Pro-enabled keys songs, but I did play quite a few just to see. For the 2 or 3 that I really wanted to learn I spent upwards of 1-2 hours on each to learn them in order to get a respectable score. Most of the others I "played" (if you could call it that) a couple times.

My normal method was to pick a song and start it on Pro Expert. Just to see how difficult it was and get an idea of it. This at first was very confusing. Being someone that's used to connecting stationary dots on a staff to the keys rather than moving dashes on a fluid keyboard it was pretty frustrating to even know what I was supposed to play.

I also didn't get the Keyboard accessory obviously (since I was waiting for this MIDI Adapter) so the color coding to know what octave to play in was also confusing. I used the Transpose function to allow me to play in a more comfortable zone of my Ensoniq VFX:



At first the game wanted me to play on what seemed to be the lower half. I was playing the song Imagine and that's probably the actual area to play it on, but I was looking to play it more on the upper half. Throughout the day I adjusted the Transpose value from -1 to -3 depending on the song. Since I am using a professional keyboard I don't have a color strip to tell me what octave to play in, so by trial and error I figure it out at the beginning of a song. Eventually I'll be able to quickly just know as long as I don't mess with that Transpose function ;)

I still haven't talked about the accuracy as promised. So basically it's close. There are some obvious notes missing from the right hand part in order to insert a left hand note or two into the song. Some songs it's more noticeable than others. "Imagine" and "Piano Man" (which I thoroughly butchered) do this combining method. Imagine is definitely playable as you don't really need to stretch too far. Piano Man looks like it's playable, but I didn't really get passed the Intro on Practice mode. More on that later.

The notes are correct for the song. But since they sometimes eliminate some notes to allow left hand notes to be played your brain may try to fill in those notes. At least mine did. I understand that my drummer brethren had the same issues all along when playing Expert on all versions of RB. If they know the song well they found themselves playing those missing notes. Not sure if Pro Expert solves this or not, and I'm interested in seeing how close Pro Guitar is.

So what about the left hand? Well, attaching a Pro keyboard to the mix doesn't magically add more keys to the screen. I read some forum posts asking if someone used two keyboards could they play the left hand on one, and the keyboard part on the other. The short answer is "No." Even if you could play the bass guitar part on one it would really only be a one note approximation of the left hand anyway. And even so, the right hand is playing left hand notes occasionally, so they would need at least two versions of each song.

Actual playing is good. They screen only shows a little more than an octave at any one time. If you need to go to another octave, one of two things happen. Either the keys on the screen shift the appropriate amount (the bottom key isn't always C), or you "wrap around." For shifting, you get a few measures warning with arrows indicating which direction the shift is going to occur. And it's done well. For the "wrap around;" if you are, say, doing a run of sorts up the keyboard and the next set of notes are in the next octave, then you just play the note at the bottom of the octave you are currently in rather than continuing up to the next one. It's a bit confusing to the brain at first since you are expecting to play a higher note, but are actually playing a lower one. But it becomes second nature quickly.

Another issue I had is with grace notes. I worked on "Whiter Shade of Pale" for a long time. At first I thought that maybe my calibration was off. I didn't seem to have problems with other songs, just this one. And I do have pretty damn good rhythm for a white guy. I can keep a beat. So I did a manual calibration. That somewhat helped from what I could tell. Then I went back to Imagine and couldn't play it to save my life. I went back to doing the auto calibration using the Guitar. I played "Whiter Shade of Pale" again and seemed to be able to hit the grace notes better. Or should I say, the actual note following the grace note. So there may be a bit of a timing thing here. Or sensitivity issue with my synth. Either way, I was eventually able to play it most of the time.

My next point is style I guess. You see. not every song is played by a musician with the precision of a computer. I don't mean rhythmic precision. Note precision. Rock music can have a bit of sloppiness when it comes to keys. More so with organ than piano or synth in my experience. A stray pinkie might graze that extra key or a finger slides from the wrong key to the correct one, but you did play it. RB3 has no sympathy for mistakes. I've heard the stories from the prior Rock Band games about the actual musicians not being able to play their own songs. Let's face it, this is a rhythm game. The drummers have the advantage.

The other thing with organ parts is the gameplay didn't seem to really fit how I would play. There are chords where I, or many other musicians, would hold a note into the next chord since it's still being played. Example. I'm going from FMaj 2nd Inversion (C-F-A) to a CMaj Root (C-E-G) and I'm keeping the C constant. The game doesn't seem to do this. At least not on every song. BTW, yes, technically I'm describing triads, and yes there are many ways to write these, but it's been years since I've actually had to do theory. Anyway, where I would normally hold a particular note that is common between two chords, the game seems to be inconsistent with that. It sometimes comes across as if it was written as a piano part rather than an organ part. Of course this could be me just being lazy, or the original part does have that break between chords.

Practice mode. This is how I started understanding how to make the visual association with what I saw on the screen and what key to hit. Since the notes were going by slower I had more time. At any point in the section I'm practicing on, I can adjust the speed. So if I really have the first part down and there's that one or two chords that mess me up, I can play it at 100% and then slow it down to 70% when I need to. Playing piano parts at 70% is a bit eerie as the sound sample is obviously being stretched. It's the actual song and not a representation from what I can hear when playing at slower speeds.

Training mode. I didn't use this at first because I was confused as to what it would be. After seeing it a bazillion (so spell check actually has "bazillion" in it) times, I gave it a whirl. It's good in that it covers specific parts of a songs. Those that might be a bit tricky or are the main progressions from what I saw with the one song I used it on. And you can go to 60% speed on this. That's probably how I'll learn the Intro to "Piano Man."

The current selection of songs that have Pro Keys is pretty good. And Harmonix has upgraded some of the older songs to have Pro parts (not just keys). I just hope that they upgrade more of them quick. There are several of my faves from RB2 that have keyboard parts in the original song, but don't have an RB3 version of them :(. Bands like Styx, Journey, Kansas, Boston, Rush, The Who, etc. are just begging to be upgraded. I didn't load the RB Beatles in since it's not an RB3 derivative, but there are plenty of Beatles songs that have some killer keys ("Lady Madonna" comes to mind). Of course, just about any 80s band needs keys. Then anything post-80s that wasn't "alternative," grunge, rap, death metal, etc.

I give kudos to Harmonix for producing a close to real experience for this keyboardist. Almost every one of these songs I've never played the actual song. Yeah that sounds weird. I was classically trained and never joined a band. So learning the classic rock or pop songs wasn't as much of a priority back in the day. And when I got my BA in Music, again I stuck with Classical and composed electronic music. The kind that is never heard on the radio or in a club. I've dabbled here and there with songs but never learned them so well that I could just sit at a piano and belt out a rendition of Piano Man (okay so I did kind of learn that once), "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting", "Imagine", etc.

I give Madcatz two grades. A for a product that delivers the functionality it promised. Though I just noticed today that the picture they have and what I have are different. the A,B,X,Y buttons look more like PS3 buttons than XBox buttons. Oh well. As long as it works....

On the second grade, I give them an F. A big fat F for outright lying about when the XBox version would be out. I understand that they will stock their own online store first. I get it. Really. I do. It's their product so if they have a limited amount, why not sell it themselves for a higher profit. But the e-mails I received from Amazon told a different story. At least 3 times I would get an e-mail from Amazon with an expected delivery date only to get another e-mail on or before that expected delivery date stating that they didn't have the product. AND after their press release back on 12/3/2010 stating "...with the Xbox 360® version expected to ship imminently to Best Buy (limited quantities available)..." only to never show up in a Best Buy until last week. I think someone needs to take a vocabulary test for the word "imminently":

imminent |ˈimənənt|
adjective
1 about to happen : they were in imminent danger of being swept away.

Bottom line, if you've been salivating about playing the keyboard parts to many of your favorite songs, pony up the cash to get the adapter if you already have a MIDI keyboard. It's very enjoyable. Just remember that if you expect to play/learn the exact right hand part to a song, you might have to restrict yourself to "Obsession."

l8r,

Marz

Smoking - Either Ban It or Not

I'm a non-smoker. I also believe in smoker's rights. For a better part of the past 15-20 years (longer really) there has been a concerted effort to slowly take away those rights of smokers. Each year there is another city or town that bans smoking. Or mostly bans it. Other places allow it or at least require a "smoking section" so all the smokers can be segregated to the back of the bus restaurant. This can be a touchy subject. Spark debates among smokers and non-smokers alike.

I've worked in an industry for over 15 years that mostly allows smoking. Some of those places only allowed it at the bar. Some were a smoke-free environment even when the city would allow it. I can say that as an employee it's normally a much better experience to work when I don't have to deal with it. As a patron of a bar or nightclub, it's nice to not come home smelling of smoke. Though these places can still have a scent of "bar/nightclub" anyway, just not cigarette smoke. So I've enjoyed the benefits of living somewhere that doesn't allow smoking in my workplace or places I like to go.

BUT. It's a legal activity. We as a society have tried to make accommodations so that those who enjoy smoking can still enjoy it while socializing. How many people do you know that would never actually buy a pack of cigarettes, but are more than happy to bum one because they "only smoke when I'm drinking?"

To me, if there is a part of a restaurant that allows smoking and they do everything they can to prevent the smoke from going to the rest of the place, I'm cool with that. As a non-smoker, if I want to sit in the non-smoking section and have to wait, then so be it. However, being the person that I am, I've sat in the smoking section plenty of times. Why? Because there was a wait in the non-smoking section. You know what else? I was perfectly happy there. Even though I had other tables around me smoking.

Maybe it's because I grew up in a smoking household. There were plenty of times I would walk out of my room into the living room and see smoke like cirrus clouds floating. I actually have fond memories of that. Did I also mention that I have asthma? As a kid I took a pill every night before bed to prevent an attack when I slept. Eventually I stopped taking it. The older I got, the less issues I had with my lungs. Yes, that's right, less issues, yet there was smoking going on in my house.

On the flip side, at work I've had to "put up" with smoke. I have to manage the area and talk with my guests. I sometimes have to position myself to avoid the smoke as it goes directly from the cigarette in the ashtray to my face, but that's an easy fix. Do I necessarily enjoy that? No. But it's part of the job.

When I'm out, I like to sit at the bar to eat. Normally I'm by myself. I take up one chair at the bar rather than a table with 4 chairs (2-top tables are not that common). I also get better service from the bartender since I can always get the bartender's attention immediately rather than wait for my server to come by. The downside? Smoke. Again, not everywhere is smoking, but where it is, I seem to be the smoke magnet rather than the chick magnet. I can sit between two smokers and their cigarettes are in separate ashtrays. The smoke from each cigarette will invariably come to me. Not go in the same direction as whatever the prevailing airflow in the place is. I know it's strange. Again, not a fan of this. However, I'm at a bar and normally all I have to do is ask the person to move the ashtray.

Now I'm sure you've noticed that I never mention smokers blowing their smoke in my face. This is because as much as the public seems to demonize them, they are a respectful group when it comes to their smoke. Many smokers are conscious of their smoke. Especially when they exhale. They will usually blow up or in a direction where there isn't anyone. When they hold their cigarette, they try to hold it in such a way as to not have the smoke go in someone's face. And they do this without waiting for someone to ask or fan the smoke away. Most of the time.

So now we seem to be at some kind of contradiction. And you are right. I hate that local, state, and federal laws are in place or proposed to ban smoking. I mean, I get it. Many more people don't smoke than do now. And in a smoke free environment you can smell it almost immediately from tens of feet and farther away. It's not healthy. Causes cancer and other ailments. There are a lot of negative aspects to it. And I wouldn't want my kids (if I ever have any) to do it. But it's a freedom of choice that has been getting eroded away for a long time. If an establishment or company wants to ban in, cool. But government stepping in, well, it's too late really now.

However, government doesn't seem content on banning it just in your local bar or restaurant (forget that public buildings were done well before now). Now "they" want to ban it in your home. It's easiest in apartments and condos. You see, your neighbor who shares a common wall might smell it. I've lived in apartments/condos for the better part of 20+ years. I can't say I remember ever smelling cigarette smoke (or any other) in my apartment coming from another one. I've smelled it in a hallway, but not my apartment.

But wait, there's more. "They" also want to ban it in your house. That's right. Your house that doesn't share a common wall with anyone. I'd venture to say that there's a few feet separating your house from your neighbors. Along with thicker walls and insulation as compared to the shared wall in an apartment. Really? What frustrates me is just ban it outright if you're going to do this. Either outlaw it completely, or let it be something that the workplace or establishment controls.

Or is the government afraid to just outlaw it? We saw how successful Prohibition was. Not that it's easy to hide smoking compared to drinking alcohol. Instead, let's regulate it and tax it. Don't get fooled into thinking that these "sin taxes" are meant to prevent people from smoking or drinking. It's to generate revenue. And at this point, the governments cannot afford to eliminate them. That doesn't mean there aren't people out there wanting to tighten the noose.

Now the FDA wants to ban Menthol cigarettes? Menthol Cigarettes and Your Liberty Up in Smoke. OK, so as a non-smoker I really don't get this one. I know menthol is popular with different groups of people. I'm guessing that the menthol makes it a smoother or easier smoke. Probably not unlike taking a cough drop. So maybe it's a gateway cigarette to get people hooked. But let's be honest. Banning menthol cigarettes isn't really going to do anything. People will still smoke. It's an addiction. They'll adapt.

Also, is there some other agenda here? Not against the tobacco industry, but something else? According to the Wikipedia article on menthol cigarettes they comprise somewhere between 27-34% of the smoking population depending on the study and the year. However, 80% of African-Americans smoke menthol cigarettes. I don't know if this is a consideration or not. But I can imagine that there are organizations that would like to reduce this number. I still contend that the vast majority of that group will switch to whatever is legal rather than quit.

But, still, ban menthol cigarettes? That's like banning Appletinis or Wine Coolers. Just because they are tasty or popular with young people or other groups doesn't mean you need to ban it. Maybe I'm just blind or wrong or both. What I see here is rights being infringed. Smoking is bad only because of the chemicals and smoke. What makes people smoke isn't what's directly killing them. And with these electronic nicotine nebulizers, I mean smokeless cigarettes, then just ban the cancer sticks and let the people stay addicted to the drug. Then tax and regulate that. Less health care costs and people dying which means more people alive to tax.

Then there's cigars, pipes, and hookahs......that's for another time.

An Open Letter to Madcatz

I've been patient. I bought my copy of Rock Band 3 a couple months ago as a pre-order along with this cool contraption called the MIDI Pro-Adapter that promised to include my instrument of choice into the Rock Band world, the keyboard. And not only that, but allow me to play the actual piano/keyboard parts to the new songs with RB3. How cool was that going to be? I had been anticipating this for months since there was even rumor of keyboard parts being added to the new Rock Band.

Then the e-mail came from Amazon. Unfortunately I wasn't going to get my accessory on 11/26/10 like originally promised. It was going to be after Christmas. Huge let down, but hey, it was only another month, and I'm gonna be kinda busy anyway. Then a little later I actually get an anticipated delivery date - 12/28/10. Cool. Felt like I was gonna have a nice little post-Christmas gift come. Then ON 12/28/10, in the middle of the night like an anti-Santa Claus I get an e-mail from Amazon saying that, in fact, they didn't have any of these magical boxes yet and they didn't know when they would get them. Would I like to keep waiting or cancel my order? I just needed to let them know in the next 30 days.

So I scour the interwebs looking for information. I was oblivious to the fact that Madcatz miraculously shipped the PS3 and Wii versions of this unit. As a matter of fact, they had been available since the first part of December! Madcatz had made an announcement on 12/3/10 stating this fact and had said that the XBOX 360 versions would be "imminently" shipped to Best Buy ("limited quantities available"). Copy of the press release below:

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Mad Catz® Announces Shipping of the Rock BandTM3 MIDI PRO-AdapterTM Official Accessory Allows Gamers to Use Rock Band 3 Squier® by Fender® Stratocaster® Guitar and Controller, MIDI Drum Kits and Keyboards When Playing Rock Band 3

San Diego, December 03. 2010

Mad Catz® Interactive, Inc. (“Mad Catz” or “the Company”) (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider today announced that it has begun shipping the Rock Band 3 MIDI PRO-Adapter, being released under the Company’s Mad Catz casual gaming brand.

Shipping now on PlayStation®3 and Nintendo® WiiTM video game platforms, with the Xbox 360® version expected to ship imminently to Best Buy (limited quantities available) (Emphasis added) the MIDI PRO-Adapter has been designed exclusively for use with Rock Band 3, and allows musicians to use most real MIDI keyboards and MIDI drum sets when playing the game. In addition, the MIDI PRO-Adapter will work in conjunction with the forthcoming Rock Band 3 Squier by Fender Stratocaster Guitar and Controller, a fully functional, full-sized, electric guitar with strings that also functions as a game controller for Rock Band 3's innovative Pro mode game play.

Plugging directly into the console via USB, the MIDI PRO-Adapter works as an interface between the console and MIDI instrument, converting the MIDI messages into console controller data which the game translates into on-screen action. The MIDI PRO-Adapter features a velocity sensitive adjustment for MIDI drums designed to reduce cross-talk during play. A full D-Pad and standard gaming controller buttons are located on the PRO-Adapter to deliver seamless console integration and navigation of the game menus. The MIDI Pro-Adapter ships with a removable clip which allows gamers to attach to a belt or rest on a table top or similar flat surface.

Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz commented, “The Rock Band 3 MIDI PRO-Adapter bridges the gap between music rhythm games and performing on real guitars, keyboards and drums. Aspiring musicians can learn to play an instrument and veterans can enjoy Rock Band 3 with actual MIDI musical instruments. When used with the Squier Guitar and Controller, MIDI keyboard or drum set, we are confident that the MIDI PRO-Adapter will prove a hit with Rock Band fans of all skill levels.”

MSRP: $39.99

Featuring an impressive 83-song setlist and access to more music than any other music video game, as well as innovative new gameplay modes and instruments, Rock Band 3 will change the way fans think about and play music games. Developed by Harmonix, the world’s premier music videogame company, published by MTV Games, and distributed by distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), Rock Band 3 is available in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other territories for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, WiiTM home videogame console from Nintendo, and Nintendo DS. Rock Band 3 is compatible with all Rock Band and The Beatles: Rock Band peripherals, as well as most third- party instrument and microphone controllers. Mad Catz is the official peripheral manufacturer and distributor for Rock Band 3 game controllers.

For more information on Rock Band 3 accessories, please visit www.madcatz.com. For further information please contact:

Media Alex Verrey: Global PR & Communications Manager t. +44 (0) 1908 336 538 e. averrey@madcatz.com

Michael Greco: Vice President of Marketing t. +1-619-321-3564 e. mgreco@madcatz.com

Investors Allyson Vanderford: Interim Chief Financial Officer t. +1-619-321 3545 e. avanderford@madcatz.com

Joseph Jaffoni, Norberto Aja and Jim Leahy Jaffoni and Collins Incorporated t. 212/835-8500 e. mcz@jcir.com

For further information on Rock Band 3 please contact:

Media Jeff Castaneda: VP of Communications (MTV Games) t. 212-846-6774 e. jeff.castaneda@mtvstaff.com

Track Mad Catz via the following social media:

Facebook® Page: http://www.facebook.com/MadCatzInc

Twitter® Page: http://twitter.com/MadCatzInc YouTube® Channel: http://www.youtube.com/MadCatzCompany

About Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.

Mad Catz is a leading global provider of innovative products for the interactive entertainment industry. Mad Catz develops and markets accessories for videogame systems and PCs under its Mad Catz (casual gaming), Saitek (simulation), Cyborg (pro gaming), Eclipse (home and office) and Tritton (gaming audio) brands. Mad Catz also operates e-commerce and content websites for videogame and PC products under its GameShark brand, develops, manufactures and markets proprietary earphones under its AirDrives brand, and publishes and distributes video/PC games. Mad Catz distributes its products through most of the leading retailers offering interactive entertainment products and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For additional information please go to www.madcatz.com, as well as www.store.gameshark.com, www.saitek.com, www.cyborggaming.com, www.eclipsetouch.com, www.trittontechnologies.com, www.gameshark.com and www.airdrives.com.

About Harmonix Music Systems

Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., based in Cambridge, MA, and established in 1995, is the leading developer of groundbreaking music-oriented videogames. Harmonix was founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, who formed the company to invent new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music and have pioneered music and rhythm gaming in the US. For more information please visit: www.harmonixmusic.com.

About MTV Games

MTV Games is dedicated to creating, marketing and publishing high-quality, innovative interactive products that are relevant to the MTV audience and complements the core values of the MTV Networks brands.

FENDER, SQUIER, STRATOCASTER and the distinctive headstock design commonly found on these guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and used herein with express written permission. All rights reserved.

Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements: This press release contains forward- looking statements about the Company's business prospects that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information or future events or developments. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "should," "plan," "goal," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: the ability to maintain or renew the Company's licenses; competitive developments affecting the Company's current products; first party price reductions; the ability to successfully market both new and existing products domestically and internationally; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; or a downturn in the market or industry. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators

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OK, so it's 12/28/10 and you would think that maybe Amazon got shafted and maybe I needed to search out Best Buy for these things. Nope. Nothing. Best Buy never had gotten said PRO-Adapters.

Now, again, like an anti-Santa in the middle of the night today I get and e-mail from Amamzon:

Hello,

We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on November 09 2010 (Order#):

"Xbox 360 Rock Band 3 MIDI PRO - Adapter" Estimated arrival date: March 02 2011

WTMFF? I'll let you figure out the extra MF there.

So now Madcatz can point to their little disclaimer "Safe Harbor" part of that press release and tell me that the "with the Xbox 360® version expected to ship imminently to Best Buy" is their out. Why? Because of the use of the word "expected." I'm sorry, I call Bullshit. How do you use the words expected and imminently in the same sentence if you don't intend on shipping IMMINETLY?

So I search some more today to see if I may have missed an announcement. Nothing. I go to their website. Nothing. So I decide to vent my frustration and use their contact section of the website. #FAIL. I type in my information and complaint into their form and I get this:



Really? I try a couple more times just to make sure. Same result. So now I'll post it here:

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I am beyond frustrated as I imagine all my fellow XBOX 360 musicians are too. Just got an e-mail from Amazon.com letting me know that my estimated delivery date for my MIDI adapter is 3/2/11???????????????? Really? This is over 3.5 months after the initial release date. Meanwhile those with PS3s and Wiis can blissfully play their favorite tunes in Pro mode on their PROFESSIONAL MIDI KEYBOARDS.

Before you suggest I get the Keytar and stand, I don't need or want them, I have a pro rig and don't need either one of them. I'm sorry, but I really cannot understand how this adapter can be the white iPhone4 of XBOX accessories. Is there some mysterious and secret manufacturing method that is radically different than the Wii and PS3 versions? I can understand the slight original delay, but an additional 2.5 months?

At this point, I'm ready to cancel my order with Amazon and hope to get some store credit at Gamestop for RB3, RB2, and RB Beatles, and hardware and just delete my profile and songs I spent money on. The only reason I bought RB3 was to play keyboard parts. Now I don't even think I want to play anymore. It's childish really. Just take my marbles and go home in a huff.

What really gets me more than anything else is the utter lack of respect that the company has by not even saying ANYWHERE, "Sorry guys, had a bit of an issue with that adapter. Won't be out till the end of December for you XBOX people. Oh wait a minute, now the beginning of March." Not even an explanation. What? You think you guys are Apple? Again, white iPhone4 reference. And, no, I never tried to get one of those.

Silence to your customers is the worst thing you can do. I should know, I'm in restaurants. The worst thing I can do when someone's food is severely delayed is to ignore them and just show up with their order late. If I or my server at least stops by and lets them know there's an issue most of the time I don't have to do any kind of compensation. Or at least I don't have to buy their entire meal. Very poor customer service going on here, so the only way I can feel like I can get compensated is to cancel the order and try to get some store credit for the products and hardware I do have. The PRO Keyboard songs I did buy as soon as my copy of RB3 arrived (and other songs over the couple years) can't be returned or refunded.

Absolutely disgusted.

Mark

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In reading the entire press release I see that there are several e-mail addresses for us to contact people. So I'll send my message to all of them too :)

So I guess my local Gamestop will be getting a visit from me soon. At least I can also give them my original XBOX too for that extra $2 in store credit it's maybe worth.

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UPDATE 12/31/10 10:48 Central Time :)

An update to all of this. I received an e-mail from the Global PR & Communications Manager, Alex Verrey. He e-mailed me very shortly after I had e-mailed him. Granted I sent the e-mail at 6AM Central time so he was probably still at his office in the UK. The bottom line from all of this, as I'm not going to post his e-mail, is that the unit was delayed obviously. And that he shares the frustration from all of this. Also the fact that the MIDI unit was designed to go with the Fender Strat guitar which won't be out until next Spring. However they wanted to have it out prior to that. I thanked him for his reply and detailed more of my frustration.

So what am I going to do? I still haven't decided. While I want this adapter, the whole process of these delays is really turning me off to the game. Will my attitude change in a day or two? Probably. That's why I haven't rushed to cancel my order with Amazon or pile all my stuff in the car and bring it to Gamestop.

Do I want anything out of this? No. Just the adapter. The apology e-mail is definitely great to receive and appreciated, but at this point I just want what I ordered. Just like that guest who just wants their food in a restaurant. No compensation needed, just the item.

List of Suggested Mac OS X Apps

So I just emailed a friend of mine a list of Applications to get for his new Macbook Pro. I posted it to my Facebook account as a reply to a comment, but when I tried to post it as a Status Update Facebook choked on it. Needless to say, I thought this might be a good blog post. Especially considering I haven't post one in months here. This is directly from the e-mail and not edited for the blog:

OK, so here are a few things to get for your new Mac:

Connect360. It allows you to play media from your mac through your xbox. if you don't have the mac connected to the tv it's cool to have. you can also stream music from your mac to play via the xbox while playing games. http://www.nullriver.com/products/connect360

GPG (the free PGP software). It shouldn't be too tricky to install, but I don't know how to transfer your key you created in the past to this one. You might need to create a new one. Anyway, if you want to install it in Mail, this is the only way to do it. It didn't work with Mail for a long time, so the next time Apple upgrades Mail, it might break. http://www.gpgmail.org/

VLC. VideoLAN (I don't know what the "C" stands for). This will play anything out there. Like I said before, sometimes quicktime won't play some video files. It's not a necessary program to have, but tons of people swear by it. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Flip4MacWMV. This allows WMV (Windows Movie Files - Windows Media Video I think) to be played in the Quicktime player. There's a free and paid version. http://www.telestream.net/telestream-products/desktop-products.htm

AppDelete. This will completely delete all aspects of a program. In Mac OS X typically when you trash an application it's deleted. However there may be a few other files associated with the app hanging around. This finds them. However, it only works if you take the app itself and drop on on the AppDelete icon. OK, looks like there's an Orphans option that finds files that don't have an app associated with it. http://www.reggieashworth.com/

Audacity. It's an audio editor app that's free. Not sure how much of this you'd want to do, but it's functional. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Firefox stuff. NoScript. There's plenty of other extensions to get for various things, but this should be the one that everyone has. It helps prevent unwanted scripts from running and harming your system. JS exploits can happen on all OSes. So if you're gonna go surfing it helps to have this running. Just search for it in FF.

Hulu Desktop. It's only good for me for old TV episodes. The movies on there pretty much suck. http://www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop

LittleSnitch. OK, so the Mac is pretty much virus/trojan proof. HOWEVER, it's not perfect. Just in case something does get installed, or you have a legitimate program that's "phoning home" and want to know about it, this proggy is a must have. It also appeals to the geek in me. It can be annoying at times. Sometimes an app will make multiple calls to multiple servers. When you see that happen there is a setting that allows you to give a blanket approval to all requests for that app. At first you'll need to approve everything; including Mac apps. Just like when you first start using NoScript on FF. http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

Skype. Really only if you want to do video chat with people when they don't have an iChat account. I rarely use it, but it's pretty cool. http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home

TextWrangler. OK, so you have Text Edit which is fine. But if you want to do some serious text editing but not use Word, this is it. One example of needing this is if you want to make those e-mail sigs I have. Text Edit won't save it correctly, and Word will screw it up. I don't know why, but that's what I've experienced. And it's free. http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/

Transmission. Looking for that torrent of Iron Man 2? Once you find it, you this to download it. It's small, easy to use, and doesn't consume all your resources like Vuze. All it does is download. So unlike Vuze which lets you browse media, Transmission is a single purpose proggy. http://www.transmissionbt.com/

TrueCrypt. Need to hide those secret plans to overthrow the government or just don't want the pesky TSA to look at your porn, this thing is bullet-proof. You can completely encrypt your entire system or individual folders. Create hidden partitions and directories that's impossible to find. For my iMac I don't use it mainly cuz it's a desktop. However, for a laptop, it's something I'd recommend. Better than using FileVault in the system preferences. And it's free. http://www.truecrypt.org/

WireTapStudio. Need to record audio from anything your Mac is playing? This will do it. Was more useful for me when every iTunes song was copy-protected, but still has a use. Has a free trial. http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/

Temperature Monitor. It monitors the temps of your Mac's components. Not a must have, but it's something to have in case you want to check out how hot you're Mac is getting. Free. http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html

Growl. This is the the one program I would miss if I uninstalled it. It's a system notification app. It tells you when a new mail message comes in, new tweet, what song is playing, when a device it plugged in, etc. You'll also need to get GrowlMail and HardwareGrowler from the same site. It's so integrated in my system that I expect it when I work with windows machines. http://growl.info/

Cocktail and Onyx. They both do essentially the same thing. They are a way to clean your system and check various aspects of it. Onyx is probably a bit more powerful/geeky. Cocktail: http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php Onyx: http://www.titanium.free.fr/forums.php

MakeiPhoneRingTone. Don't want to spend $0.99 to make that song a ring tone in iTunes. This will do it. Though you'll need to create a version of the song that's no more than 30 secs. Actually it can be up to 40. That's where Audacity comes in to help. Same company makes Audio Hijack Pro which is similar to WireTap Pro, and some other cool little proggies. Free. http://www.rogueamoeba.com/freebies/

Amadeus Pro. If you don't like Audacity and want to use a paid app for sound editing, Amadeus Pro is pretty good. http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro/AmadeusPro.html

Disk Inventory X. This gives you a visual layout of files on your disk. Exremely helpful in finding huge files that are taking up disk space. Make sure you download the UNIVERSAL Beta. The regular 1.0 won't work as I found out today creating this list. What's really important to me about this app is that you can identify files that are taking up too much space and delete them from the app. Other's I've seen and used didn't let me do that. Free. http://www.derlien.com/

Monolingual. Eliminate all those language files you don't need when installing an app. Free. http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/

PeakExpress 6. For even more audio editing power. It's not free. http://www.bias-inc.com/products/peakExpress6/

Ableton Live. This is if you want to get back into some DJ stuff. Much more powerful than Garage Band. And if you get RB3 then you can use the Keyboard with it via MIDI. Definitely not free, but they do have a free trial. http://www.ableton.com/live-8

Synergy. It's a keyboard controller for iTunes. I use it all the time to stop and start iTunes. I know that now the mac keyboard has buttons for that, but it's my habit to use this thing. Not free, about $10. Listed at 9.95 Euros. http://www.wincent.com/a/products/synergy-advance/

Finally, for weather, I've used a few apps. Right now I use WeatherVane. Sits in your menu bar. http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/weathervane.html There are others if you search for them. Accuweather Stratus is pretty cool and sits on your desktop. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/marketplace/index.cfm?event=marketplace.offering&offeringid=10960&marketplaceid=1

One more thing. Glims for Safari. Adds some features to it. What I like the most is the search bar customization. http://www.machangout.com/

Hope this helps. There are some other things out there, but these are just about all of the apps I have installed minus a few that are specific for me or being super geeky ;)

3 Years and 20,000 Tweets Later

Three years ago this past July 5th, I joined Twitter after hearing @leolaporte repeatedly talk about it on his TWiT podcast, er, netcast during the first half of 2007. Back then I didn't get it. Now I do. So much so that I have a second "professional" account with @1337wine and also my work account @tgifridays0353. Plus a couple others I either never or rarely use.

I typed a long history of my Twitter use and then realized it was pretty effing boring. And I really didn't want this to become a Twitter blog post. I really want this to be more of an update since I've been ignoring this site. So here it goes....

The past year has had it's ups and downs. A year ago I was jobless. I quit my job as it was increasingly apparent that I could no longer work at a franchise that was bleeding money and having payroll issues. These facts were finally detailed several months later in various news outlets which left me with a bit of "I told you so" to all of the people that gave me funny looks when I would tell them why I and 3 other managers left the same month.

During this time I also started my 1337 Wine brand. Having loads of time to really concentrate on the website, twitter, facebook, reviews, etc. was great during those four jobless months. But since I had not intended to earn a living so soon from it and didn't have the finances to really invest in building it so that I could earn a living, I needed to get a "real job." So after 4 months I got a great job at TGIFridays. I was also been promoted to Bar Manager in the past 30 days.

With having this job I've also had to struggle with time. Time to devote to the website. For anyone that has visited THIS website, you've already seen that marz.me was the first victim. 1337 Wine has also slowly contracted to repeats of older reviews and long intervals between Sommelier School lessons. I do see this changing eventually once I take my Introductory Sommelier Exam in a few weeks. I'll resume the Lessons first. Eventually I'll resume reviews, but that may be quite a ways off.

This test I'm taking is going to be pretty difficult. I took and passed the Certified Specialist of Wine exam back in June. That exam wasn't too hard, but I didn't get a 100 on it either. This Sommelier Exam covers more than just wine and wine service, but it's still a 100 question test. That and there is a 1.5 day review. But it's something that you need to have a command of the material prior to the review. Don't expect to walk in cold and learn everything from the review.

There is a good chance I won't pass this test, but I really think I will. And I'll probably do better than I think I will. If I didn't that would really suck as I've been working towards this test on and off for about 4 years. It's really only been the past year that I've really tried to hunker down and re-learn all that I had learned and more. But life does get in the way and sometimes the professional life (you know, the one that pays the bills) and the rest of the personal life (doing things other than wine) want some attention too. Back to the sucking part. Not only have I worked for years at this, but it's expensive. $495 for the test alone. Plus my travel and lodging expenses. But no matter what, it'll be worth it.

What else? Well, over the past year I've met a lot of really cool people here in San Antonio. My circle of twitter friends has expanded. And while I'm not always joining them at all the Twitterati hot spots around the city, when I do get together with them (mostly at #BMPR meetings) it's always a good time. That and the Pity Parties of old.

I've also gone through some more private ups and downs. And they'll mostly stay private. People I know IRL know the events. This is the ironic part about me for the past few years. As much of a Privacy advocate as I am, I'm fairly public about my life with the advent of Social Media. First with MySpace (though I was brought into it kicking and screaming), then Twitter and Facebook. Plus Viddler and YouTube and all the other video sites I've got my 1337 Wine TV videos on.

However, I don't put EVERYTHING on Twitter. I used to tweet about almost everything, but over time as my follower count has increased, I filtered more of "What Are You Doing?" Granted my followers will get those times when I'm giving the play-by-play of a sporting event on Twitter, but hey, it's not like I do that 24/7 :) Same with Facebook and MySpace. I've made those profiles private. Though with 500+ Facebook friends, even there I have to filter some things. Especially since there are people I work with as friends. Some things are better left unsaid to avoid those awkward moments around the water cooler, or Expo in my case. Forget MySpace. It's been MONTHS since I've signed on to that.

And then with 1337 Wine I have a different set of people that follow me. I've posted the occasional somewhat "blue" comment on the 1337 Wine account that was meant for Marz8. Or just mistakenly posting something meant for the other. Call it Twitter Personality Disorder. But in any case, I've developed a specialized group of people that focus on wine. And my postings in general also focus on wine. However, I may post about other things and have conversations about other subjects. Especially if they lean towards the "leet" side of things. But this side is definitely a public side to me.

So back to the privacy stuff. Well, we live in a world that is so connected that it's difficult to maintain a private presence. While not everyone shows up on a Google search, those of us that use Social Media and the Internet in general are there. So with that, I try to decide how much I put out there. While I'm no Gary Vaynerchuk or Leo Laporte, I'm not difficult to find on the 'Net. If my name was Mark Smith, I could enjoy more anonymity, but then with an uncommon name I'm able to have some uniqueness when it comes to the online world. Sometimes I show up on the front page of Google, sometimes it's the top of Page 2. Tonight, I have the last two entries of Page 1. Of course if you put my middle initial, V, in the search, I'm the entire first 4 pages ;) Put 1337 Wine? Yeah, you get the idea. I'm public. Privacy exists for me, but only in my mind until the "thought police" become a reality.

What's next? More Wine and Work. I've got a large task at the "day job" to do. And it will take up most of my free time. When I'm not at work, I'll be thinking about how to improve there. I'll take the Sommelier Exam and then resume the lessons in the "Fall Semester" of Sommelier School. I hope to have free time to play more video games (currently really digging the Risk Factions game on XBox (Marz8 gamertag BTW)). And that album I was supposed to complete? Yeah, it was supposed to be called "42." Well, I've got less than 2 months to actually complete that. Probably not going to happen. Guess I won't call it 42 if I ever complete it. Oh and somewhere along the line I want to create an iPad/iPhone app for 1337 Wine.

I think I've rambled enough for now. It's been a great run on Twitter. I hope to have 20k more tweets and more blog posts. Yeah, when am I gonna fit in time to blog? It's not like I haven't created a billion blog posts in my head that never make it to here. Until then......follow me on Twitter! And visit 1337 Wine and generate some revenue for me!

l8r,

Marz