To quote Jack Black in Anchorman, after
punting a dog off a highway overpass, "That's how I roll."
I'm sure a good percentage of people who purchased the original Rock Band instruments have experienced some sort of failure at one point or another. A
cottage industry has even popped up, with after-market parts and services being designed specifically to address problems with the Rock Band instruments. My particular problems were isolated to the drum pedal, which has a tendency to buckle under pressure from hardcore drumming.
After snapping my Rock Band pedal for the second time, my friends and I bypassed all of that and created something far more extraordinary. Spawned by the masterful use of adhesive tape and drunken ingenuity, and submitted for the approval of the
Midnight Society, I present to you the
Rock Band Drum Pedal: TI-83 Edition.
Damn you, Blackened
When my first pedal split in two pieces, I went through the standard steps outlined on EA's website for returning defective RB instruments. The process was fairly painless, but it was just a hassle to wait a few weeks for the replacement to arrive. Well, it arrived, but it was broken again within a month, and I was
not about to go through all that bullshit again (especially since my friends are all too lazy to do it themselves).
After the initial shock wore off and I refused to return another broken pedal, we decided to improvise,
Macgyver style. We crudely examined the pedal, straining to find its inner workings like apes surrounding a
monolith, and realized that everything was fine except for the flat part where your foot goes (that's the technical term for it). The best course of action seemed to be attaching something flat and sturdy to bridge the gap between the broken pieces. Simple enough, right?
Our first attempt was pretty pitiful: we just wrapped a shitload of twine around both an old TI-83 calculator and the pedal and prayed for the best. It would last for a whole song if we were lucky, and would then unravel into a useless mess. We then stumbled onto some kickass adhesive tape, which got the job done, and the rest is history. For those who are curious, I have no idea what kind of tape that is. And yes, I actually Googled "types of adhesive tape." Thrilling results ensued.
Yeah, kinda gross, huh?
I figured I would also include an extreme close-up of this masterpiece, which is holding strong after a few months of wear and tear. Yeah, check out that grimy ass tape, with dirt crusted into every fold and crevice.
You can practically smell the cheap beer emanating from this thing. Natty Light FTL.
this post certainly delivers on its title.
How many calculations, I mean BPM's can you achieve!?
That is a pretty ghetto peddle bro
LOL. Damn that is ghetto, but at least it's functional. It's funny how the RB2 drums now have "pedalmetal" standard on their pedals.
And I thought my "Screws, mending plates, and grip tape" solution was ghetto. Bravo.
Hey, ya can't expect something elegant from a bunch of guys who are loaded on a Friday night.
Also, the thing actually works.
I used some metal knives form my kitchen and taped them below the broken parts.
And I continue to rock as hard as always.
Calculators are for nerds.
I'm jealous
That shit if fucking 'hood yo.
Ti83 is worth to much to just tap as support! You so crazy!
Awesome, mine is just duct-taped to all hell.
Math doesn't love you anymore.
@Teta
I just noticed your avatar now, nice work. Everyone loves Christmas boobs.
@Snotrocket
The TI-83 was broken anyway, so it was just lying around. We did the calculator a favor, finally giving it a purpose in life again.
@Zeketheplumber
Fuck math. Yeah, I said it. I'm a man of words, numbers can go to hell. Also, Zekes:
I can't wait until you solve Fermat's Last Theorem while playing The Perfect Drug on Expert.
oh, holy shit, that's pretty damn hilarious and ingenious. Now your foot will be able to play your own hacked versions of megaman and mario levels in between songs, screw actual math!
This is the only thing calculators are good for.
haha TI-83, what's that an $90 fix?
My friend apparently stole the calculator from our high school calculus class a few years ago, and it was broken anyway, so it didn't cost us a damn thing.
Great idea, I wonder what other homemade solutions toid members have used to fix that damn pedal.
I reminds me of the medical tape my little brother used to use. but that stuff was shit unless there's PAL/NTSC differences in the tape.
GHETTO.
Now I'm gonna have to take some pictures of my jury-rigged mic stand to show off. Broken mop plus cat 5 is the way to go.
This reminds me of a time my belt broke during school and I temporarily replaced it with one of my socks. When I said that it was the most ghetto shit I'd ever done, he said, and I quote him word for word:"You call it ghetto, we call it resourceful".