1st session with keyboard

Last week was our 1st session with the keyboard. All Bongoo was able to find in terms of new instruments\equipment before the session was a cymbal kit and a keyboard stand. To everyone's surprise, Raikan was able to get his hands on the very rare Canadian PS3 keyboard (EB gets 1-2 pre-ordered one per week it seems).

On our shopping list:
- Pro guitar with buttons (hopefully within 1-2 weeks)
- Pro guitar with strings (March 1st)
- Mic stand (Bongoo using Raikan's ceiling beams as mic holder)
- Keyboard (Bongoo)

Raikan played most songs on Expert Pro Keys, but had to drop difficulties a few times, which is understandable for a new instrument.

Phoenix tried with 3 cymbals for the first time (using 1 of Bongoo's new ones). This set-up will do until Raikan gets his Pro Ion kit. Phoenix also forgot to bring his Roland KD-8...

One interesting note is that we started playing the "Road Challenges" this week instead of just doing Quickplay.

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 11 songs: 5 stars (1), 4 stars (9), 3 stars (1, for "Whip It")
- The game crashed when we were playing "Oye Mi Amor", the system perhaps rebelling that we were not all on Expert (Hard for Pro Keys)...
- We failed multiple times on "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1". The only good thing about that is that harmonies got easier and easier for each attempt

1st Rock Band 3 session

Last week we had our 1st RB3 session. What impressed me the most was the neat new sorting and filtering options. Since we have the entire song library, this will make it much easier to find what we want. It was useful from the getgo as we decided to start our RB3 career by playing the longest songs first.

I also liked the new "RB3" and "All Song" Leaderboards (no glitch so far!), plus the ability to sort by "Leaderboard Rank". The comparison with friends when you finish the song is also neat, as well as the ability to see Bass scores... It makes me wonder if Harmonix would ever have added all this in their game if we didn't create the Rock Band Score Reader plus RockBandStats.com (1st stat website) back in the day. Perhaps these kind of efforts were the catalyst for change.

The only disappointing thing about the launch was the lack of Pro instruments. Only Phoenix was able to play Pro as Raikan already had 2 cymbals (need another soon, but it also works with 2). Bongoo brought his new Mapex dual bass pedal for Phoenix's Roland KD-8. We are looking forward to the release of the Pro guitar and keyboard in Canada on the PS3.

We seem to be known as "Raikan81's band". Who knows how some people get their band name in the Leaderboards instead...

Chrissy joined us on harmonies, with Bongoo and Raikan also on vocals (in addition to guitar and bass, respectively).

Highlights:
- Stars breakdown for the 18 songs: 5 stars (4), 4 stars (10), 3 stars (4, for "Roundabout", "Beast and the Harlot", "Caught in a Mosh" and "Bohemian Rhapsody")
- Raikan's funniest wah-wah bass moments were during: none! The wah-wah bass in RB3 is not loud enough...
- We were halfway through "Free Bird", our 1st ever RB3 song, only to find out that there weren't getting energy sections (someone had joined after the start of the song)!
- We finally got to play some Rammstein in Rock Band ("Du Hast", not one of the longest songs, but we made an exception)! Now let's get some Rammstein DLC (12-pack ideas here)!
- We failed on the last note in "Smoke on the water" (tough on Pro drums)...
- Our percentages were between 56% and 86% on "Roundabout", ouch!
- Phoenix got the #1 rank on Pro Drums for "Roundabout" (one of the first to play it). We then checked out the Leaderboards later, only to find out he's been beaten by xXSHLONGFACEXx...
- Phoenix has fun with Bongoo's new dual bass pedal, which inspired a "death metal" version of "Sister Christian" (much to the Trapper's delight)! :)