Originally posted by: austin316
I bought the Rock Band game right when it came out. My unit has a production date of 10/31/2007. I'm assuming I have the older style drums, the ELs. I REALLY hate the clacking sound on the drums to the point I really haven't played this game more than 4~5 hours. What is the best solution to make it sound better? (IE: deaden the sound?)
I think that site is wrong. I believe the older versions are the QMs, at least that is what I got with my Special Edition set in early Dec. The standalone drums are ELs as well as the RMA I just received for my QM set. QMs are really good at being modded and ELs, at least my experience with them, are really bad at mods and have really poor sensitivity and a small target to hit for it to register.
To quiet mine I use one layer with socks and on top of those I have neoprene mouse pads rubber banded to the top of my drum. I have really good sensitivity as even fast drums rolls are picked up and also increased rebound bc of the mouse pads and decreased sound as well. I also don't have to hit my pads hard like when I had my EL set. The QM is superior set to play with with a couple simple mods. You could also go with rubber tipped drum sticks like jdport mentioned. If you don't want to spend 25-35 bucks on those pads, just cut 7" circles from any mouse pads you can find and secure them with 2 rubber bands like I said. Works great.
Also another reason to get pads is to prevent the drumheads from cracking. I don't play really hard, but even after a couple months they still cracked and lost responsiveness. If you have to do 2 mods, do the one I mentioned and get something to reinforce the bass pedal bc it will break, guaranteed. Or just get a real bass pedal and add a sensor to it, that's what I did.
If you have an EL, send it back until you get a QM. You can find the serial # on the bottom of the drums to verify the model.