This mod has probably been done several times. Usually, all it takes is plugging the Xbox 360 Rock Band Drum Set into a computer and running some software to interpret the button presses and play a sound. That's what I originally did, but it was missing something that I considered pretty important:
The Hi-Hat Pedal!
I wanted some sort of footswitch to act as a hi-hat pedal to "raise" or "lower" the hi-hat. I was originally going to get another Rock Band pedal, but when building my friend's birthday present (A Staples Easy Button that can record and play back sound. It took longer than expected to build, and I was late to the party, but I think it was worth it.) I noticed that the Easy Button is the perfect size for a foot pedal. The next day, I went out to Staples and got another button.
It was a pretty easy mod. All I did was solder two wires to the contacts inside the easy button, and soldered the ends to a 1/8th inch jack. Later, as in today, after I made the video, I replaced the snappy thing inside the button that makes the button sort of snap up and down... sort of like a DS phat button, or GBA SP, with something a little less snappy.
On the drum's themselves, I opened up the controller part of the drums where the action buttons are, and wired a 1/8th inch socket/port to the "back" button. I was originally going to do the same for the "start" button in case I wanted to add another pedal, or maybe a cymbal, later but it made the controller unrecognizable to the computer, so I desoldered it.
In the future, I'm probably doing to add a switch so I can turn on the pedal without the foot button, sort of like how in real life you tighten the screw on a hi-hat, I think. Also, I figured out the in the software I'm using to interpret the drum hits and convert them to keyboard presses so FL Studio can recognize them, that a button can be mapped to not a key press, but to trigger different button configurations. So for example, a switch or foot pedal would make all the drums into toms or something. Also, maybe I'll add cymbals or something.
Did I mention I bought this on Black Friday? Only $50! Not bad.
Here's a video demonstrating the drums and how the extra pedal works!
(It's in HD even!)
I'll be making a tutorial video or something in the near future, so key an eye out for that!
