Troubleshooting

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DISCLAIMER: Successfully running Drum Machine requires that you have a working knowledge of computers and Microsoft Windows. By downloading and running Drum Machine it is assumed that you have already gone through the process of preparing your RockBand™ drumset to work on PC, and it is fully recognized by Windows. In otherwords, it should show up in Control Panel -> Game Controllers.

I do not (and cannot) officially support technical questions which are unrelated to the Drum Machine application. This software is developed for free, and I do not have the resources for supporting a wide range of potential PC configurations. My goal is simply to provide a utility for hobbyist gamers to extend enjoyment of their RockBand™ drumset peripheral. Using your RockBand™ drumset on PC is an unsupported activity, and documentation on issues will be sparse, or non-existant. It is up to the user (you) to diagnose these issues.

Finally, by downloading Drum Machine, and using it with your RockBand™ drumset you agree to assume all responsibility for any damages that may occur while using the software.

Thanks for trying Drum Machine!



Before trying any of these solutions, please make sure you have downloaded the latest version of Drum Machine.

I get an error message saying missing d3dx9_37.dll or d3dx9_38.dll

You need to Update DirectX Run-Time


Drum Machine says "Failed to initialize Graphics Device!"

If your graphics card is not Direct3D 9 compliant you may be out of luck, unfortunately. However, sometimes disabling shaders works:

1) go into the Drum Machine folder (c:\program files\drum machine)
2) find the file named settings.cfg and open it in notepad
3) locate the line that reads g_noShaders = 0 and change the 0 to 1

If this still doesn't fix the problem, it's likely that your graphics card is too out-of-date for Drum Machine.

Drum Machine fails to launch, with no errors/dialogs

These errors are difficult to solve, since there is so little information to go on. Sometimes the systemlog.txt file will have additional information. You can find the systemlog.txt file in the Drum Machine folder C:\program files\drum machine\ (unless you specified to install to another location).

Some things to keep in mind:

- Drum Machine requires a Direct3D 9 compatible video card
- You need to be running 32-bit Windows XP or Vista (not 64-bit)
- Your DirectX run-time should be as up-to-date as possible

Drum Machine says "Rock Band drum kit not found!"

There are a number of reasons you may receive this message, but the issue is that your drumset is not properly setup in Windows. Here are some things to check/try:

- Make sure you've installed the Xbox 360 input device driver

- Ensure the drumset is correctly plugged into a working USB port

- Open Start -> Control Panel -> Game Controllers and confirm that the device exists. You should see something like "Harmonix Drum Kit for Xbox 360 (Controller)"

- Highlight the drum kit controller in this list, and click properties. Try hitting some pads and see if the input is correctly recognized.

If you're still having problems, there may be another uncommon cause which you will need to investigate on your own. There are too many possible computer configurations to anticipate. Try checking for hardware conflicts, missing drivers, and even bad USB ports (try multiple, and don't just use ones on the front of the PC -- try the back ones too).

When I plug the drums in, my audio disappears

Check that your XBox 360 Communicator headset is not plugged into your drumset, or any other 360 controller that maybe attached to the PC. Windows will sometimes recognize a 360 controller as an audio device, and set it as the default.