page_title: Rock Band 2
section_title: Instrument peripherals
hierarchical_section_title: Rock Band 2 / Gameplay / Instrument peripherals
caption_attribution_description: English: Four people playing Rock Band 2 at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington.
context_page_description: Rock Band 2 is a 2008 music video game developed by Harmonix. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments. Players can play the lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums parts to songs with "instrument controllers", as well as sing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on their ability to match scrolling musical "notes" while playing instruments, or by their ability to match the singer's pitch on vocals.
  Rock Band 2 features improved drum and guitar controllers, while supporting older controllers, as well. New features include a "Drum Trainer" mode, a "Battle of the Bands" mode, online capabilities for "World Tour" mode, and merchandising opportunities for the players' virtual bands. In addition to the 84 songs included on the game disc and 20 free downloadable songs, over 1400 additional downloadable songs have been released for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 versions, with more added each week. All of these songs, existing and future, are compatible with all Rock Band titles.
context_section_description: All of the original Rock Band peripherals are compatible with Rock Band 2 for the same console. Similarly, the newly designed peripherals for Rock Band 2 are backwards compatible with the original Rock Band.
  The game features Rock Band 2-branded guitar controllers modeled after the Fender Stratocaster. The guitar is nearly identical to the original Rock Band Stratocaster in terms of gameplay, featuring ten colored fret buttons, a strum bar, a whammy bar, and an effects switch. Improvements to the new guitar include a sunburst paint job, a more reliable strum bar and Overdrive accelerometer, a self-timing calibration, and quieter fret buttons. The bass drum pedal from the drum set can also be used with the guitar to activate Overdrive mode.
  The bundled drum controller is also similar to the one featured in the original Rock Band. It features four rubber drum pads and a kick pedal. New improvements include velocity-sensitive drum pads (the force of the drum hits will dictate the in-game volume) with more rebound and less noise, a metal-reinforced kick pedal, expansion plugs for separately sold cymbals manufactured by Mad Catz, and wireless capabilities.
  Rock Band 2's USB microphone instrument is identical to the microphone from the original game. Singers are judged by pitch, or during "talking parts", their ability to enunciate spoken vocals. The phoneme detection system used for atonal vocal parts has been completely replaced with a new, more lenient engine, and songs imported from Rock Band and pre-existing downloadable content will be converted to use the new phoneme system.
  Harmonix and MTV Games have also provided limited edition instruments, including an authentic Fender Squier Stratocaster guitar and Precision Bass retrofitted with the game's input controls by Mad Catz. Additionally, Ion Audio is selling a "Premium Drum Kit" that not only works within Rock Band 2, but can also be expanded into an electronic drum kit through the purchase of a separately sold drum brain. The "Premium Drum Kit" features four drum pads, two cymbal pads (with the option of a third), and a bass pedal.
  The Rock Band 2 peripherals and Guitar Hero World Tour peripherals are cross-compatible with other music games on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Sony originally announced that instrument peripherals would be universally compatible on the PlayStation 3; and on November 24, 2008 a patch was released to allow the Guitar Hero: World Tour drums to be properly recognized by Rock Band 2.  Microsoft has also stated that instruments on the Xbox 360 will be compatible between the two games, as well as Rock Revolution.  The Wii edition of Rock Band 2 is compatible with the Wii drums and guitar for Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour as well as the guitar for Guitar Hero III. Rock Band 2 drum and guitar peripherals do not work with Wii Guitar Hero games prior to Guitar Hero 5, although the microphone does.
caption: Four people play on the Rock Band 2 stage at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, August 29, 2008.
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