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This page details how to author the standard and pro 4-lane charts for Drums to be played with a drum controller or MIDI drumset.
Introduction
Charting Drums for Rock Band consists of creating a pretty close and mostly accurate representation of the actual drum part in the song. While some adjustments have to be done for things like multiple cymbals and toms on occasion, the basics are mostly 1:1, and can actually teach the player how to perform the song on a real drum kit in a rudimentary way.
To start with, you'll want to understand the basics of playing drums, and which part of the set makes which sounds. Simply playing some Rock Band Pro drums can be enough to get a grasp of this, though looking up drum tutorials online is also useful.
When you're ready to chart, keep in mind which parts of the drum chart usually corresponds to the actual drums:
Orange Kick - Bass Drum
Red Drum = Snare Yellow Drum = Tom 1 Blue Drum = Tom 2 Green Drum = Tom 3
Yellow Cymbal = Hi-Hat Blue Cymbal = Ride Green Cymbal = Crash