Rock Band 3′s gear priced: keytar and Pro guitar sport MIDI out, adapter lets you use any keyboard / electronic drum set

Has your head cooled from all that rock news this morning? Nope? Well, we’d hate to rile you up again, but Mad Catz — now the official provider of all Rock Band 3 equipment — has priced its latest arsenal for the upcoming rhythm revival title. There’s also a few new details on each instrument, so without further ado:

• Wireless Keyboard: That MIDI port many of you spotted is for output, letting you plug the two-octave (C3 to C5) velocity-sensitive keytar directly into MIDI sequencers for non-gaming use. It’ll set you back $80, with an optional stand to be sold separately (no price given) alongside the game’s launch. Buying the keyboard / game bundle will be $130, or about $10 off individual purchases. Oh, and if you want to feel a bit more techno, this puppy can be used as the guitar / bass input.
• MIDI PRO-Adapter: Want to use your own keyboard or electronic drum set? Here’s the mediator you need, from MIDI to USB to console, and it sports the D-pad and other necessary gamepad buttons as well as velocity sensitivity adjustment controls. Asking price is $40.
• Pro Cymbals Expansion kit: three cymbals, apparently rejiggered from RB2′s offerings for quieter play and a pre-defined 10 degree angle. It’s $40 for this hi-hat, crash, and ride pack.
• Wireless Fender Mustang Pro Guitar Controller: Not the Squier hybrid we saw, this one actually sports a multitude of buttons for each string, spanning 17 frets (102 buttons in all). Actual strings are used for the plucking and strumming, and here’s something interesting — the axe has a MIDI output for software sequencers. This behemoth is $150, or approximately 1.5 Benjamins in your local currency.

Pictures of each instrument — and the yet-to-be-priced Squier — in the gallery below, as well as a few screen caps of Pro mode so you can get an idea how exactly it’ll “correct you” on proper Bohemian Rhapsody finger picking.

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Rock Band 3′s gear priced: keytar and Pro guitar sport MIDI out, adapter lets you use any keyboard / electronic drum set originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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