Any tuning lower than E standard is barely registering

[Toothpicks]

I'm using my bass guitar and E standard tuning works fine, every note registers perfectly.

However, as soon as I try to lower the tuning, for example: Drop D, the lower string(s) no longer get the same recognition. I have slowed songs down to 10% to make absolutly sure I was hitting the right note at the right time but it's counted as a miss more than half the time.

I can hear the note fine through my speakers/amp and my own tuner says it's right as well as me tuning it to my piano.

Anyone have a solution for this problem? I'd like to see my actual score/hit-miss ratio rather than just getting 20% all the time

[Head Butt]

I have the same problem on the guitar when I play a drop D song on certain notes on the low E. Not sure what to do about it either, except ignore the score and know that I played it right.

[Toothpicks]

I more concerned about seeing the notes I've missed in the riff repeater for some of the more complex songs. sometimes I can go through a part 4-5 times before realizing that I'm missing one or two notes or doing a technique wrong. Luckily most of the songs I have trouble with are in E-standard but there are songs that are more my style in the lower tunings.

So far the internet has given me no help as for a fix either. Not sure what to do with the issue

[bean]

This is a very old issue in RS14 and we have all been looking for a solution. You will get a bunch of trolls saying "it works fine for me, must be you" as well as some well-meaning but ultimately ineffective advice. As a start, you can try:

- changing gain options (this would be where I would start in your case)
- Changing audio exclusivity
- Going to your sound options and trying to raise the volume on the RS mic
- Using an active bass (check batteries)
- Using more than one bass at different tunings. (1 dedicated to lower tunings)

There are more options I am forgetting to mention but fwiw I have never gotten RS14 working correctly and I have to play MUCH harder than I would normally even with the mic/gain set to 11.
(set to 11, bass player joke... see Spinal Tap... i mean max volume) It is very frustrating for users at all levels (that have this issue) from the very beginners to those who can 100% in 3 tries... it sucks...

There was a great explanation on these forums, I will find that and post it here forthright...

[bean]

From another thread from concerned bass players with the same issue.

Originally posted by tdubl26:

I've played both editions of Rocksmith and have about 300 hours or so between them and haven't come across any game breaking bugs. As far as active/passive goes I don't have an issue with either, the game plays the same way whether or not I have my preamp engaged. I am an intermediate level player and I picked the game up as a fun way to play songs I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.

There are limitations to what the game will recognize and do for you. Palm muted notes will be counted if you do it or not but, often the reverse is true as well. The game doesn't resolve waveforms with that degree of fidelity or even scrutinize your decay, slides or vibrato. It doesn't need to anyway, it tells you what to do and you can use your ears to adjust your playing accordingly on your own. From my experience the game errs on the side of the player more often than not. You can be credited for wrong, half fretted, muted, harmonics etc often if the timing is correct. It is what it is, you can police yourself on the more advanced techniques simply by using your ears. Even if the game gives you credit you know if you were wrong or not. For the price point at which this game is sold you can't expect it to perform significantly better than any other note detection software out there. Even the top shelf programs out there have the same issues with low notes and struggle with low tunings, especially detuned basses.

Intonation is key for this game to perform the best that it can. I would avoid the in game tuner as it is very liberal and is extremely unreliable for checking or setting intonation. Even a $20 tuner from the local music store is a better option. The other issue is that retuning for different songs will affect it also. You can usually get away with switching between drop D and standard without too much of an issue but, realize that tuning down will alter intonation across the entire instrument and may cause issues with note recognition. Technically you should readjust your entire instrument if you retune or change strings. That's not practical but, every instrument is different and even temperature and humidity changes and your own body heat can cause changes in intonation. Cut the guys some slack if any of that causes you to get a 97% instead of 100. They can't account for all of that using a $20 converter cable and a basic detection algorithm.

This game will help you with basic playing techniques, basic chord shapes and names using some popular music. It will also teach you some songs and help develop your timing playing along to backing tracks. It will not help you get better at playing with other musicians or a drummer. For that matter neither will playing along to albums or taking lessons, the only way to get better at that is to do it. It also won't help you with your dynamics or help you dial in your tone. You will still have to rely on sources outside of the game to really develop your playing.

Take if for what it is: a game first and an enjoyable introduction to the instrument for new players. A good way to have fun and really help yourself progress is to record yourself while you play, audio using a A/B/Y to split your instrument to the game and a recording device and video if possible. Then you can see how you actually look and sound and correct many discrepancies on your own. There are countless accomplished musicians with videos on youtube you can use to compare your technique to. No game, instructor, course, bandmate or video can make you great at the instrument. You have to develop your skill the old fashioned way..repetition.

[autistic cheryl]

Recalibrate, turn all of your volume knobs up and if that doesn't work then try raising your pickups https://youtu.be/omPTcEGvkd4?t=8m35s raising my pickups worked for me

[bean]

yea recalibration after any changes is good advice..

however, as far as raising the pups I would be careful, it isn't like a guitar where you can drop the action and raise the pups to get uberloud, it can cause issues with note detection as well as inadvertent contact even at higher tunings and not to mention lower tunings.

Basses need so much more clearance it CAN make raising the pups (to the point where it affects RS14 detection noticeably) more harmful than good.

(obviously there is nothing wrong with raising the pups and this can work very well for people, but you just have to be careful as basses are much more finicky than guitars when it comes to string clearance)

[Kid Meatball]

Beginners commonly press too hard on the strings, causing the note to go sharp. This is always exaggerated on the thickest strings and exaggerated further when those strings are down tuned.

[Toothpicks]

I'll test if I'm pressing too hard or not. I don't feel like I'm pressing very hard but I wouldn't know lol.

As for increasing colume and all that sound garbage, I've already tried that.

Although, for anyone having issues with volume on their bass in this game:
Recalibrate
play softly, must be soft
then when you're finished it raises your volume so when you play normally it sounds MUCH louder.

would that be affecting my note recognition??

[bean]

Originally posted by Desicively Indecisive:

I'll test if I'm pressing too hard or not. I don't feel like I'm pressing very hard but I wouldn't know lol.

That is only something that happens when you just start to learn to play string instruments, you would be able to tell very quickly; with your experience, if that were the case. (since you mentioned that you have no issues outside of RS) In any case, the tonal differences would have been very obvious in practice mode, as the notes would regularly be off by the same cents.

Originally posted by Desicively Indecisive:

As for increasing colume and all that sound garbage, I've already tried that.

Although, for anyone having issues with volume on their bass in this game:
Recalibrate
play softly, must be soft
then when you're finished it raises your volume so when you play normally it sounds MUCH louder.

would that be affecting my note recognition??

Yeah like i mentioned, in-game settings don't help everyone, I just put it out there as a possible solution, make sure to try different configurations if you decide to try again, ie disabling audio exclusivity in game but forcing it at a hardware/OS level. (HW if dedicated soundcard) and then using global settings to set the mic at appropriate levels.

As far as tricking the calibration mode by playing softer, this can work... You can also attain a similar result by lowering the volume and tone pots before-hand or by changing the gain settings outside as well as inside rs14. There are numerous ways to go around it so that it wil be louder and clearer, unfortunately these don't always improve note recognition in any meaningful way, though it does make the audio much better.

The issue is that both the tuner and calibration modes as well as the overall game engine favor the use of single note detection for tuning/diagnostics/calibration... while in-game you have notes that are going to step on each other constantly if it's on the same string, unless you mute the previous note or slide.

Obviously this is made worse when your whole lower register is deep enough to shake a house. (you VM p-bass, V-P-Bass, or precision style pups know what I'm talking about :P) I have meticulously maintained and set-up basses and my sustain goes longer than a 20 year old on Cialis, one open string left to ring will completely bring rocksmith's note detection to its knees. The same is not true of guitars in the same pristine condition because bass is a real man's instrument guitars create much fatter waves. Try it, a guitar will just register the open note as wrong, Bass will cause the note detection to take a massive dump across the board.

[Toothpicks]

I've noticed that open note issue, I thought it was an everyone thing. Glad I chose the string instrument that's finniky as hell xD

[bean]

Originally posted by Desicively Indecisive:

Glad I chose the string instrument that's finniky as hell xD

Not to mention the most under-rated electric instrument... Every scrub with a guitar thinks he is "good enough" to play bass in a band and that is why they all sound the same... mehhhh, its good enough I guesssssss...

Did you know that Leo Fender considered the Jazz Bass to be the most advanced and beautiful electrical instrument he ever created? After selling Fender to CBS and joining musicman (and eventually G&L) he took the jazz bass design (okok and the strat, shhh) to both these companies, creating some of the best mass production bass manufacturers that are still around to this day. (customs notwithstanding)

Bass is one of the hardest instruments to master, electric basses are a bit easier but still require MUCH more physical effort than other string instruments. It is because of it's difficulty that the bass gets so little love in the music industry. Listen to the music that was being created back when the electric bass first came out and listen to where it is now and you can easily tell that the industry has a SERIOUS deficit of real bass players after the late 90's.

[Toothpicks]

Originally posted by bean:

Originally posted by Desicively Indecisive:

Glad I chose the string instrument that's finniky as hell xD

Not to mention the most under-rated electric instrument... Every scrub with a guitar thinks he is "good enough" to play bass in a band and that is why they all sound the same... mehhhh, its good enough I guesssssss...

Did you know that Leo Fender considered the Jazz Bass to be the most advanced and beautiful electrical instrument he ever created? After selling Fender to CBS and joining musicman (and eventually G&L) he took the jazz bass design (okok and the strat, shhh) to both these companies, creating some of the best mass production bass manufacturers that are still around to this day. (customs notwithstanding)

Bass is one of the hardest instruments to master, electric basses are a bit easier but still require MUCH more physical effort than other string instruments. It is because of it's difficulty that the bass gets so little love in the music industry. Listen to the music that was being created back when the electric bass first came out and listen to where it is now and you can easily tell that the industry has a SERIOUS deficit of real bass players.

I KNOW!!!! Don't get me wrong there are some truly AMAZING players, none of which I know by name just watch on youtube, but besides some lines by RHCP and some other bands I can't find any great and intricate bass lines that fully use the instrument. Although if you're looking for a challenge try some Jpop on CDLC (whenever they let us use it again, if they ever do) those have some of the fastest, most complex, and most satisfying basslines I've ever played. I usually try to find the english vocals for it but sometimes I just get lazy and leave the japanese in there. Either way it's still so fun to play. I would NOT recommend tabs if CDLC doesn't get fixed. Find the sheet music, it's needed with all the little subtle techniques that make the lines great.

[bean]

I wholeheartedly agree, Jpop/rock is always surprising the sh!t out of me with the crazy creativity and balls-to-the-wall style... I am a big fan of different :D

[TRex Bassist]

Here is what I have worked through on lower tunings on the bass. What bean said is accurate. You can check the rocksmith unoffical help forum also. I would like to add two things. The action on my main bass is set pretty low. I usually setup my bass for Eb on the setup. That way I can pop up easily to E or drop down to D. When I start going lower I get string slap on the frets. If you are going to play regular at these lower tunings you may want to go heavier on the guage of your strings. Obviously, keep up with your intonation and watch your string height (action). Easiest rocksmith fix.. increase your cable gain and recalibrate.

[BPC]

It is an issue with string guage as TRex Bassist says. If you use light strings, you'll have trouble with lower tunings. I use Daddario chromes ECB82s. These have higher tension than rounds of the same guage and I can get down to D standard OK. Any lower and I use a bass with the lower four strings of a 5 string set. The low "E" is a .130. This gets me all the way down to BEAD without issues.
The problem seems to be if the tension of the strings drops too low then RS has trouble with note detection. The low tension also makes it very easy to press too hard or bend the string inadvertently.