ACE Adapter Quickstart Guide

The ACE Adapter (All-Console Ekit Adapter) is an adapter specifically designed for using electronic drum kits (Ekits) with games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Clone Hero, and YARG!

Supported Platforms and Games

Note: Only Rock Band 3 and YARG support Pro Keys.

PC

• Clone Hero
• YARG
• Guitar Hero World Tour Definitive Edition
• Gitadora
• Emulators
  • RPCS3
  • PCSX2
  • Dolphin
  • Xenia (not tested)

Mac

• Clone Hero
• YARG
• Emulators
  • Dolphin
  • PCSX2
  • Other emulators are not thoroughly tested, so YMMV

PlayStation 2

• Guitar Hero World Tour
• Guitar Hero Metallica
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits
• Band Hero
• Guitar Hero 5
• Guitar Hero Van Halen
• Rock Band
• Rock Band 2 (and DX)
• Rock Band Track Packs (not tested)

PlayStation 3

• Guitar Hero World Tour
• Gutiar Hero Metallica
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits
• Band Hero
• Guitar Hero 5
• Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock
• Rock Band
• Rock Band 2 (and DX)
• Rock Band 3 (and DX)
• Lego Rock Band
• The Beatles: Rock Band
• Green Day: Rock Band
• Rock Band Track Packs (not tested)

Playstation 4/5

• Rock Band 4

Xbox 360

• Guitar Hero World Tour
• Guitar Hero Metallica
• Guitar Hero Smash Hits
• Band Hero
• Guitar Hero 5
• Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock
• Rock Band
• Rock Band 2 (and DX)
• Rock Band 3 (and DX)
• Lego Rock Band
• The Beatles: Rock Band
• Green Day: Rock Band
• Rock Band Track Packs (not tested)

Xbox One/Series

• Rock Band 4 (AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED. Click to be taken to the RB4 Authentication section)

Wii

• Rock Band 2
• Rock Band 3
• Lego Rock Band
• The Beatles: Rock Band
• Green Day: Rock Band

Setup

Requirements

• ACE Adapter
• A computer that uses Windows, macOS, or Linux
• The latest revision of RCM Programming Tool
• A compatible controller or electronic drum kit

Programming

The ACE Adapter requires specific presets for different controllers/games.

Rock Band games require the RB Pro Drums/RB Pro Drums (Swap Cymbals) or RB Pro Keys presets.

Guitar Hero games require the GH Drums preset.

ACE Adapter Programming Guide

To change the preset of your ACE Adapter, you must use the RCM Programming Tool. Click here to be taken to the download page.

1. Open the RCM Programming Tool.

2. Plug your ACE Adapter into your computer. You will see it appear with “Configure” and “Reset to factory” buttons.

   
3. Click “Configure“

4. You will be brought to this screen in the Programming Tool

   

   If you are attempting to change to a different preset, click the dropdown on the left side, then select that preset. After, click “Save Settings“.

   
5. Wait until the bar at the bottom reaches 100% and says Status: Done.

   
6. Final notes: You may need to adjust the hit sensitivity of your instrument. The following section will help you through that calibration/tuning process.

Instrument Setup

ACE Adapter Ports

To use the ACE Adapter with your input device, you must connect the device to the adapter using either USB-MIDI or standard MIDI. Some devices may be compatible with both.

Red circled input is standard MIDI

Green circled input is for USB-MIDI

Calibration/Tuning

Drum Tuning

1. Before even attempting to play a game, make sure you’re on the preset for your intended game. Click here to be taken to the programming section. You can find out what preset you’re on in the main menu of the programming tool.

   
2. Click Configure.

3. Plug in your controller or electronic drum kit.

   • If you are using USB-MIDI, you should see “1 Devices connected” next to USB Host Inputs.

   
4. Click the MIDI Inputs dropdown, then start tapping on your drums while looking through the inputs to find if they are appearing. It may be useful to write down the MIDI note value for each of your pads/cymbals for easy future reference.

5. 

   Refer to the picture above. Value shows the signal sent from your drums to the ACE Adapter. Hit the pads to see the bar move and number go up! There are two modifiers you can change, Threshold and Sensitivity.

   • Threshold is how hard you have to hit before the game detects an input. Raising this requires you to hit harder. You want to change this if your light hit starts at a high number.
   • Sensitivity defines the max range of detection. It determines the loudness or hardness of the hit that the game detects. Lowering this allows hits with less strength to hit louder. You want to change this if your hard hits do not get close to maxing out the Value meter.
6. Some pads are more sensitive than others, so we suggest going through each pad/cymbal/input and adjusting to your liking.

7. Once you’re satisfied with calibration, click “Save Settings” on the left side of the window. Once the programming tool has finished writing the firmware, it will show “Status: Done” and 100%. Close the software.

   
8. Load up your favorite game and play! Or plug into your console and play!

   • If you are attempting to play Rock Band 4 on Xbox One/Series, you will have to authenticate. Click here to learn how to do that!

Pro Keys Tuning

1. Before even attempting to play a game, make sure you’re on the preset for your intended game. Click here to be taken to the programming section. You can find out what preset you’re on in the main menu of the programming tool.

   
2. Click Configure.

3. Plug in your keyboard.

   • If you are using standard MIDI connection, make sure that the keyboard you’re using it plugged in either by a battery, USB power connection, or wall power. It will not function without that.
   • If you are using USB-MIDI, you should see “1 Devices connected” next to USB Host Inputs when you plug it in.

   
4. Click the MIDI Inputs dropdown, then start pressing keys down and look around the inputs to see if inputs are being detected.

   
5. Once you’ve verified that inputs are going through, there is nothing to calibrate in the programming tool. You can now plug into a console and start playing!

   • If you are using the Rock Band 3 keytar with standard MIDI as opposed to USB-MIDI, you will have to navigate the menus with the ACE Adapter buttons as opposed to the ones on the controller.

Authentication

Xbox One/Series (Rock Band 4)

To play Rock Band 4 on your Xbox with a ACE Adapter, you will have to authenticate the ACE with a licensed Xbox One or Xbox Series controller.

1. Turn on the Xbox One/Series, then using your Xbox controller, load into Rock Band 4.

2. Disconnect the Xbox controller from your Xbox One/Series. (Pop out batteries)

3. Connect the licensed Xbox controller into the female USB-A port (circled green) on the ACE Adapter.

   • Xbox One – models 1537, 1697, and 1698
   • Xbox One S – models 1708 and 1797
   • Xbox Series S/X – model 1914

   
4. Plug the adapter into the console with the gamepad plugged in.

5. Wait a moment, then press start on the gamepad to verify the connection is made. On the “Join” screen, a guitar player should appear.

6. Unplug the licensed Xbox controller from your device.

7. Plug in your e-kit, if needed.

8. Play the game!

If your controller is connected under the profile you want to use for the guitar, you’ll need to “drop out” the controller before assigning that profile to the guitar.

Fortnite Festival

Pro Drums via Keyboard Mode

1. Download the latest RCM Programming Tool.

2. Open the RCM Programming Tool

3. Check that your ACE Adapter is in “D” mode

   Plug your ACE Adapter into the computer

4. Click Configure, then click Save Settings on the left side of the screen

   Wait for that process to complete

5. Once it is complete, unplug the ACE Adapter from the computer

6. Move the mode switch on the ACE Adapter from D to K

7. Plug your drum kit into your adapter, via USB MIDI or standard MIDI

8. Load up Fortnite, then navigate to the settings menu

9. Click the 4th tab, GAME. Then scroll to the bottom

10. Turn on the Display All Pro Parts setting

    If you are using cymbals, scroll further down and turn on the individual cymbals

11. Plug your ACE Adapter into your console/PC, then use either a gamepad or keyboard/mouse to navigate the game!

12. Once you’ve loaded up a song, the drum kit should just work, as it is mimicking the Pro Drums keyboard inputs.

Windows

Setup on Windows is usually easy as plug-and-play, but sometimes things have to be mapped manually.

Clone Hero

1. Open Clone Hero.

2. Press the SPACE BAR on your keyboard to open the controls/binds menu.

   
3. If you haven’t already, plug in your V3 Adapter with instrument attached. You will see the V3 Adapter appear here:

   
4. If you are playing on with a guitar, you may need to calibrate tilt and/or whammy. Click the Calibrate button.

   

   You will be taken to this menu:

   

   Axis 0 tends to pertain to whammy while Axis 1 is usually for tilt. Click Calibrate and follow the directions. Once you’ve calibrate, click Done.

5. On the right side of the main binds menu, there are blank spaces for each input. Click on the inputs that apply to your instrument and follow the setup instructions. Once you’ve bound all applicable inputs, click Done at the top left of the screen.

   
6. Once binds are set, press start in the home screen to pick your profile, then jump into a song and test out your inputs!

YARG

1. Plug in your V3 Adapter + instrument

2. Open the YARC Launcher, then open YARG

3. Once the game is open, head to the Profiles section

   
4. Create a new profile if you don’t already have one, then click “Connect” on that newly made profile. It will ask you to pick a device.

   

   
5. If you are using an instrument aside from a guitar, change the “Game Mode”

6. Click the Edit Profile and Binds button, then click on the Binds button at the top of the screen.

   

   
7. Go through each applicable input and create a new bind for each one, setting up the buttons as you go! Some instruments might not need this, so do as needed.

   
8. Once you have the binds set up, you’re ready to play!

Guitar Hero World Tour Definitive Edition

Inputs should be bound automatically when using the GH Guitar preset (default).

If not, refer to the Definitive Edition Binding Controllers guide.

Guitar Hero 3/BetterGH3

Inputs should be bound automatically when using the GH Guitar preset (default).

If not, try plugging the adapter in BEFORE you open the game.

If that does not work, update your BetterGH3 to the latest revision.

Dolphin

1. Open Dolphin

2. Click the Controllers button in the tool bar
3. In the “Wii Remotes” section, click the Configure button next to Wii Remote 1
4. At the top left of the window that popped up, change the device to the V3 Adapter
5. Then, on the right side of the window, there is an Extensions section. By default it will show that there is “None” extension. Change that to Guitar, then click Configure Extension. You will be taken to the Extension menu.
6. In the Extension menu, begin mapping each input. If you have trouble mapping them from the Extensions menu, right click the input. A popup will appear that shows all possible inputs. Press down the input you’re trying to bind a few times while looking through the inputs. Once you’ve found the one you want, click Insert Input, then click OK. 
7. Once you’ve bound all the inputs you need, click Close and test a game!

   If you run into any input issues, check that multiple buttons are not bound to the same input.

PCSX2 - RB Drums (4 lane, no cymbals)

1. Open the Settings>Controllers menu.

   You will see multiple input types, including SDL, XInput, and DInput

2. Make sure that SDL is selected.

3. Observe the Detected Devices section on the right side of the window. If you haven’t plugged your V3 Adapter in yet, do so. It should appear in that list. Click on it.

4. Navigate to “USB Port 1” on the left side of the window.

   It will show “Not Connected” by default. Change that to Rock Band Drum Kit.

5. Hold SHIFT, then click each input, then add your designated input bind.

   Once you have them all inputted, close the window and test them in a game!

RPCS3

You can use our premade RPCS3 Controller Preset file for an easy setup.

Click here to download the RCM RPCS3 Controller Preset. (Top right of page is download button)

1. You must first navigate to where RPCS3 is installed. This can be done two ways.

   This can be done by either searching for the folder yourself or by right clicking an installed game, hover “Open Folder”, then click “Open Custom Config Folder”.
   This will open up a window that contains your game configurations.

   

   Click the “config” folder.

   

   

   Open the “input_configs” folder. If this folder doesn’t exist, create it.

   

   Open the “global” folder. If this folder doesn’t exist, create it.

   

   Lastly, drag the “RCM RPCS3.yml” file into the global folder.

   

   You can now close out of the File Explorer window.

2. Returning to RPCS3, click on the “Pads” button at the top. This will open the controller configuration menu.

   
3. At the top right of the menu, click on the Configuration Files dropdown menu and switch it to “RCM RPCS3 Profile”.

   
4. At the top middle of the menu, your device should have changed to “XInput Pad #1”. If it shows “(disconnected)” beside it, unplug and plug the guitar back in. Then, click the dropdown and see if there is a device without the disconnected tag. If you don’t see XInput Pads at all, change the handler in the top left to XInput. If you need further support with this part, let us know.

   
5. You can verify that everything is set correctly by comparing to this image.

   • Your XInput Pad #1 is selected
   • Your Configuration Preset is set to “RCM RPCS3 Profile”
   • Triangle is set to X
   • Square is set to Y
   • Device Class is set to Guitar

   
6. Hit Save. This window will pop up. Hit Yes.

   

   The popup happens because we have to map tilt to select, as RPCS3 does not have guitar hero controller passthru YET.

7. Boot your game and have fun!

Troubleshooting

ACE Adapter not appearing in the RCM Programming Tool on Windows

There are various reasons that the ACE Adapter may not be appearing in the RCM Programming Tool. The following are possible remedies:

• The ACE Adapter must be in “D” mode to appear in the RCM Programming Tool. Make sure that the switch on the adapter is set to that.
• Sometimes just unplugging it and plugging it back in will help or restarting the programming tool.
• You may need to hard reset the device. Holding the reset button (small little button on the bottom right of the face) while plugging the adapter in will put it into recovery mode, which you can then open the RCM Programming Tool and erase and reset to factory.

If this doesn’t work, send us an email at [e-mail]

Blue and green cymbals are swapped

You need to swap the preset to “RB Drums (Swap Cymbals)” in the RCM Programming Tool!

Or RB3 Drums (Swap Cymbals).

The RCM Programming Tool isn't opening on macOS

If you are experiencing the following pop-up, macOS is detecting the RCM Programming Tool as a false-positive for being malware.

To fix this, open your System Settings/System Preferences.

Then navigate to the Privacy and Security tab in the left side menu.

Once you’ve entered this tab, scroll down to the Security section, then you’ll see that the programming tool was blocked. Click Open Anyway. It will ask you to either enter your password or input Touch ID.

Once you’ve completed this, the programmer will open. However it is only for this revision.

Say you had 10.7.11 instead of 10.7.10, you would need to do this process again.

The RCM Programming Tool is not seeing my device on Linux

If the RCM Programming Tool is not seeing your device, it is likely due to a permissions issue in Linux.

You will need the following file:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD\

68-RCM.rules

Navigate to /etc/udev/rules.d/, then drop 68-RCM.rules into the folder.

Once you’ve done that, open the RCM Programming Tool. Your device should appear now! If not, try unplugging and plugging back in.