A few weeks ago Ars Technica leaked information about a new peripheral and game mode that requires “proper technique” for the up-coming Rock Band 3.
In an interview published on Friday at Joystiq, Harmonix confirmed the rumours and talked a little about what “Pro mode” will entail.
Cymbals for the drums

Cymbals have already been made available for the current slew of music games available, but they currently just duplicate some of the pads. While they share lanes with the existing pads the game will show you which you should be hitting to help acclimatise you to Pro mode. In Pro mode they will add up to three new inputs.
Two new guitars


Engadget says that the plastic Fender Mustang will cost around $150 and sport 17 frets with 6 buttons each and 6 pluckable nylon strings. If that’s still not real enough for you there’ll be a Squier Stratocaster which can be used as a real guitar or an input device. Harmonix said that it’ll have a full 22 frets.
Keytar


The keyboard being built is an actual instrument with MIDI out. There’s also a console adapter in development which will allow any MIDI keyboard and drum kit to be used as a game peripheral.
Pro mode details
Just like everything else in Rock Band, Pro mode will have easy, medium, hard and expert modes. Harmonix said that while they’ve been holding it up as a mode for players who’ve beaten everything in the Rock Band universe, the barrier to entry is really soft. “It’s not that you need to be a guitar player or an expert music game player to be able to get into the Pro stuff for guitar, keyboards, or drums,” said Daniel Sussman, project lead on Rock Band 3 at Harmonix. “All of that is supported with a very low-key easy mode.”
Real instruments in Rock Band 3 << Discuss in the forum





