How to be a Guitar Hero, IRL

by J.J. Styles

Hello, World (I just love having an audience that knows that reference!).

I will attempt to make this article brief, informative, and fun.

We will be discussing the electric guitar (a musical instrument device), software called Rocksmith 2014 by Ubisoft ("Rocksmith 2014" henceforth shall be referred to as just plain old "Rocksmith" for the remainder of this article), applications used to enhance the Rocksmith experience, and an online community called CustomsForge (I would say a "fantastic" community, but that judgment is for the readers to make).

Anyone familiar with the movie Sneakers (1992) might recall a character named "Whistler" that can do fun and amazing things with sounds (he's the blind hacker/phreak).  Phone phreaks in particular appreciate sound manipulation the most (ever play tunes using DTMF?), but it's tough to find a living human that doesn't have a novahot rocker star inside their soul, waiting to be unleashed (yes, that was a Shadowrun reference).

You may hear the words "Smith" and "Forge" and "Rock" and assume that heavy metal music is the focus of this article, but that is certainly not the case.  All genres of music can be played on the electric guitar, and utilizing Rocksmith.  The acoustic guitar is confined to one particular sound (unless equipped with a pickup and output jack), but the electric guitar can sound like anything one can imagine.  Sonic effects (digital and analog), Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) pickup interfaces, and software/apps (including plugins) are now more commonly used.

The guitar, invented blah blah blah... (go look it up on Wikipedia!) is akin to coding in assembly or, rather, a second-generation computer programming language, especially when compared to other stringed musical instruments.  Take a piano for instance (yes, there are strings inside of a piano).  The piano player interfaces with the strings through a series of "keys" and "pedals" used to generate certain specific "notes" and combinations of notes ("chords").  This interface acts as a layer, preventing the player from directly manipulating, or programming, the strings.  Whereas the guitar player has direct access to the strings that generate sound, giving them the ability to pick, pluck, strike, bend, slide, and mute the strings, et cetera and so forth.  This is the kind of minute detail an assembly hacker can and should appreciate.  (How does a programmer access CPU registers directly in a third-generation or higher language?  Don't ask me!)

By this point, if we haven't appealed to the inquisitive hacker side of your personality, perhaps the social and emotional benefits will persuade you to come to the rock-side (Star Wars analogy?  Yes?  No?  Whatever!).  Guitar players perform at gigs/shows.  This is a social activity.  Most social activities are dull wastes of time, but any DEFCON speaker will probably tell you that being the center of attention in a peer group setting is pretty awesome!  Praise, admiration, acceptance, chicks/dudes, booze/drugs, parties are all there waiting for you (even maybe true friends - those are rare though) if you are willing to "grab the brass ring" so to speak.  Partying is a devotion to pursue, sometimes a lifelong devotion - especially when the weight of intelligence becomes too much to bear (I'm saying extra brain cells are a burden, yes).

So now that I have hopefully convinced you that the electric guitar is the superior instrument to spend one's time with, where do we go from here?  Now that you've acquired an electric guitar, what now?  Get yourself a Real Tone cable and a copy of Rocksmith 2014 for Windows, OS X, Xbox 360/One, or PlayStation 3/4.  A Real Tone Cable is merely a quarter-inch (1/4") left-channel monaural (mono) phone jack connector (commonly referred to as a "guitar cable") on one end and a male USB 2.0 connector plug on the other.  Plug the guitar cable into your guitar, plug the USB end into the female receptacle on your Rocksmith compatible system of preference (I like to call this "jacking in"), and boot up Rocksmith.

A Real Tone Cable is essentially a USB guitar cable (a readily available third-party item), but there is a proprietary copy protection type box device that prevents Rocksmith from functioning without an authentic Real Tone Cable.  I have heard about custom hacked Dynamically-Link Library files (DLL files) that allow the use of USB guitar cables in Rocksmith, but I use an authentic Real Tone Cable (we will discuss how to utilize Rocksmith without a Real Tone Cable at the end of this article).

In the newest version of Rocksmith (Rocksmith 2014 Remastered), there are many modules to keep a guitar player (or bass guitar player) busy for the rest of their life.

"Amp" mode is where one can experiment like a rock'n'roll mad scientist, configuring combinations of amps, pedals, even virtual speaker emulation (a 15" speaker has more bass frequency than a 10" speaker and Rocksmith knows this).

Once a compelling filter for the guitar to sound like has been achieved, one could venture into "Session" mode, where a virtual jam session can be started up, allowing for drums, bass guitar, and even another guitar player to provide a platform for one to "noodle around" on top of.

Perhaps after this, "Lesson" mode could be activated, where videos describing various techniques can be watched.  One could sit back and "load a bowl" at this point and "zone out."  But rather than grabbing the bong, I would recommend continuing to hold onto that guitar and following along with the lesson videos, attempting the methods performed before you.  After learning a few techniques, one could attempt to perfect those techniques in the many "Arcade" games Rocksmith has to offer.  Games that focus on "chords," "volume control," "fret" and "string" accuracy, "scales," and "slides" are a very rewarding and perhaps overlooked feature that can actually contribute to a guitar player's skill level (games get you XP, IRL.  Quickly.  Whoa!).

Attention Please:  Now we shall talk about "Learn a Song" mode.  This mode appears like a Guitar Hero/Rock Band session at first glance.  On second glance, it's easy to ascertain that right before your eyes is actually a moving digital representation of guitar "tablature," flying towards you like a speeding train (just like Guitar Hero/Rock Band!).  Rocksmith comes with a library of songs built in that can be played at varying skill levels represented by percentages.  With the "auto-level up" setting bit flipped, one can start at zero percent, and after several play-throughs, be at 100 percent.  (And then she started playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" all the time, joined a band, and we never heard from her again.)

A Rocksmith'er could even raise their awareness to 200 percent once the song has been memorized and played with minimal assistance/cues in "Master Mode."  I would recommend doing this before playing a cover song at a gig, but that's just a recommendation, not a requirement (maybe play it for grandma first?).

After a satisfying score has been thrown down, an insecure/competitive gamer could put their chops to the test by comparing their score to others on the online "Leaderboard" through a round of "Score Attack," available in easy, moderate, hard, and master modes.

This is not necessary, as guitar playing does not need to be competitive to be enjoyed.  In fact, many guitar players refuse to judge guitar mastery through any kind of measurement system.  With that said, the gamer in me is never satisfied until I achieve the #1 spot on the leaderboard (foamyandsmokey on Xbox Live!) so I don't even bother unless confident I can wail.  Perhaps I have an unfair advantage in that I have experimented with various pickup switch settings (there are five selections on my American Standard Fender Stratocaster) and various tone/volume knob settings, and have gained acute awareness of preferred combinations to utilize, achieving maximum points for note accuracy (I noticed sometimes I did not get credit/score points for hitting the correct notes and that pissed me off so bad I went OCD).

Now that I have shared that knowledge, my conscience is clear.  Be sure to figure out your tones before you compete against me.  One could also cheat by using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) such as Audacity and create a perfectly sequenced track to play through the Real Tone Cable (just like holding up a microphone to the speaker during karaoke mode on Guitar Hero or Rock Band), but I have never, ever, ranked on an online leaderboard through cheating.  (One time in typing class, I wrote a macro in Windows Recorder to type the alphabet backwards in less than two seconds to impress chicks, but that's it!  I don't cheat!)  And I recommend you never cheat.  Because once a person cheats, any achievement they make in life will be assumed by others to be fake.  Cheating is easy to detect - by people and algorithms.  Whoa, it's dizzying up on that soapbox.  Where was I?  Oh yeah!  "Learn a Song" mode.

Let's assume, for the sake of continuing the pace of this primer, that after a span of time has passed, our hypothetical Rocksmith'er has exhausted the library of songs provided with the retail copy of Rocksmith.  Every song is at 200 percent completion, photographically memorized note for note, chord for chord.  What now?

Well, all versions of Rocksmith have Downloadable Content (DLC) available for a fair price (usually $2.99 USD per song) through the usual online software dispensaries (Valve Software's Steam, Xbox Live, PSN).  One particularly well priced option is the "Compatibility Kit" that imports all of the original songs from the first Rocksmith, released in 2012.

The songs in this package, and all available DLC, are well indexed online, including on Wikipedia.  Obviously, the online leaderboards are not as populated with other players' scores, since not every player bothers with DLC but, aside from that, everything is the same as the built-in songs.  I have purchased hundreds of dollars worth of DLC for my Xbox 360, which I started to regret.  Whenever a "Red Ring of Death" claims the life of one of my 360s, I rip it apart and attempt to fix things, but most of the time I fail.  The few times I succeeded in resuscitation, it was usually just a matter of time before the red lights came back, or something else like a laser pot needed tweaking, and I wound up just getting a new 360.  When this happens, a license transfer must occur in order to use all content purchased or licensed to the previous console.

License transfers have a limit on how many times a year they can be issued (I think it's every six months), so if a few systems die on you during a year (happens a lot to used/refurbished systems), things can get complicated (you can start to feel very ripped off).  If the "new" console is always connected to Xbox Live, this is not an issue (the DLC can be authenticated).  But during periods of no Internet access (times when you really need things like DLC to pass the time, waiting to save enough money to pay the Internet bill), you're just totally screwed.  SOL.

It was during a period of time like this that I learned I could play Rocksmith on my mid 2014 MacBook Pro 13" Retina running OS X Maverick release, using the Real Tone Cable I already owned (the breakaway Xbox adapter, didn't matter, much like the way an Xbox controller can connect to any computer).

After obtaining a code from MacGameStore for $12.00 USD ($48.00 dollars less than the retail price and the price Steam wanted), I started the download from my temporary public Wi-Fi connection.  While the bits trickled down the invisible wire, I investigated the differences between the console versions and the computer versions.  I quickly found out that the Mac version of Rocksmith and the Windows version were easily modifiable, offering a whole new world of possibilities to a broke ass like me.  Having already spent a small fortune on Xbox DLC, I felt completely justified in fooling around with copyrighted materials, knowing full well that recording artists, record labels, Ubisoft programmers, and even Microsoft had been compensated already (sorry Valve!  But hey, I didn't use Steam's bandwidth for the DLC, so no harm no foul).

Apparently, purchasing Rocksmith on Steam (and just about any game) grants access to both Mac and Windows versions of titles, but at the time I didn't have a license for Windows, so I didn't have Bootcamp installed and I completely focused on Mac.  All I had to do was:

1. Purchase one song, in order to have a valid license that could be spoofed from now on by other content.
2. Obtain and run a program called RSInjector.  This application contains a dynamic library file called RSBypass.dylib that, in a nutshell, acts as a man-in-the-middle allowing Rocksmith 2014.app to run and load any .m_psarc files (instead of .p_psarc files which operate in Windows) contained in a directory stored in the ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Rocksmith2014/dlc folder.
3. Finally, just obtain some songs to copy into said DLC folder.

The instructions for Windows are even easier.

All that is required is obtaining a file called "D3DX9_42.dll" (merely a special DirectX 9 library modified to allow the loading of CDLC, with spoofed license data), copy it to the folder containing "Rocksmith 2014.exe", and it's ready to go.

The following are the instructions most people go by to do what was just described:

How to Use Custom DLC (CDLC) on Mac

1. Your user account needs to be an Administrator account.
2. You need to enable third-party apps.  Open "System Preferences", click on "Security & Privacy", and on the "General" tab under "Allow apps downloaded from", choose "Anywhere".
3. Download and install Steam.  It must be installed in the default location.
4. Purchase and download Rocksmith 2014.
5. Purchase The Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock" DLC for Rocksmith 2014.  You must buy it so that it is licensed to you.  You can purchase a different RS2014 DLC if you want, but using "Cherub Rock is the easiest as that is the default AppID used by most CDLCs here.  If you choose to purchase DLC other than "Cherub Rock,"it must be RS2014 DLC.  Purchasing original Rocksmith 1 DLC will not work.  You will also have to use the RS Toolkit to change the AppID of each CDLC that you download to match the official DLC that you purchased.  This is why buying "Cherub Rock" is recommended.
6. Download RSInjector.
7. Place RSInjector in your Apps folder (it can actually be anywhere, but you might as well keep all your apps in one place).
8. Download the customs you want.  Make sure they end in _m.psarc.  If they end in _p.psarc they are PC-only versions and will need to be converted with the Toolkit.  I'll put instructions for that down below.
9. Place the customs in the DLC folder.  The location is: ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Rocksmith2014
11. It is a hidden folder, so the easiest way to find it is to open Finder, and using the "Go" menu, select "Go To Folder" and paste the location in there.  You can then drag the DLC folder to your sidebar to create a permanent link.
12. You can also find the folder by opening Steam and going to your games library and right-clicking on Rocksmith 2014, and choosing "Properties".  Select the "Local Files" tab and click on "Browse Local Files".
13. Open Steam, but do not launch Rocksmith 2014.
14. Launch RSInjector, which will automatically launch Rocksmith 2014.
15. Say goodbye to your family, friends, and free time.  You won't be seeing any of them for a while.

These CDLC cracks can be performed on console gaming systems as well, but due to the fact that jail breaking techniques must be used in order to achieve what has been described, I will leave it up to you to investigate these methods, as I do not personally condone jail breaking, not do I want to be blamed for the repercussions one could face as a result of doing so (bricking your system, getting banned from online services, etc.).  Do at your own risk!  (Plus that would be beyond the scope of this tutorial).

I personally do not feel like a genius computer whiz for having accomplished this trivial hack.  On the contrary, I feel like an idiot for not having done it sooner.  But, if I had done this sooner, I might have been tempted to never purchase any DLC, which is a total dick move.  I still purchase DLC for my Xbox, especially for recording artists I truly appreciate and support.  I like to believe that Ubisoft could fix this crack at any point by implementing a "phone home" method or any number of copy protection schemes.  But rather than using intrusive countermeasures to limit their faithful users, they allow a modding community to exist and thrive (that and they probably continue to sell more copies and make even more money allowing us to continue).

They can also see what is and what's going to be popular DLC to offer.  I played CDLC for Bad Religion way before I purchased their songs legitimately in Rocksmith (just recently became available).  Of course, these are just my speculations.  I have attempted to get opinions from Ubisoft programmers on the subject using social media, but they usually stop replying to me after such inquisitions (LOL).

So now that we have a fairly complete understanding of the offerings Ubisoft has supplied the guitar playing world, let's speak about the offerings that the CustomsForge community has offered to the Rocksmith world.  Currently there are 22,708 downloadable PSARC files indexed on: ignition.customsforge.com

The site has grown by at least 5,000 songs since I joined and continues to grow.

Before CustomsForge was established, PSARC files were already being exchanged through the traditional underground means of transmission (still are, and still would be if CustomsForge went away).  In fact, CustomsForge does not literally store any files of a copywrited/copywritten nature, merely pointers (hypertext URL links) to web-based file-sharing sites that contain them.  CustomsForge does store/host/contain a social network of Rocksmith enthusiasts that participate in various ways such as forums, tutorials, PSARC file creation, PSARC file leeching, etc.

I am primarily a leech and a lurker.  I live an unstable lifestyle that could be easily taken away from me at any point if I were to get into trouble.  Some folks can afford lawyers.  I cannot.  Some people are good at crowdsourcing and fundraising (for lawyer support).  I am not.  Some people feel they have nothing to lose.  Also, I say crazy things!  So when I do communicate, I try to be meaningful and have thought out ideas and questions.  Usually my questions either get answered, or have already been answered.  (I learned this 20 years ago in the alt.2600 FAQ!  Asking stupid questions like "How do I hack?" is for n00bs, lamers, posers, and narcs.)

Sometimes I attempt to solve unanswered questions for people when all replies have been from know-it-all d*cks and as*h*les, proclaiming "That's impossible!"  Luckily however, those types of people are slowly becoming extinct (except on microsoft.com forums) and virtually do not exist on CustomsForge.  Whatever the case may be, the guitar wielding bodhisattvas of the world have decided to contribute and devote their skills and time to converting sheet music and tablature to PSARC files, or even figuring songs out manually through "playing by ear."

As a result, these friggin' geniuses provide leeches like me a few minutes of nirvana, figuratively and sometimes literally (RIP Kurt!) by letting me experience my favorite art form firsthand.  Though I am capable of playing rhythm guitar and bass by ear, detecting the minute intricacies of fast tempo leads and fills is a real challenge and sometimes impossible for me to figure out by ear.  Plus, having a guide to follow gives me confidence (even if the guide is incorrect).

Guitar playing (like many things) is about confidence.

When a person performs a task with confidence, the task will usually, more than likely, get executed smoothly.  Confidence helps to free one of jitters, stutters, hiccups, flubs, blunders, bungles, etc, and other such side effects of insecurity.  Now though, people have learned that being quirky gives people character.  Quirks make the world interesting, and people more relatable.  If you see me on stage "butchering" a song, I'm probably doing it on purpose.  Confidently!  When I butcher a song, it's either because I'm drunk (got that way on purpose!), or because I haven't devoted my entire life to perfecting that song.  Just like at a karaoke bar.  At a karaoke bar, people have fun whether they can sing perfect pitch in seven octaves or not.  I give people props for picking good songs, for having "tastes."

Developing personal style makes life fun, easier, and more memorable - and playing the guitar totally helps.  It pretty much forces one to build style.

So now that we have gone over some business, social, and personal discussion, let's get back to some technical data.

The Rocksmith Real Tone Cable is a proprietary USB to quarter-inch phono guitar jack cable.

It is a fine piece of equipment and, when I say that, I mean that it is a fine POS (piece of stuff).  The cable works just fine, don't get me wrong, but I personally have owned four different cables due to breakage.  These cables do not stand the test of time very well in my experience.  My guitars and I spend a lot of time connected to Rocksmith, but I take care of my Real Tone cables and still they break.  Sometimes I can get extra use by placing extra tension on the cable by looping it from the input jack through my guitar strap, but this is a temporary fix at most.  At this point, one must either purchase a new cable, which costs $29.99 USD brand new, or look into a "no cable" hack.

A no cable hack will allow one to use a non-proprietary USB to guitar cable, or even utilize a professional audio interface as an alternative sound input source for Rocksmith, or even a microphone.  This is a big deal!  Music audio interfaces made by M-Audio, Focusrite, etc., have lower latency (digital sound lag, like buffering) and a higher frequency range.  So the signal Rocksmith can receive will be of a higher quality, meaning higher scores!  You'll finally get credit for those missed notes that you know you nailed (the ones that make you want to smash your guitar!).  I have tried several different applications to bypass the Real Tone Cable requirement and have experienced inconsistencies and glitches with all of them, with the exception of one program.

So now I will elaborate on that one:

NoCableLauncher available at: github.com/Maxx53/NoCableLauncher

Allows for point-and-click ease of use.  All one must do is locate the target Rocksmith installation (standalone and Steam version) and select the appropriate sound input source.  After that has been determined and the settings file has been written to disk, the next step is launching Rocksmith, which will occur automatically after a point and a click.  The only other advice I have to offer is to try experimenting with the Windows Sound Mixer control panel input level settings.

For example, my best input level is 10 out of 100.  Once I start going past 17 out of 100, the signal becomes too distorted (over modulated) for Rocksmith to accurately determine notes.  NoCableLauncher is a work in progress, and just recently (as of this article's creation) included the capability to take advantage of the multiplayer option in Rocksmith, meaning you and your bass, rhythm, and lead guitar players can jam out on separate guitars together and get that new cover song for your band down nice and tight.  Yeah!

Custom Downloadable Content (CDLC)) is the same as Downloadable Content (DLC), but in order to use CDLC you must use a patch to modify Rocksmith.

Modifications are straightforward, but I would recommend going to: customsforge.com/forum/151-new-customsforge-support-forums for assistance.

The best part about CDLC (besides not having to pay for it) is that anyone can create their own CDLC.  Whether you use sheet music, tablature, MIDI files, or just play by ear, creating CDLC can be very rewarding, both as a musician and as a coder/creator.

RS Toolkit and Editor on Fire are software tools used to accomplish the creation of CDLC.  If you need assistance using these tools, I would advise that you go to: customsforge.com/forum/154-cdlc-support-discussion and if you just want to explore all the fantastic content created by other CDLC developers I'd suggest checking out: ignition.customsforge.com

That is all I have to offer right now.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and I wish you well on all your musical and technical adventures!