Guitar Hero 4's New Instrument Revealed

The fabled "new instrument" for Guitar Hero World Tour is actually no instrument at all. Instead, it's a feature that will let PC users import MIDI tracks into the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, Neversoft project director Brian Bright has informed Shacknews.

The MIDI sequencer functionality encompasses rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, keyboards and drum tracks on the PlayStation 3, but will be limited to drum tracks on the Xbox 360 due to unspecified "hardware issues." The feature will arrive as part of a week-one patch for the game, which hits October 26 with 86 on-disc songs.

Word of a new instrument, specifically dedicated to the game's music creation mode, recently emerged. However, Bright claims his comments were "misconstrued."

"We have full, basically, computer editing control, at least on the PS3, through the music studio," he stated in a Shacknews interview. "And that's where I was going when I said that [about a new instrument]."

"If you really want to compose on your PC, obviously you're going to use the samples in-game, but if you really want to compose on PC or turn your band's MIDI...into a GH Tunes song, you can do that," he explained. "You can press play on the computer, and if you have it connected through MIDI, you can record into the music studio."

When asked about the specifics of the recording process, Bright noted that "it's going to take an FAQ on the Guitar Hero site--it's not something that your average user is gonna do."

"If you're a musician or you do any sequencing, it really just makes the pathway to getting your songs in the game that much easier--once you get it down. We just really want to give people enough tools to be able to make good music," he concluded.