MTV Drumscape

MTV Drumscape (or Drumscape) is an arcade drum simulation made by Devecka Enterprises. First introduced in 1997, it was designed with the intention of introducing players to music in a fun and interesting way. Drumscape resembles Karaoke for drums and has been set up as a top earning "attraction" in the US and other countries by hundreds of amusement locations such as the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and several Las Vegas Casino game rooms. Production of Drumscape stopped in 2001.

A number of celebrity drummers and musicians are pictured on the drumscape website either playing the game or posing with its creators.

The player sits in a booth before an array of electronic drum simulation pads. After selecting a song, the player hits the pads with a pair of drumsticks while a time meter counts down. The manufacturers recommend that arcade machines be set to a 2-minute and 15 second play-period costing $1. Unlike other music games, the player's actions are not dictated by a set rhythm displayed onscreen, but rather the player plays as he sees fit. Additionally, Drumscape lacks a scoring system to indicate success or failure of a player. As the player drums, stage lights and crowd cheers are triggered to create a more realistic experience.

Drumscape uses off the shelf components including a DTX drumset, amplifier, a standard computer (running the Drumscape menu software on its OS), a standard audio music player (such as CD system), and a standard VCR (not utilized in the final product). As claimed in its patent, it does not provide any cues for drumming.

While Drumscape is deemed more realistic by some drummers, it lacks a scoring system to indicate success or failure making it comparable to DDR DVD Game. For this reason, compared to drumming games like DrumMania it has seen comparatively lackluster success. While Drumscape aims to be the only drum simulation game in North America (due to the U.S. patent, which extends into Canada), many arcades have imported DrumMania to much success. This has put strong pressure on those arcades insisting on treading the more legally safe path.

...
Wikipedia