After writing about Trombone Champ in VR yesterday, modders are bringing it all around and making my dreams come true.
People share their attempts to play Trombone Champ with trombones.
Custom trombones? To check. A real brass trombone? To check.
Trombone Champ: Release Date Trailer.
Mud and Streamer Rudeism is no stranger to playing games with unconventional controllers. He has previously played Elden Ring with a Fisher Price controller, Sifu with punch moves and Dark Souls 3 with one button and Morser code.
With a similar caliber to its Untitled Goose Game goose control, Rudeism created a trombone controller for Trombone Champ. The trombone is a plastic one bought online, because 3D printing took it too long.
Okay, to hell with 3D printing. It’s gonna take ages
We build this controller in old-fashioned style
— TROMBONE OBTAINED — pic.twitter.com/1Upw6Jx1S4
— Rudeism (@rudeism) September 22, 2022 Please enable targeting cookies to see this content. Manage cookie settings
He posted a log of the controller’s development on Twitter, culminating in a video of him trying it out with Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, and I must say his attempt isn’t that bad.
LOOK, THE TROMBONE CONTROLLER
Ultrasonic sensor controls the slide and a microphone controls the dooting. If only I knew how to play it IRL
The ultimate way to play Trombone Champ @HolyWowStudios pic.twitter.com/Lvm5m2CT44
— Rudeism (@rudeism) September 27, 2022 Please enable targeting cookies to see this content. Manage cookie settings
I appreciate how difficult it is to play brass instruments, which Rudesim fully demonstrated about a minute after the song.
The trombone is controlled with movement and breath, and Rudeism manages to move the slide quite accurately, all things considered. He was unable to use the full range of the slide due to limitations of the ultrasonic sensor measuring his position, but Rudeism said he has ideas to improve the range for his next iteration.
Tromboners will find that my range of motion is super small compared to what it should be – unfortunately the sensor doesn’t reach as far as I’d like. Going to work on that for version 2.0, I have some ideas
Other than that, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!
— Rudeism (@rudeism) September 27, 2022 Please enable targeting cookies to see this content. Manage cookie settings
In what I believe to be the ultimate controller for this game, YouTuber Hung Truong uploaded a video featuring his version of a brass trombone controller.
I made a Trombone Champ controller from a real trombone!
Truong used a smaller soprano trombone and hooked up sensors so the controls mapped out in the same way as Rudeism’s. However, Truong’s results weren’t quite as successful, which he attributed to buying a $7 flight sensor rather than something slightly better quality.
Truong didn’t run out of breath while playing, thanks to his experience as a trumpet player, but you can see the concentration on his face as he tried to deal with the erratic movements of the controller.
The next step, I think, would be to accurately map scroll positions to note positions in the game, although I’m not sure how feasible that would be for modders. For now, I’m excited to see that Rudeism and Truong’s trombollers (trombone controllers) were quite successful!