What the hell am I supposed to buy with Rock Band 3?

[Amilo]

Hey, I got Rock Band back when it first came out a few Christmases ago, and it was a lot of fun. It got me, my parents, and my brother playing together for hours. Back then,the setup was pretty simple: just plug the instruments into the USB ports.

That was a while ago. Now Rock band 3 is out, and I think it looks like a really fun game to get this Christmas, especially now that we have Xbox live and will be able to take advantage of the huge DLC music store. I was looking at peripherals... and I have no idea what the fuck to do. There are apparently now 5 instruments, and a "pro" version of each. There's no way in hell I can buy everything. What are players supposed to do?

[TheFrisk]

There's a pro guitar peripheral that you can use for pro guitar and pro bass modes. The keyboard is able to play both normal keys and pro keys without needing anything else. The drums require three cymbals, which you can get for around $40 I think. Vocals don't really have a pro mode, but the ability to have up to three microphones hooked up and other people can sing the harmonies (if there are any on that song).

The Pro mode stuff isn't required to play the game, so you don't actually have to go out and buy everything. You can keep on playing with the peripherals you have now.