Hate to say it Chris but I think you'll have to deal with it for quite a while.
I saw Tony this weekend and he looks pretty tired/like he's been really busy so at this point it's best to deal with what you have as best as you can.

Yeah, it is what it is! I'll live with the recessed pads for now, just can't wait till we can get pads all fancied up! 

Hey, so, I'm actually really against this foam modding being done to the Acme machine.

And why is that? An explanation would be nice :p

It is whatever for me at this point, I have huge doubts about anything changing anyways.

Sigh, at the very least...we should get the sensors balanced after rotating the arrow panels...

I've given up hope for foaming, not going to ask anymore.  

Hey, sorry to be all negative, I'm just really hesitant about so much change and wanted to discuss the issue more to: find out more info, see if it was something that would be easy and okay with Bill and his team, and decide as a group.

I know everyone has the best intentions in mind! I appreciate the passion for keeping the machine maintained and trying to make it better.

No one ever likes change!

Have you guys considered just a simple tape mode to flush out the pads? It's less work than foam and is kinda of the middle man between doing nothing and foam modding.

We could just foam pad the 2nd player side and leave the other side be. That way everyones happy? Just a thought. Everyone that plays the hard stuff mainly plays on the 2nd player side anyway, correct me if I'm wrong...and I don't really see a tournament happening at Acme anytime soon. But that issue we can discuss at a later time, until then, I don't see any reason not to foam pad one side.

May I offer some reassurances that if Chris and Tuan are put in charge of the tweaks that it will surely be done to a level of obsession and accuracy that will make everyone happy. I'm positive they've done the proper research and wouldn't let anything go awry. If for some reason they weren't able to get it working up to specs, they'd surely abandon it, as these guys do need their scores, foam or not. Additionally, with the level of rigor these guys play, it would certainly be consistently kept accurate.

This being said, the feel of the pad might be very slightly different, but I would venture a guess that it will feel just fine; it's not all that big of a modification. Believe me, I am a person highly resistant to change... And a while ago I would have opposed such a modification. But based on what I've personally heard about the feel and performance at this point I think it would be an overall positive change.

Anyway this is my 2-cents, thanks for your consideration!

Hey Allan, thanks for your support! 

I am confident that foam modding will be a positive change and our community will benefit from it. If anything goes wrong and the pads aren't functioning properly, I'd be the first one to change it back. Scoring is important for anyone who plays this game competitively and I will never jeopardize that. 

To our ITG community, lets be open minded and give this a try! I know that change is a scary thing, but without change their will never be room to grow.

I don't like the foam mod idea. No explanation.

Listen, Tuan, Abbye, and I, we've all been pushing really hard for this change to happen. We strongly believe that "foam modding" our pads will result in better play and better feel for everyone. Please don't make this harder for us, especially if you have absolutely no reason for why you don't like it. 

Stopped by acme for a bit and have to say i am pretty disappointed by the itg cab.  Pads were ok but the odd song selection and monitor problems made it a no play for me.  Fiesta 2 was ok though but volume was way low and i couldnt hear it at all if any other game was in play

It's a shame the reputation system doesn't seem to be functional, because it means I have to call you out. Right after a post presenting the idea in a friendly, accommodating fashion and specifically saying to be "open minded", you're belittling someone who has legitimately expressed concerns, and that is not okay.

The screens been messed up for weeks now! I've been playing with the background hidden, only way I can actually read the notes! Only time I play with the background on is when I'm trying to score. 

As far as the song choices go, I understand that there are so many more packs out there but there really isn't anyone who is capable of putting pack on the machine other than Tony. Hopefully, Tony will find the time to put on more packs on. 

Once we have some time to sit down and fix the USB issues, custom songs will be a pretty viable alternative to filling the entire drive with every song in existence (especially if the hub is USB 2.0). It just needs to be done, but it's difficult to schedule downtime for an arcade machine...

What the fuck is wrong with you guys I wasn't serious. I'm actually open to the foam mod idea. Tuan gets my post and he's the ITG king so that makes it ok.

Sarcasm doesn't travel well over the internet. Don't expect people to always get your shitty jokes.

Your are all dumb and I hate you all.

<3

I hate you. 

I didn't know it was you... gonna punch you over and over and over and over and over...

Love you Chris <3

So pretty much minus Hollie who doesn't even really play much/doesn't play flat footed.
And Scott who has his own ITG Dedicab/and I can respectfully agree with backing Bill in wanting to not make changes to a cabinet that doesn't belong to them/doesn't want create problems with the machine so it can continue to make profit.

It's fairly unanimous that everyone wants to foam mod this sucker.

As Allan mentioned, Not only will the whole thing be maintained by players who are very good at this game but it there is an issue it will be resolved/removed in minutes.

I'd be willing to volunteer my services at the end of this month while I'm in town at the end of this month for Pax.
I'm probably one of the more experienced modders in the group and I'm overly confident I could get these pads in tip top shape for everyone.
They would be sensitive enough for 7 year old girls to trigger the pads and accurate enough for pros to beast 16ths at 250 with little to no miss fires and everything in between.

Obviously the demand is there so something should be done.

As for the Song packs on the machine. It really should be cleaned up a bit.

I like Scott's concept of having fully charted packs only. It really eliminates tension between people playing on different difficulties.

Packs that come to mind are:

ITG
ITG2
ITG3
ITG Rebirth
ITG Rebirth 2 (lol)
All or any of DDR
Pendulum
TranceMania
Tachyon Alpha
Any of the Gezebo De packs
and some others I can't think of off the top of my head


Packs that aren't fully charted but people pay attention to on Groovestats:
DragonForce
Tachyon Beta/Delta/Gamma
Mute Sims 1-8
and a few others as well

Packs that people love/most people can play/has a good following:
Easy as Pie (lol)
Any popular tournament packs

yeah

obviously none of this will happen without Bills consent because like it was said before, this is his machine and he gets final say. People tend to forget about that.

Oh and I'd also REALLY like to stress at Sara one of our newer members of the team will be moving here(to the Seattle area) at the end of this month.
She has her own dedicab and her machine was the the main machine(of two different dedicabs) at Fort Rapids 7 which is basically our annual national competition for any serious players.
Her machine was used for the lower division AND upper division and her pads got wonderful reviews.
That being said, she does all her own pad work.
You honestly couldn't get a more expert opinion on the matter and she could/would probably be more than willing to help with any modifications done.

I might be the only one who feels this way, but I'd be disappointed to see the anime-themed packs go away.

I think all the duplicates should go.

It's fine with me if you guys want to experiment with your mods.  If it does not work out, I know you can put it back to what it was.  Hopefully it works out.  :-)