Guitar Hero X-Plorer Wired Guitar Controller (Xbox 360)

Product Information

Note(s): One of the most reliable guitars. The WT and GH5 Guitars feature compatible swappable faceplates. Optionally, enable and configure Queue based inputs. This uncaps the scanning rate on the buttons of the controller, logging all the button changes to an internal list. The game then receives the next recorded input in the list instead of the immediate button state, which would usually be capped to the Controller Poll Rate. This emulates a higher polling rate (even above 1000 Hz!) even with low in-game FPS, which is extremely useful in games such as Clone Hero. Adjust the Dequeue Rate to be as close to, but still below your expected worst case in-game FPS for the system to work properly. VCC (voltage common connector) - this is where you would connect to provide power to a circuit. Sometimes this pin is labelled as 3.3V or 3v3 on the microcontroller or pinout. If you have no idea what a microcontroller is, start here. If you are familiar with microcontrollers and pcbs skip ahead to the "Supplies" section. Find out what each pin correlates to on the exsisting components in the guitar. (AKA work out the pinout) In some guitars, all of the pins are labeled on the main board or other various pcbs, sometimes on the bottom of the main board.

WiitarThing is software used to facilitate the use of Wiimotes on PC. There are many versions of Wiitarthing on the internet, but we only recommend the latest version of a specific repository, as it has the most stable driver and drum support. You can find said repository here. Make sure to carefully follow the guide, especially if you're updating from an older version like 2.7. You will be met with the following screen (Note that it will be slightly different for an Arduino Uno or Arduino Mega) You can also change the Controller Output Type here too if you would like to emulate a different type of controller, such as a drum set, a standard controller or even a controller for a different console, like a PS3 or a Switch. If it is not labeled on the motherboard, you need to figure out which pin (or pins) is GND. If you remove the membrane, you will be able to see which pin connects to both start and select by following the traces - that pin is GND. (if there are multiple "grounds" they may be labeled as col, or column) Marking GND with a sharpie or using a differently colored wire is reccomended. If you are still unsure, the multimeter can help you confirm if you have the wires correct, as it will beep when you hit a button and have the correct wires. There are examples of the 360 WT and WiiLP above. Clone Hero is compatible with keyboard controls, gamepads (Xbox, Playstation, etc), guitar controllers, and drums (gamepad style and midi style).

Connect the data (middle) pin to an analogue pin on the microcontroller. These are labeled with an A on the microcontroller. Lower Latencythis guitar is slightly above an sg with a raphnet, but below a wiitar with raphnet in terms of latency. Connect the two switches in series between ground and any digital pin that has not already been used. One of the most popular controllers for clone hero is the xplorer for xbox 360. It is one of the more expensive guitars, but it has direct usb connection, lower latency, decent travel distance, etc. But you really should not go and buy the xplorer without being aware of its pro and cons. I will be discussing them here. Before I actually start though, I'd like to say I personally use and xplorer for clone hero. Moving on! Xbox 360: Requires a generic Xbox 360 controller receiver, please see the Xbox 360 entry in Receivers and Dongles for more information.

If you are working on a controller with only "2" pins as shown below, you will need to desolder the bridged pins and run 3 wires yourself as noted above for the whammy to work best with the configurator. When the strums are part of the main board you will need to cut the traces or you will have phantom inputs as your signal will still be traveling through the motherboard. (this is when your strum switches constantly input and you likely cannot autobind inputs in the configurator) You will need to take a knife and cut any traces that connect to the strum switches. In the picture below, the person did not cut many traces as they knew which ones were causing phantom inputs. Cutting extra traces is not going to affect your arduino guitar, as none of the traces are used accept the one that connects the two grounds of the switches together. Even if you accidentally cut that trace, you will be able to connect the grounds again with a little extra wire. PCB (printed circuit board) - the often green or brown boards containing traces and electronic componentsIf you are unable to navigate the main menu, be sure that you have pressed start and selected a profile before any trouble shooting. On keyboard, you will press ENTER and then us the A key to "Accept" and the S key to "Cancel" by default. Find ground. There will be a single common ground and a pin for each direction or multiple "grounds" depending on the model. (some may once again be labeled as col or column) Just like for start and select, you will need to follow the traces to figure out which pin is GND. Mark GND, then connect it to a GND pin on the microcontroller. If there are more than one ground wires, you can twist them together and combine them again. You may also need to wait until the bind countdown completes before pressing any trigger, this is to ensure that the "Press" is what is bound instead of the "Release." For a comprehensive overview of compatibility and requirements, please review the community maintained spreadsheet. If you have questions about how to bind your controls, please see the controls section of the manual.

Once you have successfully modded one guitar (or even during your first) you will find it easiest to disconnect everything then begin soldering as it gives you more room to work. To keep the relevant information in this guide easy to find, information is sorted by function. Start and Select Xbox One: Requires a generic Xbox One controller receiver and additional software. Please see the Xbox One Wireless Receiver entry in Receivers and Dongles for more information. In this case, there are two grounds that will be shorted together, so with the multimeter, you should be able to work out which pins are ground, by testing a pin from each switch, and working out which ones are shorted together by it beeping.

Custom Modded Guitar Hero Controller - Kramer

For guitars with a DPad that is seperate, it will be much easier to wire as you can follow the traces and wire it to the pins like you would for start/select. Somewhat uncommonThis is more because the xplorer is one of the most sought after guitars, but these are very uncommon at thirft stores. You can find information about every official instrument and its connection method on this wiki, but we also have an alternative view of this information in the form of a spreadsheet, which can be found here. The Strum switches are similar to the start and select buttons, they will be three wires on some guitars. For these situations it is easy enough to connect to the microcontroller.

For every function of the guitar, you will follow these same 3 basic steps. More details for specific functions will be given below. If you are on linux and can’t proceed past this step, follow these instructions: https://github.com/sanjay900/guitar-configurator/issues/32If you would like to emulate the Home button by hitting both Start and Select at the same time, then enable Map Start + Select to Home