[nineteenforever]

(See Edit #2)

 

Hi

 

This post is mainly electronics/wiring oriented (USB etc.) I apologise if this is not really the appropriate place but I’ve seen other Rockband related DIY posts so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

I am try to find a workaround for some wired Singstar mics I have (I have the Lips ones for singing but they gobble batteries) to work in Rockband 3 (XBox 360), for a bit of fun harmless DIY.

 

 

I planned to used a games headset with earphones and mic (because it has the appropriate mic audio to USB converter circuit built-in – a long shot I know).

 

The whole project is a bit of a long shot, but I have run into a vexing problem sooner than expected. I was immensely skeptical about posting because I figured I must be missing something REALLY simple, so I’m sorry if I’m just being dumb ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_cheeky.001.gif” />

 

I started by splicing all the necessary wires, and managed to isolate the mic input one (it’s white in the picture).

 

If I touch the white wire in this pic, Rockband picks up a signal (e.g. I see the “singing arrow” for the pitch on screen)

 

It was plugged into Rockband and I tapped it and obviously the capacitance of my finger sent a signal down the wire so that’s how I deduced that.

 

Now, the problem is, I want to connect a USB female to the “headset box” (with the volume controls etc in it) so I can swap out my headset and singstar mics as needed.

 

BUT when I twist (they will be soldered) the mic wire to a female USB wire, connect that to the male USB and then touch the exposed wire on the end of that male USB I get no signal to Rockband (see pic for details) which tells me that it’s not travelling down the wire for some reason.

 

If I touch the corresponding exposed wire at the far left in this pic (the one connected to the white wire in the previous pic) Rockband picks up NO signal.

 

I’m assuming that there shouldn’t be any reason why it would not do the same – I might actually try with a long paperclip at the end or something instead, see if that works lol.

 

So my questions are

 

1. Will the signal not carry because it’s so slight and the connection is not yet soldered?

 

2. If not that then what might be stopping the signal from travelling to Rockband?

 

Things already known/tried/assumed

 

– I’m 99.9% sure the USB wire is not compromised (and I’ve tested others – same result)

 

– Yes this is a bit of a daft project – I’m just tinkering, I was aware they’d be complications, just not this soon.

 

– The mic is just a basic mic – no drivers needed etc. (even then touching the exposed wire should still work no?).

 

Anyway there was a few more questions I think but I’ll update the post/reply.

 

Thanks for any help. If I can get this to work I will post a tutorial somewhere (instructable maybe?) because I know lots of people on the interwebs wanted to use SingStar Mics with an Xbox 360 Rockband 3.

 

EDIT: Maybe I should downscale those pics a little…

 

EDIT #2 (the fix): I wanted to use a Singstar mic on Xbox 360 RB3. Originally I was going to adapt a headset to convert the audio into USB (or whatever ends up travelling down that wire) but the idea turned to shit when I couldn’t isolate the wires – I’m almost certain it wouldn’t have worked anyway.

 

So, I patched up the headset and just bought a used wired Logitech mic (bundled with “X-Factor” for the Wii) for £3 and modified it.

I hate the Logitech/Rock Band 3 wired mic, I think the SingStar ones look and feel much heavier and nicer.

So I chopped the mic off the end of the USB wire, and soldered + heat shrunk a female 3.5mm female jack on the end.

This allows me to connect the Singstar mic to the jack and then the USB plug on the other end to the Xbox, and it works wonderfully. No need to permanently modify the SingStar mic.

Also because I made sure to cut the mic right off the end of the wire, when plugged in, the total length of the wire from the Singstar mic to the USB port is almost a huge six metres, which is great, because I also thought the wires for both mics were too short, haha ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_biggrin.gif” />

Coupled with my two black wireless 360 mics I have a pretty nice karaoke setup now. I’m also in the middle of repaired, cleaning and customising all of my instruments for Rock Band, which is why I’ve deviated from work on customs. I figured I’d get my gear in working order, then they are ready to play and I’ll add to C3 over time.

If anyone wants some information on how I did this quick and easy fix, all’s you need is a soldering iron, some solder, and if you care about how it will look, some heatshrink. But tape would do fine. If you don’t want to butcher a working singstar mic, then you will also need a female jack, or another assortment of 3.5mm connectors. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

Post if you want some more detailed steps.

[Damage Inc.]

No its nice to see big clear pics. I had a question about using aftermarket mics and I was directed to docsrockbandmods.com (sorry I dont know how to set up a link) and it answered all my questions. There is a mod that lets me use ANY aftermarket mic. I currently use a shure 58 or my cheapy boy band headset or the classic timeshare lapel mic with no problems. Best of luck, cheers.

[nineteenforever]

Thanks, I will give it a look ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

 

Prolly still gonna tinker with this in the meantime though, it’s a good bit of fun and it’s nice to get something working from nothing ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_cheeky.001.gif” />

[nineteenforever]

OK to remedy this I bought a used wired Logitech mic (bundled with “X-Factor” for the Wii) for £3.

 

I hate the Logitech/Rock Band 3 wired mic, I think the SingStar ones look and feel much heavier and nicer.

 

So I chopped the mic off the end of the USB wire, and soldered + heat shrunk a female 3.5mm female jack on the end.

 

This allows me to connect the Singstar mic to the jack and then the USB plug on the other end to the Xbox, and it works wonderfully. No need to permanently modify the SingStar mic.

 

Also because I made sure to cut the mic right off the end of the wire, when plugged in, the total length of the wire from the Singstar mic to the USB port is almost six metres, which is great, because I also thought the wires for both mics were too short, haha ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_biggrin.gif” />

 

Coupled with my two wireless 360 mics I have a pretty good karaoke setup now. I’m also in the middle of repaired, cleaning and customising all of my instruments for Rock Band, which is why I’ve deviated from work on customs. I figured I’d get my gear in working order, then they are ready to play and I’ll add to C3 over time.

 

If anyone wants some information on how I did this quick and easy fix, all’s you need is a soldering iron, some solder, and if you care about how it will look, some heatshrink. But tape would do fine. If you don’t want to butcher a working singstar mic, then you will also need a female jack, or another assortment of 3.5mm connectors. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

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