DIY Rock Band/Guitar Hero World Tour Microphone Adaptor
If, like me, you purchased the instruments for Rock Band and/or Guitar Hero World Tour, you'll have no doubt realised that using the xbox live headset doesn't compare to a propper microphone. But I wasn't willing to shell out �usb microphone, when I had regular karaoke mics lying around. So I set about making my own adaptor.

You will need the following:
1x 2.5mm (NOT 3.5mm) jack
1x 1/4" line socket*
Either 3 pieces of wire OR 1 piece of triple cored wire at least 6" long
Soildering Iron
Soilder
Volt Meter

An xbox 360 and controller
A microphone and headphones (to test)

I'd like to apologise for the lack of pictures as I forgot to have my camera hand as I was making this.

*You may ask why I've made a 2.5mm to 1/4" adaptor rather than to 3.5mm which is more common. Well, most karaoke mics are 1/4" by default and 1/4" to 3.5mm adaptors are more common than the other way round, so this seemed to make more sense.



Step 1 - Wire the 2.5mm Jack
This step is kinda easy. Just soilder the wires to each of the terminals on the 2.5mm jack. Once you've wired the terminals, use the volt meter on resistance mode to check that each connection is good and there are no short circuits. Then just slide the sleeve over and screw it on.



Step 2 (optional) - Plait the wire
This is an optional step if you're using 3 separate pieces of wire like me. For easy and to reduce stress on each connection, you can plait the wires. This can be a bit time consuming, but is worth it for a better look and feel.



tep 3 - Connect the Line Socket
For this step you will need the headphones, xbox 360 and controller.
Firstly, remove the sleeve from the line socket and slide it down the cable ready for when the socket it connected.
Secondly, find the ground wire (this will be the one connected to the bottom most segment of the 2.5mm jack) and connect it to the ground terminal on the line socket. The ground terminal will usually be the biggest and will probably be part of the metal casing of the socket.



Step 3 Conitnued
At this stage you'll want to turn on your xbox and controller. Connect the 2.5mm jack into the controller where the headset would go. Then connect a pair of headphones (via an adaptor if nessary) To the line socket. What you're aiming to do is determin which cable is the sound out and which terminal is the left.
The xbox only outputs sound through one wire, the other being the line in for the microphone.

Plug in the headphones and pick one of the two unconnected wires and hold it to one of the terminals. If you've managed to pick the sound wire, you should hear a static/hum noise in one of the headphones speakers. This is the normal noise for the xbox headset. If you don't get this, then you've picked the microphone wire. Grab the other wire and put it to one of the terminals

You want to connect the wires so that you can hear the background hum through the right headphone. This is because a mono microphone outputs through the tip connector, which is the left channel.

Once you've identified the left and right channels, connect the microphone wire to the left and the sound out to the right. Before you solider them in place you'll want to run a quick test.

Step 4 - Testing the Connectors
Open up your friends list and go into compose message. Connect the microphone and use it to record a voice message. Then disconnect that and connect the headphones to play the message back. Everything should be all working.

Step 5 - Soilder the Connections
Kinda self explanatory, but don't do what I did and melt anything lying nearby. Oops



step 7Finished
You're all done, just connect any old karaoke mic and rock out!