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

Product Information

Digital Pins - These pins are the "basic" pins. They can essentially only show if a button is pressed or not pressed. You will use these for strum, start/select and frets. The are the most common pin on your microcontroller and are usually labelled with just a number. From here, you can hover over buttons to configure them. You will be presented with the folowing dialog: If your Pico is NOT an offical pi pico, you may need to use the KB2040 if your pico board is not listed, as the offical pi pico firmware is strict on its support and may not work with your hardware. If you find that you are unable to use your pico after unplugging and replugging it, this is the problem. Since the Monterey (version 12) update for Mac OS, Xbox controllers no longer work. There is no known workaround for this. If you are on a Mac we highly advise that you avoid all Xbox controllers and guitars. The spreadsheet is read by identifying the guitar type and the console it originates from, and then reading the note that corresponds to the number listed in the cell.

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. note that on the pi pico you need to use the 3v3 out pin (pin 36) for your VCC, not 5V or 3v3_en. The pins on the pico are not rated for 5v, and the 3v3_en pin is actually an input that will stop your pico from starting.Connect the common ground to a GND on the microcontroller. If there are two ground wires, you can twist them together and put them in one ground pin on the microcontroller. This will sometimes be necessary when using a microcontroller that has a smaller number of pins.

Note(s): World Tour guitars are known for having weak strum switches that must be replaced eventually. This modification is medium difficulty and requires soldering to complete. The WT and GH5 Guitars feature compatible swappable faceplates. If 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

PCB (printed circuit board) - the often green or brown boards containing traces and electronic components For example, if you have a Guitar Hero 5 controller from the Xbox 360, then the corresponding note (11) says "Must be paired to a 360 controller receiver, Type !receiver for more info". You can find information about the receiver through the wiki's search bar, in our Guitars, Drums, Controllers section, or you can join our Discord server and type !receiver in one of the channels.