I require assistance with USB MICROPHONES (cuz I bought one and have new questions)

BTP

I've asked about this before both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band threads shortly after getting Guitar Hero Metallica. But now I've gone into some deeper thinking into this, so I'm asking for a bit of help to make sure I get the right microphone for me and that everything goes according to keikaku..............er, plan.

I've only come across two microphones in person. I'll describe those in a moment. First let me tell you what I'm looking for in a microphone, and then you can tell me if the ones I know of would actually work and I just didn't know it yet.


Absolute minimum requirements
- The microphone must work for both Wii and Xbox 360.
- Reliable/durable/can take a reasonable beating if it had to. (e.g. flew out of someone's hand in use and smacks something hard)
- Very affordable.

Would prefer...
- Direct to USB connection. (If this is a disadvantage, be sure to let me know.)
- A very long cord. I don't mind cords. You never know when those rare occasions of hooking up your system to a projector will happen. Everything else on the Wii is wireless, and I haven't seen any wireless microphones, so I might as well make sure the cord is long enough to practically be wireless (unless there are USB extension cables and they would work just fine for all of this).

Would be cool if it could...
- Work on a computer in some way. And maybe you could tell me what way you know of in your post. I don't care if it's as simple as recording your voice and then making your voice go funny with a program.


So here's the microphones I've seen:

One is this Intec one.



This seems to match everything I could want but there's one potential problem. The splitter design is just like the SingStar microphones, and I was told in the other threads that they could be "iffy" since they had to be patched for other systems to work on them. I know it'll work on Wii, but I'd like to know if it works on 360 as well. That, and I don't know how long the cord is.


The other microphone is the Logitech Vantage.



The one I've seen in person says it works for Xbox 360. Logitech's website seems to have a different mic for each system, unless the only difference is the paint job. The problem is that it seems everyone is having tons of problems with it, like saying it only worked for a handful of songs and then it died, making me question its reliability. And I should due to it being more expensive than the Intec mic.
From a Wii point of view, it makes me wonder if the problem is only the Wiimote turning itself off to conserve battery power after its inactive for so long, and when the game sees the controller stop working, it makes the mic stop working.

---Gotta cut off this OP short as dinner is being served---

So if anyone can give me any recommendations for a USB microphone, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Jelloblimp

All 360-controllers/memory-cards/microphones/harddrives need to be licensed by MS (because of the hardware key protection or whatever its called). This means you cannot find any multiple system microphones/accessories compatible with the 360.

BTP

You're kidding me. I could've sworn I've read before that a microphone is the one thing that isn't held back by Microsoft's licensing since it's only a simple input device, or something like that.

And it seems the Intec one won't work with Guitar Hero BECAUSE of the splitter. It needs to be a direct to USB mic.

BTP

This seems to be universal.
Future Shop link

I'm just not exactly thrilled by the price or its customer ratings.

BTP

A quick trip to EB Games, and one of the guys there said that the Intec mic should work on just about anything except for SingStar because of whatever extra stuff SingStar has. I still have some reservations though since it lists the games it is compatible with on the packaging, and there's nothing about Guitar Hero/Rock Band on it.

But anyway, how about this: To anyone that has a mic that they had to get separately and is not the official GH/RB mic, show it to me and tell me how well it works for you.

BTP

Well, after another quick trip to an EB Games, then a Future Shop, then Wal-Mart, then a Loblaws Superstore, and then another EB Games I keep forgetting exists, I GOT A MIC! But.....

....it's a used mic. I can't really complain because of the price I got, but now there's just one more thing left to figure out. How do I know if it's a used mic that's still in good condition?

I've been doing a few Metallica songs in practice on Easy, and I'm getting high 90%'s, then I tried a bump up to hard just to see how the difficulties work on vocals. Unless it's a thinner tunnel to aim for, I'm not really seeing a difference.

But anyway, I tried a few songs to try to get in tune, then practiced King Nothing on Easy, then tried the song again on Hard, and got 83%. Does that sound reasonable? Or is there a better way to test the mic out?

And if you're wondering what mic I got, I can only guess at what it is. It's a Logitech mic in the big stub of a thing near the USB plug, but on the mic itself it has the EA logo. I'm guessing it's the mic from Boogie, and it certainly looks it based on that game's boxart. The cord must be around 15 feet long, which is definitely nice.

Sanders

I know for sure that in rock band you should be able to hear yourself, if not or you lowered it crank the output of your own voice up and test it at different volumes, and if you can hear your own voice back.

BTP

I can definitely hear myself. What I meant would be something similar to a broken pad on a drum set where you hit the pad but nothing registers, just the microphone version of that.

I've noticed a few times there are some brief spikes in what is registering in my voice. Like, when I try to hold a long note, it's not always a smooth line. There's little bumps sometimes, though I'm not really sensing anything happening to my voice or within me to change my voice for that tiny moment.

And then there's the times where I know I'm keeping in sync with James, but it seems the game doesn't pick up on my first word of a new lyric line. But then that could just be me starting the line a little too late according to the game.

(Oh yeah, mic works for my Wii and my bro's 360. Woot! )

ZackSchilling

I'm a little late for this thread, but I use my 360 Rock Band mic with my PC and Wii with no problem. I think it's nothing more than a black Logitech Vantage with a different logo screened on.

If you're playing Rock Band 1 on the Wii, little issues with the vocals are to be expected. If you're still worried, get someone who you know can sing to try it.

Bartholamue

Yeah, the Logitech mic that I got with my PS2 game Karaoke Revolution, that works on my 360 and PC, and I also tried it with my friends PS3 and it works fine.