The Deambulatory Matrix: Guitar Hero 2 Controller Mod (and Kinesis Advantage Pedal) (2007)

In 2007, one of my roommates got Guitar Hero 2 and I was blown away. We spent endless hours playing solo and co-op, as thousands of others have doubtlessly done.

However, one thing annoyed me. Though I preferred to use the tilt sensor (instead of the select button) to launch star power, I found that it was not sensitive enough when sitting down, and too sensitive when standing up. I wanted to fix that. I also thought it would be cool to be able to launch star power with a foot pedal. Around the same time I was also thinking of making a DIY pedal for my keyboards, which are Kinesis Advantage keyboards, so I sought to combine both endeavours and solve both issues at once.

Though pictures of this build are scarce, and I look back in shame upon the pedal's craftsmanship, I cut myself some slack since this was my first post-graduation electronics project. I scrounged up what few materials I had around, leftovers from some condo destruction, and made shift, as they say.

My ergonomics-testing station, to see if the selected switch does the job.

About to test with a variety of footwear.

Up next, sneakers.

Sneakers: pass.

The classical IKEA makeshift sawhorse. The downstairs neighbours were good about the sawing noise.

I have no pictures of the completed pedal by itself, so I will skip a head and show a completed picture with the controller:

Finished product. The far button on the pedal launches star power, and the closer pair allows you to strum with your feet.

I wired up the electronics with a phone jack in such a way as to be able to use the pedal with both my Kinesis keyboards and the Guitar Hero controller.

The usual place for a workshop - on top of the dishwasher, between the fruit and the cacti.

Male phone jack connects to the pedal.

While I had the controller open, I unsoldered the tilt sensor from the circuit board, connected it with soft wiring back to the traces on the circuit board, and glued the tilt sensor to the back of a potentiometer I added to the controller face:

Tilt sensor adjustment.

In order for the range of potentiometer adjustments to make sense, I modified the pot casing to restrict the available range of motion. This was done by slotting the casing with a cutoff wheel and pushing the notched material inwards, to create a new "stop" for the wiper assembly.