We revealed from PAX Prime 2015 that Xbox One users buying Rock Band 4 who wish to use legacy Xbox 360 instruments would need to purchase an adapter.
The wireless protocols for Xbox One are different from Xbox 360, so instruments will not be able to communicate natively with the next-gen console. PlayStation 4 apparently has no such limitation.
We now have more details on how this works:
Up to 4 wireless Xbox 360 instruments are supported via the optional wireless adapter, which plugs into an Xbox One’s USB port.
USB microphones work directly with Xbox One. It appears that wired guitars and drums may not work at all. Keyboards are not supported in Rock Band 4, so they won’t work.
MadCatz, the maker of this adapter, has posted a compatibility list and detailed FAQ.
The adapter is available to pre-order now:
- Adapter with Rock Band 4 game is $80 (Amazon, Best Buy)
- Adapter by itself (for players wanting a digital purchase of the game) is $25 (Amazon) –
This will likely appear at other retailers, including brick and mortar stores, but for now that’s all we’ve found.
Digital pre-order of Rock Band 4 is now live on Xbox.com and includes 12 bonus tracks. It’s $60 – no price break – so the disc bundle is the better deal. We’re going all digital on this one only so we won’t have to go hunting for this disc each time we want to rock out, but we have a lot invested in Rock Band including hundreds of DLC songs – most if not all of which are due to be ported over by the game’s October 6 launch date.
