So there's two options i suggest
If you want to connect two players for cheap you can get the hde ps2 adapter HOWEVER you will have to follow a guide and have a seperate program running to make sure the game recognizes the pads as buttons and not analog sticks which can't go two directions at once.
Your other option is buying two of these which pretty much work straight out of the box and can be used for other stuff if you want to.
I've owned both now, i bought the HDE adapter then bought two mayflash since I made a linux Openitg machine and couldn't get the fix working on it. I do suggest the mayflash adapters just because they pretty much have an automatic dance pad mode which recognized the inputs as buttons instead of analog sticks and you don't have any other programs running
but hell if you want to pay for postage i can just send you the HDE adapter at this point since I don't really need it anymore.
This was, and continues to be, the gold standard for using a PS2 Dance Pad:
MAYFLASH 3 in 1 Magic Joy Box for Pc
I just want to follow up and say that this item worked out of the box with the Cobalt Flux pad. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ND3XXA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have one that does it. It has analogs for both joysticks and the shoulder buttons, and also a digital for the click at the end of the shoulder buttons. It's here. Although, you may run into problems with the left stick not registering you pushing it all the way even though you are, like it has a reduced range. I fix this with a script in GlovePIE and a virtual joystick using PPJoy. (It could be a little complicated for someone who doesn't know programming.)
MAYFLASH 3 in 1 Magic Joy Box For Pc https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ND3XXA/
I’m using two of these to connect to my PC to play DDR (Stepmania actually).
Plug-n-play, no extra driver needed to install on Windows 10. Just need to bind buttons in the config of the game.
This works great for me and has options for Xbox/PS/GC inputs (using PS for both my pads).
I was in the same boat with the EMS adapter.
Here is the only adapter I've found that works naively with Windows 10:
https://www.amazon.com/MAYFLASH-Magic-Joy-Box-Pc/dp/B000ND3XXA/
Dose this one work? No one is complaining about it here. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000ND3XXA?qid=1355122961&sr=8-1
K, thanks for the help. It looks like this one has issues with the bumpers though. Do other ones like this have that issue? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000ND3XXA?qid=1355122961&sr=8-1
So, I recently purchased a soft pad and needed an adapter. I grabbed a MAYFLASH 3 in 1 Magic Joy Box and it worked like a charm. You could maybe use that as a test since it's cheap and should work with both the PS2 and Xbox outputs of your pads.
On the other hand, I also recently picked up 2 metal DDR pads. The control box with the start/select was connected to the pad with a 9 pin serial connector. Each button on the pad just shorted a pin to ground, so I was able to test each button with a multimeter. One of them didn't work at all, so I opened it up and it turned out that there was just 1 ground wire that was daisy-chained to each of the buttons and it had come disconnected at one point. Soldered it back in place and got it working again.
So, easy diagnostic is to get that 3 in 1 box and maybe it'll just work for you. If it doesn't work for you, you may have to open it up and check the wiring.
Side note: I built my own controller box out of a Teensy board to avoid the delay added by going through 2 converter boxes. Either I got used to the metal vs soft pad or removing that delay makes it easier to get flawless step times.