Buttkicker worth it?

[ricerracer]

Just wondering if anyone has one and does it actually add to the immersion much? I know quite a lot about them but what to know the opinion of someone that owns a buttkicker

 

[Deleted member 197115]

It's a gimmick, no matter what Mr.Latte says.

 

[Mr Latte]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I never heard of them what is it?

 

[Elaphe]

I have no experience with buttkickers, but with bass shakers and their own amp, plugged into my motherboard's sound output. I have four of them (two on the lower back of my racing seat and two on the sides. I must say that my seat is made of fiber (a Sparco replica), so the shakers are screwed directly to it, which is the best setup to feel the vibrations. Also, I purchased the Simvibe software, which reads the info from the games and translate it to the shakers. You can even customize every element in every way, for instance, engine vibration, collisions, road surfaces, gear change, etc. You can also make this work without this software, just passing the bass sound to the shakers, but it's much much worse (I have not tried it). As regard immersion, I find the shaking now absolutelly essential (consider for instance that I have uninstalled rfactor 2 simply because it doesn't work with my Simvibe for some unknown reason). It just make your feel much more connected to the car and to the road. Maybe if you have a motion system, you don't need shaking, although I've heard both systems working together make an extraordinary experience. However, if you consider the relatively low cost of the whole set (shakers, amp and Simvibe), and how easy everything is to install, I think that nobody who is into sim racing should ignore the benefits of this invention.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Put it this way; get in a real car and observe feeling of the road texture and engine vibrations coming through your feet and seat while travelling. This is what a buttkicker feels like, it's very convincing. Once you've used one and turn it off it feels like something is missing.

Don't get overly obsessed with these multi-transducer setups. Impressive as they are, just a single one does a great job. I only have one and have never felt the need to expand this further.

 

[signman]

Do it !

Bring your rig to life..and feel the immersion.
You will be grinning for months.

 

[ricerracer]

Do it !

Bring your rig to life..and feel the immersion.
You will be grinning for months.




View attachment 246119

Lol I just brought a shifter from you I do not have the money for something right now haha

 

[ricerracer]

One question I got is how do you plug your buttkicker and speakers in at the same time?

 

[Mr Latte]

One question I got is how do you plug your buttkicker and speakers in at the same time?

It depends what you want to use as the "source" for your tactile.

"Audio Tactile" is exactly that, it is taken from the audio and this can be done by duplicating an output with something as simple as a Y Splitter connector or cable. Typically from your "Green" stereo output.

With PC we have specific software available that takes actual telemetry values from the sim and convert this to allow a sml-large binary value be represented by audio frequencies, (Hertz / Hz). Typically smaller values using higher frequencies and larger values using lower frequencies as these have more bass energy.

Simvibe works by generating tones that the user can determine via its own internal tone-generation.
Sim Shaker Wheels works by creating waveforms (.wav) via additional software called Audacity.

These solutions require their own specific soundcards and Simvibe can actually require 2 if seeking to use more than 4 channels. Sim Shaker Wheels (SSW) can support upto 6 channels but do so with only 1 additional soundcard.

Asus DGX is an affordable and well working card for either option.
Simvibe is however quite expensive and is not easy to understand for beginners.

There will be an upcoming thread for SSW that will let all levels of tactile users (beginners-advanced users) test and comment on individual effects for SSW that I have been working on. I believe I have found a way to enable effects to be used that can work on multple makes and types of tactile and bring to users an enjoyable tactile experience with little fuss or needed knowledge and experience.

 

[Elaphe]

In my case the shakers's amp goes to the motherboard audio jack. I have an Asus Xonar card plugged into a Yamaha AV receiver via optical cable for the audio.

 

[ricerracer]

It depends what you want to use as the "source" for your tactile.

"Audio Tactile" is exactly that, it is taken from the audio and this can be done by duplicating an output with something as simple as a Y Splitter connector or cable. Typically from your "Green" stereo output.

With PC we have specific software available that takes actual telemetry values from the sim and convert this to allow a sml-large binary value be represented by audio frequencies, (Hertz / Hz). Typically smaller values using higher frequencies and larger values using lower frequencies as these have more bass energy.

Simvibe works by generating tones that the user can determine via its own internal tone-generation.
Sim Shaker Wheels works by creating waveforms (.wav) via additional software called Audacity.

These solutions require their own specific soundcards and Simvibe can actually require 2 if seeking to use more than 4 channels. Sim Shaker Wheels (SSW) can support upto 6 channels but do so with only 1 additional soundcard.

Asus DGX is an affordable and well working card for either option.
Simvibe is however quite expensive and is not easy to understand for beginners.

There will be an upcoming thread for SSW that will let all levels of tactile users (beginners-advanced users) test and comment on individual effects for SSW that I have been working on. I believe I have found a way to enable effects to be used that can work on multple makes and types of tactile and bring to users an enjoyable tactile experience with little fuss or needed knowledge and experience.

I'm kinda confused, I already got a sound card (but with only one green port), so I got to buy another one?

 

[Mr Latte]

I'm kinda confused, I already got a sound card (but with only one green port), so I got to buy another one?

Only if you want to use one of the above-mentioned options.

Audio Tactile has its own advantages and disadvantages compared to Simvibe or SSW.
Although we have more specific control of effects from the telemetry based options.

SSW is much easier to get into but the basic effects it comes with are limited and do not highlight its true potential. Simvibe can mean hours of getting to understand and learn about the software and doing many repeated tests to find settings that work well for you and the tactile you may have.

One unit is of course much easier but it can still be rather daunting, personally, I recommend SSW especially for beginners and you will get help on the forums if stuck.

Audio Tactile:
Simply look up the Buttkicker PDF manual it will help you grasp how to use the unit with just normal audio from your current soundcard. We can link you some cool websites to enjoy and get used to how different frequencies feel and react on your tactile.

 

[signman]

Lol I just brought a shifter from you I do not have the money for something right now haha

I'm not trying to sell you anything ..just telling you how it is dude .

 

[Elaphe]

Simvibe has lots of setups online, which have been made by experienced users. They are free to download, so you don't really need to know how to configure the effects.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I know Mr. Latte will perhaps disagree, but for simple setup 2-4 transducers, capturing telemetry log and auto generating profile out of it for works wonders, that is what SimXperience advocates to use, esp. for beginners.
After that you can use it as is or just spice up some effects like gear shift more.
With some titles default profile works just fine or requires simple decrease in overall intensity.
But then of course you can make any task as complicated as you want, even make a hobby out of tuning transducers and software.

 

[ricerracer]

I'm not trying to sell you anything ..just telling you how it is dude .

was kidding with you mate

 

[Mr Latte]

Simvibe has lots of setups online, which have been made by experienced users. They are free to download, so you don't really need to know how to configure the effects.

The problem with these, is there is no guarantee they will work well or feel good with the users own config.

Two main problems are the varying volume/gain settings people will use, can greatly differ based on very different installations. The next is variation in amplifiers and characteristics or indeed the performance abilities of tactile being used.

Nobody has really gone to the bother to offer guidelines on installation and do "Tactile Profiles" for specific "tactile hardware" models or types of installations. For example, those with units on the 4 corners compared to users with more directly mounted installations to seat and pedal areas. It very much is trial and error, hope for the best and mess around with the slider controls.

I found many of the profiles available to download to be rather dreadful and often, even see people using Hz in the wrong way. For instance, using higher frequencies for big bumps and lower frequencies for small bumps.

 

[ricerracer]

Right I understand it all now, would this qualify as a audio Y connector https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Fem...r=8-10-spons&keywords=y+connector+audio&psc=1

 

[Mr Latte]

I know Mr. Latte will perhaps disagree, but for simple setup 2-4 transducers, capturing telemetry log and auto generating profile out of it for works wonders, that is what SimXperience advocates to use, esp. for beginners.
After that you can use it as is or just spice up some effects like gear shift more.
With some titles default profile works just fine or requires simple decrease in overall intensity.
But then of course you can make any task as complicated as you want, even make a hobby out of tuning transducers and software.

You have to understand what this is doing and what it is not doing.
As numerous effects or layers can use similar or the same frequencies this increases the amplitude of them. There is a vast difference in software limiting or reducing peak Hz to avoid clipping than the software actually determining what Hz best suit the tactile hardware you are using. Or indeed what Hz and tone generation best suits individual effects.


Simvibe has no way of "detecting" and gives no way of a user "selecting" what level of performance the hardware you are using is and what it can cope with or caters for. Yet the differences we find in performances or operating characteristics for the many different models to operate their own best potential need specific "manual" tuning. Not only this but knowledge/understanding what frequencies they best can operate with or should use is rather key.

Its simple fact but a rather complicated, multi-scenario situation.

 

[aliolemon]

It is a new Level of Immersion. I got two big Buttkicker and several small Bass Shakers and a ProSimu Motion Platform . I just drove yesterday after 2 weeks absense of SimDriving and i closed my eyes before i drove in to the wall with some fear .