Inexpensive transducers for simvibe

JeffL

Right on Brother, I hear ya, it's all good.
Some of the guys in the club were asking about some affordable transducers for Simvibe.

I have $50 sub and the 4 pack 16 0hm minis ($44) drive in 2 zones by 2 - $20 lepai amps and not even close to using all the power. Actually just the large shaker and one amp would be sufficient but....

The company that makes the transducers is Dayton Audio but the best price is from Parts Express

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/tactile-transducers-exciters-bass-shakers/18
Have fun.
 
x-sim has a shareware but it is not user friendly and ratings of transducers, like speakers tend to be dependent on the manufacturer, so a broad brush is not how to look at it.
 
All the bits arrived quite quickly. I ended up paying excise duty on the transducers, and the shipping for the Sabrent soundcard was as much as the card, so that was another $45, so all in all it was not as cheap as first thought:

About $180 for the transducers (incl shipping & duty), but it was the only way I could get them. Delivery was amusing - using tracking I saw the parcel go from Ohio to Kentucky to Pennsylvania and across the Atlantic in less than 24hrs. Then it sat at East Midlands Airport for 3 days! But still less than 5 days and I would use Parts Express again, no problem there.

Sabrent soundcard arrived a few days later, from California.

Amplifier was bought from Amazon UK for £23 ($35)

And finally the Simvibe software was $89.

So $350 in all, or £210

But for anyone else considering it, now I'm a bit more confident about what I should buy, I could have gone for a 5.1 USB soundcard in UK for just £10, and I could have bought just 4 small transducers but I also bought the larger one for the seat.

So it can be done in UK for about £170, although, I figured, since I would probably have to pay the excise I might as well get 5 at once.

Anyway, Jeff I am extremely grateful to you for the details that helped me buy these parts. I am part way through fixing them to my seat and under the pedals, and an intial test on just two transducers under my seat have immediately made it all worth while.

If I wasn't addicted to Game Stock Car before, then I definitely am now.

And I have seen no effect at all on my pc, with the extra soundcard. When my wife recovers from the costs, I will add a second soundcard and amp(s) so that I can have vibe at four corners plus an engine, and I think that will suit me just fine :)
hi im thinking of doing this myself my only question is was the wiring easy did you need to solder anything or does it just clip in?also does the transducer come with wire or do i buy it separate?oh and how much was shipping and customs charges?
 
you have to wire the speakers to your amp. twist and tape or wire nuts or solder your choice. The wires on the transducers are short (small transducers) the large one has posts
 
I can't remember for sure, but around £20 I think it was. Just make sure you have some cash or a cheque as they want payment of the excise on delivery.
thanks for speedy reply..i was just going to buy the 4 small dayton audio pucks for my project..the amp that is suggested in this thread is that ok for using the 4 transducers or will i need 2 of them?
 
That looks like just a single puck to me, so be careful, that seems expensive. I know USA delivery seems a pain, but it took less than a week, and even with excise duty I got 4 transducers for better value than that.
Also, I don't know how the 8ohm ones would perform with the mini amp, I am happy with my 4 x 4ohm minis.

[EDIT: sorry I meant to say mine are 4 x 16 not 4 x 4.]

Anyway, to answer your question, my mini amps are only 2 channel, so yes, you can use one on it's own, but it just means that you will have to wire the front left and rear left pucks into the left channel, and the two right hand pucks into the right channel.


1) Install soundcard
2) connect mini amp to soundcard (green 3.5mm socket of soundcard connects to the two phono sockets of the mini amp)
4) connect pucks to your rig - I won't go into this, it depends on your setup and your own creativity & experimentation, & I am no expert, but fix two front (under pedals)and two rear(under/behind seat).
3) connect front left and rear left puck cables into left channel of amp.
4) connect front right and rear right puck cables into right channel of amp.
5) install software and follow instructions to get up and running - in Windows control panel, set the soundcard to quadrophonic; and in simvibe software, use chassis mode.

With only one mini amp, the effects have to be combined so you do not get the 4 corner effects, but after a couple of hours of adjusting, I had an engine/road/rumble feel that really added immersion to my game. ( I later added another soundcard & mini amp so that I could control front and rear separately, but it's not essential).
 
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That looks like just a single puck to me, so be careful, that seems expensive. I know USA delivery seems a pain, but it took less than a week, and even with excise duty I got 4 transducers for better value than that.
Also, I don't know how the 8ohm ones would perform with the mini amp, I am happy with my 4 x 4ohm minis.

Anyway, to answer your question, my mini amps are only 2 channel, so yes, you can use one on it's own, but it just means that you will have to wire the front left and rear left pucks into the left channel, and the two right hand pucks into the right channel.


1) Install soundcard
2) connect mini amp to soundcard (green 3.5mm socket of soundcard connects to the two phono sockets of the mini amp)
4) connect pucks to your rig - I won't go into this, it depends on your setup and your own creativity & experimentation, & I am no expert, but fix two front (under pedals)and two rear(under/behind seat).
3) connect front left and rear left puck cables into left channel of amp.
4) connect front right and rear right puck cables into right channel of amp.
5) install software and follow instructions to get up and running - in Windows control panel, set the soundcard to quadrophonic; and in simvibe software, use chassis mode.

With only one mini amp, the effects have to be combined so you do not get the 4 corner effects, but after a couple of hours of adjusting, I had an engine/road/rumble feel that really added immersion to my game. ( I later added another soundcard & mini amp so that I could control front and rear separately, but it's not essential).
ok so if i want the transducers to work independently i would need 2 amps i assume.i want them to work like i am sitting on 4 wheels so when i corner i can feel the rear of the car rumble or compression from the suspension for example so will i need another amp for this effect?
 
That amazon thing doesn't look right, Dayton's mini puck are 16 ohm and are 4 for 40 bucks, the 4 ohm larger ones is about 40-50 bucks.
 
i just bought them from parts express it cost 57 pound the shipping cost the same as the transducers which was 44 dollars.now i just need to buy the amp which is 24 pound so the total for me is 81 pound and hopefully i dont need to pay for excise.
 
The amp is similar to mine, but if you keep looking you'll find one which includes a power supply, but anyway they look ok.

(BTW I meant to say I have 4 of the mini16ohm, not 4 x 4 , I've corrected my post higher up)
 
The amp is similar to mine, but if you keep looking you'll find one which includes a power supply, but anyway they look ok.

(BTW I meant to say I have 4 of the mini16ohm, not 4 x 4 , I've corrected my post higher up)
yea i have looked at ones that have power supplies but they cost 25 quid thats why i was going to buy separate as its alot cheaper it seems.
 

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