Well I was looking at the Pro model WOW!! I must get one of these. I currently use a Buttkicker Simulation which is good but I been needing a Bigger Transducer. I could go for the Advanced Transducer…
Ahh so many toys so little money…!!
I do have a question tho, I am in the basement and have a cement floor with a throw rug, would I need to isolate the PC chair from the floor if it is cement?? I have never really figured out if I should or should not isolate the chair…
Well I just found out I could add another Mini buttkicker to my system. it will run at 45w each but that should be plenty… I am gonna try and get another!!
This appears to be an expansion on BK’s product line (among other items I see on their site). Perhaps that says this haptic thing is increasing in popularity == A_Good_Thing.
So, I performed a little test, concerning the noise level on the floor below. First some details:
I use 3/4" thick foam padding for the reasons I wrote about (better effect and noise reduction for those not engaged in the hobby.
I couldn’t find a sack of potatoes (and I’m home alone for a few days) so a bunch of old books (real books, hardcover, 3-4" thick - think old programming/math books from pre-eBook days) stacked 2X3 feet high in my chair.
I kept the output level where I normally have it. It can go higher of course but it, a) start to clip and, b) rattles my transducer (it’s getting old after ~4 years).
I have wood flooring (actually eng. Hardwood flooring).
While I could hear it clearly about 25 feet away in the next room, with the door open, I heard almost nothing in the garage below. Concentrating I would hear a slight noise but likely only because I knew it was going to be there. Sort of like when I hear the washer on spin cycle on the floor above, but again not much there.
Not sure this helps but, the big thing is use foam padding as mentioned, for the noise and enhancement of the effects. Looks likes this, though the brand I have is slightly thicker:
I was wondering if I should do something similar on my basement floor. I found some 3/8" thick rubber mat which in theory should reflect back the transducer effects into the chair instead of going to the floor?
I received a shipping notice today…my ButtKicker should arrive on Friday. Unfortunately I won’t have time to set it up before I head out for training next week…
Well the thing with mixing and matching differnt ohms is you have to wire it correctly. there are certain ways to wire things up that are different ohms…
here is an examnple of what I was going to do with my 2ohm amp and a 2 ohm transducer with 2 - 4 ohm transducers which would of caused no issues…
Those foam flooring you bought I was looking at it but was thinking it would be hard to roll around on that and would I sink in it and not be qable to move my chair.
I was looking at some 10mm thick rubber pads which do you think would work better, I am on a cement floor and if this will help isolate the chair and give me more kick I am in…
Yes, the wheels do catch on the edges/seams after a short time. I’d like to have 1 large mat the size of 4 but haven’t looked into it. The surface of the padding holds up fine however. And the wheels do sink in a bit. My space is very small so not much need to move it.
well I found some rubber caster wheels for my PC chair I am going to try those first and if needed I will buy that rubber mat but the rubber wheels should isolate the chair enough…
I should get them today… Still not sure if I need to purchase another sound card as I currently use a SoundBlaster Z and been having some issues but they since dissapeared, like the SB was not working when booted up and needed to restart the PC to get it working but it has not done that in a few days…
Would like to get an new buttkicker and the Pro looks like what I would like to have but they will not be avaialable until June and besides I need a new vid card more then a buttkicker.
My flight today canceled so I had a few hours this morning to try out the ButtKicker. I’d like to run it with SimShaker for Aviators and the sound module but it seems current world events make it impossible to make the purchase. Instead I am just using sound input with the VoiceMeeter app. It was a bit fiddly to get everything working, but I got there in the end.
I still need to do a lot of fine tuning, but so far my impressions are good. It is hard to get the levels dialed in, with each aircraft being different. The Flying Iron Spitfire really comes alive with this thing!
Oh no! I did read somewhere that Andre was aware of that issue, and made it so the trial versions had an unlimited trial period for the moment until it was resolved; I don’t have time right now to research the facts on that, but maybe you can download the trial version and use it with full functionality for now?
Never tried it with VM so I’m no help. Hopefully you can get SSA; the difference between just audio and physics based output is really nice. But, in VR, I’d imagine even with an audio source only it’s helpful too
.
Well, I reached out to Andre and he helped me out… I won’t go into any detail but if you need the sound module you should reach out to him by email. I had a license code within a couple of hours.
So now I just need to spend some time ironing out the kinks. For some reason I can get everything working in MSFS in 2D…but as soon as I jump into VR the Kicker stops kicking. I had to wrap things up at that point and drive up to Dallas. I’m playing in a a different sim this week (recurrent training)…
Probably when you go into VR your sound configuration changes, and that’s messing up the Sound Module. I had a similar issue a while back and don’t remember exactly how I fixed it, but that’s where to look…
I think that’s what I have to do, start WMR first, then start sim shaker. I’ve been on the road too much to remember now! Home in 9 more days, but I’ve got my sim torn down for a rebuild (MKIII-ish!)
Actually, I think I remember now. Simshaker starts with windows now (tray icon), but doesn’t launch Sound Module (part that interacts with sound device) until it detects DCS being launched.
You will need to get something like “Voicemeeter” or similar as when using VR it switches the the VR USB headset speakers and you get nothing in the kicker… Voicemeeter will let you use the soundcard along with the VR headset sound and get the Butkicker working again.
Go here and Download the Gamer2 manual and on Page 2-3 of the manual it shows you how to get it working with Voicemeeter:
Plus when you add the Simshaker program it adds a layer of complexity. if you need help we can meet on the Simshaker discord channel if you need help…
