Hi guys,
I was wondering if I should go the "Buttkicker" way with my setup: PS4/T300/Project CARS(soon)/homemade rig using a real car seat
How beneficial is it? Do I need extra equipment? (My DVD player is my home cinema amplifier, accompanied with 5 speakers and a subwoofer)
Additionally, and that's why I put quotes around the word Buttkicker, what about alternative tactile transducers, as the Buttkicker is too expensive for me?
I'm looking, for example at this rather cheap option:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0045W10VW/?tag=gtplanetuk-20
My new search for realism is partly fueled by you,
@LogiForce , with your various descriptions of how the FFB should feel like, including a comment you posted this morning...
Thanks for all the help I can get, hoping this also helps others.
I only just noticed this thread so apologies for being late to the party!
I was inspired to try tactile transducers with my PS3 by Mr Latte a few years ago and since then have done quite a bit of experimenting. There is a lot of good information on this thread, but I'll try and pull it together from what has been posted and my own findings.
A mono system works well with a console, increases immersion in the game and is cheaper and simpler to implement.
With a PS3 (PS4 should be the same) you can split the bass audio signal from your home cinema system to your subwoofer, feed it to a mono subwoofer amp to power one or more tactile transducers OR use the full range audio signal from your PS3 multi-out (set the console to simultaneously output 5.1 or 7.1 to your sound system and stereo via the RCA multi-out). With the first option the signal is likely to be up to 200Hz for a cheap home cinema system. To improve results and stop unpleasant sounds use an amp with filters such as a Mono Subwoofer Amp to restrict the signal to your transducers to about 100Hz.
If you use the full range audio signal from the multi-out it will be essential to use an amp with appropriate filters (although you can use FMod inline filters although I haven't personally used them).
If you live in the USA Parts Express is probably the best place to source tactile transducers. The best low cost Butt Kicker alternative is probably the
Aura Pro AST2B Pro 4 bass shaker which is 50W RMS 4 ohm. Parts Express regularly put them on sale and I got mine for $39 each (£25 brought over by a relative). They are very effective at transmitting kerb strikes, road jump impacts and engine vibration. Range is from approximately 20 - 100 Hz with a resonant peak of 38Hz which coincides nicely with Merc V8 engines such as with the C63 in GT6. If you wire 2 in series you will need an amp capable of 50W RMS 8 ohm. If you wire 4 in series parallel you will need an amp capable of 200W RMS 4 ohm. Most subwoofer amps are rated in W RMS at 4 ohm. Many are capable of taking either a 4 ohm or 8 ohm load (at lower W RMS).
Unfortunately the Aura Pro is difficult to obtain in the UK - they used to be imported by the Shaker Centre, but not for a few years. The cheapest reasonably effective alternative in the UK is the
Sinus Live Bass Pump 3 which is available from Conrad. It is also rated at 50W RMS 4 ohm, but in my experience it bottoms out at high power settings which results in some physical noise - you can reduce this by mounting its three legs on washers which reduce the likelihood of the mechanism from striking your seat/rig. It is less effective at transmitting kerb strikes and road impacts than the Aura Pro, but if it is the only transducer you have tried you will probably be satisfied with it for console use. In terms of mechanism it is similar to a giant sized Dayton puck. I did a brief comparison review of this shaker v the Aura Pro on GTPlanet a few years back.
The
Reckhorn BS100 was superseded by the
BS200 - if you are in the UK you can get these from the Shaker Centre (last time I checked they were £45 each). They are rated at 100W RMS at 4 ohm. It looks like a copy of an Aura Pro, but without the finned heat sink. I haven't tried them myself, but I believe Mr Latte has compared them with Aura Pro's.
To get the cheapest starter system for console tactile you can buy a powered subwoofer from Ebay for about £25 (look out for ones rated at 50W RMS or above with a 4 ohm driver, then strip the amp out, fit it in a small home made case and connect it to one Aura Pro or Sinus Live Bass Pump 3. You should have a decent starter system for around £60. I started with the amp stripped from a Gale 3070 powering one Aura pro. Later when I tried better amps I found that the filters on the Gale were not so good at filtering out the unwanted higher frequencies.
As others have said rubber isolators are vital. The Buttkicker ones are overpriced - substitute with the much cheaper
Penn Elcom 9106 rubber feet from Parts Express. Alternatively use solid rubber door stops and / or rubber matting from Pound Shops. Car Exhaust bobbins can also be very useful - these have a an M6 (or similar) thread at each end bonded to a central rubber bobbin shaped like a cotton reel (useful for pedal isolation).
Experiment with transducers under the seat, under the pedal area and (if you have enough transducers) under the gear shifter.
Avoid buying the Buttkicker Gamer 1 unless you plan on using your own amp - the Gamer 1 has a reputation for over heating and even catching fire. The Gamer Transducer is a 2 ohm unit so it may be difficult to find a suitable alternative amp although you can wire 2 in series for a 4 ohm load. The BK Gamer 2 amp is much improved over the mark 1.
If you buy secondhand Buttkicker products it is likely that the amp will have failed, but the transducer will be fine. I got a very nice BK Advance transducer this way for £60. People sometimes personally import BK amps from the USA then switch them on in the UK without changing the fuses and rating setting - this causes them to fail, normally irreparably.
If you buy
BK Mini LFE transducers you need the ones modified by the insertion of acoustic foam to stop unpleasant bottoming out noises - the ones sold by Simvibe in the USA and Shaker Centre in the UK have been modified and the ones sold by BK as the BK Mini LFE SE have also been modified.