I see Gogamer is offering a rebate on the Buttkicker Gamer. Do any members use this? How do you like it if so? I game exclusively with a pair of 5.1 headphones and I love them. If the ButtKicker is something you feel more than hear this might be a good accessory for me.

Thanks,

Ted

Thats exactly what it does as far as I understand. Its a tactile feedback transducer (I think) so basically in the name of a B Boy song it shakes your rump!

I bought one 2 weeks ago and I love it. Basicaly it reproduces sound as vibration in the 10hz to 250hz range. It has a low pass filter and an adjustable crossover.

I've used it mainly for music and race sims. It's deffinately worth the $49.00 imo.

When I drive the vette in GTR 2 I can feel the power pulses of the engine. I can feel the backfires and the shifts. I can feel the road surface. In games I set the buttkicker's crossover range from 10 to 40hz and you feel all the mechanical sounds.

The effect in music is equaly impressive. It will make your chest cavitity vibrate like you are standing at a concert. I like most forms of music, but this thing lets me feel jazz the way I want to. The low frequency instruments like the string bass really come through in way that can't be duplicated by the average subwoofer.

I played a few minutes of bf2 with it and a nearby nade will make you jump out of your chair. The afterburners vibrate your body, it's a cool effect. Firing your tank main gun is a new experience.

There are only two concerns associated with the device. Never play the brown note under any circumstances, and you might not be able to get your girl out of the chair after she finds the right frequency.

Thanks Lith1um. Another question. Where does it plug into on the sound card? My headphones have a jack that shares the center/subwoofer channel so I'm wondering if it will work with my headphones or if it really only designed for external speaker use.

It comes with a splitter cable.

You can see the splitter cable in the second pic on this page.

With a 5.1 system the kicker is plugged inline with the center/sub jack.

With headphones it's plugged inline with the headphone jack.

I can't crank up my 5.1 z680's without disturbing everyone in my house at night. I pretty much use headphones exclusively now and the kicker is an awesome addition to headphones.

Thanks much friend. Looks like a purchase then.

I received the Butt kicker for Christmas and I have to say "it kicks butt" I fly mostly IL-2 and play BF2 and when the big guns go off you really feel it.

I could never get my girlfriend to play BF2 until she started driving the tank around with the butt kicker turned all the way up....hey, wait a second!

Let us know what you think Piloto.

I played some more bf2 last night, this time pounding the ground on heels. I was playing Gulf of Oman.

Man, when one of the jets does a low level on you it really, really, sounds/feels like you are standing at an air show. Very convincing effect.

Bf2 has some awesome sounds I must say. Driving tanks and armored vehicles is a new experience with the kicker.

And I spent some time in the FSX Maule doing a mission or two. Man, it feels like you are in the actual aircraft. Throttle movements feel incredibly real.

I hope more people try this thing, I would hate to see them discontinue the product. When it debuted I think it was around $179.00, thats a huge price drop to $49.

I think it's a great device and I think people would love it if they ever tried it.

Dano,

Maybe you can find one of these Bass Shakers localy, and hook it up to an old tuner.

for $100 ill kick your butt........

I'd really like to get one of these while they're still around but I have other bills to pay still. And I want those Saitek rudder pedals too along with a new video card and Logitech z5500s! Damn bills!

I have the Buttkicker Gamer, and I too find it a great piece of kit. For sims like the IL2 series and FSX, it adds a great deal to the immersion. However, it's not perfect, and you should be aware of its limitations/how it works. You need to make sure that it will attach to your chair. It's designed for chairs with centre columns, but won't fit all, and some people don't like flying with "office" style chairs as most have castors, and you don't want a chair that can move when you're using rudders in general. Secondly, it doesn't work well in F4AF in my experience. And thirdly in all sims, comms (both online buddies or tower calls) tend to generate a vibration which naturally you don't really want. Fourthly, it comes with quite a big box and thick cable so you need to think your space usage if it's at a premium.

SO whilst I give it a big thumbs up, and recommend it, I recommend it with some reservations, if any of the above would affect your enjoyment of it.

Cheers

James

Nutty,

Could you eliminate comms causing buttkicker vibration by using a second soundcard (or onboard sound) for comms? Lots of simmers already do this.


The low pass filter I understand (I assume 250 Hz is the highest setting for the LPF?). But the crossover confuses me: what is getting crossed over?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_crossover

I'll try to be more specific and describe all the controls on the front of the amp.

The amp has a "low filter cutoff" button which is an on/off button.

The amp has a "high cuttoff frequency" knob that can be set from 40 to 160hz. This setting has an on/off button switch to disable it.

The amp has a volume knob ranging from min to max. This controls the overall output level.

It also has a power led, a signal led, and a red led to indicate clipping.

The reccommended settings are,

Games - Low cutoff switch ON, High cutoff switch ON, High cutoff frequency knob set to 40hz

Music - Low cutoff switch ON, High cutoff switch OFF, High frequency cutoff knob disabled by high cutoff switch

Movies - Low cutoff switch OFF, High cutoff switch ON, High cutoff frequency knob set to 80hz

By analyzing the above settings you can get an idea what frequencies it tries to reproduce. Generaly speaking, the frequencies are well below that which the average subwoofer or headphones is capable of.

So I guess in games you would get something like 10 to 40hz, movies 10 to 80hz, and music something like 10 to 250hz.

Ok, bear with me as I type from the manual.

High and Low cutoff filters

The Low Cutoff filter is designed to signifcantly reduce (12db per octave rolloff) the extremely low frequencies, those below 25hz. This is the subsonic range, below the frequencies the we can hear with our ears. In movies and games, this is usually where large explosions will shake you. However, often in music, this is a dead zone mostly filled with noise. Switching on the Low Cutoff filter will lower the intensity of these low frequency vibrations.

The High Cutoff filter is designed to reduce and eliminate the frequencies in the upper range of the buttkicker gamer's response. This can be used to put a "ceiling" on the frequency response of the buttkicker gamer to help eliminating unwanted "buzzing" and the occasional human voice that may be transfered in the upper frequency range of the buttkicker gamer. To eliminate unwanted effects, turn on the high cutoff filter and starting from the highest frequency, turn the high cutoff frequency knob down untill you achieve the desired effect. When active, lowering the high cutoff frequency can also help to reduce the response to in-game music without significantly reducing the low end effects.

The buttkicker specs as per the manual,

Buttkicker gamer - frequency response 10-250hz, 2ohm impedance. Weight 2 lbs 2oz.

The Amp - 100 watts 10 lbs 2oz.

Thanks for the clarification. Your terminology confused me. Based on your explanation, the ButtKicker actually has a high pass filter and a low pass filter. The high pass has a fixed threshold at 25 Hz and a fixed rolloff of 12 dB/octave, while the low pass is user-defeatable, has a user-adjustable threshhold and an unspecified rolloff rate (presumably also 12 dB/octave, as this is typical of pass filters).


I know what a crossover is; it is a device used to split audio information from one broad band into two or more narrower bands. For loudspeakers it is used to separate the low frequency information from the high frequency information; the low frequency information can then be sent to woofers or cones while the high frequency information can be sent to tweeters or horns. In reality a crossover is built from two or more pass filters, but the Buttkicker has no crossover as it only deals with a single frequency band.

I've never come across that - what an excellent idea. I guess yes if you assign TeamSpeak/Ventrilo or whatever you're using to use a different card, that would sort out online comms.

You're still stuck though I guess with ingame comms (tower calls, wingmen etc.)

Thanks for responding with the suggestion. I may implement that as it would be superb for the IL2 seies when flying online from HL. A big thumbs up!

Cheers

James

The masterful James Hallows has never heard of that? I'm shocked!

It's easy. Use the Windows Audio Control Panel to assign the "Voice" functions to your onboard sound (or second sound card). Having online comms come through your headset is really nice.


And yes, you're still stuck with in-game calls. But the ButtKicker's adjustable low-pass filter should allow you to tweak out most of that. If you're hardcore you could edit the comms audio to get rid of it to, by applying a high-pass filter to the comms above 250 Hz.