My Mic is the built in Rift headset mic and is running through Voicemeeter. Both my recording and playback are now runninv through Voicemeeter as this can control voice feedback so i dont hear myself talk as i use Voice Attack.
Adding transducers to my VR cockpit.
- Thread starter [VR] Frank_G
- Start date
My buttkicker gamer arrives today so I might hit you up with some questions. I'm running the same setup as you , rift and voice attack. I've read a few ways to get it working so hopefully I don't run into to many issues.
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You need a little time to find the best frequencies and such things. I am finetuning right now. The technical process isnt hard at all. I managed to get it working with ease and i am a Mac user, when not in VR
I use vibration protection sheets that are used under parquet to dampen stepping noise. But actually, the volume of those transducers is quite low and almost none of the vibrations are passed into the floor. A thicker carpet would do the job as well (i now have three layers - fixed carpet, the vibration protection and then another carpet to cover it up). Works pretty well.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01334IF7Y...UTF8&colid=HGSM4Y0TI6XF&coliid=I1T17ABVW891DB
Gym rubber mats - what they put under heavy equipment and the retards that throw weights after lifting. The heavier the better. I can shake my skull apart and no one will notice.
My chair is on the carpet. You could get a reasonably sized carpet mat.
OMG, I literally LOL'd and made that Screaming sound the beefcakes make when I read your post!!
thanks for the suggestions, I'll start with a rubber mat as they're quite small and i can cut them to size, and see where I go from there!
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Yeah. That's what I do. Just split my headphone cable. One wire goes to atm50x cans and the other to a cheap 2.1 amp that I use just to drive a transducer. It works well and it was cheap to setup. The 2.1 amp presents a high impedance load so this doesn't affect the headphone sound quality that I can tell. I have an asus z170-ar mobo and am using its front panel out jack signal for this.
Oh, i find it pretty immersive. I even plan on adding another 2 for the back of the seat. Actually feeling the ship you fly is incredible.
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I can't play without mine, I always use it. Adds such a lot to the game that I couldn't do without it. Works well in other games too, the BK adds a lot to Alien Isolation for example as you can feel the alien stomping about, with the vibration getting more intense the closer the creature gets to you. Scary stuff!
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I use 2x50 watt transducers (listed in my sig). I drive them (wired in series) plugged into 1 speaker channel on a 110 watt Sony amp. I uses a y-split audio cable to split the sound off my sub/center soundcard output (Soundblaster X-Fi) One thing I found handy with the X-Fi is the Creative Console allows me to re-direct the bass to the other speakers. This has proved handy for games that don't have a lot of bass for getting good vibration. Without it, I found many games weren't giving off much effect. I placed 1 transducer under the seat and mounted the other to the back of it. I found this to give a nice spread of the vibrations over the whole seat. Since I don't use headphones, I don't need to use Voicemeter to split sound channels making it a simple setup. It is certainly cheaper and more flexible than a Buttkicker, even with the price of the seat ($100) factored in.
I thinks I might have mentioned this before. One of my favorite demos of VR to newbies is to put them in a Mi8 heli in DCS, crank up the seat's bass and cold start the beast. When those twin blades start up, it blows peoples minds. Beside the obvious added immersion with driving and flying, I also quite enjoy the feedback while playing shooters and games with lots of explosions. Haptics are a great add on for VR.
I thinks I might have mentioned this before. One of my favorite demos of VR to newbies is to put them in a Mi8 heli in DCS, crank up the seat's bass and cold start the beast. When those twin blades start up, it blows peoples minds. Beside the obvious added immersion with driving and flying, I also quite enjoy the feedback while playing shooters and games with lots of explosions. Haptics are a great add on for VR.
Well, i had time to test the new installation for the last 3 days. I had to get used to it (had fears, the neighbors would kill me - but actually the transducers can only be heard, when sitting on the seat), but now it is just awesome. The explosions, the feedback from the engine when you accelerate, decelerate or hit the boost... so many situations in which the transducers really add to the illusion of being in a real spaceship. I don´t want to play without anymore. The impact was not as hard as VR itself for me (i could play the game without transducers, but not without VR), but it really rounds up the experience.
And as said in my last post, i will definitely get 2 more transducers for the back of the seat. This is somewhat addictive
Thank you everyone for the tips, the feedback, suggestions and solutions. It helped a lot!
And as said in my last post, i will definitely get 2 more transducers for the back of the seat. This is somewhat addictive
Thank you everyone for the tips, the feedback, suggestions and solutions. It helped a lot!
So did you settle on VoiceMeeter, Frank? How have you got it set up?
I'm in the process of setting up Vive+headphones+Buttkicker and can't decide between the following constellations:
A)
B)
On the one hand, I want the improved positional stereo audio provided by DTS Headphone:X in game. I don't think this will work in setup B after mixing the surround audio back to stereo.
On the other hand, I would like to feed the buttkicker with the game's dedicated low frequency effects channel only, rather than extracting the low frequencies from the stereo channels in setup A. There could be LFE effects that are independent of audible low frequencies that get lost in stereo.
How are you doing it, and what's your take on the above?
I'm in the process of setting up Vive+headphones+Buttkicker and can't decide between the following constellations:
A)
- Voicemeeter Virtual Input configured as a stereo device
- Outputs:
- HDMI audio with headphones
- USB DAC with buttkicker attached, Downmix to mono, with a parametric EQ LPF filter in Voicemeeter OR use the buttkicker amp's hardware filter
B)
- Game audio set to Full Range
- Voicemeeter Virtual Input configured as a 5.1 device
- HDMI audio with headphones downmixing the 5 channels to stereo
- USB DAC with buttkicker attached, Composite Voicemeeter setting to only select the 5.1 LFE channel.
On the one hand, I want the improved positional stereo audio provided by DTS Headphone:X in game. I don't think this will work in setup B after mixing the surround audio back to stereo.
On the other hand, I would like to feed the buttkicker with the game's dedicated low frequency effects channel only, rather than extracting the low frequencies from the stereo channels in setup A. There could be LFE effects that are independent of audible low frequencies that get lost in stereo.
How are you doing it, and what's your take on the above?
Hmm... and there was me thinking that a vibrating seat probably wouldn't do much for you. Now after reading all this I'm wondering whether to invest in one of these Buttkicker 2's. £180 though, which isn't to be sniffed at, so I'll wait for the plumber to bill me first before I think about it any further. Does sound like a pain in the bum to set up though. The most obvious problem I can think of for one of these setups though, is that there would be a cable on the floor that I would be very likely to run my chair feet over, repeatedly.
Yes you do have cable on the floor, and yes if you have an gaming type chair with a wheeled base. the wheel legs do tend to move around a lot and you do end up running over the cable. Saying that it is fairly heavy duty cable as they understand this cable has to go on the floor.
The next issue will be if you wear a USB Headset. You will need to try get sound outputted to both the BK2 and headset. I have found Voicemeeter software very effective at doing this, but it is not easy to setup, but PLENTY of YT vids on how to set it up.
Is it worth it?
YES, the sensation you get when you fire weapons or get hit by a weapon shot is great and adds to the imursion! Landing as well and going through the mail slot when you get that bass boost in sound makes the BK2 really give it some Vibs!!
Do you need to split the audio output when using the Rift then? My regular headphones for non VR gaming just plug into the jack in the front of my case, as does my Antlion modmic when I plug that in.
Well it sounds like I'll have to put one on my list then. Any idea if it works well with Aerofly FS 2?
It comes with a Y-Splitter cable for audio but really you want it plugged directly into your sound cards subwoofer output port.
They do indeed work with Areofly FS2. The only issue is that AF2 has poor sound so you really only get the engines come through where as in MS-FSX you feel not just the engines but the flaps adjusting, under carriage deploying / retracting, touch down and the runway beneath your wheels... Hopefully the Areofly team revist the sound at some point.