I just purchased a buttkicker G2. I’m looking to get more more advanced haptic feedback. I was originally going to get sim shaker and sim shaker aviation and am having issues buying it. I’m curious about opus and if it is as good. Pros and cons of each for most authentic experience from the Buttkicker. Thanks in advance clear skies and smooth landings.
I used opus for years for the live weather and camera postions. Never used the buttkicker feature, but I have found them to be a reliable company to deal with. Wish my P3D version would work in this.
The thing with the buttkicker is that you only have one bass shaker. For a better experience you really need more buttkickers which can soon get pretty expensive.
For this reason, I am looking at the shakekit/shakekit plus from Sim Racing Studio which features 4 and 6 transducers respectively. From memory I think they are not too far off what you paid for the buttkicker (not checked recentIy). I know that this doesn’t really answer your original question but it could give you an additional avenue for future immersion. I really think that with just the one transducer in a buttkicker you will be a little bit limited in the sort of experience you are after.
I’m not sure how multiple BK’s Wouk do work. Can you provide some insight? I’m really interested in this as well, but I don’t have a vision of using more than one.
If you want to go whole-hog, xsimulator.net has SimTools software that supports SimVibe. You can address multiple bass shakers - front and back, right and left.
I use Opus MSFS with 1 buttkicker and two Transducers, It works really well. 3 is the magic number I find for the best experience. You will need three\amps and two extra USB sound cards. Hook up the buttkicker to the chair and the two others under the desk. 1 will be controlled by the sim sounds and the other 1 and the buttkicker on the chair will be ran by the opus software and will give you different effects like takeoff roll, landing , flaps, gear, spoilers , wind effects, turbulence, engine. I been using this setup now for a few years and cant fly without it once you have experienced it. It did take me time to get it all dialed in but once you get there you wont be adjusting volumes much. Josh
To be totally honest I never got the buttkicker (but looked at it seriously) and decided to do a diy job with a bass shaker amp, speaker wires, a second sound card, a 50w bass shaker, and SRS software. I attached this to the PC table and it is quite immersive but slightly limited with just one bass shaker. This is why I was interested in the SRS shake kit which has 4 bass shakers (6 for the more expensive version) which you then put on your seat to give even more immersion. I suppose though if I wanted I could just attach a second transducer to the PC chair and connect it up to my existing amp which is powerful enough for two bass shakers. There are loads of possibilities and it is quite fun thinking them through. My knowledge of electrics was pretty limited tbh and I had to do quite a bit of reading before deciding which amp, transducer, sound card and software to buy and then how best to connect it all up. The advantage of a diy job rather than an all-in-one is that if any of my components goes bust I know how to replace them.
I suppose if you wanted you could get a second buttkicker and do a similar thing. Attach one to the PC table and another one to the PC chair. Not sure if you would need another sound card to be honest but I think you can get them pretty cheap.
I find bass shakers add quite a lot to immersion and are great fun. Hope you have fun too