GT Sport & Bass Shakers

[muznuts]

Hi all,
new here and pretty new to sim racing but loving it
i recently added bass shakers to my set up but having an issue that may have already been covered in the forum, did a search but couldn't find anything
so the set up is 2 x aura pro shakers with Dayton Audio APA150 power amp, running toslink/optical from the ps4 pro to a small DAC out to the amp in stereo mode 1 shaker per channel, so it works but not when im actually driving, its quite pronounced when im in the menus and really feel it when in the pits but so faint i cant feel anything when im actually driving
anyone know what ive done or not done??
thanks

 

[JacksHerer]

I have a butt kicker gamer2...
For Dirt Rally VR it is awesome, I just switch it on and while sitting stationary, I turn the volume up until I can feel the engine tickover. That is me good to go (I did have to turn the menu music down in the game settings)

In GTS I find it very inconsistent.. But I haven't explored the audio settings for GTS nor the dials on my amp thing, my non educated method doesn't seem to work very well, also it feels so dull in comparison to Dirt Rally that I find myself thinking more about why it worked on that curb but not this curb etc etc that it's not adding to the immersion but instead taking away from it.
So I don't even bother switching it on for GTS.

I'm hoping @Scaff will comment as he made a good review video for his setup, but I'm guessing it was pre GTS as it wasn't included...

 

[Scaff]

I have a butt kicker gamer2...
For Dirt Rally VR it is awesome, I just switch it on and while sitting stationary, I turn the volume up until I can feel the engine tickover. That is me good to go (I did have to turn the menu music down in the game settings)

In GTS I find it very inconsistent.. But I haven't explored the audio settings for GTS nor the dials on my amp thing, my non educated method doesn't seem to work very well, also it feels so dull in comparison to Dirt Rally that I find myself thinking more about why it worked on that curb but not this curb etc etc that it's not adding to the immersion but instead taking away from it.
So I don't even bother switching it on for GTS.

I'm hoping @Scaff will comment as he made a good review video for his setup, but I'm guessing it was pre GTS as it wasn't included...

The video I put together was indeed pre-GTS (and pre-PC2 for that matter), and you are spot n with menu music, that stuff plays havoc with tactile units.

I would agree 100% with regard to GTS, a lot of it seems to be down to how smooth the tracks are in GTS which means less audio from that areas and less tactile feedback as well.

Standout titles for tactile feedback on my set-up are currently Dirt Rally, WRC7, PC/PC2 (I find PC2 fine - some have had differing results and this seems to very much depend on you audio system) and Assetto Corsa.

For anyone interested he video in question is this one:

 

[JacksHerer]

It's such a shame that a product doesn't exist that could take the ffb and sound to give us the ultimate feed for tactile units - and rely on developers to send the data to feed the unit.

 

[Scaff]

It's such a shame that a product doesn't exist that could take the ffb and sound to give us the ultimate feed for tactile units - and rely on developers to send the data to feed the unit.

It does, just not for console.

http://simxperience.com/en-us/products/simvibe/simvibesoftware.aspx

 

[JacksHerer]

Every week lately I am seeing another reason to move to PC driving.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Hi all,
new here and pretty new to sim racing but loving it
i recently added bass shakers to my set up but having an issue that may have already been covered in the forum, did a search but couldn't find anything
so the set up is 2 x aura pro shakers with Dayton Audio APA150 power amp, running toslink/optical from the ps4 pro to a small DAC out to the amp in stereo mode 1 shaker per channel, so it works but not when im actually driving, its quite pronounced when im in the menus and really feel it when in the pits but so faint i cant feel anything when im actually driving
anyone know what ive done or not done??
thanks

Tempted to suggest setting the output of the PS4 to stereo and seeing if that makes a difference. What DAC are you using?

 

[Scaff]

Hi all,
new here and pretty new to sim racing but loving it
i recently added bass shakers to my set up but having an issue that may have already been covered in the forum, did a search but couldn't find anything
so the set up is 2 x aura pro shakers with Dayton Audio APA150 power amp, running toslink/optical from the ps4 pro to a small DAC out to the amp in stereo mode 1 shaker per channel, so it works but not when im actually driving, its quite pronounced when im in the menus and really feel it when in the pits but so faint i cant feel anything when im actually driving
anyone know what ive done or not done??
thanks

Have you tried it with any other titles apart from GTS?

I ask as GTS is really not that great when it comes to tactile feedback, the idle volume and menu volumes are far louder than that of the actual driving (which is why running a tactile set-up I reduce the volume for everything in the menu, music, etc).

Looking at the spec for the APA150 what do you have the lo-pass set to as well (to be honest its OK for a tactile amp, but a bottom of 50hz is a little high (my Reckhorn is contrast runs to 5hz) so you are going to be missing out on some lower frequency audio.

The APA can be set from 50 to 150hz for the low pass filter, so in this example if you had it set to 150 you would miss anything to the left of that (these are from Assetto Corsa and Project Cars 2) which is quite a bit, and you are never going to get anything to the left of 50hz.

Assetto Corsa
View attachment 722418

Project Cars 2
View attachment 722415

Edited to add - just checked the manual and the label isn't that well worded, the low pass filter appears to actually be a high cut. So that would need to be switched on and what ever its set to it will cut off frequencies above that (which you want for a tactile unit - high frequency is nasty). I would suggest setting that on and to 150hz as a start (the bottom is actually 20hz which is better). Then reduce the low pass if you need to get rid of any unpleasant higher frequency vibrations.

 

[muznuts]

firstly thanks for all the replies
@JacksHerer i have played with all the settings GTS, PS4, Amp, i feel like ive got it to the best its going to get but like you say its not even worth turning it on for GTS
@MatskiMonk as i said above i have tried all different settings, the DAC is a $60 cheapie from an electronics supplier here, brand is digitech i think
@Scaff GTS is the only driving game i have tried, but it works on other non driving games, its looking like GTS just doesnt do the shaking very well in comparison to other games, maybe just try tweaking the settings some more, i have most of the volumes cranked up right now which seemed to get it working the best but ill keep playing round with them and the x-over in low pass mode
ok so another question, is there a way to turn music off altogether while racing?

 

[MatskiMonk]

@MatskiMonk as i said above i have tried all different settings, the DAC is a $60 cheapie from an electronics supplier here, brand is digitech i think

Fair enough. I was just wondering if the DAC was only using the Main Left and Right channels from the input, rather than down-mixing all 6 to stereo. In non-surround environments (such as menu's or perhaps the pit animation), this wouldn't be a problem as they likely mainly utilise the Main L & R channels anyway.... in environments that fully use the surround sound, where the the low frequencies were distributed across other channels (i.e. Centre, the Rears, or the Sub), then the fact the DAC might be skipping them would explain why it seemed to work in certain areas of the game, but not others....

... just a thought. Sounds like it's not the case.

 

[muznuts]

yeah i understand what you are saying but its a very simple unit coax or optical in > rca out
i havent gone down the path of 5.1 surround...yet