Sweet kick in the pants!

Tactile response is way underrated. An expensive and comfortable office chair might be great for sitting for long periods of time, but it does little to enhance my flight sim experience. So I took a risk. I saw an article about a product that converted low frequency sounds into a vibration felt by the body. I had heard of bass shakers for music in cars, but this was the first I realized this could be a good application for gaming.


The Buttkicker Gamer

Buttkicker Gamer

I have to admit, I was a little bit skeptical when I purchased this item. The price seemed cheap and I wondered if it would interface well will all my games. But reviews gave praise and I really wanted what the Buttkicker offered, tactile feedback of what I saw in my flight sim.

Installing the Buttkicker was easy. Despite all the cables packaged with the device and the lack of documentation, all I had to do was connect the Buttkicker amplifier in parallel with my speakers using the provided splitter. No software or drivers to set up. The Buttkicker vibrating arm secures quickly and securely to the post of my chair and transfers efficiently the vibrations to my seat.

I immediately realized the purchase was worth it. Starting iTunes was my first test. The deep rhythm of the bass drum and bass guitar shook my chair forcefully perfectly in tune with the correct vibration of the frequency. Next was something a review recommended, flying the DC-3. The big throaty engines provide a ton of vibrations that change frequency depending on the position of the throttle. I can start to fly by the seat of my pants by feeling how much power the engines are providing and not just by the sound alone. I can also now tell the difference between aircraft by how it feels just as how it sounds.

No system is without its fault.
And when I say "system" I really can't say it is the fault of the Buttkicker unit. There are a few small problems with my setup. First would be more of a problem with my chair. With the amplifier turned up, the vibrations shake the hell out of the chair, shaking any lose metal part, and adding the unwanted sound of shaking metal. I have rubber banded some of the loose parts of the chair, but not all sound can be avoided. The second problem is more of a problem with the sound output from the flight sim. Certain engine sound frequencies will have beats(Click link for explanation). It becomes annoying when the sound and feel of the engine pulsates.