Buttkicker 2 Help

[tony wright]

Just bought one and can't get it to work. Firstly though, I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to PC stuff so go easy on me please. Secondly, there were no instructions other than a quick guide on a single piece of paper, which I followed.

Following the instructions I used the blue socket at the back of PC as my headphones with mic use the green and pink ones. Nothing happened other than a very, very small vibration. I then changed the jack to the front Imput socket and I managed to get it to work briefly. I then had to turn it off as I was racing and everytime the guys spoke on TS the vibrations increased so I turned it off till we were finished. When I then switched it back on I couldn't get it to work again. The lads suggested I would need another sound card, is that correct? Also when I purchased it, it recommended buying the stereo to mono converter (so I did) but absolutely no explanation why or how to use it so I'm not sure I spent the £17 wisely . Any help in laymen terms would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Just bought one and can't get it to work. Firstly though, I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to PC stuff so go easy on me please. Secondly, there were no instructions other than a quick guide on a single piece of paper, which I followed.

Following the instructions I used the blue socket at the back of PC as my headphones with mic use the green and pink ones. Nothing happened other than a very, very small vibration. I then changed the jack to the front Imput socket and I managed to get it to work briefly. I then had to turn it off as I was racing and everytime the guys spoke on TS the vibrations increased so I turned it off till we were finished. When I then switched it back on I couldn't get it to work again. The lads suggested I would need another sound card, is that correct? Also when I purchased it, it recommended buying the stereo to mono converter (so I did) but absolutely no explanation why or how to use it so I'm not sure I spent the £17 wisely . Any help in laymen terms would be greatly appreciated.

The blue one is an input socket hence why nothing happened. The mono upgrade is just for when using it for audio vibration, and combines the signal so you get vibration from both left and right sides. I’m interested what it looks like if you have pictures as I don’t have it?

Have you got an orange subwoofer output?

If not you can use the y-splitter on the green centre channel and plug your headphones into one side and Buttkicker to the other. This setup only vibrates with base audio though.

To have it work with telemetry then you would need a second sound card and software to turn the telemetry data into vibrations. It is much better this way but more pricey, try with audio first and see what you think and then if it’s not quite to your liking come back and ask how to improve it.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Just bought one and can't get it to work. Firstly though, I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to PC stuff so go easy on me please. Secondly, there were no instructions other than a quick guide on a single piece of paper, which I followed.

Following the instructions I used the blue socket at the back of PC as my headphones with mic use the green and pink ones. Nothing happened other than a very, very small vibration. I then changed the jack to the front Imput socket and I managed to get it to work briefly. I then had to turn it off as I was racing and everytime the guys spoke on TS the vibrations increased so I turned it off till we were finished. When I then switched it back on I couldn't get it to work again. The lads suggested I would need another sound card, is that correct? Also when I purchased it, it recommended buying the stereo to mono converter (so I did) but absolutely no explanation why or how to use it so I'm not sure I spent the £17 wisely . Any help in laymen terms would be greatly appreciated.

Basically a Buttkicker is a speaker, so it's reacting to sound output. So that should give you the fundamental logic of how it connects to your PC. So means you will connect the Buttkicker to same sound output your speaker/headphones use. A splitter will enable you share the output. This is not optimal for sim racing. The Buttkicker, acting like a speaker will pick up everything including music from the game, and the Buttkicker will just make vibrations on all audio signals within certain frequencies.

Installing a second sound card just for the Buttkicker and using SimVibe or SSW, is the optimal setup. In this set up, your normal audio go through your onboard PC sound card as before, but the second sound card only picks up signals delivered from SimVibe. SimVibe reads the same data used for force feedback wheel output by the game and then sends that to the Buttkicker. This means you get accurate vibration effects and you can tune the effects individually to your liking.

 

[tony wright]

Thanks guys, managed to get it to work once plugged into the correct (green) socket. I used the splitter and plugged headphones in the other one, but sound only comes out on one side, so that's a no no. Only used it very briefly as the Wife started shouting upstairs to turn the noise down, it was rather loud as I think it was clipping (according to some of the posts I've read). Unfortunately my sound card does not have an orange sub woofer jack point. Lastly, I've managed to over tighten (not sure how, I can't remember being too enthusiastic with it) the plastic knob and it just spins now as soon as it nips. I assume there is a small nut head underneath so not sure wether to complain or just remove the plastic knob and use a small spanner. The stereo to mono converter (MLC-1) was bought separately as I assumed you needed it. When you went to purchase the BK2 it had it pictured below, suggesting you purchase at the same time

Reading more and more about it, it may of been a rash £200+ purchase as it seems you to need Sim vibe and a second sound card to get the best out of it and as previously mentioned I'm rubbish with computers.