ButtKicker Gamer

By Cap Mason
12 December 2005

For those readers with short attention spans...

I don't usually shortcut reviews this way but for those readers with short attention spans, I have just four words, "Go buy it, now!" And be sure to get your ButtKicker at the FlightSim.Com Pilot Shop.

For the rest of you with more patience and curiosity, please read on. You'll discover the "must-have" game hardware device of the year.

An exciting new way to get real with flightsimming, and much more.

My initial reaction to this force feedback gaming device was, "Well, ain't that one helluva kick in the pants!"

Things just got better from there. Simply put, ButtKicker, made by the Guitammer Company, is exactly what its name implies. It is a 100 watt subwoofer amplifier that ingeniously translates bass sound pressure into kinetic motion and applies it liberally to your rear end through the ButtKicker Gamer shaker device that attaches to your office chair. ButtKicker wowed the reviewers at the Consumer Electronics Show when it was introduced. That's why it won the Innovation Award at CES 2005.

Before I dive into the guts of ButtKicker and how I experienced it in FS2004 and CFS3, let me start by saying that it added a powerful immersion factor that was missing from flightsimming, until now. You could spend around $20,000 for a full motion platform or you could spend less than $50 for ButtKicker and get a spectacular ride.

What is a ButtKicker?

The ButtKicker Gamer is a small, linear motor, which reacts to an audio signal sent by an 100 watt amplifier. The unit comes as a complete kit with amplifier, shaker, cables and all the accessories you need to connect it to either your PC or game console.

The shaker is similar to a loudspeaker, but instead of moving a cone, and transferring sound waves through the air, it attaches to your seat column and sends low frequency sound directly into your body. The effect is amazing and extremely powerful.

A different application of sound pressure.

It takes two senses to perceive full range sound. We hear sound, but we also feel sound, especially low frequency. That's why Ludwig Von Beethoven could write magnificent symphonies even when he was stone deaf. He felt the music through his body.

Under normal circumstances, it takes huge speakers, moving tremendous amounts of air, to feel the low frequency of sound. I went to the recent Rolling Stones concert here at San Francisco's SBC Park and the huge blast of sound from that venerable group's performance surged through my body like a freight train. I wear hearing protectors at rock concerts, as everyone should, so as to not wind up like Maestro Beethoven, stone deaf.

Of course, sound levels like the Stones produce also triggered noise complaints from San Francisco's citizens for miles around the stadium. I think jets lifting off from SFO felt that noise. So, that's one way to rock your body, just crank up the volume. It's also why people love rock concerts because they want to feel the sound pressure in their bodies. As flightsimmers, we want to achieve something similar. We want to feel the airplane, sense the vibrations and feel what it is like to sit in the left-hand seat on the flight deck. One way is to crank the speaker volume so loud as to achieve body-slamming sound pressure. Of course, in addition to rattling the windows, you would be damaging your hearing and inviting noise complaints from neighbors. Sound at levels high enough to produce the body-slam effect needs to be cranked to over 100 decibels (dBA). Rock concerts blast away at 110-120 decibels. Airplanes taking off generate 140 dBA of noise and jets do 150 dBA. That's far above the damage level for human hearing. Noise levels above 85 dBA will harm hearing over time. Noise levels above 140dBA can cause damage to hearing after just one exposure.

Silent, but impressive.

ButtKicker creates the body-slamming force feedback effect in complete silence. A person standing next to you when you use ButtKicker with a headset instead of your PC speakers – won't hear a thing. You, on the other hand, will feel every nuance of the flightsimming sound action. The best part is that the ButtKicker effect applies to any other sounds coming through your PC from other games, music, or DVDs. Try watching the attack scenes from Pearl Harbor with ButtKicker and you'll feel what it was like to be blown up by a Japanese bomb aboard the USS Arizona, and much more.

ButtKicker reproduces the feeling range of audio in a more direct way than through the air from sound waves at high decibel levels. The perception is actually better with ButtKicker and you eliminate any risk of damaging your ears. When using headphones, for example, with a ButtKicker, you perceive powerful, acoustically accurate, live-action audio, but no one else hears anything. The sound is completely isolated to the listener and you can listen at safe sound levels while still rocking your body from the vibration effects.

The perfect companion to Voice Buddy
and the Audio FX headset

My first impressions was that I have never been so thoroughly immersed in flightsim action ever before. I tested ButtKicker using Voice Buddy 3, the Audio FX headset, and simming with FS2004 and CFS3. They all worked flawlessly together. I tried using ButtKicker alone with my speakers but found the effect much less satisfying and much less immersive than when I slapped on the Audio FX headset. I also experienced perfect integration between ButtKicker and Voice Buddy without any interference. I could whisper my voice commands or speak in a normal voice and there was perfect recognition by Voice Buddy since ButtKicker does not interfere at all with what you hear through the Audio FX headphones or say through the microphone. I have customized my Voice Buddy command set for FS2004 to use natural language dialogs with ATC. So, this was truly the very next best thing to actually sitting in the left-hand seat and flying in the real world.

The test set-up

My test rig is a Dell XPS desktop PC, UltraSharp flat panel monitor, CH Products USB Flightsim Yoke, Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, Throttle Quadrant and Pro Pedals. I use Voice Buddy and the Audio FX headset for all my simming and gaming. I put ButtKicker through its paces testing:

Both with speakers and a headset (Audio FX from eDimensional)

FS2004

CFS3

IL2 Pacific Fighters

LOMAC

Falcon 4

An assortment of stock and add-on aircraft including airliners, general aviation, jets, warbirds, bombers, fighters, helicopters.

Plus, other games that included Brothers In Arms, Call of Duty, Doom 3, Unreal Tournament (those explosions were awesome!)

Rock music from the Rolling Stones and my litmus test, Bad To The Bone, by George Thorogood

DVDs with lot's of aviation action including Top Gun, Pearl Harbor, Tora! Tora! Tora!

Cockpit DVDs from Just Planes for flights in B777, B767, ATR-72, Learjet and Falcon.

The FS2004 ButtKicker experience

For my first test, I flew the stock DC-3 in FS2004. Those Gooney Birds (Dakotas to our British friends) are noisy beast that shake-rattle-n-roll their way through the air. I also tested GA airplanes, jets and heavies that included the B737 and B747.

FS2004 was made for this stuff. Between the vibration effects of the Audio FX headset and the "kick in the pants" immersive vibration effects of Buttkicker, I was immediately transported to the actual feeling of what it was like to fly on a DC-3. I remembered those experiences like they happened yesterday and not in my distant youth. The same was apparent with the modern airplanes, jets and helicopters.

I was tremendously impressed by the differences, both subtle and bold, between various sound effects and also the different views I was in while experiencing them. Landing gear and flap movement, engine noise, even opening and closing cabin doors – sound different in FS2004 depending on whether you are on the flight deck, outside, above or below the aircraft point of view. The corresponding vibration effects from ButtKicker and the Audio FX headset matched the FS2004 sound set with delightful realism. By far, the FS2004 sound set proved to be the best of all the sims and games I tested.

After my initial surprise of the physical feel of the airplane, I was amazed at how naturally the vibration effects integrated into the total flightsimming experience. There was a seamless integration of ButtKicker on my bottom, and Audio FX vibrations coming through my head, blended with the sounds coming through my ears and the voice commands I was issuing to my virtual copilot to control the airplane and my direct interactive communication with ATC through Voice Buddy 3. It created a complete immersion envelope in flying the airplanes. I'm describing it the best I can but this is something you simply must experience for yourself.

One of the handy features of ButtKicker's performance with FS2004 was its audio stability. I did not have to adjust the amplifier settings at all once I set things up for games. This involved pushing a couple of buttons and twirling a couple of knobs. I simply used the default settings for games and adjusted the amplifier volume up a bit higher than recommended. The effect was wonderful and it was consistent from airplane-to-airplane, flight-to-flight.

The CFS3 ButtKicker experience

CFS3 has a vastly difference sound system than FS2004. It is not nearly as subtle nor does it have as varied a selection of sounds. Nevertheless, ButtKicker performed flawlessly. As with FS2004, it discriminated between interior and exterior sounds. Unlike with FS2004, I needed to adjust the amplifier volume more often between airplanes.

Aerial gunnery, bombing and rocketry were pure delights. Instead of the feeble ratta-tat-tat of machine guns, ButtKicker delivered some serious immersion into the feeling of unloading machine guns from my Spitfire, Thunderbolt, Mustang and Mitchell. Low-level bombing and rocket attacks also produced satisfying vibration effects.

Aerial combat is a noisy, physically demanding experience. Now that you can add vibration effects, ButtKicker definitely kicks the experience up a notch. After a dogfight, I felt physically drained. All of a sudden, combat flightsimming took on an entirely new appeal.

Not for casual viewing.

ButtKicker is a serious experience. By that I mean, once you tune in and turn on, you're hooked. If you like watching movies or listening to music on your PC while you work, turn ButtKicker off or you will never get anything else done. This baby just sucks you right into the action. On the other hand, if you're a bit jaded with the wimpy effects that you get from a force feedback joystick, and crave something much more realistic, but don't have the megabucks to invest in a full motion platform, go for it.

What's in the box.

Built to last.

ButtKicker Gamer is surprisingly compact and very well constructed. The shaker arm is a serious piece of engineering with a powerful clamp that easily attaches to your chair. The amplifier has its own cooling system and is small enough to fit just about anywhere. I put mine on a shelf next to my workstation to keep the control panel within easy reach. The cables are well designed and the master cable connecting the amplifier to the shaker arm does not get tangled with my chair legs thanks to the Velcro able ties and strain-relief band.

Easy to set up.

Setting up the ButtKicker Gamer system was a snap. This is one case where I did have to read the manual, first. But the Quick Start Guide was simple and straightforward. Setting up is a three step process:

Attach the Shaker to your chair
Connect the cables to the amplifier and your PC
Switch on and rock-the-house (or at least your seat!)

ButtKicker comes with a handy Ground Loop Isolator that prevents it from buzzing that is often caused when the house wiring is not properly grounded. I recommend using it. It just plugs into the system and then you connect the cables to the Isolator.

Easy to adjust the effects

The Quick Start Guide provides a handy chart that shows you what settings to use for music, games and DVD. The default settings are accurate and effective. All I had to do was adjust the amplifier volume up or down as desired to achieve the right intensity of vibration effects.

Quiet as a tomb.

Despite the fact that the ButtKicker amplifier packs 100 watts of power and includes its own, built-in cooling system – the system runs very quietly. My Dell XPS runs a bit nosier and I barely hear it at all.

Room for improvement.

The one area where ButtKicker fell a tad short was in documentation. There is a handy Quick Start Guide. But you must also refer to a separate sheet for instructions on how to install the Ground Loop Isolator and a third manual for other operating instructions. The folks at Guitammer should have put everything in the Quick Start guide. While the Guide explains clearly how to connect everything and the instructions are easy to follow, I was stumped for at least ten minutes over what to do with the extra cables. Then I realized that they were only for set-ups with game consoles or home theatre sound systems. DUH! A quick note about that would have cut the 15 minute set-up down to just five minutes.

Another thing Guitammer engineers should do is put the power switch on the front of the amplifier. You will be switching it on and off fairly often and reaching around in back is a minor inconvenience. They could also add color to the engraved indication marker on the High Cutoff Frequency control knob. The black-on-black indicator was very hard to see.

Finally, the Velcro strips used to secure the cable to your chair leg could be longer, or include more of them. I needed three clamps and after trimming one into two pieces, I barely had enough to go around the leg on my chair. If you encounter a similar challenge, a cable tie works just as well.

Conclusion

ButtKicker is the most exciting hunk of game hardware I've experienced in a very long time. If you seek total immersion in your flightsimming and game action, buy it today. Getting your butt kicked has never been more fun that this.

Click here for more information.

Cap Mason
CapMason@FlightSim.Com