The poor mans sim pit

[OldAirmail]

....

A product that I have always felt belongs side by side with the buttkicker is this http://secure.simmarket.com/a2a-simulat ... ment.phtml

...
Romflyer

Great minds think alike.



This is one of only 2 FSX enhancers that I've bought.

I'm sure that there are a ton of good FSX enhancers (as opposed to add-on aircraft), but I don't know what they are.

And some may complicate/compromise FSX beyond reason. I've seen thread after thread where someone seeks help to recover from mysterious errors only to find that they have so many add-ons that it's hard to find the one that's causing all the trouble.

From the manual;
"The vision behind Accu-Feel is to improve the flight experience automatically yet give you, the customer, the final say on everything. You don't want to be bothered with micro-managing files, dealing with software troubles, or doing anything other than having a great simulation experience."

and

"What is Accu-Feel?
Accu-Feel is a program written for FSX that uses additional physics and sound to elevate almost your entire aircraft collection*, both default and 3rd party. It works at the core of FSX, and therefore does not make any changes to any of your aircraft files (for example, downloaded aircraft paints won't be touched). In fact, we don't need to edit or change a single file in your entire FSX install directory. We instead “read” the aircraft that is loaded, analyze it, then automatically create a custom physics and sound profile that is saved outside FSX.

There can't be a better statement of intentions, AND actions!


Remember the line "We instead “read” the aircraft that is loaded, analyze it, then automatically create a custom physics and sound profile..."?

All you need to do is select the plane that you want to fly, and do it. Tinkering with the sounds is simplicity its self even if you feel the need to! Just go to [Add-ons] and select [Accu-Feel Setup]. What will popup is the Accu-Feel setup for THAT airplane.



Don't like the changes? Not a problem. Want to see what difference Accu-Feel Makes? One click to switch it on or off in mid flight. Simple!


There is only one down side for A2As' Accu-Feel. Although it enhances the flight experience quite a bit, it does so in subtle ways. And after a while you forget all about what it was to fly without it! So instead of telling everyone how great it is, you just keep on flying happily along, while others loose out on the subtle, but significant, pleasures of flying.


This is one of those things that is well worth buying. The price is only $20 / EUR 17.84, GET IT. You won’t regret it. Especially as it appears to have no noticeable slow down of the flight simulator.


PS - JBaymore uses enhanced aircraft sounds with his ButtKicker type system. To some degree Accu-Feel can help the ButtKicker, but not as much, or well, as his setup.

PS (2) – Anyone out there with a recommendation for a GREAT flight enhancer? Preferably, one that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? I’m especially interested in low cost scenery that will be world wide in scope as opposed to region by region.

[OldAirmail]

I would not recommend it just for a flight sim.

While I use a different brand of transducer in the seat of my simpit, I find a VERY different impression of its usefulness in the realism department. It adds and amazing little extra to things. http://forums.simviation.com/cgi-bin/ya ... 1177617086
....

best,

.......................john

I'm sorry to keep going back to your post, but it seems that you offer hope that there is a better solution than the ButtKicker.

From the pictures in your post Cockpit Construction Continued (Part 30) it looks like you're using the Dayton Audio SA25 25W Subwoofer Amplifier.


I'm wondering if the Dayton Audio SA25 is a better bass amplifier/filter.

Before my 30 day return time expired, I ordered the Dayton Audio TT25-16 PUCK and used that in place of the ButtKicker driver/arm that attaches to my office chair.


Attaching it to my desk (which was a lot easier than temporarily attaching it to my chair) gave me some very disappointing results. My desk acted as a speaker.

Using a FMOD Crossover Pair 50 Hz Low Pass filter helped only somewhat. Using it inline with the BK did some good, but mostly it lowered the "output" to the BK. The last part was expected. Turning the BK higher increased the buzz in the chair. No good.

But at this point I'm just throwing money at a problem that I don't know enough about. I'm reluctant to go on.

Right now I'm mostly enjoying it for music & movies.

I could sell it and buy something else, but I need to know that whatever I buy will give me better results with FSX too.


One thing that I notice about your setup, that's a big improvement on mine, is that you ARE NOT using an office chair. That may work in favor of sending the bass through the seat, as opposed to attaching the BK to the chair stem and creating a lot of rattle which had to be hunted down and silenced.

[Romflyer]

Well if you are finding that some sounds from certain aircraft are giving you a suitable "Bottom end" then I might suggest that you try aliasing some of those sounds which are suitable for other particular aircraft.......the other option might be to get a program like Audacity (freeware) http://audacity-beta.en.softonic.com/ and take some of sounds that you feel should have more impact and run them through audacity and tweek them to be ........better. It's a fairly easy program to use and it can do ANYTHING to a sound......even as simple as just boosting it's output level or running it threw the EQ to get more bottom end out of a particular sound.......it's very simple to do you just drag the sound file into the audacity window, play with the perameters of the sound, then export the new sound file to a folder, and then you can drop the new sound back into your FS sound folder.
I have not used this for FS sounds but I have for sounds in another simulator that I use and it worked perfectly.
Might be worth a try for you.
Cheers
Romflyer

[JBaymore]

I use Audacity also to edit sound files. Very handy.

I can't tell you details of which amp is the best... I just know that the pairing I am using works great ... and was cheap.

Looking at that "puck" thing....... not much in the way of speaker coils or magnets. The transducers I am using are HEAVY as hell. massive magnets and voice coils. When they move... they transfer some vibrations.

Yeah... an office chair would likely rattle all to heck. The simpit construction is pretty "solid"........ nothing to "rattle". And for realism, you really don't want huge levels of vibrations in general. But when something like the nose gear comes up (in the "aluminum cigar" I fly), some high db level of an almost sub-sonic "thud" (Audacity editing) gives a good thump under your butt and that also translates into the floor structure of the pit.

best,

................john

[OldAirmail]

Thanks for the Audacity software tip. I downloaded it, and it looks like it can do just about anything a person could want.

I fooled around with it for most of an four. I thought that I'd start on one of the sounds that bother me in FSX - the helicopter sound. Maybe it's just me, but I think that it should be deeper and pulsing.

On YouTube the helicopter sounds are deeper than they are in FSX.

So I tried working with Audacity but didn't get too far.


A long time ago there was a game called Myst. I really really liked the game. But there was a problem. There was a space ship. At one end of it you had to listen to some notes being played. You then had to go to the opposite end of the ship and play those 5 simple notes back on an instrument board. Very simple: repeat 5 simple notes. I checked in a Myst shortcut book, and it said the same thing. Listen to 5 musical notes and play them back. Simple.

Except for one simple thing. I'm pretty much tone deaf. Can't carry a tune in a bucket or a bag. I don't hear notes so much as perceive them as being nearer, or farther away. Some are above my head, and some are lower to the ground. In other words, to me, notes have a spaceial quality. And there was no way that I could translate that into moving the levers to reproduce the notes.

I finely had to give up.

So what may be easier for some, may be very difficult for me.

Even so, I know what I want to hear/feel, and Audacity may still be of help to me.

And if I can't make it so, perhaps I can just copy sounds off of YouTube and adjust them in Audacity.

[OldAirmail]

Sorry people, I wrote the above at 1:00 in the morning and didn't notice the spelling errors.

I meant to write that, to me, musical notes aren’t just highs and lows, but that they have a spatial quality to them.

I doubt that many, if any, can understand that. Simply stated: to me, music is also a 3 dimensional thing. That complicates things a little for me.

As a young boy I never could learn to play chopsticks on the piano because the keys only went from left to right.

On the flip side, that 3 dimensional thinking has had it's benefits.

Thanks

[Romflyer]

To start out, try to simply adjust the output value of the sound file.....try adjusting the "gain" of the file
Those should help for a start

[OldAirmail]

To start out, try to simply adjust the output value of the sound file.....try adjusting the "gain" of the file
Those should help for a start

OK, you made me spend more time doing what I can't do well, but it was a lot of fun. Audacity is one of the best audio program that I've ever seen.

I had more success by combining sounds than by manipulating a single source file. Still not what I'm looking for, but I at least have a clue.

With that limited success I can see several possibilities, and the next question that comes to mind is one about authenticity.

Do I sacrifice authenticity with a jagged obsidian knife to create a fictitious sound representing what I want to hear?



While testing out the ButtKicker on YouTube I learned a few things (accidents are bound to happen now and then).

The first is that everyone who overlaid the aircraft engines with loud thumping music should go to heck and rot there for the rest of eternity.

The second is that some of the aircraft engine sounds on YouTube were very well recorded. In some cases I should be able to use Audacity to replace the underwhelming FSX sounds with something from the correct aircraft that will register with the ButtKicker. I like that idea much better.


Listen to the Fieseler Storch at the 4 minute mark. Now THAT is what I want to hear when I'm running the engine of the Fieseler Storch (a great STOL aircraft) in FSX!


Now that kicks butt!

[Romflyer]

"Do I sacrifice authenticity with a jagged obsidian knife to create a fictitious sound representing what I want to hear?"

Immersion vs authenticity .......
When it comes to sounds its an east choice .....immersion
If you want to sound authentic then go get a set of David Clarkes to block out all the sound except the radio.....in the sim we need to cheat a little.....it's called unreal realism.

[JBaymore]

If you want to sound authentic then go get a set of David Clarkes to block out all the sound except the radio......

best,

...................john

[Bass]

OldHotAirMail.
Just a note

[OldAirmail]

"Do I sacrifice authenticity with a jagged obsidian knife to create a fictitious sound representing what I want to hear?"

Immersion vs authenticity .......
When it comes to sounds its an east choice .....immersion
If you want to sound authentic then go get a set of David Clarkes to block out all the sound except the radio.....in the sim we need to cheat a little.....it's called unreal realism.

Sniping sounds from YouTube will give me both. When I tried using Audacity to enhance the FSX engine sounds I ended up with an unsatisfactory "muddy" sound.

My best efforts did no more than produce a slight buzz from the ButtKicker. The YouTube clip produced a nice rumble from the BK

The Dave Clark Five Thanks. Now I have a headache!

[Romflyer]

Not that David Clark........this one http://www.davidclark.com/HeadsetPgs/St ... adset.html

[OldAirmail]

I use Audacity also to edit sound files. Very handy.

I can't tell you details of which amp is the best... I just know that the pairing I am using works great ... and was cheap.

Looking at that "puck" thing....... not much in the way of speaker coils or magnets. The transducers I am using are HEAVY as hell. massive magnets and voice coils. When they move... they transfer some vibrations.

Yeah... an office chair would likely rattle all to heck. The simpit construction is pretty "solid"........ nothing to "rattle". And for realism, you really don't want huge levels of vibrations in general. But when something like the nose gear comes up (in the "aluminum cigar" I fly), some high db level of an almost sub-sonic "thud" (Audacity editing) gives a good thump under your butt and that also translates into the floor structure of the pit.

best,

................john

I'll swap mine for yours AND pay the shipping! Talk about a deal.

[JBaymore]

Don't call us, we'll call you.

best,

................john