I have not seen anyone
In Good Hands
A fair bit of research has been done on effects creation on how we best apply the BK/TST and multiple exciters. The concept has been well proven to work when used properly. We still have a lot of things to do in effects creation and ideas on how to build much better effects to test with our own team of enthusiasts.
Do not be discouraged with what you may read by tactile noobs and some who have an attitude against the approach I promote or what can only be seen as being on a personal mission to tarnish my own efforts or credibility.
In three or six months, you can compare what others come up with in effects or their own approaches/recommendations to what we seek to achieve on the RB discord.
Skills?
Some may want to copy the early groundwork and ideas of others and a popular format, yet appear to have no clue or vision of how to best implement it within effects. You can buy into the best tactile hardware, but without good effects and calibration, it can be rather disappointing or unenjoyable. To some extent regards effects, tactile is an art, and like any form of art, you have to develop your experience or understanding in that to then be able to express your own creativity.
Achieving this, is also an art, and knowing what the effects generate and determining their operations are key factors to understanding how to develop that art. We do not (fluke) the highest quality in tactile, it comes from testing, research and user feedback.
Suitable Installation & Intended Purposes
We can apply the exciters in multiple ways, to suit certain effects scenarios or felt sensations. Unlike a smaller BK, which is very limited in its best output range (20-50Hz). Using those will tie the user into using repeat frequencies for multiple effects as people get into the habbit of using the better feeling frequencies over and over and over. Then the more effects you try to use the more the whole thing becomes a jumbled mess rather than variations of effects with their own sensations.
Additionally, a BK laying horizontally then has friction within its piston and can generate potentially different felt sensations. This may or not bring its own issues when combined with other (piston based) transducer units or how they may use different crossover points
(I am not an expert on harmonic distortion or phase issues regard vibrations and different materials).
Buttkicker certainly for best performance recommends vertical installations and that is why I personally stick to that.
Better Hardware Matching
What the newbies, do not appear to realise is that if they wanted to copy the idea/format and replace exciters. Then they should place dual TST at the sides of the seat and one central unit at the spine/shoulders. That will enable the benefits of a wider frequency range to be used and better blend with large BK.
The smaller BK does not make a great job of being a unit to blend best with others, as their output while punchy is rather restricted. So how we can utilise it to bring wider variations in effects felt sensations, is just not possible. Can it fill a seat with more tactile err yes, of course but these people, appear to totally miss the point of seeking to be able to achieve the (full dynamic bass range) over the complete seat or even why that matters.
Does Experience Count?
I tested seats with multiple TST with BK units, as far back as 2006 and that can also work very well. However, from an appearance aspect, it is not acceptable to some and can look a bit weird with how those jut out from the seat.
Low bass energy because it has much more bandwidth and with such units like the BK models, this energy will fill the whole seat with ease. It can feel more natural to have lower frequencies within the buttocks/thighs/lower back. Then higher frequencies in mid to upper back. The low bass energy will feel stronger at the point of installation than it will in the shoulders.
Dual large BK should fill the seat better with richer bass, it is also better to do this than try to run a single unit at its operational limits. However, trying to achieve stereo with dual BK does not really work that well as the low bass energy flows over the whole seat and becomes omnidirectional.
Failed Solutions?
On the whole, the vast majority of people's 4Way or CM-based installations seeking to deliver positional or stereo effects in both pedals and seat do a rather poor job of it. This is also why I decided when seeking to help others to abandon stereo based installations in favour of using multiple transducers more for improved performance and roles than for directional vibrational immersion.
Effects Interfering
With more than one large BK unit, this gives you the ability to separate certain effects like speed/rpm that can feel weird if we try to have them both on the same transducer. Yet it also gives you the ability to extend certain effects layers in scenarios you want
max output over both units rather than one. So additional units helps with applying more types of effects but also to have them combine when sought after in certain effects responses.
Why Exciters?
Unlike the large BK, the exciters
can bring nicer positional stereo feedback.
As often pointed out on the forums here, the exciters give us the ability to transfer "specific sensations" directly to "specific body regions". They also let us apply a much wider frequency range at these locations to give us more scope in how/what effects layers we can utilize them for.
Real cars, and real vibrations, use the full dynamic bass range and will have resonating harmonics. If we seek to develop effects that can best replicate that as a scenario then we should use appropriate hardware capable of producing it. This is why the hardware selected has after all been selected.
Scenarios In Using Exciters Correctly:
- Directional Stereo Enhancement
- Extending Certain Effects Layers
- Reducing Workload On Other Units
- Adding Additional Effects To The Mix
- Fill A Seat Better With My "Multilayer Effects" Approach
