ShakeIt V3 Effects configuration

Introduction

No matter if you are using vibration motors or bass shakers, always remember that less is more. SimHub offers you an extensive list of effects, but a single "output" (a shaker, a motor) will a have limited bandwidth. As a general rule of thumb, avoid fitting more than 3 effects on a single shaker/motor (not counting gear change effect being punctual)

Gain control

Why so many volume sliders ???

When using ShakeIt, you will find up to 4 kinds of gain sliders across all the settings. This may feel overkill but it's not: each one serves a specific purpose.

When starting with ShakeIt, the main settings you will use are the General gain and the Effect gain, make sure to keep other settings at 100% when beginning (see below all gain settings purposes).

All the gain controls

General gain

This is the most basic, it controls the overall gain, for all devices at once (all sound cards, all motors ...)

When should I use this control? : When I simply want to make everything at once stronger or quieter.

Effect gain

For each effect, you control all the effects channels at once

When should I use this control? : When I want to balance effects compared to others (example: make gear shift stronger than road vibration).

Channel gain

It allows you to control a single channel (a shaker/a motor) compared to other channels.

When should I use this control? : When I want to balance channels compared to others (example: make rear shakers stronger than front because the mounting makes them feel weaker).

Effect per channel gain

This is where each effect can be balanced specifically on each channel, this is a setting you should leave on 100% unless you need to fine-tune a specific effect spreading on each channel. (NB: this setting is not available on "preconfigured" mono/left-right ... bass shakers mode)

When should I use this control? : If I want to make a specific effect stronger (or weaker) on one specific channel.

How does all those gain settings are combined?

All the gains are "multiplicative" :

Effect gain at one output = effect gain * effect per channel gain * channel gain * general gain

For instance :

• effect gain = 100% * channel gain = 100% * effect per channel gain = 100% * general gain = 100% gives a 100% gain for the effect at the output.

• effect gain = 80% * channel gain = 100% * effect per channel gain = 100% * general gain = 50% gives a 40% gain for the effect at the output.

Effects configuration

Custom channel allocation

When using multiple times the same effect you may want to redirect some of them to a specific set of shakers/motors/fans/sound card. You can separate an effect by giving it a specific output name, doing so it will create a new dedicated entry in the output settings :

A new configuration line will then appear in the mappings:

NB : Effects having a specific output name defined won't output to sound card using channels mode presets (mono, corners ...) they can only be enabled on custom channel map mode

Basshakers output specific: effects frequency configuration

ShakeIt converts effect output (level) to frequencies (sound), the optimal frequencies must be determined based on your hardware (bass shakers), do not hesitate to read the specifications to get the first idea of optimal frequencies for your shakers.

When you have determined your frequency range, you can set it into the effects settings (default settings are matching cheap bass-shakers with a limited working range)

1. Determines the data used to compute the frequency,

   • "output" mode uses the data after going through the response curve.
   • "input" mode uses the telemetry data before going through the response curve. (For instance, using "input" allows on rpm effect to totally separate gain from frequency)

2. Base effect frequency, this is the starting frequency (when the effect is at the lowest level), if high frequency is not enabled, the effect only modulates the gain and always use the base frequency.

3. When enabled, this sets the frequency reached when the effect is outputting at a 100% level (ShakeIt then interpolates intermediate frequencies based on base frequency and high frequency).

4. Gain modulation allows to "hold" strongest effects for a longer time, this is useful for big impacts such as Dirt Rally jump landing where telemetry reflects a very short big impact).

5. White noise randomizes the frequency within the determined range (1. and 2.), this is useful for RPM effects where you may want a more quiet and variable effect

Effects configuration

Response filters

The response filter allows to modify the output by manipulating the incoming signal.

NB : Depending of the effects only the relevant settings will be shown.

• Gamma factor : Changes the behaviour of the effect for the small values :

  • A low value (< 1) will make smaller effects more quiet

  

  • A high value (> 1) will make smaller effects more sensitive

  

• Threshold : Allows to mute the smallest effects up to the threshold value

  

• Minimum force : Allows to "boost" the output when the signal is not 0

  

• Input gain : Allows to "amplify" or "reduce" the input signal force