Hi Bernard / everyone
My Stage 4 Simulator has 4 Butt kickers - one at each corner.
The 4 x Butt kickers are driven by an Emotiva BasX A500 power amp.
I am currently feeding the SimVibe audio channels from the PC into RCA line input sockets using Toslink output then via a media converter into the rear of the Emotiva amp. It works but cannot get 4 discrete channels.
I have configured Sim Commander for Chassis Mode (running ver 4.5.1.24).
The PC is running Windows 11 - with all updates.
Until recently I was using the onboard RealTek sound card for SimVibe, and a Xonar DGX PCIe card for main game audio. However I was never able to get either card to correctly map out the 4 discrete channels needed for the 4 x Butt Kickers - only stereo. I've spent weeks looking/trying/testing but could never get it sorted.
My Sim PC is embarrassingly old hardware. It is now 9 years old, though still going strong with no major issues - mainly just that I cannot get the 4 discrete channels needed for SimVibe to work reliably.
I recently managed to upgrade my old PC to run Windows 11, tweaked & tuned it for performance and it's running extraordinarily well despite how old it is. But the onboard RealTek sound card is a nightmare (software/drivers very very old and not really stable) and the software for the old Xonar DGX PCIe card is also very fickle and the companion software app is obsolete now. Asus have moved on from this old chipset, so don't want to muck about with the old sound hardware any longer.
So I plan to disable the existing onboard RealTek sound card and also remove the Xonar DGX PCIe card for something newer (I really can't afford a total system upgrade just now).
What would you recommend I use for the Sound card or device for the SimVibe that is really stable, easy to setup and will correctly map out the 4 discrete channels needed?
How do you physically connect that sound card device to my Emotiva Amp?
What special cables might I need to buy? I'm just not clear on how say a 7.1 sound card can give me the 4 physical outputs needed given how the audio sockets are typically labelled on the sound card.
Also are there any special settings needed in Windows or the card's companion app to ensure we get the 4 channels needed?
Is there a "how-to" on YouTube that might give step by step instructions on the correct setup for 4 Butt Kickers as I couldn't find one.?
Chat GPT has sent me around the world suggesting studio mixers, various USB connected sound cards and has now changed its mind and suggested a PCIe sound card ( Xonar AE) before changing its mind again saying the Creative Soundblaster AE5 (quite expensive) was the go-to item for SimVibe. I suspect Sim Commander/SimVibe really does prefer an internal PCIe card to a USB sound card but am interested in your comments about your preferred choice of sound card device that works well.
Would greatly appreciate any advice on this.
Thank you everyone.
