USHAKE6 / SHAKEKIT

I just have to get this down... If you don't currently have a Sim Racing Studio ShakeKit (or similar) then get one! I almost have my H6 built and added the wind kit first - pretty cool (excuse the pun) - but then hooked up the ShakeKit Plus - WOW! This stuff is insanely good! I had no idea it would add so much to the games. Best bang-for-buck 'mod' to the rig so far by a long shot!

Now that I've had it for a little while, I thought I'd review the Shakekit by Sim Racing Studio.

Disclosure This product was apparently inspired by a napkin sketch I sent the SRS guys, and some of the revisions that have been made to it have been based on my feedback. I don't make any money off of its sales and don't have any professional affiliation with SRS, however.

What is it? The Shakeseat itself is a large cushion with four Dayton bass shaker pucks in it. You put it on your seat, and you sit on it. The Shakekit includes the cushion, as well as a control box, which connects to mains power and your computer via USB. The control box includes both the amplifiers and the soundcard needed, so everything's wired up and compatible out of the box.

What's the point? Rather than having powerful pucks attached to your rig itself like in a conventional bass shaker setup, you sit almost directly on smaller shakers. Since you're sitting directly on them, they still feel very powerful. Since you're using smaller pucks, and they're between you and your seat, there isn't as much noise/vibration pollution, since your seat absorbs some of it and your body absorbs the rest.

Shipping/unboxing SRS shoppers will be familiar with their high standard of shipping. I've also got a wind sim kit from these guys and the packing for that was also fantastic.

Installation Just like the rest of SRS's gear, this is straight up plug-and-play. There's nothing to mount, since it's a cushion, so you just plug everything in, put it on your seat, and install the software.

I put it on top of my JetSeat, and use them both together!

The control box looks quite schmick. The two knobs on the front control the volume of the left and right shaker pairs, and you can click them to "off' to turn off the blue power lights if you're worried about light pollution.

Usage Comfort I was surprised by how comfortable it was. Initially looking at the Shakeseat, I thought the pucks would dig in to my legs, but I find I don't notice them. This is one of those your-mileage-may-vary things, since everyone's body shape is different, but I can sit on it for hours with no dramas. For reference, I'm about 75kg and fairly average build. Comfort-wise I'd say it's similar to, or slightly better than, the Jetseat. The foam padding is much thicker.

FFB This passes the "if I forget to turn it on, my rig now feels like it's missing something important" test. It hits hard, giving you a good sense of what the car is doing. The gear shift effect is particularly fun, but the suspension effects are also a highlight. The latency is very low, so you seem to feel things as they happen on screen. It has the "kick" that's missing from the Jetseat, which is the nearest comparable item.

I'm using SRS's software for this at the moment, but theoretically it should work with any software that can drive a 5.1 soundcard. I don't own Simvibe, so I haven't tried it with that. I did try it with the Shaker output from SimShakerWheels, but I think you'll need to modify the sound files it uses, as they're far too aggressive for the pucks used.

SRS's software is still a bit bare-bones, but it's gotten better with each update so far, and the update cycle is quite short. I currently use it with suspension on maximum, impact on maximum, gear shift on maximum, and everything else muted.

Noise I think this is probably the main selling point of this thing. I live in a small apartment with very bad soundproofing, and my partner is often sleeping in the next room with only a (literally) paper wall dividing her from my rig. Despite that, I can use the shakeseat without disturbing her or the neighbors. It's not silent, but it is very quiet, especially for a bass shaker setup. I haven't done any kind of isolating on my rig, either.

Coming from the Jetseat I intended to replace the Jetseat with this, but in the end I've actually ended up using them together. I have engine vibration, g-loading, and lockup effects coming from the Jetseat, and everything else coming from the Shakeseat. It's great by itself but even better with both. If you already have a Jetseat but you're looking for more, this is a great buy.

Value I don't think you can get a 4-point chassis-mode shaker setup, including amps, sound card, mounting solution, and software, delivered ready-to-use, for $200+shipping anywhere else. I certainly couldn't beat that with DIY.

TL;DR pros and cons Pro: -Affordable -Very easy to set up -Quiet -Powerful-feeling, low latency, high-quality effects -Comfortable

Con: -Software still early in development -Cable management is a bit tricky

Verdict Great buy if any of the following apply to you: -Wanting a bass shaker rig but worried about noise -Don't want to deal with compatibility issues and hassle puffing a shaker rig together -Looking to get bass effects on a budget -A Jetseat user who wished the Jetseat had more punch for high-speed effects

I'm sold on it!

Having purchased a licence & played with the shaker software for a few days now it is the easiest to set up of all current offerings I have used/tested, even with the current demo sound files the result is good. As a new product in the early stages of development it is well designed with low overheads & installation, configuration are simple, support is both quick & good, for anyone considering bass shakers I can recommend this as the best value & one of the easiest to use software options available at the moment.

Hi Guys,
Just needed to say a HUGE THANK YOU for the inclusion of the Acceleration and Deceleration feature to the shakers… very cool and effective…

I received my SRS Shakekit and dual Power Wind kits today and after about 15mins had them both up and running, a truly straight forward plug and play set up. I have only had about 30 mins to test them so far due to family commitments, but OMG, absolutely unreal.

As a VR user the Power Wind will be a much appreciated addition as we head it to the Aussie summer, with an added bonus of a little more immersion with the fans ramping up and down with the cars speed. Still tuning the Shakekit to my liking but WOW, adds a whole new dimension to my setup feeling the ripple strips, gear shifts, suspension and engine vibrations.

Everything was brilliantly packed and survived the long haul to Australia perfectly, even though you could see the box had been handled roughly at some points during the journey. Absolutely outstanding service and I look forward to many, many more hours using this kit in the next few days alone.

I got my kit on Friday. After setting it up Friday night and running it for the 24h this past weekend, I am VERY happy with my purchase. I got the extra cushion which helps I am sure for longer periods of play. It fit perfectly onto my GT Omega seat and also fits on my DX Racer seat.

I got some base settings from a the legend knows as [removed] and help with some questions I had. After using his recommended settings. I could feel all the kerbs, gear shifts, and me hitting the wall going into t1 at Daytona and out braking myself. In VR it helps give you a bit more immersion.

I did not use them for my 5 am stint Sunday morning, the GF was already mad enough at me for making a ton of noise. I could tell right away that I NEED THEM ON. I felt like a chicken without a head. I am super impressed with everything as a hole. I am looking forward to V31!!!

Great Product and great support. I would recommend this to ANYONE not wanting to go with buttkickers and such. Especially if you are in VR and do not want so much extra “noise”.

I’ve updated/upgraded all components in my sim rig over the last 4 years. I’ve also added many new pieces of hardware to my rig over that period.

I agree completely agree with the above. The ShakeKit’s cost vs performance is outstanding!

Review of the Sim Racing Studio ShakeKit

In this review, I'll provide my feedback of the ShakeKit after using it for a few months. I stumbled across the product on one of the racing forums and it immediately intrigued me as a possible way to make the sim more engaging and fun. This is an unbiased review where no product or other compensation was provided.

This product is EXACTLY as advertised - simple and effective. Two thumbs up

I had four aura bass shakers sitting around that I intended to use for my home theater but never got around to installing. The advertising for this product said it was simple and effective so I said let me see if that is true.

I attached the bass shakers to my rig using 2x6 wood I had lying around. Then I hooked up the base shakers to my home theater receiver which is a 7.1 which I already had also.

I connected the optical output of my built-in sound card (also had that) with an optical cable I had lying around.

I installed the demo and tested in the gui - nice!

Without hesitation I went to Texas Motor Speedway and what a feeling just sitting in the pits feeling the car rumbling. Then I put it into first gear and could feel the change of gears - cool! As I accelerated I could feel the engine speed changing - awesome! As I drove around the track I could feel the road. The immersion was off the charts for me (running an oculus rift also).

When the time limit expired on the demo I feel like a balloon deflating. The car just felt flat with no life to it at all.

Furthermore, these guys are selling a Shakeseat vibration cushion (linked below) which reminds me of the Gametrix Jetseat I got although it seems like it will be much higher quality (my Jetseat came with one broken vibration motor). https://www.simracingstudio.com/prod.../srs-shakeseat
What I'm really excited about, however, is their ShakeBox which would be available in 2 models: one to power the Shakeseat (via USB), the other Elite model would include a 5.1 USB Sound Card and a 6 channel 4 ohm 100w x 6 AMP. This really excites me as they are all about having a plug-and-play solution, meaning you could plug up to 6 shakers to the ShakeBox, have the ShakeBox plugged in via USB, and race.

SimVibe requires 1 sound card for each mode and a lot of time for configuration. I sold my Accuforce wheel because I felt like I had to have a sound engineering degree to understand the software and could never get it feeling the way I wanted. I respect that Simxperience has put a lot of time into adding a ton of capability to their software, however, I strongly feel that Sim Racing Studio may have something special here.

Further update, I was not able to get my sound card's C/Sub setting working so Gilbert Merariu (who I believe runs Sim Racing Studio) used TeamViewer and spent 20 minutes with me on the phone in order to get everything working right. After trying some laps with the Mustang in iRacing at Lime Rock, all I can say is that THIS IS FREAKING AMAZING!!! If you have any sort of shaker (Buttkicker or otherwise) and amplifier, you're definitely missing out if you don't give this ingenious solution a try.

I love my Shakekit. I can't imagine racing without it now. Would be boring in comparison honestly. To actually feel the car is amazing. I never thought I'd be able to afford these types of effects. Thanks [SRS] for putting an outstanding idea into motion!!

Today I’ve had a few minutes on my rig & honestly my smile is a mile wide.
I went on Race room with the Porsche gt3. Around Monza then with an F1 car.
The feeling I got from you’re elite along with the wind fans system once again blow me away.
It’s consistency and accuracy in game is now amazing full credit to you you’ve really achieved something you should be extremely proud off.

Agreed – Heck YES! I have the Shaker Kit installed on the DOF Reality P3 Motion simulator, and I love the added immersion that the shaker kit provides. Also agree about comfort, initially I was a bit concerned about sitting on the 4 pucks, but got to say – the shaker kit is as comfortable as it is effective.  Nice Review guys and I also highly recommend the Shaker Kit! FYI: I was not yet familiar with pugging the Butt Kicker directly into the Shaker Kit control box – I’ll have to do some more exploring there – Good Tip & Best Regards!