Now, if I could get an HO loco to sound like that!

Thanks for sharing Bill.

for the sake of clarity....

I'm not looking for a fully accurate representation here (but if we find one, we all want to know about it!)

I'm seeking to hear about decoders that produce the rev's from low to high 'smoothly'.

Don't be shy - share what your decoders can do

Athearn Genesis GP38-2W with Factory Soundtraxx Tsunami

More power!

It's not only how a locomotive sounds, but how it handles and reproduces sound before/while it moves. Check out the ramp up at 1:51 in the video. Paul Gillette, James Lincoln and I had a pretty good conversation on this very subject on the latest podcast http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/sites/default/files/podcast/MRH14-04_01.mp3 1:47:45 The video above is representative of our conversation.

The Event Recorder's video with a lot of dynamic brakes:

Our conclusion about the 645E3 sound decoders? Have a listen and let Paul, Jim and I know what you think.

Chris

Not your standard sound decoder

but I think this is what your looking for. Five short videos of an analog sound system tied to motor voltage to make the sound. I believe it  works on a voltage controlled oscillator circuit.

 I know it sounds toy like but what do you want out of a 20 or so year old sound system made by Modeltronics.

B

better sound decoders can do that

I don't have a decent recording of exactly what you're asking about, but the better decoders we use at the club recreate the sound of locos revving up, transitioning as they accelerate, and dropping to lower revs and idle as they decelerate.  The Soundtraxx units in our Kato SD40-2s and Bowser C630Ms sound especially convincing.  We also have some great 567 sounds in some F units and Geeps.  We recently added a couple Bachmann S-2s with Tsunami sound which provide realistic switching sounds as well.

The only thing really hard to recreate without extra effort is the effect of coasting, when an engineer drops the throttle to idle and lets the engine roll for a while.

Any audio examples...

Any audio examples of an HO decoder going smoothly from Run 1 thru Run 8 would be helpful here.

Wrong decoder, but it sounds GREAT - 645 NON TURBO

Andrew,

You've got a 645 non-turbo decoder in your GP40-2W. That's not correct. You need the 645 TURBO version. You might not care...I'm just pointing it out.

However, I mentioned in my earlier post that the 645 NON TURBO (appropriate for GP38), is probably THE best decoder on the market. Despite the thin recording equipment used in this example, you can clearly hear this prime mover, under load and how it is working through the notches. The smoothness of the throttling up and down mentioned by Bill is also demonstrated nicely here.

But for a much better example, here is the loop off of the Soundtraxx site of the 645 non-turbo. This will demonstrate a notch-by notch example vs. a quicker rev-up and down.  Now imagine 3 or 4 of these together!

Turn it up!

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=emd645nt

Mike Confalone

Loksound

Bill,

Loksound's new 645E3 16 cylinder does what you're asking about.  If what I hear is indeed how the sound actually is, then it is possibly the best sound file on the market for the 645 turbo.  Here's a Youtube link from ESU Loksound demonstrating the included sounds:

Around 2:45 is what you are looking for.

-Kevin

QSI Titan with Emulator Technology

I like this decoder.  If you have room for 2 speakers, you can "adjust" the sound front to back.

Peter

Coasting

Jurgen, I don't know if you caught my blog post on the topic at  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/iaiss-west-end-fun-tsunami-revelations-now-with-video-12196707 , but if you don't mind sacrificing dynamic brake sounds, you can easily set up coasting on a Tsunami by changing CVs 116 and 133.  It's about a 10 second change, and the effect is so realistic, and adds so much fun to operations, that I've been operating the layout virtually every day since I made these updates.  Cranking up momentum and activating the Tsunami independent brake feature has only added to the fun.

LokSound

Kevin,

Thanks for sharing. THAT is the result of Matt Hermann's efforts. He thought enough to record a straight-to-8 sequence in addition to the notch by notch. This decoder blows away the Soundtraxx 645 non-turbo. Great illustration. I've been told the 645 turbo they are doing for the Bowser SD40-2 is even better.

Other LokSound offerings also feature this. The Alco 244, EMD 567 and GE FDL-8 come to mind.

He's blazing new trails.

Mike Confalone

Yeah

Those LokSound sounds really make me consider staying with DCC.  Sound really is one of the most important elements to me.  While I'm confident RailPro will improve their current offerings, listening to what is available now really makes me pause.  But I love the RailPro control so much.  Grrr.

Sounds

That particular Loksound soundfile pretty much blows any other file out of the water.  By far the most realistic I've heard.  Railpro's controls are excellent, the interface very nice, but the sound needs work.  The great thing about the system is that is easily update-able.  With good recordings (like what Loksound's Matt Hermann was able to obtain) I don't see any reason why Railpro couldn't sound as nice.  

Good source recordings is the problem though....those can be difficult to obtain.

-Kevin

Obtaining sounds

You are correct Kevin.

I don't think the average modeler understands the process, and how much effort goes into creating a GREAT sound file.

In order to even get in the door with a railroad, you better be connected, and have a thorough knowledge of recording, and have the folks in house that know how to process the raw sound files. Otherwise, it's futile.

This is high-tech stuff. Fortunately, guys like Matt at LokSound are stepping up. The competition is firmly in the dust, and this is starting to include Soundtraxx. They aren't doing anything to improve some of their existing files (they are very good, but can be better, Alco 251 V12 for example), and they are not aggressively releasing new sound files.

Other than LokSound and ST, there are no other legitimate players, at least not yet.

Mike Confalone

coasting

Yes, thanks Joe; I was following your thread about that.  

Sacrificing the DB sound could be an issue, since there are some significant grades in the Sudbury area where they would be used.  However, I'm more concerned that the same procedure would not work with other brands, and that could cause some consistency/compatibility problems with the other kinds of decoders.  You can get a bit of the effect by turning the braking momentum up, but not everyone likes to deal with momentum when it's turned up high.

If you want a glimpse

 of what goes into recording, see the videos below:

And here is one with Matt Herman, attempting to get the recording of the LRC:

That about sums it up

WOW, incredible video. Were they ultimately successful in getting the throttle working and doing the full recording?

Great stuff. What dedication!

Mike Confalone

Not yet

They are currently obtaining a couple parts, I believe, and plan to try again in the next few weeks as I understand it.

FP9?

Has anybody heard the final product for the FP9? How did it turn out?

I have three of them, Bill

They sound very good.  Here is a video I shot after I got them.  Doesn't entirely do it justice with my camera's mic, but still pretty good.

Actually

Here is Rapido's official video that is done a little better:

Thanks Everyone!

This has been most helpful! Especially the Rapido & ESU Videos.

My take on things:

Using the example Bill provided in the opening post as the sound that we are trying to replicate:

Athearn Genisis GP40 with Tsunami.  This one suffers from what most HO models suffer from ... it sounds like a speaker enclosed in a plastic shell (or talking into a plastic cup) ... very 'muddled' to my (untrained) ears.  I am thinking that this is more a factor of the speaker installation as opposed to the quality of the sound file itself.

ESU LokSound.  Sound is very good ... but is it coming from a speaker installed in an HO locomotive?  I'm thinking not; however, if I am wrong, they have really nailed it.

QSI Titan.  Someone sort of pooh-poohed the QSI recordings earlier (in another thread); however, this particular video seemed to sound ok to my (again, untrained) ears.  This one is obviously an installed system, so 'bonus' points in my book.  

Having a great sound file is the first step, but getting the installed sound system to accurately reproduce that sound file is another important piece of the equation.

I'm guessing that the DCC sound systems all pretty much allow you to 'fine tune' the sounds (as demonstrated in the QSI video)?  How about RailPro ... I am getting the impression that it may simply be a playback type recording with very little user control of the individual bits that make up the whole?  So, even if RailPro ups their game and provides better sound files, will the user be able to tweak them as was done in the QSI video?

All good, learning lots here, thanks for sharing.  Dave O