Locomotives with sound

[superturbine]

Let's see your You tube video.  Here is one of my FEF's with a TSU 750 heavy steam

[SkipGear]

Both of these have Digitrax decoders in them. I need to try some of the new sound files that have just been created. There are a couple of guys who have really figured these things out. The nice thing about a deoder with open source software is it is only limited by imagination. The new sound files have all the features of a Tsunami. The only thing lacking is a BEMF feedback that works correctly so that the sound can match the load. If Digitrax would figure out a fix for that, these decoders would be pretty close to perfect in my book. The sound transitions as the loco changes speed are better than either the Tsunami or the ESU decoders that I have played with.

[rogergperkins]

Thanks for sharing. I am still waiting! 
Makes me want to have sound in the 3 Kato GS-4s.
Liked the locomotive sounds even if no way to get the bass on an n-scale whistle.

[jdcolombo]

A trip around my layout with Berk 732 in full throat:

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[skytop35]

Nice work John. Beautiful layout too !

[OHCR 4218]

Looking good John, will there be diamonds in fostoria? I know you are showing the northeast side of town in the video, is that your ending point?

Brandon

[jdcolombo]

Hi Brandon.

Probably no diamonds in Fostoria.  I had the NYC crossing as part of the original track plan, but after I made some tweaks (mostly moving the WB staging yard to a spot behind Fostoria) I ran out of room.  Looks like Fostoria will end up being National Carbon and the street to the west of it, along with a couple of "misplaced" industries that I stuck in for more switching action at that spot.  And yes, that's the end point (trains go from here back into a staging yard).

Still a lot of scenery work to do, but it's coming along, and I've held two full-bore operating sessions that went pretty well.  My next task is to get the Rocky River Viaduct scene complete - that's the only real scenic "highlight" on the layout, and would be a good photo point.

John C.

[rogergperkins]

JDCol.
Very nice! Like the whistle sounds as well as locomotive.

[Mike Madonna]

Here's a short "demo" of my latest project.

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[Norway2112]

Nice work Mike.  I'm still torn between which sound decoder is better, Loksound or Tsunami.  I like the sound of the Tsunami, but the motor control is so terrible it almost requires you to install a separate decoder for running the motor.  At least that has been my experience.

[peteski]

Nice work Mike.  I'm still torn between which sound decoder is better, Loksound or Tsunami.  I like the sound of the Tsunami, but the motor control is so terrible it almost requires you to install a separate decoder for running the motor.  At least that has been my experience.

Why nobody mentions QSI sound decoders? My Walthers Mallet with a QSI Revolution decoder sounds awesome and the throttle control is also very good.

How about the ZIMO decoders? I just got a Fleischmann steamer with a factory-installed ZIMO decoder and the sound is also excellent. I haven't run it long enough yet to get a good feel for the throttle control but it seems ok so far.

[Norway2112]

Why nobody mentions QSI sound decoders? My Walthers Mallet with a QSI Revolution decoder sounds awesome and the throttle control is also very good.

I've never heard of them before, but am always looking for more options.  Do you have an video of your Mallet?

[SkipGear]

Why nobody mentions QSI sound decoders? My Walthers Mallet with a QSI Revolution decoder sounds awesome and the throttle control is also very good.

How about the ZIMO decoders? I just got a Fleischmann steamer with a factory-installed ZIMO decoder and the sound is also excellent. I haven't run it long enough yet to get a good feel for the throttle control but it seems ok so far.

If I could buy a QSI decoder that would fit, I would have done it a long time ago. I love my Y-3. The problem is they don't make one yet. The revolutions are discontinued and there is talk on the website of an N scale size decoder but nothing concrete yet.

I hear a lot of talk about Zimo's but have never seen one in action. They require a $175 programmer to install sound files which makes them rough to test out if you like them or not.

[rogergperkins]

  Superturbine and all,
Would the sound decoder and speaker you used work in a Kato GS-4?
What is the range of prices for sound and installation in an n-scale locomotive such as GS-4?
Skipgear: Have watched you mallet video and like the sound. 

[jdcolombo]

Superturbine and all,
Would the sound decoder and speaker you used work in a Kato GS-4?
What is the range of prices for sound and installation in an n-scale locomotive such as GS-4?
Skipgear: Have watched you mallet video and like the sound. 

I have a GS-4 with a Tsunami TSU-750 and a 14 x 25mm oval speaker installed in the tender; I also put a Lenz silver mini for motor control in the boiler.  I agree with the opinion of others that the Tsunami motor control is less than ideal, and in fact use a dual-decoder installation in all my steam locos for this reason.

As for cost, the TSU will run about $120; if you add a separate motor decoder, figure another $30-40, depending on what you use (the Lenz silver mini costs about $40-45 depending on source, but TCS makes a very nice tiny decoder as well, and it's about $30-35).  Speaker and associate small parts might be another $10-15.  I figure that I have at least $160 invested in each sound install. 

I agree that the Walthers Y3 is very nice - I particularly like the open cocks hiss when first starting the loco, which the Tsunami doesn't have.   It also does a much better job simulating the dual-engine articulated sound at speed than the TSU in articulated mode.  But the QSI doesn't have an equalizer, which I use in every TSU install to get the most out of the sound, and the bass is very weak even for an N scale installation - they would have done much better using a single larger oval speaker in a separate enclosure, instead of dual 15mm rounds using the tender shell as a baffle.   A lot of folks swear by the LokSound, but I've never used one because the range of sound files for US steam locos was limited (getting much better, however), and early LokSounds used a strange 100-ohm speaker, which they have now abandoned in favor of a simple 4-ohm.  I'm tempted to try a LokSound for my next sound install, and see how the motor control is and whether it is relatively easy to match chuffs to driver rotation.

The chuff-to-driver rotation issue is a major one, IMHO.  One of the strengths of the Walthers Y3 is that the chuffs are perfectly matched to driver rotation because of the back-emf and other monitoring systems in the QSI decoder.   The TSU is harder to match on its own, much easier to match to a Lenz, which you can separately program with CV's 2, 5 and 6 (or a custom speed table if needed).  A lot of sound installs I've seen on video didn't have very good driver-to-chuff matching, which I think destroys the illusion.  But it's hard to get there - I'm pretty careful about matching at low speed, where it is most obvious, and then kind of fudge things at 40 smph and up, where the drivers are generally moving so fast it's hard to tell.  But I agree with Tony that if QSI came out with an N-scale size (something about the size of the LokSound micro or TSU-750), I'd use it in a hearbeat.

John C.