Modeling in N scale, the SurroundTraxx box would be a very nice thing to have to add sound (albeit stationary) to my layout, but the $500 price tag is too steep for me. At least for now..
Does anyone know a commercial product that works similar to the Virtual Sound Decoder that is currently implemented in JMRI? The VSD works ok, but it still needs a lot of improvement before it could substitute for a SurroundTraxx. Great effort though.Anything available out there that I don't know of?
Thanks,Doc.
You can probably do it with JMRI, it just will require some effort at scripting. The elemtns are all there - send sounds to speakers on different ports of the PC, and with scripts in JMRI you can keep track of train locations without using transponding. RR&Co is much easier to track train locations with, but I don;t know if they have the cpability to play sounds out multiple ports. Plus you're talkign around $200 just for the software.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks Randy.My layout is currently only 5x3 so I don't think that I would need location tracking to have the sound follow the engines. I'm sure that a simple stationary sound source can be realized through JMRI, but I don't think that I want to spent that much time on developing this beyond the current VSD implementation.I'll check out the RR&Co product you suggested.
Thanks!
Well if it's just a single location sound source you want, MRC has several sound boxes. Or you can get a sound decoder and hook it to a pair of amplified computer speakers, then just MU the fixed decoder to whatever loco you are running.
I was thinking going the MU'd sound decoder route, but that is still pretty pricey when you have to get one for each engine. I'll take a look what MRC has to offer.
OK, in case anyone wonders - the answer to my own question is:
No, there currently is no real cost effective alternative to the SurroundTraxx system that doesn't involve sound decoders flying around or hours of scripting and coding in JMRI. None that I could find anyway.Amazing. Who'd thunk it.
Pretty much. There's some return on that investment. Depends on how you value your time, and how much hobby time you actually have. JMRI is free, but when you get much beyond hte basics, a lot of effort has to go in to write scripts to make it do what you want. It can do nearly anything you want, if you have enough time and skill to build the scripts. RR&Co isn't cheap, but a lot of the stuff is already done for you, liek the train tracking. I tried for a couple of nights to get a script going in JMRI to run 4 trolleys around a closed loop with 16 detection zones on my friend's layout. Each time I nearly had it, something wasn't quite right, and editing seemed to just mostly wreck what was working. One week between visits, my friend got a copy or RR&Co and next week when I came over he had it all working - and he's not a computer guy by any means.
Thanks Randy,if I wasn't sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day at work already, I might have tried to develop something using JMRI or just coding it in VB.The "sound decoders under the layout" seems to be the next best alternative to a SurroundTraxx. And I rather heat up the soldering iron then coding for days anyway. But if my layout was bigger I sure would spent more time with JMRI.
Thanks for the feedback!