I agree Mr B, I LIKE AND USE my coupler sound when hooking up and wish ALL manufactures would use the #3 button fore it ..ex. 1. bell 2. horn/whistle 3.coupler on & on. Is'nt tsunami #3 default grade crossing ? ...oh well,I'll look it up..Jerry
On some of my decoders, the "coupler clash" sound defaults to one of the higher-order functions. I can get to them with my Lenz throttle, but it takes more keystrokes, so I re-map that sound function down to a lower key, like 6. I would prefer to have it on function 3 like other sound decoders, but the design of the decoder doesn't let my arbitrarily re-map sounds. Instead, they are constrained to certain ranges of functions.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
WOW :Crandell thats a lot of info, but thats good !... lets see if any have a go to list......
I have a old list from David Bedard (no meatballs) and he had a great generic EQ settings list and a fun list that gave a loco a "running like a prototype " (for fun) setting where it would take awhile to reach a faster speed and would take a while to bring it all to a stop ,Like I said, for fun ,not recommended ....Jerry
I first set the address, then CV's 2,3, and 4 for motion control, although I have yet to get a Tsunami to alter its behaviour using CV2...I think I recall that it doesn't matter in Tsunami's. Instead, you must fiddle with higher CV's that I will cover momentarily.
Next, I set the Master Volume CV for about what I can stand with all the sounds unaltered. I take a start point near 50-60% of the range for that CV, but I don't automatically take one or the other. Once I am happy with the horn and bell, then I normally reduce the other sounds from that set-point. I occasionally enjoy using F4, for example, and that is a hissing sound. It drives me crazy at full volume, and only somewhat better at 60%. So, it is one of the first other sounds I reduce another 50% or so. Press F4 and if I get a scale hiss as if I were about 60' away, that's what I want. Rod clunk is hokey. I like the QSI Titan version many times better. I try, often without any apparent success on my BLI J Class to reduce it to almost silent, but so far without success.
At that initial reduction of the Master Volume, I find the bell still much too loud for a person standing 100' away from the steamer rumbling down a yard track or approaching a passenger platform. So, it gets reduced another 10 points at least. And so on....
To get your loco to perform well at start-out and crawl speeds, you need to do an iterative procedure with the following CV's. Make sure you tackle this when your circumstances are such that you have a clear 30 minutes so that you can get some encouraging results...you don't want to stop and return a day later to find you have really botched everything and now need to do a factory reset....and losing all those other settings and the time it took to find them. JMRI is looking pretty good.
Okay, now follows a long document that I found authored by one Jim Betz. Take your time, read it at least three times over the next couple of days, and when you are good and ready, and have the I'm-not-kidding free time to complete the steps, have at it. I did this with the J Class about two years ago and was amazed and gratified to find the J turning into a silk purse...it was incredible.
"
I spent quite some time on the phone with Soundtraxx today. The following is a write up of what I was told. It includes knowledge I have gained recently in researching the PID process in general and the Tsunami decoders in particular. A PID controller is a well-known method of doing "process control". In our case the "process" is the speed of our Tsunami equipped locomotives. And the task we are working towards is producing a process/procedure that will allow the user to find/discover the best/correct settings for their particular locomotive that will give them the performance they want.
It is also important to understand that the values for a particular locomotive – make and model and scale – may not work for other locomotive … and may not even work for a ‘sister’ locomotive (one that was produced in the same run of the same make and model). And when we are talking about this kind of thing there is an assumption that the decoders are also the same make and model. Yes, certainly if you have two sister locos and you have one of them running the way you like it then you should try the same settings (CVs) for this new one … and at least use them as a starting point. But don’t be surprised if you find you have to change one or more CV values – nor even if the settings for one are significantly different from those that ‘work’ in the other one.
One of the most important aspects of a PID controller is the idea that it is not expected to achieve the "perfect" value on the first pass. It is an iterative process and will reach the targer (in our case target speed) after several successive corrections. And, precisely due to this iterative nature – the formula that is a PID controller uses the history of the past corrections … in addition to the current measurements (in our case the BEMF value that is read during the "off" segments of the PWM. The idea is to "home in" on the correct value for the PWM – and then to keep adjusting the PWM in very tiny adjustments … all with the goal of having the motor turn at a constant RPM for a given speed setting. And also with the goal of changing from any current speed step to a new speed step … smoothly (a nice steady increase or decrease in speed that results in the operator seeing his train moving in a manner that approximates what happens on a real train.
CV 209 is the Kp in the PID. It should usually be a low number (25 and below). Kp is the ‘current error’ value. Think of it as the ‘base value’ (size) of the error (difference between the target and the actual). But the value of CV209 is a range from 1 to 255 – so what CV 209 really represents is a "percentage" of the Kp that will be used.
CV 210 is the Ki in the PID. It should usually be a low number – and it will usually be a lower number than 209. Ki is the integral error value – that is to say that it is the sum of the past few changes (corrections). Think of it as an ‘adjustment’ to the Kp – based upon what has happened the past few times the PID value has been computed. Again the value of CV210 is not the actual value of the Ki but rather it is the percentage of the computed Ki that will be used to form the actual correction (final PID output calculation) to the PWM.
There is a "D" in the Tsunami PID controller. It is not "externalized" and Soundtraxx does not think that we, the users, should be messing with the "D" in the PID formula. The Kd in the PID calculation represents the rate of change, over time, of the PID calculation. Think of it as the slope of the curve of the error. The value for the "D" works the same way as the values for 209 and 210 … it is also a range/percent.
Turn off all momentum (CVs 3 and 4) before starting. It is probably even a good idea to just do a decoder reset.
It is highly unlikely that you will be successful in tuning the motor performance CVs correctly – if the locomotive wheels or the test track are not clean. Always start all such procedures with cleaning the wheels and track!
Use 128 speed step mode for all tuning (and running?). It is very hard for the PID controller to do its job – to provide smooth changes of speed and relatively constant RPM when the speed isn’t changing – if you only provide it with 28 steps (because each individual value represents a much larger percentage of the range of the throttle (think PWM).
CV 212 is the "intensity" of the PID calculation that will be used. Think of the PID calculation as a number. That number is actually a ‘correction’ for an error (the result of the PID calculation). If the value of 212 is 255 then 100% of that correction will be used. If the value of 212 is 128 then 50% of the correction will be used. An example will help. Let’s say that the target speed is 100, the current speed is 90. So the "error" is –10. And the PID calculation (for simplicity of this example of how 212 works) is +10. Sooooo, if 212 has a value of 128 then the PID correction, this time around, would be +5. As the value of 212 is reduced the number of iterations of the PID correction process that are required to reach a given target from a given start/error point will take longer and longer. Truly low values of 212 can produce a loco that is very ‘sluggish’ in terms of throttle response.
CV 213 is the specification of how often a BEMF measurement is taken. It is a frequency in a number of milliseconds – if the value in 213 is 23 then it takes a measurement every 23 milliseconds. Let’s use an example from real life … this is "how often does the nurse take your temperature?".
CV 214 is the duration of the BEMF ‘window’ (it is NOT the "D" in PID). It is how long the window is open. This is the "how long does the nurse leave the thermometer under your tongue?".
If you set the BEMF cut off level (CV 10) to a small value then the PID controller will be ‘in use’ over less of the entire speed range. This is, in general, a good thing. Values between 20 and 40 are recommended.
What does "starts moving" mean? Many of the tuning procedures ask you to do something until the locomotive start to move. There are 3 kinds of ‘movement’. There is the first little bit of movement – it may even be a little lurch – but the loco does not move continuously and will spend more time stopped than moving. The second phase is where the loco is moving but it may not be at a steady rate and it may not be "smooth". This is not "tie crawling" speed. The third phase is where the loco is definitely moving and is well above "tie crawling". You would still call it ‘slow’ but you wouldn’t call it very slow. For most PID tuning procedures when it says "until it starts moving" we are talking about the 2nd phase.
Locomotives should be tuned "light" (no train cars behind them). You need to know that the loco will perform well on its own. A loco with a train behind it may require more throttle in order to move at the same speed as it does light – and that’s a good thing and is a better simulation of an actual locomotive (and will sound better).
This is all I’m going to write up at this time. I intend to use this information in order to develop a procedure (or small set of procedures) that will allow you to find the best settings for the motor performance CVs - 209, 210, 212, 213, and 214 primarily … but also the BEMF cutoff, the momentum, and the trim CVs.
- Jim Betz (14 June 2010)"
Crandell
There's no set list of sound CVs because each different type of model requires different settings, and each person has their own preferences. Even the type and size of speaker used has an influence on CV settings.
The basic CVs for motor and light control are going to be different for each type of model based on how each motor performs. Even the CV settings for two identical models, such as an Athearn RTR GP, are going to differ because of the different characteristics of the models.
this may sound strange, but do you guys that use a lot of "tsunami" boards have a "go to list of CV adjustments " YOU PROGRAM IN RIGHT FROM THE GET GO ?
like cvs for a basic sound starting point on the EQ ,I find the horn seams muted compared to the bell in default and I have a lot of issues trying to Quite that darn bell !( it hurts my ears) NOW I do use decoder pro and a stand alone PR3 and thought " I need my own default list " for starting CV adjustments ...
the adjustments I would like to do rite from the get go or addressing ,would be
1. move or jump at start up, I 'M still not clear on how to adjust this bad habit out where the decoder (loco) starts moving at start-up ,my QSI decoders start up at addressing but the loco does not move ,default
2. raising the horn (diesel) and lowering the BELL, I take the horn CV to 240 and the bell CV down to under 100 and it (bell)still seams louder
though decoder pro seams to walk you though decoder set up , I was just wondering if others have a "go to list of adjustments " ? and would like to share them with others ?? Jerry