MRC has recently released a "Platinum Series" drop in decoder for P2K and LL EMD 567 locos. They claim stereo sound and dual unsynced prime movers. This sounds perfect for a P2K E6 I was about to convert. I know that MRC decoders haven't exactly been the gold standard in the past so I was wondering if they have upped their game with this new release.
FWIW the Dual EMD 567 Tsunami only has two distinct start up sounds and otherwise sounds just like a single prime mover. The same goes for the QSI Titan. Could MRC have cracked the code? QSI claims a future firmware release will have two distinct prime movers, but with QSI the wait time for upgrades is very very long.
Good luck with that. I guess someone has to be a guinea pig and try these things out first, but I find it rather interesting that as soon as QSI announced stereo decoders, suddnly MRC's are stereo too. Oh, Platinum this time - what's next, they are running out of precious metals to name the next most awesome decoder ever.
Honestly, I doubt it does all that, based on previous track record of MRC sound decoders. I'm surprised they can even say what sounds are on it, given that for the one MRC decoder I bought (taking one for the team, as it were - I don;t like to badmouth products based solely on what other people say), MRC tech support cannot tell me what horn sound each value for the 16 different horns represents.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Funny thing, one of the guys who is making those 'cheap' Digitrax decoders learn all sorts of new tricks just this morning posted a new project he developed to emulate the Gensets, with three distinct motor start ups. It's not load based, but with manual notching you could simulate that. It starts up and runs one Cummins engine sound for the first 4 notches, then starts up the second for 2 more notches, and finally starts the third for the rest.
This is more than ANYONE else has done with their Genset sounds, so far.
Beware of any ad copy for decoders that has a lot of !!!!!!!!!!
Just saying!!!
Looking at MRC product descriptions you would have thought they had cured cancer!!!!!
DereK!!!!
OK, I'll be the guinnea pig. What the heck, I think I have at least one of every manufacturer's decoders except MRC. I just obtained a nice new Stewart RDG FTA/B set with the unpowered B unit. If the dual out of sync 567 prime movers works as it should I'll drawbar the two units together as the protoypes were and put a nice speaker in each unit.
I keep looking for the perfect sound decoder. ESUs sound great and have good motor control, but they don't have an EMD 567 (quite an oversight!), also they don't have much in the way of sound adjustments and their Pennsy GG1 is way off the mark. Tsunami's have very limited steam whistles, no CV5, and require manual notching for a prototypical sound. Plus the .75A minis are quite heat sensitive and burst at .76 amps. They do have great sound controls with adjustabe reverb, an equalizer and unique out of sync options for duplex steam engines. Titans have a plethora of PWM CVs, stereo sound, a huge selection of prime movers and whistles on each decoder. Also they can be updated or reloaded with a different set of sounds. However they don't have an equalizer or reverb and with their two upper CV registers they can be challenging to program on the main. Titan does at least have a nice electric loco in the GG1. However I often find that Titan sounds lack detail and seam like they are overdriving the speakers. Of Digitrax decoders, well at least they are cheap. They do have some sounds that you cannot get anywhere else (like Pennsy MP54s and such). Their motor control is shameful, but the SDN164 is a nice size for HO trolleys and interurbans and MUs.
All of the above is IMHO. All of these decoders have some great features, yet none has it all. I have found that one has to find out who makes a decoder with the most prototypical sound file, then chose the decoder with the appropriate amperage rating which will fit in the space allowed leaving room for a speaker. This will narrow the choice down to one or two decoders.
All of this is a longwinded way of saying why I will give the MRC dual EMD a try. Fingers crossed.
Loksound V4 has a 567 sound file.
The GG1 is an old 3.5 sound, probbaly a rework of a Euro loco since there is absolutely no way anyoen could get a working GG1 sound sample that didn;t come from some old recording, as there are none running. The example is way too short to really see if it's even close, there's practically no run time on it at all, just starup, steam generator sounds, a quick horn hoot, and a second of bell ringing.
I've standardized on loksound, the sounds are good, the motor control amazing. They don;t seem to need all that reverb junk - the horns are already good. I have ONE Tsunami, in a Stewart FT, and it's horrid, especially the horns, despite spending an entire afternoon tweaking the reverb and equalizer settings. Really not a lot better sound-wise than an old Soundtraxx LC I have.
If you want nifty articulated - I'm waiting til John McMasters posts a video of his project for the Digitrax decoders. I'd like to hear his Genset one too. On his articulated one he actually set the decoder up to vary the offset and tweaked the chuff sounds to have a proper delay factor int hem.There's something to be said for being able to program at the chip level, simply amazing what that guy has gotten out of those cheap decoders. It's insanely complicated to program them, but the few die-hards who have stuck with it are making those decoders do amazing things, none of the others seem to be able to come close to the level of detail. They may have slightly lower quality sound, but no one else has the level of programmability, not even ESU.
I'd wait Why not put a motor only decoder in now and then upgrade to sound later when a acceptable solution meets your needs?