sound for diesels

[Anonymous]

I have looked at many sound systems for my HO railroad (diesels only) and find all of them to be lacking in terms of realistic sound for diesels. Not speaking of the actual sound itself (most are pretty good) but of the way they operate. In real life when a diesel locomotive notches up, the diesel motor revs up and the locomotive slowly gathers speed. In every model sound system I have looked at the diesel motor sound is proportional to the track voltage.
Anyone have any ideas on how to integrate sound and throttle realistically?
The only solution I have come up with is to use a Dallee sound unit, wired for stationary operation; you can then manually notch up the diesel motor and then notch up your train throttle (with momentum) to simulate how the real thing works. This is a bit impractical and besides who wants to spin two dials all the time.

Erik

[Anonymous]

Hello Erik,

I've installed Soundtraxx Digital Command Control decoders in my diesels and have used the Automatic Notching and the Manual Notching settings. Of the two I currently prefer the Manual Notching feature. I can easily press the Function 5 button (notching up) and the Function 6 button (notching down) and then turn the knob on my Digitrax throttle. They're right next to each other. I had to remap the function keys on the throttle, a straightforward process that Soundtraxx explains how to do.

Turning the throttle up after pressing the Function 5 key simulates the brief lag time between when a first-generation EMD locomotive's throttle is moved and when the traction motors begin to respond. When the locomotive reaches the desired speed, I press Function 6 again, which drops the RPMs, simulating a locomotive that is coasting.

The Automatic Notching feature can be set to function with 28 or 128 speed steps. You simply set CV 116 to 4 for 28 speed steps or 8 for 128.

Regards,

Paul Schmidt
Contributing Editor
Trains.com

[Anonymous]

Hello Paul,

Thank you very much for your reply. Certianly seems like a viable option.

Erik Wheaton
Looking for a way to use the huge "cabaret" speakers I built some 20 years ago!

[highballer1]

Hi;

I have the PBL Foreground Sound System II or FSS-II, and use floor speakers routed from an old Stereo Amp that the FSS-II is connected to and the sound is superb.

The FSS-II has the capability of having sound through the rails, but not DCC. I am very satisfied and it uses notching or revving up separate of the track voltage or throttle buttons, which I like, as in "pumping the air" to the cars after a train is 'made up.'

Jim the Highballer