UK n gauge sound models a ripoff??!!

[Ontrack]

No way people will be happy to go back to the days of (e.g.) Minitrix where an approximation of a British loco was made for a continental chassis. The models' prices these days reflect this level of accuracy in the cost to research and produce, it is what the Market now demands.

Regards

Roy

Of course, modelers want accurate details which for the most part they are now getting.
There are exceptions like Union Mills whose locos make up for it in other ways like great pulling power.
It doesn't have to cost any more with modern CAD (computer-aided design) systems to create accurate wheels etc.
Anyway, dc analog and dcc sound are fast becoming the norm so it shouldn't be a £99 accessory IMO.

[Ontrack]

Well it's already started in USA, Germany, and Japan in N gauge.
Highly respected companies like Kato are producing sound upgrades for around £50 retail.
It's time the UK did the same in my opinion.

Can you provide a link to the Kato on-board sound upgrades, please? I cannot find them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=sound&_sacat=69812&_sop=15

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kato+sound&_sacat=486&_sop=15&_pgn=1

[emjaybee]

Well it's already started in USA, Germany, and Japan in N gauge.
Highly respected companies like Kato are producing sound upgrades for around £50 retail.
It's time the UK did the same in my opinion.

Can you provide a link to the Kato on-board sound upgrades, please? I cannot find them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=sound&_sacat=69812&_sop=15

That's a joke right?

A £25 sound card that you plug into a £100-£150 box that plays generic sounds as you drive a loco round.

How on earth can you compare that to a accurate recording of a particular loco that actually plays from the loco, linked to the loco functions.

Hardly a good comparison.

[ntpntpntp]

Well it's already started in USA, Germany, and Japan in N gauge.
Highly respected companies like Kato are producing sound upgrades for around £50 retail.
It's time the UK did the same in my opinion.

Can you provide a link to the Kato on-board sound upgrades, please? I cannot find them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=sound&_sacat=69812&_sop=15

Totally different thing, those are memory cards for a trackside sound box. Not a sound decoder integrated into a loco

[Ontrack]

Yes my apologies not really relevant but I stick to my main thread topic.

[Chris Morris]

Of course sounds played through a big speaker under the baseboards have two very big advantages over loco based systems:-

1. They can have a good depth of sound - something impossible inside an N gauge loco. Speakers may have improved but the sound is nothing like the real thing.
2. The sound can represent the whole train passing, not just the loco. As someone who has watched real trains go by I see this as a very big failing of all loco based systems.

I guess the biggest advantage is that if you have a smartphone and a bluetooth speaker you can do the speaker under the baseboard thing for free. I remain totally underwhelmed by sound from locos in both N and 00 - its more of an annoying tinny rattle than a proper sound experience, and as for the representation of a diesel horn - please just don't bother.

As to whether sound is a rip off. Well the cost of a chip is low but somebody has to capture sounds and then write thousands of lines of code. The cost of writing that code has to be recouped from sales. So higher sales = lower chip cost.

[Ben A]

I remain totally underwhelmed by sound from locos in both N and 00 - its more of an annoying tinny rattle than a proper sound experience, and as for the representation of a diesel horn - please just don't bother.

Hi Chris,

I used to think this too, but I was recently (well, a few months ago) watching some locomotives puttering about and they were some distance away, probably the equivalent to how far - in scale terms - we are from our N gauge models at 'normal viewing distances.'  I noticed that the treble sounds travelled far more than the bass sounds, meaning that from a distance locomotives *do* sound more tinny.

Having said that, my hearing isn't the best (as anyone who knows me will testify!) so it might just've been me!

cheers

Ben A.

[Ontrack]

Realistic N gauge built-in loco sound is harder in small locos or tankers, you can make the sound chips smaller like Zimo has done but speakers need to be enclosed in a larger box to sound ok.
Some of Broadway Ltd's larger diesel sounds are ok where the speaker box is a third of its overall length.

[Bingley Hall]

US benchmark Broadway USRA light Pacific with sound is $350 MSRP = £250, thereby rendering the rest of the discussion (changed by forum) 

[Chris Morris]

I remain totally underwhelmed by sound from locos in both N and 00 - its more of an annoying tinny rattle than a proper sound experience, and as for the representation of a diesel horn - please just don't bother.

Hi Chris,

I used to think this too, but I was recently (well, a few months ago) watching some locomotives puttering about and they were some distance away, probably the equivalent to how far - in scale terms - we are from our N gauge models at 'normal viewing distances.'  I noticed that the treble sounds travelled far more than the bass sounds, meaning that from a distance locomotives *do* sound more tinny.

Having said that, my hearing isn't the best (as anyone who knows me will testify!) so it might just've been me!

cheers

Ben A.

But with a recording of a real train played through a trackside speaker I can make the floor shake! For some reason doing this doesn't make me very popular with others in the household.

[Railwaygun]

Here is the new Kato compatible sound chip

https://www.dm-toys.de/en/product-details/ESU_58731.html

€110, Sounds €20 extra!

[njee20]

Is there anywhere for a speaker in most of the models?

[Bigmac]

I remain totally underwhelmed by sound from locos in both N and 00 - its more of an annoying tinny rattle than a proper sound experience, and as for the representation of a diesel horn - please just don't bother.

Hi Chris,

I used to think this too, but I was recently (well, a few months ago) watching some locomotives puttering about and they were some distance away, probably the equivalent to how far - in scale terms - we are from our N gauge models at 'normal viewing distances.'  I noticed that the treble sounds travelled far more than the bass sounds, meaning that from a distance locomotives *do* sound more tinny.

Having said that, my hearing isn't the best (as anyone who knows me will testify!) so it might just've been me!

cheers

Ben A.

But with a recording of a real train played through a trackside speaker I can make the floor shake! For some reason doing this doesn't make me very popular with others in the household.

sounds better than in loco speakers--must be a lot less expensive too. Whats not to like ?

[Chris Morris]

I remain totally underwhelmed by sound from locos in both N and 00 - its more of an annoying tinny rattle than a proper sound experience, and as for the representation of a diesel horn - please just don't bother.

Hi Chris,

I used to think this too, but I was recently (well, a few months ago) watching some locomotives puttering about and they were some distance away, probably the equivalent to how far - in scale terms - we are from our N gauge models at 'normal viewing distances.'  I noticed that the treble sounds travelled far more than the bass sounds, meaning that from a distance locomotives *do* sound more tinny.

Having said that, my hearing isn't the best (as anyone who knows me will testify!) so it might just've been me!

cheers

Ben A.

But with a recording of a real train played through a trackside speaker I can make the floor shake! For some reason doing this doesn't make me very popular with others in the household.

sounds better than in loco speakers--must be a lot less expensive too. Whats not to like ?

One thing folk might not like is that it is more of a watching the trains go by than a driving the train experience. Having said that, as someone who has been on a diesel driving experience day (expensive but worth every penny), the sound from a chip in a loco isn't a lot like the sound inside the cab. My whole sound set up cost me nothing at all. I used a free app on my PC to edit sound files to the correct length, a free soundpad app on my smartphone so I can select and play the sound I want at a touch of the screen and a decent bluetooth speaker that I already had.

Without giving too much away the last minute of my Dawlish Warren video for the NGF virtual event gives an idea of what can be achieved with a smartphone soundpad and a decent speaker under the layout. I did edit the sounds onto the video when making this but I can and do do it when running trains. Not for everyone but it does it for me when I am in that sort of mood.

This is a video of the passing sounds used on my last layout. This time the sound is as recorded when videoing with my smartphone. I was controlling the trains, pressing the buttons for the sound and filming all at the same time! Who says men can't multi-task?

For best results play this video loud through a decent sound system, phone speakers just don't replicate the experience. They are too small - like the speakers in N gauge locos.

[Newportnobby]

I hugely miss the collaborations between Chris Eve and Shaun Harvey which produced the ultimate in sound and realism. Nothing even comes close and probably never will.

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=16019.msg476864#msg476864