Sound Systems for DC Layouts

[icairns]

I am looking for some basic sound system ideas for DC (analogue) layouts.

Does anyone have any experience and / or recommendations (good or bad)?

I am not looking for anything too sophisticated but am looking for both steam and diesel sounds that are synchronized with the loco's speed and with whistle and horn sounds.

Does anyone have any experience with the sound systems available from Mr. Rails?

http://www.mrrails.com

I was interested in this item from the Mr. Rail's website which that would appear to fit my requirements.

However, it is marked "Out of Stock.  This Unit is Due to be Re-Designed".

At £90.00 it is not cheap but I was looking to see if anyone had any experience with this unit (or this supplier).



Any input about any DC sound systems would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ian
Los Angeles

[Delboy]

I bought a very basic steam only unit from them years ago and it is still functioning. However, I also bought a shuttle unit more recently and was unimpressed with their after-sales service as they never responded to my e-mails. Hence I vowed I would not use them again.
You could look into these on e-bay:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MODEL-RAILWAY-STEAM-DIESEL-ENGINE-SOUND-EFFECTS-MIXER-GREAT-POLYPHONIC-SOUNDS/372563783419?hash=item56be882efb:g:sE4AAOSwJWFab3Ty

or the basic board and kit to save you some money:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263858897153?rmvSB=true

[Phoenix]

Love the spec for volume control ..... " from quiet to ANNOYING"



All best  wishes
Kevin

[carpy]

i bought a mr rails basic diesel sound and whistle unit some years ago, it works well
i have since bought two mylocosound units for steam complete with two remote units,i would call these ideal with chuff control as well asguardswhistle with varible tone control.i would call these as good as dcc  control on my dc layouts.
i would thoroughly reccomend these particulary mylocosound
carpy

[Delboy]

i have since bought two mylocosound units for steam complete with two remote units,i would call these ideal with chuff control as well asguardswhistle with varible tone control.i would call these as good as dcc  control on my dc layouts.
i would thoroughly reccomend these particulary mylocosound
carpy

I may be wrong but it looks like Mylocosound have dropped the smaller scale range. See link below:-
http://www.mylocosound.com/mylocosound_018.htm

[grumbeast]

I know this is a little late, but I did do a video overview of the kato soundbox which you might consider.  They're US and Japanese prototype sounds but if your not a stickler for accuracy it might do, I love it and have bought quite a few of the sound cards

[Chris Morris]

My free sound system requires a bit of work from the layout owner. It works like this:-
1. Work out what locos and manoeuvres you want sounds for.
2. Search YouTube (or videos you have made yourself) for videos that have a section which is somewhere near what you need.
3. Use a free app to download just the sound from the required video.
4. Use a free app to edit the sound file to match exactly what you want. I find this is quite good fun.
5. Download the sounds into your phone.
6. Download the free soundpad app.
7. Place a Bluetooth speaker by the layout and play the required sounds from your phone.

It's a bit of work but it is free. For me this gives two things that even the most sophisticated loco based dcc sounds systems don't. Firstly you get the full sound of a passing train, not just the loco. Secondly you get the full depth of sound, depending on your speaker of course. With my big speaker I can make the floor vibrate but for some strange reason others find this feature annoying.
The soundpad app will play a number of sounds at the same time if you want. In addition to train passing sounds I have single whistles and also seagulls, cows, tractors etc to provide atmosphere sounds.

[Chris Morris]

This video uses extracts from my own video of castles on the main line

And this, although in G scale and with the Bluetooth speaker mounted in the first wagon illustrates using a variety of whistle sounds extracted from videos and played on demand by the soundpad app. The chuffing is from a mylocosound chip mounted in the loco so not of any relevance to this discussion.

[ohlavache]

Two links to Kato's system:
https://katomodels.net/soundbox/
http://katousa.com/N/Unitrack/ASB.html

The link to Rokuhan's system:
http://www.rokuhan.com/e-train/

And, if I remember well, you can handle a sound system based on Arduino:
https://arduinorailwaycontrol.com/
https://www.arduino.cc/ (including https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/ArduinoSound)
https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Basics-Making-Sound/
https://www.locoduino.org/ in French

Hope this helps.