Locos with sound

Agrippa · September 02, 2014, 04:00:08 PM

A recent debate in the Ebay section regarding cost of sound locos got me wondering
why the chips, fitting etc etc are so dear. After all for a couple of quid you can buy
musical birthday and xmas cards with tiny speakers and circuits etc.

Electronic items are cheap as chips (sorry for pun), cameras, phones, etc.
Perhaps it's just a racket selling something to a niche market.

I could take the innards out of a recent birthday card I received, but don't
think a train going round playing The Good , The Bad and The Ugly theme
would be very realistic.

Sipat · September 02, 2014, 04:24:52 PM

I think its the ammount of things they actually do... For the un initiated...
Birthday card sound - On or Off £pence
Zimo chip/Paul Chetter 37 Multidrive -
Motor control, Lighting control, sounds...

sound sets on the chip:
37/0 standard throttle acceleration
37/4 standard throttle acceleration
37/0 'notching' has engine sound independently controlled from the controller and not linked to speed
37/4 'notching' as above
37 suitable for small layouts, engine ramps at lower speeds than normal
37/0 Thrash mode (all or nothing)
37/4 Thrash mode

All of the above have additional sounds to to the engine for example, engine start/stop, flange squeal, brake squeal, coasting, spirax valves, air brake hiss, multiple horn files, station announcements, gaurds whistles etc etc etc. All playable and selectable from the controller.

When you take it all in to account, I don't think it is expensive, I personally think you are getting a lot more for £90 in a chip than you are for £90 in a loco - effectively a full electronic synthesiser and speaker, versus a motor and some plasic mouldings! I will gladly let anyone have a play with sound, it really does add the extra dimension to your models...

Agrippa · September 02, 2014, 04:47:31 PM

Cheers for info. Very informative,

Dr Al · September 02, 2014, 06:11:27 PM

Birthday card tech will also be churned out by the thousand, whereas the sound market for model rail is much much smaller I'm sure.

I'm sure as more adopt it that prices will gradually come down

Cheers,
Alan

trainsdownunder · September 03, 2014, 11:54:33 PM

Birthday/Greeting card units are not worth the effort..been there tried it, gave up.

Not easy to record to. Poor sound quality and generally 10 secs in length. Longer versions just use lower quality. Boards are too big to fit in locos. designed to be operated by momentary contact. Even looping doesn't really give anymore length as you can't edit the sound file and so fading start and ends is difficult.

Might be okay for the odd "scenic sound" but the overall volume is also too low in the majority of cases.

Chips etc ( by this I guess you mean simm cards) great idea, but again the "carrier module" and operating technique do not lend themselves to N gauge.

Bealman · September 04, 2014, 01:06:30 AM

Ha ha... this amuses me as I am totally guilty of using chips from cards and toys for cameo sound effects on my layout.

Locomotives with sound are a totally different gig though.... DCC for a starters, which my layout ain't!

Videos of sound-equipped locos impress me, though, and seem well worth the expense.

trainsdownunder · September 04, 2014, 01:30:57 AM

Quote from: Bealman on September 04, 2014, 01:06:30 AM
Ha ha... this amuses me as I am totally guilty of using chips from cards and toys for cameo sound effects on my layout.

Quite so. My comments above are more "loco" related

Bealman · September 04, 2014, 01:37:03 AM

Yep. I am amazed at the videos I see of these sound enhanced locos. When you think about it, it's amazing that as you throttle up the synthesized sound changes accordingly, and sourced from the real beast!

I love the idea of my new green Deltic sitting at a platform, throbbing away...

Worth every cent. Oh, for DCC!