Now that I have been cruising Youtube and looking at all the SP N scale stuff, I stumbled on another vid of the layout my buddy Vinny digitized while here during a loose ops sess.
Layout Vid
Looking forward to the next time you can make it out this way again there Vincenzo!
Other:
Came across a couple more issues that had gone unnoticed after that heat wave in the garage... on the day of the layout tour. Had a "sun kinked" rail in the siding at Oakridge where power kept uncoupling. After a closer look I was able to work the ME 40 flex track back into shape since it hasn't been ballasted there yet. Resolved it after some further persuasion with a little ACC to hold it in place. Then there was an electrical short in the staging yard where one of the rails expanded into a frog at a turnout. I never finished soldering all the rail joints in staging, so some of the short rail sections need to get completed anyhow. Later experienced another short on one of the Tortoise motor pwr circuits that I was unable to find, until Dan M. eyeballed a wire laying across another where they were soldered to a turnout toggle that controls the Weyerhaeuser plant. Probably unrelated, but fortunately we weren't doing any switching that day anyhow. Thanks Dan!
Meanwhile having fun playing with the WiThrottle App to make the I-devices act as throttles. Originally it was just my kid with the Ipod Touch so I wasn't that interested... Pretty easy to work with to acquire trains and I like the throttle speed controls.... Good times working on the RR.
More on using your Iphone with the App:
WiThrottle
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
First Youtube Vid Posted
Cobbled together the sound units and strung a bunch of cars together to make my first youtube vid.
It runs a bit faster than the original, and the sound level is a bit low (so Crank It Up! for the full effect), but hopefully can figure all that out as I move forward...
It's just a Railfan's perspective of one loaded lumber drag with midtrains grinding up the pass.
A good motivator to push forward on that scenery... as soon as work gives me some of my life back.
Enjoy! :)
Here is the link: Midtrain Helper Video
It runs a bit faster than the original, and the sound level is a bit low (so Crank It Up! for the full effect), but hopefully can figure all that out as I move forward...
It's just a Railfan's perspective of one loaded lumber drag with midtrains grinding up the pass.
A good motivator to push forward on that scenery... as soon as work gives me some of my life back.
Enjoy! :)
Here is the link: Midtrain Helper Video
Monday, September 3, 2012
Sound Decoder Update
Got the latest batch of big SD units programmed with the 645 turbo prime mover sounds (Dgtrx SDN144A0 decoders), and satisfied with what they can do for now... no not Tsunamis with Big speakers, but still a kick.
Trying to tweak the speaker output a bit to get more bass, as I note the programmed sounds are really cool when the power travels through cuts and tunnels as they traverse the layout, but a bit lacking out on the plywood prairies. One thing that has helped so far, was inverting all the speakers with the magnet facing out. It makes a noticeable difference in getting rid of the higher "jet airplane" syndrome that these smaller speakers seem to produce. Considering making some styrene baffles to see what affect it has in further efforts to produce more bass... later.
A couple minor issues yet to resolve with Digitrax's "sound time-out" feature when the units are dispatched from the throttle... They work fine solo and perform as intended with CV 11 @ 06, but when I consist them with UniVersal consisting they won't shut down at all, so still working on a solution to that issue....
Then loaded the non turbo 645 sound projects into a couple SD9's (more SDN144A0 decoders) from John McMasters spj files. I have yet to play with the CV settings at all on these units, but kind of baffled with the default that they start up with now... They go through a series of prime mover and non prime mover sounds when the track first powers up, but I have yet to take the time to read more on his settings and program to see how they follow... So far the non turbo sounds are pretty cool, so hoping I can get them dialed in without issue, then can address minor issues with differences in the GP / SD actual implementation... more to come as we are just getting started in this aspect of the hobby. Probably sound will take a temporary back seat once I get these dialed in, as want to push forward more on the layout itself even though there is a strong current pulling me back toward sound, diesel detailing, etc, etc...
And a shot of Klamath Falls staging yard as trains await their crews for the PSR layout tour this weekend:
Trying to tweak the speaker output a bit to get more bass, as I note the programmed sounds are really cool when the power travels through cuts and tunnels as they traverse the layout, but a bit lacking out on the plywood prairies. One thing that has helped so far, was inverting all the speakers with the magnet facing out. It makes a noticeable difference in getting rid of the higher "jet airplane" syndrome that these smaller speakers seem to produce. Considering making some styrene baffles to see what affect it has in further efforts to produce more bass... later.
A couple minor issues yet to resolve with Digitrax's "sound time-out" feature when the units are dispatched from the throttle... They work fine solo and perform as intended with CV 11 @ 06, but when I consist them with UniVersal consisting they won't shut down at all, so still working on a solution to that issue....
Then loaded the non turbo 645 sound projects into a couple SD9's (more SDN144A0 decoders) from John McMasters spj files. I have yet to play with the CV settings at all on these units, but kind of baffled with the default that they start up with now... They go through a series of prime mover and non prime mover sounds when the track first powers up, but I have yet to take the time to read more on his settings and program to see how they follow... So far the non turbo sounds are pretty cool, so hoping I can get them dialed in without issue, then can address minor issues with differences in the GP / SD actual implementation... more to come as we are just getting started in this aspect of the hobby. Probably sound will take a temporary back seat once I get these dialed in, as want to push forward more on the layout itself even though there is a strong current pulling me back toward sound, diesel detailing, etc, etc...
And a shot of Klamath Falls staging yard as trains await their crews for the PSR layout tour this weekend:
