Espee Oregon Division Project Pages

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:

4 comments:

  1. That's a great looking lineup of SP power in your staging yard. I admire you for getting decoders into them all. Seeing this post last night inspired me to get one more of mine done.

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  2. Coxy-

    I think there a a few out there on You tube. There is one Joe Gartman posted that he shot while we were testing out helper operations. Unfortunately we had some electrical problems with the output wires on the DSC during the video, but still worth taking a look at:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXQNv5gAyQs
    I am ready to shoot a showcase vid once I can get another group of guys here during ops, just been too busy to put on a full ops as of late...

    Jeff

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  3. Thanks Brad-

    Looking back there are a few hours of installs in all that motive power... and I forgot how many hard wire decoder installs I had. That pic shows all but two of the hardwire installs that I have done so far.

    Jeff

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