Sound in a Bachmann 9F

QUOTE (John @ 13 Nov 2006, 16:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>On another forum, I read that the BR52 (German 2-10-0) sounds are a fairly good match for this loco. I have not tried this myself and have no idea if the whistle is correct, but it sounds good to me (groan).

Of course, I have no idea how easy it is to get hold of the BR52 sounds and load them into the Soundtraxx decoder, so I am just passing this along as a possible idea.

Regards
John Russell
Vienna, Austria

Many German steam loco's had a very shrill whistle - typical German & functional.

best regards
Brian

I have remembered where I saw the BR52 (German 2-10-0) mentioned. The Zimo decoder (MX690 - for large scale models) comes pre-loaded with sample sounds for 5 steam locos (including the BR50 and BR52). Zimo are bringing out a diesel sound collection soon and next year we will see the MX640 for HO/OO scale models (which is the one I am waiting for). The current steam collection can be downloaded from their website and (after unzipping), you can play the wav files in on your PC :-

Zimo Sounds Decoder Project File (zipped)

If you know what you are doing, you should be able to extract the BR50 or BR52 sounds and transfer them to the sound decoder of your choice. Of course this won't work with Soundtraxx. This ability to upload your own sound collection seems to be a common feature of most sound decoders these days (Zimo, ESU, CT Elektronik, Dietz, etc.). Only Soundtraxx are restrictive and don't offer this as an option and in fact threaten you with all sorts of legal action (on the website) if you copy their sounds. Most of the others manufacturers are taking the approach that they will provide and sell the platform (hardware and software), and let others provide the sounds. Retailers can make money out of providing the service to upload the sounds for buyers (since many will not want to buy the extra hardware and software, and learn how to use them). This seems a better business model to me. But I am biased as I want to have full control of what is loaded and understand how it all works, not everyone wants this and may be happy with the Soundtraxx pre-packaged approach. If they had decent British steam sounds I would not mind, but they don't.

Coming back to the original topic of this thread, I still don't know if a German BR50 or BR52 2-10-0 sounds anything like a British 9F 2-10-0, especially the whistle, but you can try it out using the Zimo files above or those on the ESU site. The German/Austrian markets are much larger than the UK market, therefore the sounds for German/Austrian steam locos are easier to find than the British ones right now. There are some good British diesel sounds available from SWD or Howes, but few British steam sounds around, I would like to see that change, before I lay out a lot of money on sound decoders and invest the extra time in fitting speakers in the tenders.

Well I chose the Soundtraxx decoder because it's easier to get than the Loksound and cheaper too. We pay A$175 for a loksound decoder and A$200 for the programmer. I paid A$140 for the Tsunami. The range of Tsunami decoders is good too and I have found the sound quality much better than with a Loksound 3.5 decoder. The other side of the coin is how well can I program a Loksound or Tsunami. I spent about 8 hrs trying to get a Loksound decoder to chuff correctly in a Precision Craft Y6B 2-8-8-2 to no avail. It went back to the factory and has disappeared. On the other hand programming a Tsunami is no picnic either with almost 245 Cv's to play with but you can get motor control almost as precise as Loksound and I said earlier they sound better than the Loksound decoders. The decoder I have fitted to the 9F has a nice beefy chuff and this is backed up by using the biggest speaker I can get into the space available. I'm going to change it, the light Logger decoder, for a light steam decoder which from the sound samples has a whistle more suitable to a 9F. A light steam loco in the states could be anything from an 0-6-0 to a light mountain 4-8-2 , a decapod 2-10-0 or even a Santa Fe type 2-10-2.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (BRITHO @ 15 Nov 2006, 23:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>"To be honest no-one under the age of 50 could possibly have any idea what the authentic sound was."
Sorry Neil, going to have to disagree on this one......don't forget there are quite a few preserved Standard 9s kicking around the countryside, and both 92220 and 92203 were worked mainine in the late seventies.

Regards

John
So do you are reckon that you have such a good memory of the sound of that specific loco that you could distinguish it from all others and you are under 50? If so put it there mate. There can't be many of you around. Fortunately the odds that the two or three other people who can distinguish 9f loco sounds from all other train sounds will come past my layout and catch me out is so remote that I am prepared to take the chance.