[Piemanlarger]

I was wondering what people are buying or using in thier British sound locos, so i thaught i would start a poll to see how the market is split.

If your not interested in sound, dont bother replying! Just list what you have now or in the hornby case will be expecting to have by the weeks end.

Just copy this below and paste into your answer with the X replaced by the number of chips you are using.

I have X South West Digital Sound chips

I have X Howes sound chips

I have X Bachman sound chips

I have X dc Kits sound chips

I have X Olivia's trains sound chips

I haxe X Home produced sound chips

I have X Mr.Soundguy (dcc supplies) sound chips

I have X Hornby sound chip (included this as they are to be released this week)

I have X other sound chips (please state)

Let me know if I have missed an option. Add any notes you think are of interest to the post at the bottom.

 

[Piemanlarger]

I have 23 South West Digital Sound chips

I have 2 Howes sound chips

I have 3 Bachman sound chips

I have 0 dc Kits sound chips

I have 2 Olivia's trains sound chips

I haxe 0 Home produced sound chips

I have 0 Mr.Soundguy (dcc supplies) sound chips

I have 1 Hornby sound chip (included this as they are to be released this week)

I have 0 other sound chips (please state)

I had a Mr.Soundguy class 33 but sold it on as it was poor.
The Dc kits class 37 i had turned out to be the same project on the whole as the Olivia's class 37, the project I was told coming from the sharing that goes on in the dccsound yahoo group. Its now a swd mk 4 class 37.

 

[john woodall]

I think the list is definately missing loksound and Zimo.

 

[Piemanlarger]

QUOTE (john woodall @ 25 Nov 2008, 11:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think the list is definately missing loksound and Zimo.

Do they supply actual British rtr sound chips ? If so, please list which ones especially in the diesel classes. I was not so interested in generic files as most people are rtr and not in a position to do home made by all accounts.

 

[BVM]

I have1 South West Digital Sound chips

I have 2 Howes sound chips

 

[John]

Dear Piemanlarger,

Both ESU and ZIMO have lists of available sound projects on their respective website :-

ESU Sound Table

ZIMO Sound Table

I had a quick look at the ESU list and did not find many UK sounds there. it seems that you have to go to UK suppliers for these (SWD, Howes, Mr Soundguy, Olivia's Trains etc.). Similarly, only Olivia's Trains are advertising UK Sounds on ZIMO at the moment, but hopefully that will improve in the near future.

To answer the original questions, I have 2 ZIMO Sound Chips.

 

[dwb]

I have 2 South West Digital Sound chips

I have 2 DCC Concepts sound chips

David

 

[loco]

I presently have the following chips,

I have 4 South West Digital Sound chips

I have 1 Howes sound chips

I have 4 Bachman sound chips

I quiet fancy the Hornby one, but may wait and see how well it is received, before splashing out.

 

[valetman]

I have one Mr Soundguy Chip .

I also have a couple of Loksound chips factory fit in US outline (my main interest)

And 3 QSI revolution chips. (again US outline so not pertinent to your survey perhaps).

As an aside, the QSI with high bass speaker , even the 1 inch a HO loco necessitates,is , in my view, the best sound on the market.

Im not sure if there is a UK supplier,I imported mine from tonys trains, there is certainly currently no UK outline sound projects for them, but if (when) those appear, I will fit my small fleet of UK stock with them.

 

[neil_s_wood]

I have 2 South West Digital Sound chips

I have 0 Howes sound chips

I have 2 Bachman sound chips

I have 0 dc Kits sound chips

I have 0 Olivia's trains sound chips

I haxe 0 Home produced sound chips

I have 0 Mr.Soundguy (dcc supplies) sound chips

I have 1 Hornby sound chip (included this as they are to be released this week)

I have 17 other sound chips (please state)

2 from Richard Johnson DCC Concepts

the rest are not UK sound

1 Australian QSI

4 US outline; 3 loksound, 1 QSI

11 German outline.

2 of the above are QSI which ain't great; the rest are Loksound.

John (Woodal),

Howes and SWD use Loksound. Olivias use Loksound and Zimo. They just record UK loco sound onto them.

I have to say there are still some huge gaps in the UK sound market. It is still really focussed on diesel. Modern DMU and EMU's are also lacking. A Voyager sound decoder would be good. Steam is largely untapped. Obviously it's harder to do steam sound but the demand is definately there.

 

[Sol]

One Bachmann Class 24 factory fitted ESU Loksound .

 

[Lancashire Fusilier]

From my understanding the LokSound can be programmed with the UK sounds perfectly and often will be a better package sound wise and control wise. I take it you pay for that quality however.

 

[Richard Johnson]

Just to qualify the record, Using ESU we can actually do almost ANY UK steam locomotive with correct sound file content and some electrics/diesels. We also do specific sound files for Australian and US loco's.... Anything we can find enough data on / original recordings of can be done well.

We create custom sound files to order, with over 90% of our sound decoders going out with special set-up, and loco's we install are also tuned properly before they leave. We charge no more than for a standard loksound decoder, and in reality our price for this bespoke service is no higher than from a local UK retailer.

For example, if Ebaykal wanted a specific Turkish Loco and had some recordings, we could recreate it well for him and supply it on an ESU decoder.

We don't advertise other than by referral really as we are always busy with this sort of business and we only have so many hours in the day! We do many of our sound files to add to locomotives which we have customised for clients with correct prototypical lighting and other special detail work too...

The cost is generally in time for us - it may be a month or two to properly research, create and deliver for special orders, as we research each in detail to get it right as it can be. We don't ever create "generic" sound files - we like to know the when as well as the loco type, and preferably the specific loco number we are working on, in case the loco concerned was a special case, as many are.

(for example, 8f's were make by LNER and GWR during the war and had difference... and WD loco's were also made in several workshops/regions, and in some cases whistles were different, In general, LMS Loco's may have retained LMS hooters or have a BR whistle added later... etc etc...)

Our new Duchess sound file includes multiple options within the Stanier whistle and many other options including wheel slip ....and like our LNER 3 cylinder sound it sounds right at speed, something others do not usually achieve with anything over 2 cylinders...

regards

Richard

 

[Piemanlarger]

Do you have a British class 37 diesel sound project Richard?

 

[john woodall]

QUOTE (Piemanlarger @ 25 Nov 2008, 23:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do they supply actual British rtr sound chips ? If so, please list which ones especially in the diesel classes. I was not so interested in generic files as most people are rtr and not in a position to do home made by all accounts.

So the thread is nor about the soundchips that people are using but what companies are suppling sound chips (irrespective of the brand) with British sound preinstalled on them.

 

[80class]

I have 2x SWD loksound 3.5s (Both LMS mogul installed in the ivatt class 2 and class 4)
1x Howes - Loksound 3.5 LMS Black 5
1x Tsunami medium steam installed in a LMS Coronation Class
1x digitrax installed in a bin somewhere....yet to find a loco for it that I hate enough to install it in....
1x Custom made MRC installed in my UP Challenger.

I am happy with all of them, although the pick of the bunch would be the SWD mogul. However the black 5 isn't far behind. The Tsunami is an impressive chip, just it falls down when you press the bell function by mistake...and I'm not a big fan of generic sounds. The digitrax decoder (picked up for £20 at Warley) sounds more like someone with asthma hammering a nail into some wood than a steam engine)

Rob

 

[Martin71]

Hi

I really don't want to say how many I have, as it is a bit embarrassing...... but I got all mine from DCC Concepts and as far as I'm concerned when it comes to British steam Richard is miles ahead!

m

 

[Piemanlarger]

QUOTE So the thread is nor about the soundchips that people are using but what companies are suppling sound chips (irrespective of the brand) with British sound preinstalled on them

yes, thats why i asked for british sound recordings and listed the companies that make / supply them, unless home produce.
The idea was to see who is using what and perhaps to help identify some new options. I was not concerned about the chip as i knoe 90% of british sound chips are on esu, there is not much alternative at the moment.

I have class 37 chips from SWD, bachmann, olivias and howes, plus one other. Always looking for new options.

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (Piemanlarger @ 26 Nov 2008, 17:08) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do you have a British class 37 diesel sound project Richard?

*** Not yet. Is in the mix to do but I'm focussing quite a lot on steam at the moment as diesel seems to be the focus of most UK creators. Like many unless I have an order in the mix for it right now it will be a while...

It will certainly happen though as there's no shortage of good sound resources for it and I really like the 37 itself - I use one (bach) as my most common "test bed" loco for various experiments as B's mech is silky smooth on this loco...

Richard

 

[randolph]

I have 3 ESU Loksound decoders supplied by DCC Supplies, the class 33 is spot on and the WC and Q1 sound good but then I can't really remember their exact sounds!