Model Railroading > Tsunami Soundtraxx GE Loco Sounds with Reverser Centerr

For all you folks with discerning ears, I simply can't get myself to purchase a GE sounder decoder because I find there is something missing. Am I wrong? In my opinion, All the youtube reviews and sound samples I have listened to do not properly portray the diesel engine under load. I am guessing this is because it is easy to record sound samples with a stationary locomotive slowly advancing thru the the eight notches with the diesel engine basically free-wheeling. I have always thought the prime movers sounded very different under load with a much throatier chug sound . Am I crazy? Do the current decoders have it right? If I am correct, then how difficult would it be to properly record the locos under load? What kind of equipment is needed for an accurate rcording? If someone from ESU or Soundtraxx were to contact me via PM, I would be very willing to assist in recording these locos at no charge just to give these locos their proper sound set. I have come to love the current emd sounds since this doesn't seem to effect the EMD 645 and 710 in the same manner. I am definitely not knocking the current products, I just want as close to perfection as possible,lol . If I can help let me know.

Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/14 20:05 by mttrainman1.

You are correct. That's why sound like they are running light, without a load.

I haven't heard a ton of decoders, but I do think that the tsunami in my Intermountain GEVO strays farther from the sound in the higher notches. It just gets a bit muddled and less crisp at notches 3+. The high pitched whine (which seems to be a sound that is stronger in GEVO's than Dash 9's, for instance) is not the same.

Your right have longed for the day they could make a GE sound decoder that sounds like the two GE's on a union pacific coal drag at upland on the Pentrex DVD Marysville subdivision volume2 Then again the speaker probably would not cope for a HO Model

Go to their website and click "contact" - make the offer there. Doing it here "hoping" they notice and PM you doesn't sound like the right way of going about this.

I understand TCS does this for steam, but they have no diesel offerings or replacement boards....I think hey are a cople of years away.

Joel Brazy
Coatesville, PA

Loksound nailed it on their P42. Ideally the best (safest) way to record a diesel would be during a stationary load test......if the sound of the dynamics didnt ruin that.

I tend to agree. Some of it is the limited bass capability of our speakers, but there IS a difference. I live about 1/2 to 3/4 mile from a BNSF mainline and there are times that one can hear those GEVOs starting a heavy coal train even when the house is closed up. They have a "throbbing" sound that really carries.

It's something I am learning about first hand, too - as I go about upgrading some of my HO units to sound, I have found the available EMD sounds far superior to GE. I think a big part of that is EMD's turbocharged units; they have so much high-end in the sound that it comes through very well in the small speakers we rely on in model locomotives. Certainly we have to tailor our expectations due to basic physics - the real base cannot be replicated in a 1" speaker. That said, I am very impressed with the EMD sound on the modern Soundtraxx decoders: both the 645 (40-series locomotives) and 710 (60- and early 70-series locomotives) cards are good enough for my ears.

Since I model Conrail, though, I am in need of sound for a number of GE's, too, and of several different types - don't want my B23-7's to sound like a B36-7. My dilemma is that Soundtraxx only makes those two soundtracks for modern GE's, and we have several distinctive sounds that don't fit in those two boxes. Their 7FDL sounds more like a 12-cylinder GE prime mover to me - good for B23-7's, U23B's, etc., but it does not represent the sound or energy of the bigger 16-cylinder units very well at all. Their 7FDL 'Modern' sounds do a pretty good job for the Dash-8 series, and an OK job for the Dash-9's too. But what about all of the big Dash-7's? C30-7, B30-7, C36-7, B36-7 - we are without a decent unique sound decoder for these units.

Now, LokSound advertises that they have a sound package that for the 12- and 16-cylinder 7FDL's, another for the older U-boats, as well as yet another for Dash-8's and even a U18B. I tried the 7FDL package and I have not had satisfactory experience with it. Sounds decent in idle but does not capture that distinctive chugging so apparent with GE's. Frankly, for me, I have avoided QSI and LokSound as neither seems to be able to get any base resonance despite my working hard on sound enclosures. So far, my feeling is that Soundtraxx again comes out on top with their two GE decoders in HO scale - the 7FDL, and the 7FDL 'Modern' both are decent-sounding cards.

Anyone have other suggestions?

~RGDave
www.onondagacutoff.blogspot.com