Model Railroading > ESU LokSound Automatic Notching

The Tsumani decoders have CV116 to adjust the engine notching based on throttle position. Does anyone know if LokSound has the same thing? I would like to get to notch 8 well before full throttle. Thanks

With the Lok 4.0 you should be able to change the value between notches. In Loksound v3.5, I think they called these thresholds (the upper and lower values between each notching sound in the on screen "matrix"). At any rate I have yet to figure out how (or if) you can do it with the Lok-Select decoders.

It seems Lok Sound already has automatic notching. If you want manual notching this is covered in 5.2.7.8 on page 35 of the downloadable User Manual.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

LokSound Select decoders do manual notching through functions 9 and 10. Function 9 revs up the prime mover but does so continuously as long as function 9 is turned on. If you don't turn 9 off to hold it at a notch, the prime mover will keep going up on its own to notch 8. If you want notch 5 for instance you would count it up to notch 5 and then turn function 9 off. Once you're at notch 8 and want to rev the prime mover down, function 9 must be turned off and function 10 turned on. After a short delay, the prime mover will rev down continuously to idle unless you turn function 10 off to hold it at a notch.

If you are revving up and stop at a notch, you can rev up or down from that point. Likewise if you are revving down and stop at a notch you can rev up or down from that point. You can go from idle to notch 2 to 4 back to 3 up to 7 and down to idle if you wanted all with careful control of functions 9 and 10.

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

He wants notching based on throttle position. That is automatic notching. The trick is when it moves from one notch to the next - that is what's adjustable on the Tsunami.

LokSound decoders don't have the ability to user select the speed step when the prime mover notch changes in automatic notching. This is something that ESU has been asked about a lot though so it may be added in the future. I've found though that you don't really need it. LokSound decoders give you a more realistic experience without the typical "model train" settings that you may be used to.

Something that I do though with my LokSound decoders is put in a lot of momentum like set CV 3 to 255 and CV 4 to 220 or even higher. When you increase your DCC throttle's speed all the way to full, the prime mover sound will go straight to 8 while the locomotive slowly increases in speed. This would be like an engineer taking the throttle from idle to notch 8 in one action. Likewise if you go from a high speed step straight to 0, the prime mover will come all the way down to idle in one sound. This is how prototype locomotives operate.

If you do this with a Tsunami decoder, the prime mover will go through each notch one at a time until it gets to 8. This is not prototypical even if you set the notch change to happen frequently.

You can also mix automatic notching with manual notching. If you use automatic notching to get you going and then find the desired speed you want but want a higher prime mover sound to simulate a heavy train on a grade, you can always hit function 9 to increase the notch. This will give you the effect of moving at say a scale 20mph but in full notch 8. You could also simulate a locomotive that's been "cut out" of the consist by using function 10 to keep it's prime mover in idle while the rest are in a higher notch.

I would highly encourage you to give a LokSound decoder a try and see if you can get the sound and motion effects that you want by using other approaches. I think you'll really find the experience much more realistic and much more fun. I know I have! LokSound decoders have really renewed my passion for the hobby because of the high quality sounds and ultra realistic operation.

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

I consider myself an expert at Loksound 3.5 programming. I have yet to get any Loksound 4.0 units.

With Lok3.5: you absolutely can adjust when it changes from notch 1 to notch 2, etc. This is found in the sound schedule (see photo). Look at the small numbers between the sounds (D1, D2, etc). These are called "barriers" and adjusting these results in the loco not moving (or moving sooner) based on throttle position from notch 1 (D1), to notch 2 (D2), and so on.

Does anyone know if this exists within the newer Lok 4.0 software?

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Thanks everyone for the answers. I was afraid what I was looking for is not on the newer ESU decoders.

You can do it with a LokSound V4.0 decoder but this requires the use of the LokProgrammer hardware to access the sound schedule.

As far as I know there's no way to do it using CVs without the LokProgrammer hardware.

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

RioGrandeFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can do it with a LokSound V4.0 decoder but
> this requires the use of the LokProgrammer
> hardware to access the sound schedule.

Can you accomplish the same results/modify the sound schedule on a Loksound Select using the Lokprogrammer?

Thanks,
Harry

tracktime Wrote:

> Can you accomplish the same results/modify the
> sound schedule on a Loksound Select using the
> Lokprogrammer?
>

Harry, it does not appear that you can. I did find a work around (works for me anyway). All of my locos are speed matched by altering the speed table, however with LokSelect if you set the "max" speed any lower than true max (i.e. 255), your loco revs to full tilt at a much lower speed. I found that setting a full 28 step custom speed table to be the answer with one exception. Leave the last "max speed" CV94 value at 255 and simply don't run full speed if you are part of a consist. This allowed the revs to be much lower throughout the full speed range.