What's your thoughts on DCC sound?

[Warbonnet]

Just interested to hear what site members have to say about DCC sound?

 

I have a number of British and American outline locos with DCC sound. Some were bought with sound installed by the factory, others I installed sound in myself. For the last few years I've been debating with myself if it really adds to the model itself. I've finally decided that it just doesn't do it for me. I wont be getting any more sound locos. Mind you I wont be getting rid of the ones I have, the novelty is nice but after a few hours it gets tiresome.

 

I was thinking how nice a fleet of sound fitted 071s would be awesome, but no sound decoder and speaker can get that throbbing thud sound that you feel as it goes past you. Therefore it feels a bit '2-D' to me.

 

What do you guys think? Am I talking out of my arse? Be interested to hear what others have to say.

[irishthump]

What do you guys think? Am I talking out of my arse?

 

Absolutely not. DCC sound is not for everybody, it's just another facet of the hobby that you're either into or you're not. Obviously the sound can never match that of the real thing and for some that's a deal-breaker but I can understand that. It's the same as some modellers deciding to go with 21mm gauge track as opposed to 00 gauge just to go that extra mile in favour of realism.

I myself have a half-and-half mix of sound and non-sound locos. I love the "play" factor of driving the sound equipped locos but an just as happy letting them run (almost) silently around the layout as well. And yes the novelty can wear off after a few hours but who ever gets the chance to run their locos for more than a few hours?!!!

[purple]

I hate sound in models. The chips are also horrendously expensive for what they are.

 

If you build your own analogue PWM controller you can tweak the waveform to make the diesel locos have some pretty realistic engine sounds without adding any fancy stuff.

[WRENNEIRE]

I have come to the conclusion that it is more novelty than actual

AS Fran said its a 2D effect rather than 3D

However having a couple of different locos sitting in a siding with various noises is not a bad thing either

Starting up is my favourite series of sounds, loads going on

You pays your money..........

[enniscorthyman]

I agree that DCC sound is not everyone's cup of tea

however I do love the sound factor and in particular

the 071 chip,that said it will do your head in after

a while,and a least you can turn it off.I have 071,201

141,and A class chips and its the A class that runs best

for long periods of time with that nice gurgle sound.

For me the MSB 071 sound is far better than the MM

Version from what I have heard.I love having my 071

ticking over in a siding or shunting cement wagons.

[ttc0169]

I agree that DCC sound is not everyone's cup of tea

however I do love the sound factor and in particular

the 071 chip' date='that said it will do your head in after

a while,and a least you can turn it off.I have 071,201

141,and A class chips and its the A class that runs best

for long periods of time with that nice gurgle sound.

For me the MSB 071 sound is far better than the MM

Version from what I have heard.I love having my 071

ticking over in a siding or shunting cement wagons.[/quote']

 

I agree Eamonn,

I changed over to DCC last year after being impressed by Gerry Byrnes DCC layout-Ballybeg and have no regrets,

It's great to have locos ticking over on the MPD and being able to shunt locos around the depot using the various functions associated with the particular locos,

I have seven sound fitted locos on Tara Jctn-four 201s and three 071s and the Viessmann tamper 751,and when placed around the layout at various locations create a stereo sound effect which is just what I'm looking for-highly recommended from me.

[Tarabuses]

I have been using DCC for many years (even back to Hornby Zero One) but have never moved on to sound. I am tempted by the 201 and 071 options but something keeps holding me back. Maybe it is the 2D effect that I hadn't recognised before?

[Warbonnet]

Interesting points of view lads. I do like the powering up and a bit of shunting with them but after that I just lose interest. This is one of my locos, same engine as an 071 (although 20 cylinder compared to a 12 cylinder in an 071) and it sounds great powering up and slowing down, but after that it's just a high pitched whine. I know other locos sound different but they just all become a drone to me.

 

[Northman]

Last time I was in my local model shop I was given a demonstration of a british steam engine with a sound chip in it and I was very impressed.Not nearly as loud as a diesel.

[kevrail]

I have decided not to go for sound ( one reason being the cost) and I have my track laid on the baseboard (plywood). The sound of the clickety click of a train running around the layout is just as effective for me.

[Riversuir226]

I'm 99.9% sure i won t get down the sound route. I was not impressed with it in 2007 when i had a few UK locos fitted with sound and to be honest i haven t heard anything so far that would change my mind. Don t get me wrong i like the locos but can t justify spending €100 plus on a sound decoder for even one or two of my locos would prefer to spend it on some more rolling stock or even another loco.

[Dave]

I got my 071 sound chip last week, I like it, but it can wreck your head after a while. Great for shunting. I won't be buying many more.

[BosKonay]

I think, personally, it's nice to have a 'few' locos with sound.

 

Having one rumbling on idle, or a few shunting about works very well. But at speed as they travel around, the noise of stock on the rails almost drowns them out anyway, or the whole lot gets a bit shrill and you end up doing everything in 'silent movie' mode with the noises in yer head anyway

 

I think for small layouts / shunting areas / dioramas, they are most effective.

[Sentinel281]

I think, personally, it's nice to have a 'few' locos with sound.

 

Having one rumbling on idle, or a few shunting about works very well. But at speed as they travel around, the noise of stock on the rails almost drowns them out anyway, or the whole lot gets a bit shrill and you end up doing everything in 'silent movie' mode with the noises in yer head anyway

 

I think for small layouts / shunting areas / dioramas, they are most effective.

 

I can fully subscribe to this point of view, me the same. I've got a moular station layout with an interchange from continetal normal gauge to meter gauge with a carrier truck pit and its much fun to shunt the wagons onto the carriers with a sounded steam tender engine. It even helps to forsee what the loco will do next. When I hear the steam go to the cylinders I know it will move, even when looking at the carriers in the pit. For Locos at speed I also cannot see very much use of sound chips.

[Blaine]

Glad Im not the only person who sees it as a 5 minute gimmick! I also dont like how some manufacturers try selling DCC purely for the sound, when DCC has all its other advantages over analogue control, lights, individual control, no need for switching sections etc. Then theres the price!!

[201bhoy]

As my layout is pretty small, and a terminus to fiddle yard layout, I think they'll work well on it (if it ever gets finished!!!! ), because they're only ever going to be moving slowly. I agree with you, you can't replicate the thud as it thunders past, but it depends of the layout.

[Mayner]

to paraphrase the Pistols is DCC a rip off.

 

I went down much the same road as Warbonnet with sound equipped locos (steam and diesel) before coming to the conclusion F8 (sound off) was the most useful button.

 

The tipping point for me was having to leave a club room due to the high pitched drone of a consist of a friends SD70s bouncing off the walls of the layout room giving me a headache.

 

I think Alan O'Rourke putting the whole DCC thing in context in the most recent edition of New Irish Lines where modellers seem to be becoming more obsessed about being able to turn a loco's cab lights on and off (something thats rarely done in practice) and forgetting the principal purpose of a loco is to haul trains.

 

Cost is another factor like lost things to do with electronics, DCC chips are said to be good for about 10 years, why pay more than twice the price of a chip and sound system for a loco.

 

I have two control systems one DC powered off a 30 year old H&M Safety Minor and one DCC where I have spent a fortune upgrading and adding additional trottles andd functions, yet I can still only run one train at a time.

[Mayner]

I can fully subscribe to this point of view, me the same. I've got a moular station layout with an interchange from continetal normal gauge to meter gauge with a carrier truck pit and its much fun to shunt the wagons onto the carriers with a sounded steam tender engine. It even helps to forsee what the loco will do next. When I hear the steam go to the cylinders I know it will move, even when looking at the carriers in the pit. For Locos at speed I also cannot see very much use of sound chips.

 

I caught the sound bug about 10 years ago first with a Shay and later with a pair of rod engines and a Baldwin diesel Switcher for an interchange with a logging line/coal mine, the main advantage was that using sound on a switching layout forced me to slow down operation to a prototypical pace.

 

The layout never got beyond a test track above the work bench and I sold the sound equipped locos when I started building a garden railway.

 

Apart from designing and building models I am mainly interested in pick up goods or way freight operation, I found sound unnecessary in the garden as it takes nearly as long to shunt as the real thing especially having to walk several metres to change a switch or uncouple a car

[Warbonnet]

Glad Im not the only person who sees it as a 5 minute gimmick! I also dont like how some manufacturers try selling DCC purely for the sound, when DCC has all its other advantages over analogue control, lights, individual control, no need for switching sections etc. Then theres the price!!

 

Amen, I love the control options DCC gives, and could never go back to analogue.

 

I really thought I'd be in the minority on this one, but it seems a lot of people prefer the clickity clack of wheels over DCC sound. I can understand the appeal of DCC sound and why people enjoy it, I guess we're all different really.

 

I feel better switching my latest SD70 order from sound fitted to DCC ready. Saved a packet too!

[BabyGM]

In my opinion sound is great for about 5/10 minutes at low speeds with the ability to use wheel squeak, air compressor and brake release, however when eventually you stop shunting and want to run the engine with a bit more speed it just dosen't sound good, because the constant loud and high pitched sound of notch 8 on a sound decoder is unrealistic. DCC is great for lights and individual control but not sound, then there's the price:eek:

[RedRich]

My own personal taste would be non sound. I did toy with the idea of sound in one model for a bit of play value, but then I thought about what is was I wanted to create myself in a model. My own memories of watching the prototype will always be the sound of the loco when it passed, I could tell what it was with my eyes closed. But my abiding memory is of the wheels of wagons and coaches on rail and that sound when the wheels crossed over the rail joints. The noise of the rail joints becomes nullified if you model CWR. I have seen some layouts in 00 gauge where the builder has cut joints every 17th sleeper into meter lengths of track and when I hear that sound in a model it sounds real, and that's the kind of sound I like to hear.

 

I did hear a sound model with that noise on the decoder but you could still hear it when the loco had disappeared off scene and it just didn't feel or sound right. I have spoken to exhibitors in the past that have had their layouts back to back at a show with one that has sound fitted locos, and the operators said the noise drove them nuts after a while. Having said that I have always enjoyed Gerry Byrnes Ballybeg layout at exhibitions as it is still nice to hear a baby or A Class, even if it is a model.

 

Rich,

[Barl]

I'd have to agree with most of the comments already made. I just couldn't run DCC Sound, I think it would wreck my head after a while! As has been mentioned, I like the soothing sound of the clickety-click of running trains and sound just ruins this! I run DCC and enjoy the many benefits of it but I personally can't see how sound is one. Some companies are selling coaches with DCC operated opening coach doors; to me this would be much more appealing, and probably cheaper, than DCC sound

[josefstadt]

I too would agree with most of the comments already posted. While sound may be attractive in the short term, after a while it gets tedious and, to my ears, it doesn’t sound realistic in most cases. A better option, which I’d like to see added, would be the ability to configure the marker lights for shunting - one white and one red light at each end of the locomotive at the same time.

[colmflanagan]

Possibly one of the reasons why, for many folk, including myself, the DCC sound option doesn't work ultimately is that very small loudspeakers, no matter how well designed, still tend to sound "small" - and sound can't be "scaled down." When I frst started getting involved in hi-fi in the 1960s the arguments raged about loudspeaker size. To me, for a "small" loudspeaker to sound "real" it has still to be a awful lot bigger than the tiny on board ones. I find it interesting that some folk find the the "small" sounds like engines turning over, horns etc, seem preferred. I don't run DCC myself but do like the idea, at least from time to time, of hearing the wonderful noise of the EE 4SRKT engines as fitted to the NIR Class 70./80 DEMUs, and will when funds permit, try a system using a sound chip for a 205 but connected to a higher fidelity audio system, with the chip "motor" output going to my track. I think in theory it should work..

 

PS anyone got an unwanted sound chip they want rid of for a reasonable amount - it wouldn't have to be of any particular loco (as long as it was diesel). Right now i don't want to spend £100+ only to find I fry the chip or something...

 

Colm Flanagan