Loksound Full Throttle: A quick demo

[irishthump]

Guys,

 

Some of the other members expressed an interest in seeing the new Full Throttle features from ESU in action.

I've finally got around to putting together a short video which will hopefully give you an idea of how they work.

 

I'll just describe the main features, all of which can be assigned to any function key you want.

 

Drive Hold - When activated this locks the speed of the loco at whatever speed the loco was moving when the function key is pressed allowing the engine sound to be increased or decreased without affecting the speed of the loco. If this is activated while the loco is stationary it will remain stationary no matter how high the throttle is increased; very useful to simulate starting a heavy train.

 

Brake - if this is activated when the loco is moving it brings the loco to a stop as well as triggering the sound of the brakes being "set" to the on position. The engine sound will also drop when the brake is applied even if the throttle is not adjusted. When the brakes are released there is a hiss of air before the loco moves off.

 

Coast - When activated this drops the engine sound to idle and allows the speed of the loco to be controlled with the throttle.

 

Run 8 - When activated this sends the engine sound directly to notch 8, again to simulate starting a heavy train.

 

To be honest I don't use Coast or Run 8 much as I find you can produce the same effects with Drive Hold and Brake.

 

One other thing to mention is that the engine sounds respond VERY quickly to throttle changes which makes for very realistic driving.

 

Anyway here's the short video of 182 shunting a rake of MK3's on my layout. The decoder is loaded with the prototypical EMD 645 soundfile which sounds great.

 

 

Hope that's of some use to you guys. I'll try and post some more in depth videos if anybody wants them.

[Noel]

Thanks for making that. FT looks great. BTW, love your rake of Mk3s in ST livery. Did you burn new FT esux files onto a standard V4 chip and mix with some of the sounds from the MM071 esux project (eg horn), or did you have to buy a later rev chip, or perhaps upgrade the firmware on a V4 one you already had?

 

If possible it would be interesting if you could video a train running on a loop showing effect of drive hold, coast and brake over a longer period (eg: simulating a train starting off gradually building to cruise speed, then simulate approach and stopping at a station).

 

PS: You have some great looking stock.

[popeye]

Very nice video, very realistic, more please.

Love the weathering.

[irishthump]

Hi, Noel. Glad you like the MK3's!

 

These files can be loaded to any existing V4 decoder. However the do need a firmware upgraded to allow the FT functions to work. (The update is done automatically when the new file is loaded onto the decoder).

 

Then I simply switched out the existing engine sound on one of my 141 files for the new FT equipped one. The functions like Drive Hold, Brake, etc. are all separate sounds that need to be added to the soundfile but it's a simple process but of course you need the Lokprogrammer to do this.

 

To be honest my layouts loop isn't really suitable to film as it's difficult to walk around the whole circuit while videoing AND using my throttle! That's why I used the main terminus on the layout, but I'll see what I can do.

 

Approaching and stopping at the station would be easy to simulate; the Coast function would be enabled as the train came into the station then the Brake function could be used to gradually slow the train to stop. As I may or may not have said(!) when Brake is activated the train slows at whatever deceleration rate is programmed into the decoder.

[irishthump]

Very nice video, very realistic, more please.

Love the weathering.

 

Thanks, Popeye.

 

I'll try to get a couple more videos up when I get the chance. I've also loaded FT soundfiles into my 141, 071, and 201 locos and they all work as well as this one.

[irishthump]

Noel,

 

I know you have a couple of Mr Soundguy's 141 decoders, but I think the new Loksound files leave his in the ha'penny place!

I never found the engine sound very realistic on his decoder (although the sound quality is excellent) and he only produces one decoder which has the engine sound of the EMD645 which is only prototypical for the 181's and later re-engine 141's and 121's.

[Noel]

Thanks IT. The new FT behaves and sounds really great on your video.

 

So far I have 3 different DCC sound chips, but not yet a LokSound with FT (Full Throttle drive mode), and I like all of them.

 

• Previous version of LokSound with MM mix (eg 071 and 201)
  
• LokSound with DcKits mix - LeggomanBiffo (eg 141)
  
• Zimo mk1 and later mk2 MrSoundGuy mix (141)
  

The original Zimo mk1 was good for its time, but the mk2 a huge improvement in terms of realism. Of the three I have, so far the LeggomanBiffo sounds the best, but the MrSoundGuy one drove the most realistic with 'RealDrive' which wasn't in the mk1 Zimo (i.e. modelshop belfast mix you once had). The LokSound 'Full Throttle' software looks like it has caught up with the Zimo for drive/sound prototypical realism and quite possibly surpassed it. I can't wait to get one to play with and compare. I have no brand loyalty and will change following wherever the steam of innovation flows.

 

Now with a choice of FOUR different DCC sound mixes - we are spoilt for choice. The bar continues to rise. Happy days. Thanks again for the info, its very interesting. Noel

 

PS: Have you had a chance to drive a mk2 Zimo? I can't wait to try LokSound FT.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Noel

[enniscorthyman]

Sounds great.

[ttc0169]

Very nice Irishthump,it sounds great:tumbsup:

[Irishrailwayman]

Nice video and love the Supertrain MKIII rake. I have a few of Mr Soundguys RealDrive 071 soundchips and they can be controlled in a similar way. His 071 sound always has worked out better than the 141/181. The GM engines were distinctive in their revs going up an down. Unfortunately, access to prototypes in a suitable location is a limiting factor. The technology available on the soundchips is improving all the time - pity the price of them is not coming down!

[irishthump]

Unfortunately, access to prototypes in a suitable location is a limiting factor!

 

And in fairness to Mr Soundguy his sounds are the only ones recorded from the actual locos!

 

All of the Loksound prime mover sounds are taken from US locos and often the engines are different from the ones used in Irish locos. (Same engine model, but different cylinder number etc.) Fortutely, it's near impossible to tell the difference sound-wise!

[Noel]

And in fairness to Mr Soundguy his sounds are the only ones recorded from the actual locos!

 

Hi Graham. Just watched your excellent demo video again. BTW, Mr Soundguy's engine recordings may be recorded from actual Irish locos but I don't think they were recorded particularly well. The prime mover engine does not sound as good as the ESU files you are using in your sound projects, nor the DC Kits (wheel tappers) projects on either their V1 or V2 (full throttle) projects. The horns and flange squeal are better, but the idle on MrSG has an annoying clink sound on the actual loco he recorded from. If I could get your prime mover sound quality with 'Real Drive' I'd be a happy camper. Cheers. Noel

 

Ps. Btw, the weathering you did to your baby GMs is exceptional. Was reading over some of your threads on the old forum.

[Junctionmad]

Ive played with several sound chips , I have to say , I prefer the ones where most of the notching is automatic , way too much function key pressing other wise