I decided that a blog of what I'm up to sound-wise at the moment might be of interest and also provide a useful forum for discussion and feedback. Here's what I've been up to in the last few weeks. Imagine a butterfly flitting from one thing to another and you won't be too far off the mark :-)

Upgraded the 26, 27, 37/0 and 37/4 projects with 'multi-start' (user control of engine priming, cranking and starting (or not starting)). It's my intention to add this to all projects where appropriate and where I have the necessary recordings. 'True' warm and cold starts are another aim but they eat up a lot of memory.

Changed the 37 spirax function from a single loop to set of shorter sounds that are played at random. The original loop was quite long but you could still detect when it was starting again. I plan to develop this further so that if the spirax is left on for ages, the gap between pops will steadily increase just like the real thing.

Made the 37 compressor stop more quickly when the function is turned off. Again, an improvement that'll be made to all v4 projects in due course.

Finally started work editing the engine sounds from the Class 20 that pauliebanger and I recorded at the GCR ages ago (20098). This will be a great project when it's finished as we captured loads of material but I keep getting sidetracked with other stuff (which I suspect will be a common theme in this thread...). The 'auxiliaries' are all done, only the engine sounds are needed to finish the project off.

Had a preliminary play with the Class 73 engine sounds I recorded at the Spa Valley Railway. A completed project is a while away yet but the 73 that arrived from Hattons today might spur me on. I was surprised how deep the engine note is on a 73.

Made a start upgrading the 87 to v4 standards and incorporating some new material recorded at Willesden by a pal of mine. Made changes to the neutral section which will be user-triggerable at any speed.

Finally, got some great sound-related feedback from one of the fitters at the Battlefield Line today (where I'm a volunteer). Most interesting was how the engine rpm on a 33 is affected when the ETH is on. A bit more complex than you might think and definitely something that can be incorporated into the project. I'm envisioning an 'ETH on/off' function key that will invoke the various changes. Again, something that will need to be added to various projects where appropriate.

Bif