RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted April 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2019 (edited) I'm looking for a big, powerful sound for a GWR King class (the recently retooled Hornby King). I'm prepared to perform major surgery on the model to get good sound reproduction. I like Zimo's Active Drive feature (which YouChoos call ImmersiveDrive) but would be prepared to go with any equivalent alternative. So here's the problem: Normally I'd go for YouChoos straight away but the preview recording on their website sounds a bit weedy to me (sorry guys!). It also has the little chirp from a valve that seems to be peculiar to 6024, King Edward I. (That chirp is really pronounced on many YouTube clips of 6024 but not 6023, which is the stated source of the YouChoos recordings, confusingly.) Locoman's version seems to have a good strong sound but it's not clear that either the ESU or Zimo projects support anything like Active Drive and the range of sounds seems to be less than YouChoos. The Locoman website also doesn't explicitly state exactly what decoder you're buying and that's crucial to know exactly how to package it in the loco (tender) with the best speaker(s). All the other possible suppliers I've looked at (Digitrains, Olivias, Howes, SW Digital, Coastal DCC, SoundTraxx UK) fail by, A. not offering previews of their sounds on their web sites and/or B. not mentioning Active Drive or any equivalent. And they variously have other failings for King sounds. So, what do you think? Is there a good King sound out there that I have missed? Am I being too picky? Any other thoughts? Edited April 24, 2019 by Harlequin 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburger Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 3 hours ago, Harlequin said: Locoman's version seems to have a good strong sound but it's not clear that either the ESU or Zimo projects support anything like Active Drive... Locoman ESU decoders do. One calls it Active Drive, the other one calls it Immersive Drive, Locoman calls it Impressive Drive - all very similar. Brake button, coasting button, heavy load button (which the others dont have), immediate reaction to the controller and so on. In my opinion the ESU V5 gives a wider range of possibilities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted April 24, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Hamburger said: Locoman ESU decoders do. One calls it Active Drive, the other one calls it Immersive Drive, Locoman calls it Impressive Drive - all very similar. Brake button, coasting button, heavy load button (which the others dont have), immediate reaction to the controller and so on. In my opinion the ESU V5 gives a wider range of possibilities. I don't see a brake button in the Locoman Function Key Guide for the King: https://www.locomansounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Function-Key-Guide-King-class.pdf It's not made clear but everything in the Locoman ESU King page suggests it's a V4 project, so hopefully they are not supplying LokSound V5 decoders in that package because there are some compatibility issues, as documented elsewhere on RMWeb... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tallpaul69 Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 5 hours ago, Harlequin said: I'm looking for a big, powerful sound for a GWR King class (the recently retooled Hornby King). I'm prepared to perform major surgery on the model to get good sound reproduction. I like Zimo's Active Drive feature (which YouChoos call ImmersiveDrive) but would be prepared to go with any equivalent alternative. So here's the problem: Normally I'd go for YouChoos straight away but the preview recording on their website sounds a bit weedy to me (sorry guys!). It also has the little chirp from a valve that seems to be peculiar to King Edward II. (That chirp is really pronounced on many YouTube clips.) Locoman's version seems to have a good strong sound but it's not clear that either the ESU or Zimo projects support anything like Active Drive and the range of sounds seems to be less than YouChoos. The Locoman website also doesn't explicitly state exactly what decoder you're buying and that's crucial to know exactly how to package it in the loco (tender) with the best speaker(s). All the other possible suppliers I've looked at (Digitrains, Olivias, Howes, SW Digital, Coastal DCC, SoundTraxx UK) fail by, A. not offering previews of their sounds on their web sites and/or B. not mentioning Active Drive or any equivalent. And they variously have other failings for King sounds. So, what do you think? Is there a good King sound out there that I have missed? Am I being too picky? Any other thoughts? Hi Phil, One you probably dismissed due to the lack of Synchronisation with the wheels is the Hornby TTS. I have gone for it on my King because, as you will know from our layout plan discussions, my King will only run through at speed, and I prefer to spend bigger money on the locos that will be stopping/starting/shunting on my layout! When I get to finishing my test circuit I will do and distribute a video of King George V. Best regards Paul 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliepetty Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 See from www.dckits-devideos.co.uk 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted April 25, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 25, 2019 8 hours ago, Richard Croft said: Manual braking is on there listed as ‘shorter braking distance’, it’s actually there 3 times, presumably so that if you have 3 pages of functions like on my Lenz controller it can be accessed from any of them. Richard Hi Richard, Are you sure F4/F14/F24 is actually a brake function? It really doesn't look like it to me because: 1. The description is "Enables brake valve sound and shortens the braking distance" - I.e. enabling and shortening, not actually applying the brakes. 2. It's not marked as a momentary function, as I would expect. My understanding is that braking simulation is derived from throttle movements in the LocoMan LokSound V4 project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tarifa Posted April 25, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 25, 2019 47 minutes ago, Harlequin said: My understanding is that braking simulation is derived from throttle movements in the LocoMan LokSound V4 project. A full description of all the functions available on the ESU V4 and V5 is shown on the ESU website under "Full Throttle". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MikeParkin65 Posted April 25, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 25, 2019 South West Digital list a King under their GWR 'Group 4' sounds. I can recommend their BR Standard and Ivatt 2MT projects from personnel experience, both have 'U-drive' and both can brake using the throttle. Haven't experience of their King but certainly an option I will consider when I get around to sound fitting my Castle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted April 25, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 25, 2019 3 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said: South West Digital list a King under their GWR 'Group 4' sounds. I can recommend their BR Standard and Ivatt 2MT projects from personnel experience, both have 'U-drive' and both can brake using the throttle. Haven't experience of their King but certainly an option I will consider when I get around to sound fitting my Castle. Thanks, but I'm suspicious about any sound project that groups different classes together like that (especially when other suppliers go to the trouble of making separate projects for them) and I'd prefer to have a separate brake control if possible. Maybe the group sound is fine but I'd need to hear it for myself and SW Digital don't provide any way to hear it on their website. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamburger Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 11 hours ago, Harlequin said: Hi Richard, Are you sure F4/F14/F24 is actually a brake function? It really doesn't look like it to me because: 1. The description is "Enables brake valve sound and shortens the braking distance" - I.e. enabling and shortening, not actually applying the brakes. 2. It's not marked as a momentary function, as I would expect. My understanding is that braking simulation is derived from throttle movements in the LocoMan LokSound V4 project. Hi, the manual mentions CV 179 - which is definitely the brake function. On the V5 there is also CV 182 where you can define if braking shall happen with or without throttle movement. As I understood, there is an additional brake function via throttle which uses CV4 if throttle is set to 0. (and this can be switched off) If you push F4, a smaller value/percentage (CV 179) is being used. Latching or momentary is always a personal choice. I also would prefer latching because I can let the brake function on during shunting. Just because Zimo stated it should be momentary, this is no standard and it must not be right for everyone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy1 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 31 minutes ago, Hamburger said: On the V5 there is also CV 182 where you can define if braking shall happen with or without throttle movement. As I understand it CV182 is the setting for the max speed when Brake 1 is active. So if set at 50 then Brake 1 will only work below that speed setting, but as always I might be wrong. I'd be interested if you know the CV for the additional brake function when throttle set at 0 and if there is one for throttle movement as well. Thanks, Wiggy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yasuda Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 I’m fairly new to this web site but I would agree that Locomans King sound on a Zimo MX645 is superb it has a real bark on start up and I can’t fault it, I have added Zimo Active Brake to the project. Please see the attached CV sheet and F key assignments from Locoman. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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