two tone green Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 Very interested in this as well. Perhaps missed in all the posts the ability to add fictitious stations. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
two tone green Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 Just bought the license and having a play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamespetts Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 A new video has just been uploaded to Youtube with some good records of announcements at Oxford station in 1991: At the very beginning of the video, we get, "The train just arrived at platform number 1 is the 10.25 Intercity service to Brighton, calling at Reading, Slough, Kensington Olympia, Clapham Junction, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath and Brighton. Change at Reading for Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend.... [inaudible]". At 2:08, we get: "The train just arrived at platform number 2 will be the 9.50 from London Paddington [inaudible] ...for Oxford only. All change please, all change, the service will be terminating here." This is interesting, as it shows the variation from some of the earlier patterns of late 20th century announcements that I posted a few months ago. These announcements are more similar to the modern pattern of automated announcements in that they follow the destination > intermediate stations model (i.e., "...is for Brighton, calling at Reading, Slough...") rather than just listing all the stations "...is for Reading, Slough... and Brighton"). It also confirms the use of train times in announcements of this period (early 1990s), and the use of sector names "Intercity service to..." rather than "train for" as we we hear in announcements from just a year or two earlier. It also confirms the use of the time hallowed phrase "all change" in announcements of terminating trains of the period. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 On 05/05/2021 at 15:40, two tone green said: Very interested in this as well. Perhaps missed in all the posts the ability to add fictitious stations. I have got around that by moving a station with a name from one side of the country to the other (as stations can sometimes have locations attached - even if not listed on signage). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
two tone green Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 It was the audio file needed to add stations. It seems from reading the web site additional stations can be added for a fee. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1867Adelphi Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 Any update on this Hawksey? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Peter Beckett Posted August 19, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 19, 2021 Just bumping this as nothing heard for ages 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Garry D100 Posted August 22, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) On 19/08/2021 at 06:28, Peter Beckett said: Just bumping this as nothing heard for ages Hawksey hasnt been logged into rmweb since 22nd march according to his profile so maybe its on the shelf if he has other more important things to give his time to. Edited August 22, 2021 by Garry D100 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksey Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 Hi all Sorry for my absence over the last few months but a heavy workload, pandemic problems and other issues had delayed any progress on the BR version. Good news is that I'm now actively beavering away on it and it will hopefully be ready for release within a month or so. The 'contemporary' version, soon to be renamed something like 'Announcement Generator 2000+' is still available from the website and any licence code purchased for that will also work with the upcoming 'Announcement Generator BR' Phil - PipnBean.com 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksey Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 (edited) A few screenshots of the progress so far Edited September 29, 2021 by Hawksey 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1867Adelphi Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Really good to hear this is still going ahead. Hawkesy, I want to purchase a license but ultimately, the pc I have the software on now is not the one that will be used in my shed layout as I plan to have an old laptop specifically left in there, Will I be able to reinstall and use the license on the laptop that will be in the layout at a later date? Basically is it a multiuse (personal use obviously) or one time code? Thanks for your help Mike 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksey Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 Hi Mike The license key is linked to a single pc but I'm happy to supply a free extra key for your laptop, just let me know when you're ready and the laptop System ID code as shown on program start-up or in the settings page. The keys will work with the current version and the forthcoming BR version. The BR version is almost finished, just got the 9000 stations (should be every passenger station ever opened in Briton!) to check and process...probably 2 weeks to finish and test. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opelsi Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Thank you for the update. I am so looking forward to this [the BR version]. Next step for me will be looking into speaker options and where to place them. Got a couple of options in mind for hard wiring though may also consider wi-fi too. I think that this will add a fantastic amount of interaction with almost limitless playability (real and fictional rail route announcements etc). and hopefully make the layout come to life with sound, certainly the station area. Looks like there is a 'Save' function too from the icons displayed which I can see being useful for creating something of a playlist of regular trains. I am sure someone clever could if not already an easy option, devise an entire working day timetable of announcements mimicking the 24-hour clock to be playable. Wondering what project you might come up with next Hawksey? Trying to think of other useful little sound projects for elsewhere on a layout and a system for making the right speakers play in the right places! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted October 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2021 On 29/09/2021 at 16:48, Hawksey said: A few screenshots of the progress so far This sounds very good and will add a further dimension to Henley on Thames…. Although I could really do with it being able to work on an iPad - I prefer to keep the laptop (Mac) out of the railway room. How far away is a 1930’s version? Thanks, Neal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted October 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2021 Has anyone downloaded and used the VM software "virtual box" on a mac in order to get the announcer to work> I don't really understand what I should be doing... The instructions suggest I should download windows, but Ive got no idea how I would do that.... Maybe the announcer will not work, until such time as there is a mac version.... Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks, Neal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted October 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2021 Virtual Machine containers (such as VirtualBox) require an operating system to be installed on them so you will need the necessary source install files or disc, then once that's done you can start up the virtual machine and inside that install the programs you want. You will need to have a license for Windows if you want to use that as the 'guest' operating system, just as you would if it was installed directly on the machine. Note that, to the best of my knowledge, currently Windows 11 doesn't play nice with VirtualBox due to issues with the CPU and TPM recognition, something that Oracle will hopefully fix. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted October 21, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2021 7 hours ago, Ian J. said: Virtual Machine containers (such as VirtualBox) require an operating system to be installed on them so you will need the necessary source install files or disc, then once that's done you can start up the virtual machine and inside that install the programs you want. You will need to have a license for Windows if you want to use that as the 'guest' operating system, just as you would if it was installed directly on the machine. Note that, to the best of my knowledge, currently Windows 11 doesn't play nice with VirtualBox due to issues with the CPU and TPM recognition, something that Oracle will hopefully fix. Thanks for that… so in which case unless I buy windows I won’t be able to operate it. :-( Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted October 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 22, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, Neal Ball said: Thanks for that… so in which case unless I buy windows I won’t be able to operate it. :-( If it's Windows only software then that is true. I don't know if it would work under WINE* on Linux, or if it could be installed in a 'container' or 'docker'** of some kind. * WINE is an approach for getting Windows programs to run on Linux, however some work has to be done to do so, and for smaller programs I think it's not considered worth the effort. ** 'Containers' or 'Dockers' are a kind of virtualisation, as they are a program that can wrap around other programs and allow them to run on different operatings systems as they have specific versions of the containers for each operating system, but the programs within remain the same regardless. Again, work is required to make them work, and I'm not sure if such an approach would be viable for a small scale program. Edited October 22, 2021 by Ian J. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted October 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 22, 2021 1 hour ago, Ian J. said: If it's Windows only software then that is true. I don't know if it would work under WINE* on Linux, or if it could be installed in a 'container' or 'docker'** of some kind. * WINE is an approach for getting Windows programs to run on Linux, however some work has to be done to do so, and for smaller programs I think it's not considered worth the effort. ** 'Containers' or 'Dockers' are a kind of virtualisation, as they are a program that can wrap around other programs and allow them to run on different operatings systems as they have specific versions of the containers for each operating system, but the programs within remain the same regardless. Again, work is required to make them work, and I'm not sure if such an approach would be viable for a small scale program. Thanks very much Ian. Maybe an easier approach would be some generic announcements put onto a sound decoder, almost like the little Gaugemaster ones. I have the rural one operating under the railway and it is very effective. I could maybe load sounds onto a zimo decoder and have announcements along the lines of "The next train from Platform 1 will call at xx" Thanks again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksey Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 You can download a Windows 7 dvd image file from here: https://www.softlay.com/downloads/windows-7-ultimate Select the 64bit version You'll be able to try it out for 90 days before you need to register Install Windows 7 virtual machine in VirtualBox: https://o7planning.org/11883/install-windows-7-virtual-machine-in-virtualbox Once it's up and running install the Announcement Generator on the Windows 7 and all should work fine Hope that helps Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksey Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 Here's a screenshot of it running within a virtual windows 7 machine on my MacPro 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JohnR Posted October 24, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2021 Love this software, and cant wait for the 80's BR version to be available. 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium curlypaws Posted October 25, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 25, 2021 It runs perfectly under Parallels on the Mac. A little more expensive than VirtualBox, but works fine with Windows 11. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawksey Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 Just a quick update The BR version is almost ready for release and all going well will be available by this coming weekend. Contains every british passenger station ever opened...over 8900 of them! Added the ability to directly record the announcements in mp3 or wav format for use in Railmaster, Train Sim, Mp3 players etc... Audio is now split into stereo channels. Announcements and station sound effects will only come from the left speaker, all other effects (weather, birds, church bells, etc) will come from the right speaker. This allows you to place one speaker under the station and a 'atmospheric' speaker elsewhere (under the village/town?) Choice of 3 types of BR chimes, 3 tone, 4 tone, Birmingham New Street tone, or none. Phil 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InterCitySpud Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Is it true the female voice used almost incessantly today in every London mainline and tube station is called Sonia? Get Sonia nerves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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