english sound files

[pipparooba]

hi im just wondering if someone could help me out. ive had a lok programmer for a few months now it was given to me from a fine fellow at my local model club. he had never used it and as im keen to have a go im just wondering were to get the sounds from.  i know all the European files can be got from the esu web site but im after some english  ones im not after hundreds may be just one class. just to have a go to tell the true  

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

You will struggle with this request. Most of us who have compiled sound projects have spent many hours sourcing the necessary sounds usually by recording them from a live loco, and then spent many hours making an acceptable sound project.

 

Those of us who do this commercially would never give away either a sound project or the sound bank that we have. Those who do it for private pleasure on their own fleet ( I am one of those ) have yet to conquer Loksound V4 which is hugely consumptive of sounds anyway.

 

Nothing to stop you downloading the ESU projects, particularly steam, adapting them with your own sounds and loading them into your decoder(s). Most of us started there.

 

There are sources of sounds on the Web but these days, none are free and quite a  few are offered at bit rates and sample rates that are just too rough to be used.

[murphyfp]

You will struggle with this request. Most of us who have compiled sound projects have spent many hours sourcing the necessary sounds usually by recording them from a live loco, and then spent many hours making an acceptable sound project.

 

Those of us who do this commercially would never give away either a sound project or the sound bank that we have. Those who do it for private pleasure on their own fleet ( I am one of those ) have yet to conquer Loksound V4 which is hugely consumptive of sounds anyway.

 

Nothing to stop you downloading the ESU projects, particularly steam, adapting them with your own sounds and loading them into your decoder(s). Most of us started there.

 

There are sources of sounds on the Web but these days, none are free and quite a  few are offered at bit rates and sample rates that are just too rough to be used.

You can get Class 66 and class 77 from ESU Sound download section

Also there are lot of 2, 3, 4, steam cylinder sounds and lots of generic sound to play with

.

[Robert Davies]

I remember cobbling together a 67 project from the ESU Renfe D333 plus the Class 66 horns from the ESU sample pack - sounds pretty reasonable to me

[Semaphore]

Surely ESU would make their money back with programmer sales if they did offer free english sounds? It seems a bit of an anomaly that they don't, but put a link into SWD on their site. I would happily offer free sound projects if I was in the position to record them at preservation sites. 

[pheaton]

ESU are a german company there not interested in English sounds, and its highly doubtful they will spend time and money to come over and record locomotives, SWD have like Howes and legomanbiffo pauliebanger and others invested considerable time into developing commercial projects. But remember its not just a case of recording sounds, you have to cut them and mix them so they behave properly on the decoder.

[SRman]

I agree with pheaton: While we do complain about the expensive costs of sound decoders with UK sounds on them, we also have to appreciate that these guys put a lot of their own time into recording the sounds, editing them and tweaking them to get he best out of the decoder characteristics. They are entitled to recoup those costs and to make some profit ... they do have to make a living themselves, after all.

[pauliebanger]

Surely ESU would make their money back with programmer sales if they did offer free english sounds? It seems a bit of an anomaly that they don't, but put a link into SWD on their site. I would happily offer free sound projects if I was in the position to record them at preservation sites. 

 

I will be giving away free X-Boxes, when I get some! Ha ha.

[pauliebanger]

While we do complain about the expensive costs of sound decoders with UK sounds on them, 

 

 

They are entitled to recoup those costs and to make some profit ... they do have to make a living themselves, after all.

SRman,

 

Thanks for putting the other side of this coin.

 

 

Everyone,

 

Cost of 21 pin ZIMO decoder without British sounds £82, cost with British sounds £82.

 

I made a sound project freely available to download from the ZIMO site for a BR Starndard 4MT (it's still there and still free).

 

What happened is that some sound installers, (you know who you are!) downloaded and sold it in their conversions, ie made a profit partially from my work. I don't have a problem with that, I gave it away. What really p*ssed me off, and has therefore ensured that there will be no more free sound projects from me, is that they couldn't even pay me the courtesy of acknowledging the source in their You Tube promotional video.

 

Some of us are not in this for profit, but without the opportunity to at least cover some of our considerable outlay for a single sound project (often many hundreds of pounds), we would have to stop. Then the supply of new or updated British sound projects would simply dry up and we would all be worse off.

 

Why all this expectation of something for nothing? Would you go to your local butcher and ask for a pound of steak for free, simply on the basis that he has plenty and you want some?

 

Or that if he gave you some for free, the butcher could make a quick buck selling you a steak knife to eat it with?

 

Thought not.

 

Paul

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

Most of the ESU sounds and projects available from their website are for integrated locos with sound previously produced by manufacturers. In other words, the projects have already turned a profit.

 

There is nothing to prevent Hornby and Bachmann commissioning ESU to make sound projects for them and absorbing the cost on the volume of sales or the additional sales of locos fitted with this sound project.

 

None of this could be considered as 'free'.

 

Digitrax have quite a few sound projects available online including some UK sounds.

 

You have to buy their decoder and their interface to use them though and the quality is not yet very good because it is open source. The American market is quite well catered for by these projects and the Digitrax Yahoo sound group contains quite a few more of those.

 

Of course you would still have to go out and record the UK sounds for any programmable sound decoder. If you factor in the cost of recording equipment and travel costs, even these sounds are not "free".

 

As Pauliebanger has quite rightly said, if you acquire the knowledge to record, edit and produce a viable sound project only for someone to brazenly pinch those sounds because they wanted something for nothing ( and yes it has happened to me too ) so they could make money at your expense because 'it should be free anyway' and treat you like an idiot when you tackle them.........it concentrates the mind wonderfully.

 

Treading on a corn here. Best to stop asking

[pauliebanger]

hi im just wondering if someone could help me out.

 

ones im not after hundreds may be just one class. just to have a go to tell the true  

 

Yes, I can.

 

Go to the ZIMO website. open the sound database, be patient there's a lot in there and can take a long time to open, scroll down to the Union Flag and look for the entry in green text. this indicates a free download. Click on the little + on the left to open the page further and you will see the on the right the link to download my 4MT project. Download this and open in ZSP, a free download from elsewhere on the ZIMO website.

 

Once opened, you can practice how it is done with ZIMO decoders, or just click and drag the sound samples to you desktop or wherever, then copy them to and use them in LokProgrammer.

 

Unfortunately, just having the relevent sound samples is only the beginning. You still have to work them into a credible sound project.

 

Start now, and you might have something workable before Christmas.

 

Good luck,

 

Paul

 

Paul

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

Start now, and you might have something workable before Christmas.

 

Good luck,

 

Paul

 

Paul

 

I take it that means Xmas 2014?

[pauliebanger]

I take it that means Xmas 2014?

 

Ho Ho Ho!

 

I'll tee 'em up, and you strike the ball. Ha ha.

[legomanbiffo]

Surely ESU would make their money back with programmer sales if they did offer free english sounds? It seems a bit of an anomaly that they don't, but put a link into SWD on their site. I would happily offer free sound projects if I was in the position to record them at preservation sites.

 

No you wouldn't, not if it were you who had to incur the time and expense involved. Doing the legwork necessary to set up recording session can take weeks. A recorder of sufficent quality is going to cost you £200. Mine was £400. Most recording sessions I've done start early and last all day, so unless the site is on your doorstep this necessitates an overnight stay and an evening meal the night before. Then there's the cost of fuel; over £100 when I did the tamper recordings recently. Then add on two days of your time. And that's before you've paid anyone for access. Preserved railways don't do these things for free if you need the kind of access necessary for a full set of recordings, and even if they did I would never take advantage and give them nothing for the privilege. Once you've got the recordings you are still at least 40 man hours away from a sound project that you can load into a chip. Each of my sound projects contains in the order of 200 different clips, each of which has to be processed and edited and the whole thing tuned and tested. And then you want me to give all this away for free? It's the same as you telling your boss on Monday morning that you will be working for free from now on. I've got a better idea. I charge everyone a small amount to cover my costs and make a little bit in the side. So does the company who makes the chips, and the chap who ties up his money in stock so you can have a choice of sounds in his shop or on his stall. It's called the economy.

[pipparooba]

Yes, I can.

 

Go to the ZIMO website. open the sound database, be patient there's a lot in there and can take a long time to open, scroll down to the Union Flag and look for the entry in green text. this indicates a free download. Click on the little + on the left to open the page further and you will see the on the right the link to download my 4MT project. Download this and open in ZSP, a free download from elsewhere on the ZIMO website.

 

Once opened, you can practice how it is done with ZIMO decoders, or just click and drag the sound samples to you desktop or wherever, then copy them to and use them in LokProgrammer.

 

Unfortunately, just having the relevent sound samples is only the beginning. You still have to work them into a credible sound project.

 

Start now, and you might have something workable before Christmas.

 

Good luck,

 

Paul

 

Paul

cheers paul ill check them out. unfortunately i only have v4 chips. i remember speaking to you at doncaster at the beginning of the year in depth about sound chips. that was my first sound chip i think. . anyway ill give it ago got a few  v4's and a programmer  if all else fails ill just stick the 

 VW Draisine

 sound on a class 25. . . my land my rules