Southwest Digital Loksound Loco Files For Free

[two tone green]

If you have a Lok Programmer you can download Southwest Digital British loco sound files for free from the ESU website. 

 

See SWD’ web page for more details. 
 

http://www.southwestdigital.co.uk

[charliepetty]

I dont think they are all SWD Sounds, but the Class 08 is because  some of the auxiliary sound are totally wrong !!

 

They are all basic but are OK and they are FREE.

[two tone green]

Yes free. It’s  a bit of a market bombshell really. 
People with a Lokprogrammer will be come quite popular, able to change at will their sound catalog and help out friends to do similar. 
I suppose blank decoder sales will become more common along with Lokprogrammers. 
One scenario could be people buying less decoders as they change them over from one loco to another and change the sound project to match its new home. 
And as you say it’s free 🤩
 

[Kaput]

Had a play about with the Class 37 one (debating putting it in my Accurscale 37) since I have a random spare Loksound.

Bit of a pain to get all the function mapping fixed so it can handle the amount of light functions the Accurascale 37 has but on the decoder tester it sounded quite good.

 

Having 3 separate functions to handle manual notching seems a bit of a step backwards from having drivehold/drivelock though.

[charliepetty]

On 02/08/2023 at 23:15, two tone green said:

Yes free. It’s  a bit of a market bombshell really. 
People with a Lokprogrammer will be come quite popular, able to change at will their sound catalog and help out friends to do similar. 
I suppose blank decoder sales will become more common along with Lokprogrammers. 
One scenario could be people buying less decoders as they change them over from one loco to another and change the sound project to match its new home. 
And as you say it’s free 🤩
 

OR you could get these on new V5 decoders without getting a programmer:

https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=68&product_id=228

[tarifa]

What's the difference between a standard decoder and a budget decoder.

[charliepetty]

Its still a full fat V5 decoder, but has the 'Free' ESU file on it, we obviously sell our Legomanbiffo range, which in our opinion is of a High standard, with our logical standard function layout, some unique sound features and perfect sound transisitions. 

 

Also out there are other makes of excellent sounds from various leading suppliers.

 

These 'Budget' decoders are aimed at customers in these difficult times who want to fit a reasonably good sound into models at a budget price and I am sure they will be happy with these sounds.

 

If you order and pay by PayPal, then if your not happy with them its easy to refund you quickly.

 

I believe ours to be a BMW and the Budget ones a Vauxhall, no where near to some of the Lada ones that are out there.

 

This also saves the end user buying a new decoder and a programmer:

 

https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_84&product_id=476

 

The choice is of course yours, but we believe getting new people into DCC and all that it offers is a good thing, we of course are still offering our vast range of Diesel & Electric sounds from Legomanbiffo.

 

PPs There is available out there some dearer decoders, sadly at a far lower quality, but you do have a choice, please note that good speakers do make good sounds !!!

 

Charlie

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by charliepetty

[two tone green]

On 05/08/2023 at 19:39, charliepetty said:

OR you could get these on new V5 decoders without getting a programmer:

https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=68&product_id=228

If you do go for the budget range which has a free ESU sound profile what would the user do to get the free sound project changed to another free sound project. Send it back to you for it to be changed and what would be the cost? 

[charliepetty]

If thats your intention I suggest you get a Lok Programmer. as its going to cost you £5.00 to post it and cost us to post it back, + Time doing it say £2.50.

 

So it roughly a total of £12.50 in round terms.

 

Charlie

[two tone green]

8 hours ago, charliepetty said:

If thats your intention I suggest you get a Lok Programmer. as its going to cost you £5.00 to post it and cost us to post it back, + Time doing it say £2.50.

 

So it roughly a total of £12.50 in round terms.

 

Charlie

Thanks for the info. My Lokprogrammer could be busy. 

[charliepetty]

Legomanbiffo sound files can be ordered and delivered 'On Line' with no postage to all those who have programmers.   BUT you have to pay for them !!!!!

 

Depends what you want really.  Not sure with the ESU Hi-Fi 08, why you get station announcements !!!! and the function layout also seems a bit wacky.

 

They are FREE though.

 

Charlie

[two tone green]

3 hours ago, charliepetty said:

Legomanbiffo sound files can be ordered and delivered 'On Line' with no postage to all those who have programmers.   BUT you have to pay for them !!!!!

 

Depends what you want really.  Not sure with the ESU Hi-Fi 08, why you get station announcements !!!! and the function layout also seems a bit wacky.

 

They are FREE though.

 

Charlie

How much is a Legomanbiffo sound file for those who have a Lokprogrammer? 
 

 

[Chrisr40]

5 hours ago, charliepetty said:

Depends what you want really.  Not sure with the ESU Hi-Fi 08, why you get station announcements

I think they are great, lots of play value.

[Albie the plumber]

I don't think that the established sound creators /providers have too much to worry about .

These new projects may well be popular but many modellers with more than one example of the same class will not want a fleet of samey sounding locos.

Given that they are not tailor made for a particular brand of loco , you might not get what you bargained for.

Will you , for instance get the auto wheel flange squeal that is standard on the Accurascale 37 or the ability to switch various lighting functions individually as one can with that loco ? 

Agree with Charlie's assertion that the Legomanbiffo projects (amongst others ) are of BMW quality .

Bif's '08 sounds Will knock ESU's offering out of the water .

Ultimately,  you'll get what you pay for .

 

 

 

[two tone green]

1 hour ago, Albie the plumber said:

I don't think that the established sound creators /providers have too much to worry about .

These new projects may well be popular but many modellers with more than one example of the same class will not want a fleet of samey sounding locos.

Given that they are not tailor made for a particular brand of loco , you might not get what you bargained for.

Will you , for instance get the auto wheel flange squeal that is standard on the Accurascale 37 or the ability to switch various lighting functions individually as one can with that loco ? 

Agree with Charlie's assertion that the Legomanbiffo projects (amongst others ) are of BMW quality .

Bif's '08 sounds Will knock ESU's offering out of the water .

Ultimately,  you'll get what you pay for .

 

 

 

The ESU files are fully unlocked so anyone with a programmer can change, upgrade, tweak the file to meet their requirements. 
Once the prime movers sounds, the engine sounds, have been captured and saved along with whistles etc then the rest tends to use generic sounds such as flange squeal and can be added using the Lokprogrammer. 
It’s the engine sounds that’s the hard but to get hold of. 

[charliepetty]

4 hours ago, two tone green said:

How much is a Legomanbiffo sound file for those who have a Lokprogrammer? 
 

 

These are £20.00 with a no quibble 'If your not happy we will swap for any different sound'

 

Please see:   https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=282_284

 

Charlie

 

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by charliepetty

[SRman]

I have just loaded the ESU class 31 sounds onto a LokSound 5 DCC decoder, and they aren't bad. As Albie the Plumber said, we sometimes want different variations of sound on locomotives of the same class. I already have two class 31s with legomanbiffo sound, and one as a class 30 with Howes' Mirrlees sound (on an older v3.5 LokSound), so the latest one (a Hornby loco) has the ESU sounds, which are technically wrong for the locomotive I chose as it should be a Mirrlees-fitted engine.

As I have a LokProgrammer, I can always change my mind later and do something else with that decoder.

I also bought a 21-pin LokSound 5 DCC decoder with a Bachmann C class 0-6-0 in mind. I thought I might adapt the ESU (non-hi-fi) sound project as that is a 2-cylinder jobbie to start with, but the steam chuffs on that one are electronically generated and, quite frankly, dreadful! OK, so I knew from a previous trial that the Merchant Navy sounds were not too bad, and might make a good starting point, notwithstanding the fact that the MN is a 3-cylinder type. What Charlie said about these being unlocked and editable is true, so I set about modifying the file after listening carefully to some video footage of the Bluebell's 592. I found that the German E94 whistle was not far off the right toe and pitch, so slotted that in, got rid of the turbine and air pump sounds, then set about tuning the chuffs to match the wheel revolutions of a 2-cylinder locomotive. That involved adjusting CVs 57 and 58, after using a stopwatch to measure how long it took for one revolution on speed step 1 (16 seconds in this case). 

Current settings for those are:
CV57 = 255

Cv58 = 39

The end result is not perfect (I may do some more tweaks to the sounds later) but it isn't bad either, especially as it's a freebie.

I did a very short and shaky video of it, but it's too big to load directly here. I'll upload it to YouTube shortly and add a link here. (edit: see below).
 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by SRman
Added video link

[two tone green]

5 hours ago, SRman said:

I have just loaded the ESU class 31 sounds onto a LokSound 5 DCC decoder, and they aren't bad. As Albie the Plumber said, we sometimes want different variations of sound on locomotives of the same class. I already have two class 31s with legomanbiffo sound, and one as a class 30 with Howes' Mirrlees sound (on an older v3.5 LokSound), so the latest one (a Hornby loco) has the ESU sounds, which are technically wrong for the locomotive I chose as it should be a Mirrlees-fitted engine.

As I have a LokProgrammer, I can always change my mind later and do something else with that decoder.

I also bought a 21-pin LokSound 5 DCC decoder with a Bachmann C class 0-6-0 in mind. I thought I might adapt the ESU (non-hi-fi) sound project as that is a 2-cylinder jobbie to start with, but the steam chuffs on that one are electronically generated and, quite frankly, dreadful! OK, so I knew from a previous trial that the Merchant Navy sounds were not too bad, and might make a good starting point, notwithstanding the fact that the MN is a 3-cylinder type. What Charlie said about these being unlocked and editable is true, so I set about modifying the file after listening carefully to some video footage of the Bluebell's 592. I found that the German E94 whistle was not far off the right toe and pitch, so slotted that in, got rid of the turbine and air pump sounds, then set about tuning the chuffs to match the wheel revolutions of a 2-cylinder locomotive. That involved adjusting CVs 57 and 58, after using a stopwatch to measure how long it took for one revolution on speed step 1 (16 seconds in this case). 

Current settings for those are:
CV57 = 255

Cv58 = 39

The end result is not perfect (I may do some more tweaks to the sounds later) but it isn't bad either, especially as it's a freebie.

I did a very short and shaky video of it, but it's too big to load directly here. I'll upload it to YouTube shortly and add a link here. (edit: see below).
 

 

 

 

There will be more locos on the ESU website I expect as they work their way through British locos.
Steam locos will get updated with real sounds rather than generated sounds and more variety. 
As I said earlier and you have found out the files are unlocked and form a great base to work from and turn them into what you want. 

 

Hopefully the catalog of sound files such as whistles, chuffs, door slams, whatever will be updated as well with all the British sounds. 

 

[charliepetty]

Just a little feedback on the ESU Free Sound Files, this will probably not worry a lot of people, but I thought its worth mentioning.

 

Class 47 & 57:   Does not have the distinctive 'Spoon' sounding horns.

 

plus these two seem to have multiple generic auxiliary sounds, plus the radio announcements with lots of shunting instructions with a few that would suit a mainline locomotive, but half of them are suitable 'possibly' for an 08 shunting in a marshalling yard or large depot !!!.

Edited August 16, 2023 by charliepetty

[two tone green]

Will be interesting to see if Lokprogrammer sales go up.
Makes sense for clubs to club together and buy one to and make use of the expanding range of free files.
Who knows who else will get on the be nice to customers and offer free downloads wagon. 
What’s that well know song ….???? Yes that’s it, Things can only get better. 🤩

[two tone green]

Charlie, do think you will offer a premium free range derived from your own sound files. 
Still free but made up from what you say are your own better sound files? 
Certainly would be an attractive offer and I suppose attract more purchasing of decoders from you.
Could give you a competitive edge over the competition maybe, customer loyalty and all that. 
 

[55020]

There's been some more files added recently by ESU on their website.  There's now free diesel sound files for Loksound 5 covering the following classes:

• Class 08
• Class 20
• Class 31
• Class 37
• Class 40
• Class 47
• Class 55
• Class 57 (EMD 12 645E3)
• Class 57 (EMD 12 645F3B)
• Class 59
• Class 66
• Class 67
• Class 69
• Class 150
• MPV Windhoff

All available from here: http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/7?type=all&order=date&country=gb

 

 

Steve

[two tone green]

11 hours ago, 55020 said:

There's been some more files added recently by ESU on their website.  There's now free diesel sound files for Loksound 5 covering the following classes:

• Class 08
• Class 20
• Class 31
• Class 37
• Class 40
• Class 47
• Class 55
• Class 57 (EMD 12 645E3)
• Class 57 (EMD 12 645F3B)
• Class 59
• Class 66
• Class 67
• Class 69
• Class 150
• MPV Windhoff

All available from here: http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/7?type=all&order=date&country=gb

 

 

Steve

Once ESU are back off holiday the list will grow again and steam locos hopefully. 

[Erixtar1992]

Nice to have a half decent sounding 20 for once.

 

some of the files sound fairly good.  Can add your own stuff in/change stuff also if you have a Lokprogrammer.

 

If you enjoy tweaking locos ect id recommend one, its a deep rabbit hole but a lot of fun when you crack it. 
 

most of the sound providers you can email direct to buy files ect, they are usually pretty helpful, though the new ESU freebies are a rather attractive option of course.

 

 

[two tone green]

It is a good option and as the attraction becomes more obvious people will get out to record the missing bits such as horns they need to improve the ESU sound files and share them with friends. 
 

It’s the prime mover sounds that are the hardest to capture but ESU have kindly supplied them for free. 
 

Perhaps the suppliers of sound projects such as Charlie will run training courses for the Lokprogranmer. Paid for of course. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by two tone green