RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 20, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 20, 2011 well its taken a while but here is the new howes class 70, bryan has had to put a lot of work in to get the sounds to work right in the loco. this is the lok-sound V3.5 version of the chip, therefore its limited by the 2 min time constraint and smaller wattage speaker but it still sounds superb, bryan will be doing a V4 version once the programmer becomes available... anyway here are the vids, first one is the static sounds, recorded in full glorious HD on my iphone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdnRDS2PxbE the functions are:  F0.    Lights on/off F1.    Sound on/off F2.    Horn1 Double F3.    Horn 2 Triple F4.    Horn 3 short quieter triple F5.    Buffer up F6.    Coupling up F7.    Wheel Sleeper Groan F8.    Flange squeal F9.    Rail joint noise for 3 axle bogie F10.  Dynamic brake    F11.  Notch up F12.  Notch down F13.  Shunt mode F14.  Accel Decel override F15.  Aux 1 Cab light between myself and bryan we recorded over 4 hours of class 70 sounds and vids for this chip so bryan has plenty of reference material to get it sounding just right, amazing what you can record during your break, all sounds of course are from real 70s, nothing generic the next vid is the loco on the rolling rd, not ideal but i'm hoping to get upto bobs in uttoxeter over the weekend to run it on his layout, ive put the controller in view to give you an idea how the sounds relate to the speed setting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjP70fb9xI so there we go, all opinions welcome Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridwatcher Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Well done boys...at last. Heard the 'other' one on a layout up here and it is.....******* **** What speaker have we got in it? More bass perhaps? They do sound like a big lorry I suppose. Jim, you could have taken the foam packing out! S Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Nice one Jim. the second vid is a good reference for how to show the correlation between controller and the sound. much more difficult to show the model actually moving and keep the viewer informed as to what is happening on the keypad. Was that a cockerel I heard in the dying seconds? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 21, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 21, 2011 glad you like it, the loco has a standard lok-sound speaker in it, 20x40 rectangular one, not sure how bryan has mounted it though. the loco still has its foam on as it went straight to bryan once i bought it to use as a test bed for the chip, yesterday was the first time ive actually held the loco!! having had a play with it i've suggested a couple of modificatons to it to bryan, the "clunk" you hear as it decellerates is a bit too loud so needs turning down a bit and the dynamic braking sound (the sound that is like an air rail warning!) also needs turning down, other than that its well balanced, to be honest bryan was still fine tuning it 30 mins before i met him during my break in banbury!! there are a couple of errors on my part in the vid, i switched the loco off while it was doing its random "misfire" sound resulting in the abrupt shutdown, the real loco clears out its cylinders while stationary so stops firing on all of them every so often resulting in a change of engine tone, bryan achived this by putting it on a random sound slot which when it kicks in plays over the existing engine noise at just the right level to cancel out the normal sound. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250BOB Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Gutted.............waited in all weekend for the 70 to arrive...!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 22, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 22, 2011 Sorry bob, little un not well today, forgot to ring you to let you know i wouldn't make it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 23, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 23, 2011 meeting bryan again this mornng, he has been playing a bit more with the chip and has slightly revised it, improved the decceleration amongst other things, gonna be doing a chip swap on the platform at banbury!! also meant to say in the first post, if you buy a new 70 chip from howes you will get a V4 chip loaded with the 3.5 sounds, however once the V4 sounds are released bryan will reblow the V4 free of charge, all you will have to pay is the postage costs the above sounds (well the revised one im about to get) is available now to reblow onto your existing 3.5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 if you buy a new 70 chip from howes you will get a V4 chip loaded with the 3.5 sounds, however once the V4 sounds are released bryan will reblow the V4 free of charge, all you will have to pay is the postage costs Jim, Does the v3.5 sound get altered to a different bit rate and frequency by the V4 decoder? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 23, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 23, 2011 i'll get bryan to give you a reply to that one, really have no idea!! i Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250BOB Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Gutted.............waited in all weekend for the 70 to arrive...!!! Forgiven...perhaps see you later. Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 23, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 23, 2011 bob, see you later with any luck, got a couple of other locos weve not had a play with too dave, heres a reply from bryan for you.... Dave. I cant answer that question, as you will know the program converts the Lok 3.5 file   into a hidden executeable one. I have been in regular contact with ESU and one line in an email to me stated "a converted sound decoder project benefits from more volume, 8 channel sound and the RailComPlus option right away" so from that I would say the 3.5 file is altered to make it compatible with the Lok 4 architecture until the new programming software is released, mid to late may was my last update. I have noticed the increase in volume but no real change in quality so until the new programming software is released maybe then we can see what the Lok 4 can really do. Personally in a couple or so weeks it will make no odds as we will all be learning the new system!!. regards Bryan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 23, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 23, 2011 reply from bryan.... Hi Doddy. I can only speak for myself. I did not send any higher sample rate files to ESU just 3.5 project files as requested by them, these were kindly converted for me to work on Lok 4. so Howes could continue supplying customers, this helped  fill the gap created by the sudden absence of 3.5s, if they hadnt there would have been a 3 month wait!!. From what I mentioned earlier today, ESU said the converted file would benefit from being louder, have 8 channel mixing and Railcom. there are  certain other facilities available such as the ability to control the volume settings for each sound slot, not the running sounds though, also there is the fade in fade out facility and a couple of other bits. From what I can ascertain I dont think any of the UK sound producers have yet had the benefit of the full Lok4 pogramming software,  so what everyone has got , as far as I am aware, is a revamped 3.5 in a Lok 4 decoder. even the existing ESU programs listed on their website for the foreign locos are actually conversions too and not new, there are some new ones coming on line now though, the file size gives it away!! . At the end of the day you can up convert a sound, but you cant put in what wasnt there in the first place, it is like making an MP3 quality recording back up into CD quality. it cant be done, yes you can resample a wave file and put more dots on the sine wave, it may look pretty but it changes nothing. all the current conversion program can do is change  the file extensions so as to be  compatible with the Lok 4 structure, it then makes the sound section invisible within the .exe file. Shouldnt be too long to wait now, it will be interesting to see if all the converted files will become visible with the new software. intersting days ahead!!. Hope I have cleared things up a bit ( at least from my side anyway) as it seems there was a bit of confusion as to what had and hadnt been done. Regards  Bryan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 24, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 24, 2011 here is a video bob and myself made last night, all taken on my iphone4 and edited on it using a free app called "splice", basically 4 vids joined together with fade-ins etc, well pleased with it...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybUCjMiRxbc the 70 in the vid has been slightly revised to the one in the rolling road vid, the clunk when it drops back has been turned down and bryan has added a spool down to the decceleration which he noticed when revisiting the raw files and has turned down the dynamic braking braking sound, there are a couple of other things i need to mention to bryan though got the chase vid to upload too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 I will be honest and say that the change to version 4 might leave me behind. All my current decoders are V3.5 and contemporary Micro and I have two 3.5's in stock and two locos to convert. I also have a couple of Digitrax piggy backs that I have not yet used. Thus the vast majority of my programming will remain with V3.5 and indeed Lokprogrammer 2.7.6 version immediately prior to the Loksound Extractor lockout. Probably the only reason to embrace the V4 is if I wish to change my CT decoders or I have an irreparable failure of a sound decoder. It is yet unclear as to whether the original Blue dongle will work with V4 and, if it does using an upgrade, will it still programme V3.5? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted May 25, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 25, 2011  Dave   If by the blue dongle you mean the interface, I currently use 2 of the originals, the Lok4 programming software works with them no problem, you just need to run the Lok 3.5 or 4 software to suit the decoder you are working on, if you have the wrong one the program tells you!!. hope this helps  Bryan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Dave If by the blue dongle you mean the interface, I currently use 2 of the originals, the Lok4 programming software works with them no problem, you just need to run the Lok 3.5 or 4 software to suit the decoder you are working on, if you have the wrong one the program tells you!!. hope this helps Bryan That is good news indeed. ESU have always tried to ensure backwards compatibility but have been severely criticised in the past for driver problems although mine installed perfectly on Windows 7 and sought out an updated driver all on it's own. As soon as V4 software becomes available, I will download it to play and purchase a v4 decoder. looks like an early goodbye to a CT decoder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Thanks for posting these Jim, I've been looking forward to a noisy 70. I particularly like the idle and early notches, together with the horns. Suspect I shall be putting an order in to Howes quite soon... Will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted September 6, 2011 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 6, 2011 found this vid on my laptop yesterday so i uploaded it to youtube. unfortunatly the wagon the camera was mounted on gave a lot of wheel noise but you get the idea!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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