steve fay Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi All I was reading through some of the American railroad forums last night and came accross QSI sound decoders and following the link they now have a stereo decoder. Now this appeals to me, especially for O gauge diesels. Does any one have any experience with QSI and more to the point Are they available in the UK and with British sounds. Thanks in advance Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi All I was reading through some of the American railroad forums last night and came accross QSI sound decoders and following the link they now have a stereo decoder. Now this appeals to me, especially for O gauge diesels. Does any one have any experience with QSI and more to the point Are they available in the UK and with British sounds. Thanks in advance Steve I don't think that QSI decoders are available separately in the UK. Quite a few American locos are fitted with these chips and they are highly regarded. They are all factory fit and there is no facility for constructing and loading sound projects into them although they can be reprogrammed with the factory sound project quite easily. They do not have any UK sounds at all and there is no intention afaik to do so. I earnestly feel that stereo is a gimmick. Speaker separation would add nothing to the sound that a really good mono speaker would. For you the ESU Loksound XL or the Zimo range are what you need. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Hi I'm using locos with loksound decoders and I've heard the lionheart Zimo fitted panniers and I think they are about the best steam sounds I've heard. I've just come across the digitrains web site so I will keep a eye on them hopefully they will expand there Zimo sounds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I wouldn't dismiss "stereo" so quickly. Just two speakers and a stereo mix will go from Mono, 1 dimensional to Stereo, 3 dimensional. I just picked up a Atlas diesel with provision for stereo speakers. The Weight of the locomotive is set into an A frame with the speakers facing outwards, sideways - sorry, that is not very clear. The speakers will set into an A frame that is also the weight for the locomotive - the mass of the speaker frame will help the sound project off to each side. I'm sure someone will set something up before I do (and I suspect other sound chip makers will follow suit eventually). Of course ymmv as ever. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I wouldn't dismiss "stereo" so quickly. Just two speakers and a stereo mix will go from Mono, 1 dimensional to Stereo, 3 dimensional. I just picked up a Atlas diesel with provision for stereo speakers. The Weight of the locomotive is set into an A frame with the speakers facing outwards, sideways - sorry, that is not very clear. The speakers will set into an A frame that is also the weight for the locomotive - the mass of the speaker frame will help the sound project off to each side. I'm sure someone will set something up before I do (and I suspect other sound chip makers will follow suit eventually). Of course ymmv as ever. Best, Pete. I am wondering Pete, whether this is twin speakers rather than stereo. Using stereo files halves the available memory of the chip. Memory is always the biggest bugaboo particularly in OO/HO size decoders and remember that the decoder will need extra components so might well be bigger as well.. Using two speakers particularly on each side is a known way of expanding the sound envelope and using different frequency response in each speaker to enhance the sound performance overall. It has to be said though that the sound quality is pretty poor at the moment and the extra memory would be better used in increasing that quality, which is exactly where Zimo and ESU are going just now. True stereo allows the brain to be sort of fooled that it is listening to sounds generated over a wide area so that something like the bass guitarist seems to be on the right, where he actually was when the performance was recorded or more likely, that is where the sound engineer wants you to believe he was.. Most locomotives are a single point source. All the more so in scale. There are exceptions like a Deltic with two motors but that can be better covered by two decoders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I can't tell you right now ('cos I don't know) - but it will happen. I've been in the music business since 1967 and my view is that a single point source doesn't really exist in the real world. I could make a recording that would drive you insane through headphones - an insect scratching your skull on the inside and moving around from side to side and back to front and crucially a mix of the two in the sound picture. It's all to do with placement and volume. If they do it right it will be a subtle effect but you'll miss it when it is only in mono. That's my informed guess anyway. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tetsudofan Posted June 23, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2011 Hi All I was reading through some of the American railroad forums last night and came accross QSI sound decoders and following the link they now have a stereo decoder. Now this appeals to me, especially for O gauge diesels. Does any one have any experience with QSI and more to the point Are they available in the UK and with British sounds. Thanks in advance Steve I got a couple of QSI sound decoders (for the Union Pacific Gas Turbines) from Model Junction (www.modeljunction.info) but not got round to fitting them yet....must do....must do.... Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted June 23, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 23, 2011 I got a couple of QSI sound decoders (for the Union Pacific Gas Turbines) from Model Junction (www.modeljunction.info) but not got round to fitting them yet....must do....must do.... Keith You should, they're a lovely job! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__NXyTrAiWc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tetsudofan Posted June 25, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 25, 2011 Thanks 071 - great videos....just got to get the locos, decoders and copy of Model Junction magazine showing fitting all in one place....... Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 As I'm now going down the American route I'm looking forward to buying a few QSI fitted locos as I'm hearing really good things about them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted July 7, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 7, 2011 QSI are very good decoders, I have several in HO, and yes they are available for O gauge in the uk. You just need to look at places that specialise in large scale I use Jeremy at Dragon G scale who stocks them, I have used the ESU XL but not these as I don't do US large scale models. There aren't any UK sound sets for the QSI decoders http://www.dragon-gscale.co.uk/qsi-solutions-218-c.asp Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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