Digitrax Sound decoders

[alangdance]

I was wondering why nobody in the UK has try to devoleped UK loco sounds for the digitrax range of decoders.

I guess they are not as powerful as ESU ones hence (ESU ??115/Digitrax ??33) the cost but if someone like Howes/SWD was to offer the same range they

do in ESU decoders on the Digitrax decoders as well surly that would get more people interested in sound. I would certainly be interested.

ESU has price me out of buying sound decoders. I would be grateful for some feedback on this matter.

 

Regards

 

Alan

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

Digitrax sound decoders are very much 'work in progress'. They are capable of a great deal more than they currently are being used for. The older SFX064D is somewhat easier to master and programme and i have done one for my Bachmann N Class. UK outline diesels have not been well catered for and the UK market is a tad fixated on these.

 

The later SFX0416 is a tad trickier and needs some careful programming and a good understanding of the PIC code used to compile a project. There have been volume issues as well.

 

The sound bug doesn't work well unless it is piggybacked onto a dedicated motor chip.

 

All these decoders are piggy backed onto an existing motor decoder and this can and does create enormous problems with synchronisation of the sounds to movement.

 

Commercially, they are a non starter against ESU which is vastly easier to programme with sounds and has a good integration between motor and sounds.

 

Nevertheless, for DIY and learning about sounds, the Digitrax decoders have some good features. They are still the only current sound decoders that allow loading of a single sound instead of a whole project and, a few years ago, were the only sound decoders that could be project tested out of the loco prior to install.

[Etched Pixels]

The sync isn't a big problem for diesels and it can actually be abused to good effect.

 

Digitrax are supposed to be releasing some new chips soon with motor and sound drive. If they can fix the weirdo bits in the 0416 and sort the volume out then they may be very interesting, especially as the loksound micro has similar volume problems compared to say CT

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

There has been a very recent post on the Digitrax Sound Yahoo Group from a gentleman who has, he says, been retained by Digitrax for the purposes of writing some new sound projects. He also says that there have been some 'legal problems' which are now reportedly solved and, as a result, new decoders are on the cusp of being released.

 

I doubt that the UK outline market will figure hugely in the Digitrax camp but, if the current PR2 or 3 works on these new ones then we can have a play.