I came across some .wav demos of QSI's Q2+ sound system by looking at the QSIndustries site through the WayBack Machine. The samples sound basically identical to PS-1, so I wonder, did QSI literally reuse the system they designed for MTH in that specific release of QSI Sound?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
They were very similar, almost exactly the same I think. For some reason I remember there being slight differences.
There are differences, but obviously it's probably a lot of the same code base.
Did QSI design the system for MTH, or did QSI merely take a system they already had and rework it to fit MTH's needs and specifications?
Which came first, QSI's own system or QSI's system for MTH?
QSI's system was first. MTH licensed a slightly dumbed-down version (to control cost) of Q2+. Interestingly, if you listen to early HO BLI steam locomotives, you will hear those same QSI sounds. The whistle clip is very distinctive. Pre-TMCC, QSI dominated the electronic reverse unit/sound market. Their systems could be found in MTH, Weaver and 3rd Rail locomotives.
Based off of reading the directions it sounds like QS-2+ is a beefed up version of conventional control with certain features similar to command control like lash up and announcement control. The start up direction is pretty cool. Wish PS/1 engines were able to do that.
The QS2 boards has addressing of engines and automatic sequences of operation. It was a poor man's command/control.
@GameBreaker64 posted:I came across some .wav demos of QSI's Q2+ sound system by looking at the QSIndustries site through the WayBack Machine. The samples sound basically identical to PS-1, so I wonder, did QSI literally reuse the system they designed for MTH in that specific release of QSI Sound?
Where did you find the .wav demo files. I searched on the wayback website and couldn't find them.
@Bob posted:QSI's system was first. MTH licensed a slightly dumbed-down version (to control cost) of Q2+. Interestingly, if you listen to early HO BLI steam locomotives, you will hear those same QSI sounds. The whistle clip is very distinctive. Pre-TMCC, QSI dominated the electronic reverse unit/sound market. Their systems could be found in MTH, Weaver and 3rd Rail locomotives.
And a few Lionel engines too. Recorded sounds are very much the same. The board software and firmware was different for different functional control. I do believe MTH had PS-2 in mind anyway and that was limiting what they wanted to do with PS-1. G
Interesting little tidbit, G. I remember seeing TMCC mentioned in a QSI manual. I also heard somewhere that the whistles and bells of the steam locomotives were recorded from engines in museums as opposed to trains in operation.
Does anyone have some old BLI HO engines with Q-2+ in them?
@Trainlover9943 posted:Where did you find the .wav demo files. I searched on the wayback website and couldn't find them.
@GameBreaker64 posted:Interesting little tidbit, G. I remember seeing TMCC mentioned in a QSI manual.
For several years in the 2004-2010 period, QS! was promising a board that would accept a Lionel R2LC radio board and whatever QSI sound board you wanted (Q2, Q2+, QS3000, etc.) so that you could run TMCC and have QSI sounds. They even had a picture of the board on their website. It was never actually a real product and was never for sale.
@Bob posted:For several years in the 2004-2010 period, QS! was promising a board that would accept a Lionel R2LC radio board and whatever QSI sound board you wanted (Q2, Q2+, QS3000, etc.) so that you could run TMCC and have QSI sounds. They even had a picture of the board on their website. It was never actually a real product and was never for sale.
Like something similar to the equalizer board from digital dynamics?
Yep, DD and TAS both created a product to use the top PS/1 board and run TMCC with the PS/1 sounds.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Lionel's RailSounds had better audio quality than QSI's Q2+ system. Lionel's is definitely muffled, but Q2+ has more of a bitcrushed effect, like some kind of weird amplitude modulation most likely to fit the sounds into the small chip storage.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Yep, DD and TAS both created a product to use the top PS/1 board and run TMCC with the PS/1 sounds.
I actually have a couple TAS Ucubs
@GameBreaker64 posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Lionel's RailSounds had better audio quality than QSI's Q2+ system. Lionel's is definitely muffled, but Q2+ has more of a bitcrushed effect, like some kind of weird amplitude modulation most likely to fit the sounds into the small chip storage.
Well, Legacy RailSounds are top of the heap IMO, especially the steam. I think MTH PS/3 has an edge in the diesel arena, primarily because they don't have a one-size-fits-all prime mover file. All the SD locomotives seem to have the same prime mover, we know that's not really the case. 
I actually thought that many of the MTH PS/1 sounds were very high quality, especially for the time period.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, Legacy RailSounds are top of the heap IMO, especially the steam. I think MTH PS/3 has an edge in the diesel arena, primarily because they don't have a one-size-fits-all prime mover file. All the SD locomotives seem to have the same prime mover, we know that's not really the case.
I actually thought that many of the MTH PS/1 sounds were very high quality, especially for the time period.
I have a sample of the PS/1 sounds from the I Love Toy Trains videos. You can really hear the bitcrushing when it's in higher quality https://drive.google.com/file/...AVO/view?usp=sharing
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
