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My curiosity is causing me to ask this question: Why has it taken so long to get a "feathered", or is it "quilling", steam whistle sound?  My new Vision Line Hudson has it and it's really neat.  However, I remember back to the early '90s when Lionel first came out with Railsounds, which were supposed to be digitally recorded real steam whistle sounds.  Why were the sounds, supposedly real, not quilling then?  After all, it was a recording!

 

I'm sure there's a simple, logical explanation.  I just don't know what it is.

 

Bill

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Originally Posted by Alex W:

I think its more about bening able to control the sound of the whistle, and quill it yourself. The earlier railsounds had different types of whistles but it was all preset with the push of the whistle button. With the Legacy slider whistle you have much more control.

Alex,

 

Thanks.  I knew there had to be a plausible answer.

 

Bill

Actually some of the better railsounds sets especially just prior to legacy almost had a "quillable" effect to them. A loco sitting idle usually had a lower less powerful whistle tone, an a quick push and release of the button yields a short "toot". Once the loco gets under way the tones become more variable depending on how long the button is held down and how fast the loco is moving, a faster moving loco yields a longer more powerful whistle blast like one you would get for a crossing.Most railsounds locos have three different whistle tones they are just variable based on speed as opposed to progressively selected like legacy quilling. Non quillable Mth PS2 locos typically have one tone and thats it, and the only choice you have is how long that tone lasts depending on how long the button is held down.

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