Sound for the WBB 44 ton switcher

No can do.  Although I actually have the means to program the new RS board processor, the sound files are not available.  The only folks that can change this is Lionel.  It's real unlikely they'll let me have any sound files.

This sound was available several years ago.  I added it to the Rich Yoder 44 tonner.
Electric RR version 3.52  Click lower left image to access a video with sound.

That board is no longer available, and hasn't been for at least several years.

Mike,

I've followed your post on the Yoder 44 tonner from day one - very impressive workmanship.

However, having grown up in a town where a 44 tonner ran often, plus having heard them and the CAT diesels several times in the last few years, they make a very unmistakeable sound. The closest i've heard is the one in the video i posted above.

Right now i have several customers waiting for me to upgrade the WBB 44 tonner upon its release, and it would be nice to get the distinctive sound set for them.

 John,

Thanks for your input. As i don't really understand the technology behind copying sound sets, i would have thought the problem would be with whomever owned the CAT sound sets.

jackson

Well, any sounds that go into RailSounds boards would have to go through Lionel.

Thanks John,

That sort of explains it -- my thought had been of one of modifying (or even replacing) the sound chip on the Railsounds board with one that had a copy of the CAT sound encoded into it. But if it's neither technologically or legally possible, then so be it. Thanks for the reply.

jackson

Would be interesting to see/hear the MTH sound set.  Or if Jon and ERR have something new or a re-hash of the board from several years back.  The Sound set does have a horn that is not part of the video.  There is also coupler release sound.  

 Mike CT  

I just saw a new HO I5 by Broadway Limited at our club. I was impressed by the sounds from this little engine. How are they doing this in such a small engine?

I don't know about legally, but since you'd have to have all the code to react to the serial data coming over, as well as all the sounds, the practicality of changing the sounds would be the stopper.  In order to combine custom sounds you'd not only have to have the source code for the RailSounds boards, but also know exactly how they generate the sound tables.  I think that's a pretty closely guarded secret.

Thank you for the explanation. As i said in my opening post, i really didn't (don't) completely understand the technology involved here. From your explanation i'd agree it would be very much Lionel's proprietary info.

jackson

Yep, ball's in their court, but I suspect they went home without finishing this game.   I did ask Jon Z. about more variety in sounds for the new RailSounds Commander, but he wasn't optimistic about that happening any time soon.  Of course, things change all the time, so maybe they'll show up tomorrow.