the "art" of modeling "sound"

MCL_RDG

Member
What you need is a can of...

...creosote. I don't know if there's a limit to how much you should be exposed to in a closed/small room. That's the aroma I get "heady" over trackside. I bought an MRC Sound and Power throttle, now out of production but found occasionally on the web. The horn is a bit tinny and harmonica sounding but I like the way you can adjust rate of the engines speed. That is- you can race the engine rate as the loco just starts to move like a diesel starting a train out. Then slow the rate as traction/momentum takes over. I have it in a box right now but I plan on connecting it to a Radio Shack reverb/echo unit ($29) and playing it thru a shelf type stereo boom box just to enhance the bass, etc with the built in EQ selections. Not perfect but practical for what I'm after. I have used it and am happy considering the alternatives. I could also hook up a couple of cassette or cd devices to a (again) Radio Shack portable mixing board to add/mix other recorded sounds.

I really am not interested that the sound comes from the locos as they travel around and behind things as I always feel as tho I'm in the cab doing the driving. For "other" observers- they might be more appreciative of the sound going along with the loco but that would be "them".

Just a few of my thoughts.

Mark
 

Squidbait

Recovering ALCO-holic
As for creosote, I would suggest just getting a small (very small!) piece of wood soaked with it... creosote will permeate the atmosphere of your house quite thoroughly!

When I was younger, I thought I'd go for realism, and stain my ties with creosote. I let them dry in the garage for a week, and thought the smell was pretty minimal - until I brought them into the house and started installing them on the layout. The very next day, when you walked in the door, you were hit in the face with the pungent tang of creosote! Ballasting and sealing with white glue helped a little bit, but in the end, I wound up ripping up most of my ties and chucking them. They were just too powerful!
 

Squidbait

Recovering ALCO-holic
The best DC diesel sound throttle I ever played with was the original Soundtraxx throttle. You could choose EMD, Alco, GE, FM, Baldwin, and adjust various settings to fine tune the sound. It used an external amp and speakers, and you could get the room vibrating with the bass from an EMD in notch 8 with dynamic brakes going. It had an infrared hand-held unit, and you notched the throttle up and down, just like the real thing (albeit with buttons rather than a lever).

The best DC steam sound throttle had to be PFM's system. It piped taped sounds through the rails to the locos, as well as generating steam and whistle sounds. I believe it let you run sounds through external speakers as well.
 
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