I’m a newby with DCC and sound decoders, but I’m ready to buy some new DCC equiped locomotives. Does anyone have any good experience with the QSI Titan? I’m wondering if it is worth it to purchase a DCC ready loco and install the Titan vs. getting a loco that has a Soundtraxx or other sound decoder already installed? I’m willing to spend a little extra money and do the installation myself, if the sound is that much better.
Also, most of the loco’s would be first gen diesels, which would probably mean only one speaker for some of the units, which obviously wouldn’t be stereo. I did read on the QSI site about how important the speaker installation dynamics are.
I was going to try a Titan decoder in one of my steamers. Until I really took a good hard look. The Titan U is a very large decoder that has wiring harnesses for 10 functions. Unless you can use the Titan A the U would be very very hard to fit into a first gen diesel. While I do have a number of QSI equipped locomotives that run and sound good. If the Titan U was not so big I would have tried it.
If you really want to try a sound instal, May I suggest a Loksound Select. They have very good sound and superior motor control. Easily customized using CVs where a stand alone programmer is not needed.
Buying a sound equipped loco is almost always cheaper and most sound very good right out of the box.
I had a professionally installed two steam locos with Titan decoders and duel speakers. They sound great, but the motor control is horrible. I have one, that no matter what I do, I’ve tried every kind of voltage start setting and speed curve table, and to no avail, it jumps on speedstep 1 like a Tyco engine.
Not only that, but when I used JMRI Decoder Pro for programming all the CVs. On both of them, sometimes the settings didn’t take, or it will lose other settings. It was a horrible experience trying get the Titans to a point where I was somewhat satisfied.
I will no longer be buying the Titans again. I have several older QSI quantems and they perform great.
Save yourself the headaches, and just buy the DCC with Sound.
I put a Titan U in a Bachmann EM-1, and it took hours of setting parameters to get the low-speed control decent. The tech manual is a must to do this because of the interactions, and I think this is a major drawback of the U. I know the problem was not with the engine, as it ran quite nicely with the original Soundtraxx (silent) decoder. Would help if QSI explained the parameters better, and had suggested settings for popular engines.
Go with a Soundtraxx pre-equipped. I have three of those and work really well. I also put a Soundtraxx Tsunami AT in a DC engine as well, and that works well too.
After installing around 35 chips and buying locos OEM equipped with chips, I would say go with Tsunami for diesel or steam. I have found that I get a LOT better sound when I upgrade the speaker install on most OEM sound equipped locos. I usually use 2 speakers with my installs/upgrades. The OEM speaker system on Atlas locos using their teepee is very good though. I like the F11 braking on Soundtraxx, that along with the momentum can make operating the loco seem realistic. I don’t think the F11 braking is available on the value line some OEMs are using however.
For diesel, you might want to also consider Loksound. I bought a VO-660 sound chassis with a Loksound Select and the horn was very good, “playable”, and the motor control was excellent. A similar sound chassis outfitted with a Tsunami decoder yielded a horn that was horrible and flat and a motor control that was not very good.
I’m more into great motor control than I am sound but the sound from the above Loksound decoder makes it a pleasure to listen to - in moderation.
QSI’s advertising (read “hype”) far exceeds their capabilities. They are still using their original pitch-bent sound files and their documentation is poor at best.
The QSI Yahoo Group is thread after thread of problems and complaints and lack of support.
Now - That being said, I’m sure there are many happy individuals using the Titan decoders. Most threads on forums are usually complaints and problems … not too many people posting thread after thread on how much they like a product. However, I tend to look at the amount of complaints and problems, and it seems as though a LOT of people have them with QSI decoders.
Kind of like the feedback system on Ebay. If a person has a lot of sales and only one or two negatives, I would probably still buy from them. But if a person has a large number of negatives, chances are pretty good that person won’t see any of my business no matter how many positives he has.
The Titan equipped ALCO has not had any adjustments regarding motor control. If you do decide to equip more than a couple locomotives with the Titan decoder I woulod recommend purchasing the QSI Programmer. It makes necessary adjustments and software updates to your Titan a snap.
I have a Q2 sound decoder in my Atlas HH660 switcher and it’s a great running and sounding locomotive. The motor control is even slightly better than the Loksound decoders - i.e. <1 sMPH.
Time marches on, since the Tsunami was conceived, QSI had been through 3 generations of updates. ESU has been through 3 or 4 generations of updates. Simple momentum settings get engine load-up effects without resorting to manual notching ont he others, not Tsunami,. The others support CV2/6/5 for simple speed matching. Not Tsunami.
I have had two Titan-U’s installed in two different locos. The first returned to me was the BlueLine A Class 2-6-6-4. Ran perfectly as returned to me, and it sounds wonderful. Slow speed is just great, exactly what I want for my heavy steam.
The second installation, delayed due to a lost-in-the-mail decoder, sounds every bit as good. However, I had to load up CV2 with a ton and three-quarters of voltage for V-Start… But the loco is a Spectrum Heavy Mountain, and if there is one thing that gets cast around the forums about Spectrum steam, it is that they need a really good break-in. I haven’t done that. Once I do, I suspect the V-Start voltage will be dialled down a great deal.
I have 2 factory installed Atlas QSI in MP15s. Everything is great but the most important thing to me, the prime mover sound! This does not sound like a diesel in a locomotive! So from then on Tsunamis all the way ( I have now about 30). Even the MRC Brilliance for the SD40 & MP15 sound MUCH better than the QSI cell phone sound &, I am happy with the few I have of the MRCs too. I decided to give QSI Titan a chance, I ordered two. Sent them right back for 2 Tsunamis. Same unrealistic diesel sound. You just cant go wrong with Soundtraxx Tsunami. The best period. I do use QSI speakers. I use Tonys train exchange speaker info. You must build an enclosure or buy one for much better sound. Always add reverb to Tsunamis horns.
The tsunami has several problems with the diesel lighting. Also they move before they notch up. (Non prototypical)
The startup on the QSI Titan diesels sounds fantastic. It’s quite realistic. I even saw a video where they offered continous notching (which is necessary for some first gen diesels)
As others have said, QSI decoders are considerably harder to program. If you wish to work with them I recommend the QSI programmer, which makes things considerably easier (including setting low speed control)
Disclaimer: I have 5 Titans total…but they are all steam. Everything I saw reguarding diesels comes from videos and online reviews.
So, is the QSI Programmer the cure-all to these QSI power issues? It seems like kind of a hefty price tag ($104) for something you think would be free. I mean, it’s to fix their products, after all.
I’m saying they are a bit behind the times. When they originally released the specs for them, the competition was mostly themselves - those old DSD decoders had horrible motor control, not even high frequency drive so they tend to buzz, n goodies like an equilizer or reverb, etc. The Tsunami when annouced was light years beyond anything existing at the time. But then it was delayed a number of years, and the competition did not just sit still and wait.
In the Tsunami price range, I think both ESU and QSI have superior motor control, the lack of need to use a full speed table unless you are super picky is a great option lacking in Tsunami, the simple addition of momentum to either one fo those gets you prime mover loading which Tsunami doesn’t do unless you manually notch, and replaceable sounds - that’s a big one. Not necessarily the ability to edit individual sounds like a Loksound V4, just the ability to completely swap a sound se like Loksound Select and QSI. There’s only one decoder for each form factor, rather than 8 or 9 each with different sound sets. Much easier for dealers, never needs to be out of stock. Plus some fo the Tsunami sounds are only available in some form factors, not all. Yes, this requires a proprietary programmer for each brand, but this is the sort of thing a dealer can provide as a value-add service - and many do, like Tony’s and Ulrich. I’ve decided to standardize on Loksound, so it made sense for me to ge tmy own programmer, but if you buy Loksound or QSI from a dealer like Tony’s they take a generic decoder and load it with your choice of sound sets from the library. For a reasonable charge you can send the decoder back and have a different sound set loaded. One example for me is the sunami steam decoder hs the whistle I need for one of my particular models in the Light Steam, but the loco is more accurately a Heavy Steam for the other sounds. Can;t do anything about it. With Loksound I cna fix that, as I did for my RS-3, the RS-
I know it sounds like a lot of money - wait - it is a lot of money. And for something they should be supplying in better documentation. i have two sets of the Walthers E units with QSI sound (fantastic, by the way). I tried to train myself using their documentation and was overwhelmed for many, many weeks. Still am. Look at it this way - QSI uses a two direction matrix to set up a data table for the CV’s. So, one programs in a Primary and Secondary Index CV (C 49 and CV 50 and their respective values) and then the CV for effect (say CV 21 for consisting) and then the CV data value (say 252) all the while knowing that the correct CV 49 and 50 values are nowhere to be found. And then move on to CV 22 … you get the picture. If you will be using a lot of their Quantum decoders, then that $104 might begin to look like a good deal. Best of luck.
Once the decoder is set up you rarely have to change anything unless something happens to it that scrambles or corrupts the programming. Most of my 80 decoder equipped locos have never been back to a program track after they have been set up. If you do do your own sound decoder installations it is wise to revue the sound set before purchasing. Most DCC dealers can even program them for you after installation if you are not satisfied. I had gone more than ten years without any programmer and used my Power Cab for programming. If you are really up to a challenge try programming a loco with 3 decoders in it using a Lenz set 90 with version 2 software. Your talking 30 to 35 key presses to set a 2 digit address if you didn’t mess up! Once I tried a Power Cab I never went back to any other programming system. There has not been a decoder (beside the cheap MRC decoders) that it would not program.