Broadway Limited: Excellent Updated Sound Samples! Link Provided

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello Crew!

Click below on this Broadway Limited link

http://www.broadway-limited.com/products/products.htm

scroll down and check out the updated Sound Samples for the:

EMD E8/E9
EMD E3/E6
GE AC 6000CW

Very NIce job Broadway! Sounds are dynamic and crisp.

The E8/E9: I’m getting one of these! [:p][:D]

Prime mover sounds are very accurate as while they still had the 567 diesels under the carbody, EMD made various improvements to the E8 power system that resulted in a slight change in the character of the sound. You’ll notice this if you compare the soundbytes between the BLI E7 and E8.

The horn sounds like a Leslie A-200, one of my favorites. Very smooth and mellow. Many prototype early E units, F units and GP7s were delivered with these from EMD. Railroads later changed them to multi-chimers.

The GE AC 6000

Too cool! Though the horn has me “baffled”, it sounds very much like a Canadian tuned “K3L” or K3H horn.Sweet music, in any case! Phenomenal “Reverb” on that horn!

Just as impressive are the diesel power system sounds. You can hear the compressor kick in slowly, and towards the end of the sound byte you hear that familiar slow, GE “Chuggeda-Chuggeda” from the diesel.[4:-)][tup]

The E3/E6

Sounds identical to the BLI E7, however, the improved sound byte is much cleaner and worth a listen.

O.K, so some of you say I’m a nut job when it comes to diesel locomotive sounds. Yes, guilty as charged. I spent too many hours in railroad yards and along mainlines as a teen. Warped my poor little brain! [:p][:p][:D]

Hope you enjoy. [;)]

2

Antonio, I get the BLI page Ok, but place on the page to test sounds.

3

GE AC 6000CW is very good, it will be on my christmas list.

4

O.K! I just tested the links just below and they do work. Here are the direct links to the sounds. Try them:

http://www.broadway-limited.com/sounds/E8-E9_BLI.mp3

http://www.broadway-limited.com/sounds/AC6000.mp3

http://www.broadway-limited.com/sounds/E3-E6.mp3

You need Media Player, Quick Time or similar feature on your computer.

All I can say about the quality of these sounds is
"Mama Mia! It’s-a-like-a-soculenta-meal! "[C=:-)][dinner][4:-)][tup]

I hope BLI does make these particular decoders available for sale!

Cheers!

5

They sound awesome, would be nice to fit my computer speakers into a loco!!

Ken.

6

Those AC6000CW sounds are awesome, but I won’t be getting one. Any company that leaves out the dynamic brake grids on a locomotive won’t get a cent outta me.

7

The brass 4-8-4 is SWEEET! Added to that it has sound, MAN!
I’m gonna get me one on layaway.

8

nice sound . i kind of wish i hadn’t looked at the ATSF 3800 class 2-10-2 's though !

9

I have been eager to hear a sample of the N&W J-Class sound for quite a while [:p], and thanks to this topic, I discovered that BLI must’ve finally added one recently: http://www.broadway-limited.com/sounds/N&WJ.mp3
Unfortunately, I found the quality of the sound on the sample very disappointing.
[:(][sigh]

The deep steamboat whistle on the real thing is so hauntingly beautiful, it gives me goosebumps to hear it.[^]

For those not lucky enough to have ever heard a J-Class locomotive alive and steaming along, go to this page on the NPR website http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4585996 and click on the link entitled Recording of Norfolk & Western Railway’s Train 16 Near Welch, W. Va. Look under the heading "Sounds from ‘The Fading Giant’’ That recording was made by the late great O. Winston Link during the same period in which he took his famous pictures of the dying days of steam along the N&W Railway.

Judge for yourself.
-Dave

10

Dave,

I listened to it. It actually sounds like the 611 itself.

If its any consolation, most of the sounds on BLI’s site are compressed. The actual models sound clearer. Looks like this is why BLI cleaned up and reposted some of the sound bytes. Hopefully someone who owns one of these beauties will post comments on his/her J11. [;)] I can understand your feelings as I’m passionate about certain locomotive sounds themselves. Consider zipping BLI an e-mail asking them about the 611 sound byte. They actually listen to suggestions from customers. [8D]

I don’t know if my past input helped, but 2 years ago I informed BLI that many prototype EMD E-units originally used “honk” horns instead of multi-chime horns. ( On some classic movies, like North by Northwest, that show E units hauling trains you can hear it ) I even provided a little history. I thought BLI ignored me, but yet now the E8 sound byte features a smooth honker that sounds much cleaner than Soundtraxx’s version. [:p]

High Greens!

11

Interesting that BLI is posting BETTER soundbytes (notice the new ones are 128 bps, the old ones were like only 32 or 64, no wonder they sounded ‘muddy’), while Soundtraxx REMOVED their soundbytes (also low bit rate recordings) citing ‘theft’ of the sounds.
Hmmm…

–Randy

12

just listened to the sounds and they are great…what would the ac6000 sound like when running hard with full throttle… hey 4884 bigboy what grids are missing from the ac 6000 i was going to get a couple any link to see the model… thanks peter

13

Antonio, the sites you listed in your follow up message work fine, the sounds are unbelievable !!

14

Antonio,

Thanks for your response. Maybe BLI does listen to their customer base. Although I doubt I was the only one to ask, I did write them a couple months ago asking them to post a soundbyte of the J on their website, and now they at least have one.

I took another listen to BLI’s soundbyte vs. the O.W.Link recording I referenced earlier, and I still come to the same conclusion: BLI’s sound for the J is ‘okay’ but could be much better. IMHO, the BLI digitized sound comes across as rather muddy and flat in comparison, and I really don’t care for the way that the whistle sound just begins suddenly in mid-blast without any ramp-up whatsoever. (At least they did program it to fall off naturally at the end.) I’m hoping the lack of rise at the onset of the whistle sound is just due

15

Sorry to disappoint!! I have a 611 J it sounds like the one on the link, only not as deep a tone ( probably my computer speakers ). doesn’t sound like the one on DavidJ611’s link. It’s not my fav whistle but it’s still cool.

EDIT I prefer the new P2K 2-8-8-2 N&W with sound, I have.

Ken.

16

Thanks for your input, Ken. You report pretty much what I expected. [sigh] I have an A-Class, and the sound is pretty much just as the clip on their website: okay, but not spectacular by any stretch.

You don’t specify whether you have the newer P2K 2-8-8-2 with sound, or just an earlier silent version. I’ve heard a sound clip before of the latest release with sound (although not recently) and thought it sounded at least as good as (possibly better than ?) the BLI A-class. I have an older issue (silent) P2K 2-8-8-2, and it is absolutely one sweet runner! [tup][tup] (IMO, it’s the finest steamer I own.)

-Dave

17

I’ve just listened to the BLI class A on the broadway site it sounds like my P2K 2-8-8-2.

Ken.

18

Hello GrayFox, I’m glad the links worked as I wasn’t sure they would.

I’ve noticed that BLI seems to be improving on the quality of their diesel sounds. I certainly hope that the same does apply to the steamers.

19

I like all of them but the one thing that I thought was that the bell on the SD40 seemed really fast but hey what do I know. I still cant tell the difference in the horns yet.

20

Polizi,

You may have seen the following info before. If you’re referring to variety of horns and being able to identify which is which; check out these two links:

http://atsf.railfan.net/airhorns/index.html

http://dieselairhorns.com

Great prototype info that includes history, modifications, etc. [4:-)][tup]

I used to spend some of my “relaxation time” listening to horns on these websites. Whenever I go railfanning I test myself and identify the horns of passing trains. Even though I’m deep in CSX territory…just about everything comes through Tampa. UP, BNSF, ex-SP, ex-Conrail, etc., so there is a wide variety of horn sounds to listen to. My favorites are still the K5LA and the Canadian tuned K5H horns.

Peace.[:D][;)]