I have been waiting for the Tsunami decoders to put in some of
my better engines, such as LL Proto 2000’s, and trying not to
chew too many nails.
But for some of my cheaper locos, I was wondering if the MRC
steam version made any sense. I get the impression from some posts
that they may be more trouble than they are worth.
The MRC website is short on info. What sorts of choices of whistle
and bell sounds does this decoder provide? Have many of you found
that you could not get a correct chuff rate? Or even could not
program with your system?
You have no choices of bell or whistle at all with the MRC sound decoders, from what I have heard out of them. You also have no choice of holding down a function key to sound a whistle blast as long as you like. One function does a short blast, another function does a long blast, and a third function rings the bell a set number of times; and that’s all you get other than the usual background sounds such as a generic air pump and steam hisses. The cheaper line of SoundTraxx would be a better choice.
One thing you do get with the MRC that others don’t have is a conductor yelling, “All Aboard!” Not very realistic for a freight train.
I’ve got two DSD100lc soundtraxx decoders (diesel, steam) I think they sound pretty good. Three different whistles or horn adjustable chuff rate, diesel rpm, light effects etc, and motor decoder in one.
The function keys on my Lenz compact are push on push off but I think that’s just a controller thing not the decoder