Now for a new foobie, this one not involving paint. The new Walthers H10-44’s sound decoder, while sounding nice, has the sound of an EMD prime mover programmed into it. To bad such a nice looking model doesn’t sound right.
And as for how I know, I have spent time in a prototype H10-44 with a Fairbanks Morse OP engine inside.
What’s really sad is that I’m pretty sure that there are working examples at a museum in Illinois, not far from Walthers’ HQ.
Just beware the sound model; the extra $100 isn’t worth it.
It is not an EMD 567 - the QSI rev # is different(unless they just copied another sound file). FM ‘OP’ engines are a high RPM engine. A lot of small tow boats on the Mississippi River have old FM ‘OP’ engines out of locomotives. It is about the only good parts taken out before the hulk heads for the scrapper. An ‘OP’ engine at idle is rather quiet, it is just running at a high RPM.
IIRC, the original QSI EMD sound was sorta bogus. There were rumors that QSI recorded a CAT re-powered GP of some sort! I never saw anything to confirm that, but both the P2K GP9 and BLI SD40-2 sounded rather similar(both had QSI sound decoders). I have replaced the ‘chip’ in my P2K GP9, and it does sound better - that low turbo sound is gone. I just ran both the GP9 and the FM and they are different. Besides your ‘trained ear’ - where did you get this information?
It would be interesting if the sound decoder manufacturers would label each sound file with the engine/date it was recorded on. There are sound files out there that are all wrong. The MRC Alco ‘S’ series decoders have a 244 engine sound, not a 539 that was correct.
The FM in Spencer, NC sounds different from the P2K model. Combine this with a recent discussion on the FM Modeler’s list, and I get the information posted above.
The FM engine really does have a nice, low-pitched sound.
QSI has gotten lazy with their sound files, nothing more.
For example, they offer a Doodle Bug sound file…but they use he same motor sound as their Varanda scheme! What!?! I don’t think so Tim…
I have been a supporter of QSI products for a while now, but I am starting to move away because they are resting on their laurals and not actually providing what they have promised. They are offering ‘new’ sounds, but they are nothing more than adjusted old sounds…unacceptable.
My advice would be to buy items without factory sound and purchase LokSound decoders. At least LokSound (ESU) actually does their homework when it comes to their sound files.
Just guessing here, but perhaps, since QSI is a small outfit, it may have been costly for them to make arrangements with the musuem(s) to start and throttle an FM unit up and have enough recorded material for a decent sound scheme. So it may have been a cost saving measure for QSI to “Pop in” an EMD recording since, “soundwise”, there is a “vague similarity” between a 567 and an early FM unit.
Regardless, it would still be no excuse. If QSI can’t rectify this than David’s suggestion of buying a non-sound unit and dropping in a Lok Sound setup.
Don’t sit on this though. Go ahead and email Walthers and QSI!
We N-Scalers don’t have to worry ourselves over such trivialities as whether a locomotive emits the proper sound or not; in N-Scale all onboard sound sounds like a reproduction of steel balls rolling down a rain gutter!
Thanks for putting the video clip in, I have a couple of the old Walthers FMs and have been thinking of adding the Soundtraxx decoder to them…or at least in one of them, the MN&S one wouldn’t be right as it used a Hancock air whistle instead of the usual diesel horn. O well.
BTW as usual, your clip shows some great modelling!! [:)]
I powered up my new H10-44 today after reading this thread…a friend of mine, a prototype engineer with 30+ years experience tells me that mine sounds exactly like an H10-44 should. What bothers me is the horn. On the side of the long hood is a single trumpet horn; press the horn button and you’ll hear a multi-tone horn.
I guess it’s time to figure out if its possible to change the sound of the horn in the programming.
Was it working or idling? How long ago? How long were you on it? Were/are you an engineer/conductor/machinist, etc?
After spending my entire youth near the SP commute main in San Jose, and then working for the SP, I can vouch for the validity of the Walthers model. While it does sound a little tinny, it does have the same sounds I recall on SP’s H12-44’s and their idling Train Masters, especially the air compressor.
FM’s at idle tended to sound very much like Alco’s at idle. Only when under significant load did the FM distinguish itself in the area of sound. These things were the closest thing to jet engines short of a turbine, and you could hear a Train Master on No. 132 pouring it on south of Atherton for miles before the train actually got to your location. On cold acceleration, the FM’s liked to throw great gaseous clouds of blue smoke skyward, and in their final days, they were toxic in the extreme, despite Bayshore and San Jose’s best efforts.
DonZ, check prototype photos for your unit…might be easier to change out the whistle as opposed to changing the sound.
I really can’t see that they’d have this wrong, as they have the correct sound in the Trainmaster. Couldn’t find a video with sound of the H10-44, but I did find one of one of the Atlas Trainmasters and the startup and idle sounds pretty much exactly like a video of the startup of an H12-44. I think peopel are getting confused by the reduced frequency response range of the small speakers. Pull one out and hook it to an amp and speakers that can reproduce the entire range and see what you think then.