N scale steam decoder advice. Need your help!

Highball-HeavyMountain Sep 27, 2020

  1. Highball-HeavyMountain

    Highball-HeavyMountain TrainBoard Member

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    Happy Sunday everyone -

    I’ll be honest - I thought this would be a simple decision for me based upon the research I’ve done. However the more I dig, the more I’m conflicted and torn between SoundTraxx tsunami steam 2/econami and the ESU loksound micro/micro select. Hopefully you can shed some experience, insight and advice.

    Some of you may have seen my other posts and know I’m moving forward with modeling “gold-era” ATSF influenced by the lines west of La Junta. I’m heavily biased towards steam and building my collection to replicate the prototypes from that age.

    Based on the context above, most of you know that there’s not much in the realm of plug and play steam power for me so I’m going with hard-wired decoders and will be purchasing tools to tackle the task of installing them into a handful of vintage brass steamers.

    I’ve narrowed it basically down to SoundTraxx steam-2, and the ESU Loksound. From what I can tell, basically SoundTraxx TSU1100 has one steam library (steam 2) and it’s pretty much plug and play, and even includes a small keep alive. ESU on the other hand is a blank decoder and then I have to choose which steam sounds to load and also purchase keeps alives for them.

    Where I’m conflicted is, basically after listening to the samples on those websites, I’m still not sure which is going to be better for ATSF. The ATSF chime whistles don’t really seem that convincing from the website samples, but SoundTraxx has three atsf whistles and ESU has one supposedly. I’m also not sure which brand has better “chuffing” at medium/high speeds and other sounds. Does anyone have any thoughts to which would be better for Santa Fe prototypes?

    there is also more to the decoder than just the sounds. I’m hoping some of you can give me some sound advice on which decoder is better for me given I’ll be investing in at least 3-4 of these and they’re going into vintage brass locos. As for lights, will be connecting LED headlights front and back. Not sure what other functions I can really shoehorn in there.

    SoundTraxx seems to be more plug and play out of the box as long as I am happy with the steam sounds. They also have a 7-band EQ. ESU seems more customizable, but will only be better if the sounds are more convincing for my locos than what SoundTraxx offers. ESU FEF and GS-4 whistles seem to sound amazing, but they don’t represent ATSF well. - further, when I listen to the samples online, the high speed chuffing loops sound seem to sound really funky on the ESU site.

    Thoughts anyone?
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2020
  2. Mike C

    Mike C TrainBoard Member

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    I've never used a ESU decoder, but from what I've read on the forums Soundtraxx does steam decoders a bit better. The EQ was one of the things that sold me on Soundtraxx . I run all steam and have standerised on the steam 2 decoders . Also if you do the ESU decoders you will probably want their decoder programmer which is more money. I think the decoder prices are similar. Whichever way you go get the JMRI download it will make programing much eaiser ......Mike
     
  3. RBrodzinsky

    RBrodzinsky November 18, 2022 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    One comment up front, there aren’t any LokSound Selects available anymore, except for the “drop in”-ish Select Micro Direct. For your purposes, if you go ESU, go with the LokSound 5 Micro DCC. Much better sound, and more modern processor.

    You are correct, there are no specific ATSF whistles in their current sound projects. Probably because they are unable to get a modern recording of one. But, instead of relying on over-the-internet samples, one thing you can do, for free, is to download and install the LokProgrammer software, and then download the different steam sound projects (be careful, a few, erroneously, show up under diesel) and play them on your PC. Will give you a much better idea of what they sound like.

    As to chuffs, I was never happy with chuff synchronization with Tsunami, but it is relatively straightforward with LokSound. With ESU, you also get their a Full-Throttle features, such as “Heavy Load” for steam, which maintains the throttle speed but increases the volume of the chuffs.

    You also get individual volume control of each sound slot.

    in terms of Tsunamis, well, I removed them from my locos (steam and diesel). I was happy with them, until I discovered ESU. They are fine decoders, but having the ability to load and upgrade a decoder, including updating sound projects, well.... As an example, I knew that ESU was going to Portland to record 4449; I put a LokSound into my GS4, loading the more generic project, and when, about 8 months later they released the project based on their new recordings, all I had to do was load the new file into the decoder.
     
  4. Highball-HeavyMountain

    Highball-HeavyMountain TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks all,

    i ended up watching a number of videos, and downloading the lokprogrammer to see what flexibility i have, and i think i'm going to go with the loksound 5 micro.

    I'll make another thread to discuss how to engineering the wiring and make the necessary connections.
     
  5. jdcolombo

    jdcolombo TrainBoard Member

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    As you probably know, with the ESU LokSound 5, you can program your own sounds. If you have (or can get) a recording of the exact ATSF whistle you want, you can "import" that whistle into a LokSound sound file. "Import" is probably too generous a word; you'd have to do some sound editing and break the whistle into component parts (start, body, end), then create the correct programming loops so it all sounds correct. So this would not be something for a first-time project. But since ESU decoders are programmable, at some point you may get comfortable enough with the possibilities to "roll your own." Or you might find an ESU enthusiast who would do something like this for you, either free or for a modest fee.

    But the fact is that you CAN do this with an ESU decoder and not with the Tsunami.

    John C.
     
  6. Highball-HeavyMountain

    Highball-HeavyMountain TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks John.

    Actually at the rail giants museum in Pomona, CA. they have 3450 on exhibit and you can activate the whistle yourself.

    Not sure i'm up to doing the recordings and editing myself, but i'm sure you can get a decent recording if a clean 3751 whistle wasn't available.
     

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