Trainworld has the Aristo sound boards for the E8.
Has anyone heard them? Are they worth spending the money on?
That may be the dallee sound board, aristo was carrying them before they came out with the revo with sound.
Nico, yes I think it is. I have heard some bad Dallee boards and some that sounded pretty good. I think Dallee has 2 lines of the silly things.
While the Dallee will give sound, remember it is monophonic, only one type of sound at a time.
When the whistle blows, it is the only sound you will hear.
More expensive sound boards are polyphonic and you can hear motor sounds when both the whistle and bell are playing.
Dan, yes I know. But I though that Dallee has “cheated” by playing the horn and bell sounds with prime mover sound in the same file. So it was quasi polyphonic. I think I just hurt myself with that phrase. That is why I was asking if anyone has heard those sound boards in real life.
If I had the cash flow, I would be getting Pheonix broads by the handfull, but I cannot do that.
David- The Dallee unit tries to mask it’s monophonicness (theres a new word for ya) by playing a motor sound along with the bell sample. It does not do that with the horn sound. The horn sample is pretty loud and would probably hide the engine sound anyway. The engine sound played behind the bell sample is at a set speed (notch 5???), so if your running faster or slower than that and ring the bell, you’ll hear a difference (I hope that made some sense!?!!).
I’ve got a Dallee board in an old Aristo FA. It sounds pretty good. Not as good as Phoenix, but IMHO better than other budget priced units.
Hope this helps.
-Kevin.
David,
You can call him (Dallas) and he will play sounds over the phone, he will also be at the ECLSTS at the end of the month. I believe all his diesel boards ary Polyphonic and diesels are Monophonic, but you would get the real story by calling him directly. I have two dallee boards and have installed one for a friend, they sound pretty good, but remember they are over $100.00 less then a Phoenix. You also have mylocosounds, for another alternative.
hope this helps,
Nico
You said: “I believe all his diesel boards ary Polyphonic and diesels are Monophonic,”
which are poly and which are mono in your opinion?
(I don’t think any of his stuff is strictly polyphonic)
Greg
Greg,
Like I had stated, I believe the diesels are poly and the steam are Mono.
This is what I believe I remember when I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago.
I also stated “but you would get the real story by calling him directly”
Hope that helps clarify any confusion,
Nico
I only asked because Trainworld still has the boards, and plug and play is easier then cut and splice. I have been running my E8 mute for a while now, and I would like sound in her. As I said I would go with Pheonix (now that Sierra is gone) if I had the cash flow. I know the Aristo boards are not top shelf quality, but I don’t wanna be buying crap neither. So I asked, do they sound ok, or should I not even bother?
Kevin, thanks for your input. I figured that ok, but not top shelf, would be the answer, but I wasn’t sure. I knew they faked the sound to make it seam polyphonic, on some boards, but I wasn’t sure of the specifics.
Nico, I have heard the sounds at Dallee’s booth, and they sound really good. That makes me wonder if they have 2 different lines of boards. I heard a Dallee board in a small steamer, and it sounded more like a model T then a steamer. This is what has me a bit puzzled. I hear the steam board, in a locomotive, away from the booth and I am unimpressed, but the sounds at the booth are acceptable to me. So I wonder if it was the board, or the installation of the board that made it sound so bad. Or does Dallee have a PP line of boards and a better line of boards?
Nico, read your original post… I quoted your sentence:
You said: “I believe all his diesel boards ary Polyphonic and diesels are Monophonic,”
No mention of steam, just 2 statements that diesels are polyphonic and diesels are monophonic…
that’s why I asked and thanks for answering
actually I think you have it reversed, the diesels are mono, since the motor goes away with the horn, and the bell goes to notch 5…
I believe steam is sort of poly since the chuff is the only sound when running and I believe the chuff “stays” with the bell and whistle.
Regards, Greg
I can confirm that the steam boards are strictly monophonic. When you blow the whistle or ring the bell, the chuff goes away. You can also not blow the whistle and ring the bell at the same time. One will cut the other out. I reviewed them for GR a few years back. Good quality sound, and I liked the “random whistle” function for track-magnet-activated installations so you’re not hearing the same. exact. whistle. pattern. every time. If you use the “auto chuff” feature, the pitch of the chuff increases with the speed. If you use the triggered chuff, it remains a constant pitch.
I’ve not played with the diesel boards myself. My understanding from talking to Dallas is that they’re also monophonic like the steam boards, but as Dieseldude described above described, the recording for the bell mixes the bell and motor recordings in one sound file so it at least sounds like it’s polyphonic. (I thought I was told it did so with the horn sounds as well, but I could have misunderstood, or perhaps different sound files could behave differently. Dunno on that one.) I’ve heard them over the years at open houses and shows, but not enough to remember specifics beyond noting that they sounded pretty good.
Later,
K
Greg,
My apologies, some times my head and my hands aren’t on the same page.
David,
The difference between the Aristo (dallee) and the Dallee boards from what I remember is that the aristo boards play a horn pattern, and the dallee boards you can control the horn with your remote.
Also remember that the speaker and the enclosure the speakers are in greatly affect how it will sound. Dallas has a large speaker under his booth to give them that deep sound. Once you run them into a 2" or 3" speaker they will sound differently.
Nico
Nico, I don’t “play” the horn on my DC, track powered railroad, so that won’t bother me. As for the speaker, I can play with that to get a better sound, but only if I have good sound from the board to start with.
Since the locomotive will be meandering around the yard, not that close to the viewer, the difference between polyphonic and monophonic should not be as great as it would be if it was up close and personal to the viewer. As for sound triggers, I am torn between if I want to have it blowing its horn and rigging its bell as much as my LGB Moguls do or not. The magnets are already mounted to the track, all I would have to do is add the reed switches. That is, if the Aristo version has that capability. If not, then that answers that question.
Dan Pierce made the comment that “More expensive sound boards are polyphonic and you can hear motor sounds when whistle and bell are playing”.
It’s not just the expensive sound boards. Our $79 MyLocoSound steam and diesel sound boards are both dual channel. One channel outputs the chuff or engine sound while the other outputs the whistle, bell, “All aboard”, etc. Hence the steam chuff or diesel engine keep going independently of the selectable sounds. On the other hand, the bell will pause briefly while the conductor calls “All aboard” since they are on the same channel.
Our distributor, G Scale Graphics in Colorado, can provide more information.
Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
Peter, your sound boards have really improved (from the sound samples I have heard), and I will be getting one soon to play with. I was only asking about the Aristo board because its not too expensive, and its plug and play.
David,
I think if you really want your question answered, your best bet would be to call Dallas at Dallee, or ask him at the ECLSTS if you are going.
Nico
OK guys, new wrinkle. I just received the Aristo sound board, and its NOT a Dallee, its a QSI board.
There appear to be no triggers for the board (except a chuff trigger), so that answers my question about triggering sounds.
How do these QSI boards sound? I guess I will find out after next month, when my railroad opens for business, and when the crew installs this thing.
They are great, go to the qsi solutions site… and if you don’t want it, there’s a market for them.
Is it a Titan or the original? (The titan has 3 sets of screw terminals on it)
Greg
It says “Quantim” and has no screw terminals on it.