Large Scale Central

RailPro releases Ultimate Heavy Steam sound

Electronics Power and Sound
#1

Ring Engineering continues to release new sounds in their Ultimate format. Late last week they released Heavy Steam ULT to replaced the earlier Steam Heavy sound. I loaded the new sound into one of my two RailPro equipped C-19s to compare them. The new sound is a big improvement, especially on the low end. I still think Ring needs to implement a chuff trigger to improve the timing. The modules have an input line, just need some serious programming to implement it!

I recorded some video comparing the old and new sounds…

RailPro Ultimate Heavy Steam Sound Released from Jon Radder on Vimeo.

#2

That’s a pretty good improvement over the other steam sound that they have, since I’m running RailPro in my diesels and I think the sounds are very good, I have not put RailPro into two LGB Moguls that I have re-done because the RailPro steam sounds I thought were pretty bad sounding. The two moguls are setting in my display cabinet, all wired for RailPro and like I said, just waiting for an improved steam sound and I think this could be it, but I will check it out more on the RailPro website and make my decisions from there. Thanks for the video, I was impressed with the sounds and I think it could sound well in the Narrow Gauge engines, as there other steam sounds just didn’t work for me.

trainman

#3

Thanks John. I shoulda mentioned in the first line, or the title that there is a video here :slight_smile:

#4

Sounds pretty good. I couldn’t tell from the video if it was 2 or 4 chuffs per revolution. Sounded like it is probably 4.

#5

Paul Burch said:

Sounds pretty good. I couldn’t tell from the video if it was 2 or 4 chuffs per revolution. Sounded like it is probably 4.

Hi Paul. That is the one failing of RailPro’s steam sounds. Unlike most sound board makers, they do not use an input to time the chuffs. It is simply voltage based with some places you can make adjustments to get it close. I did my best to get close to 4 per revolution, but the sync varies with speed even though I set up the speed table as recommended.

It looks like Ring engineering is starting to pay more attention to steam. Thier large scale market segment is growing so there is hope we will get that sync feature sooner rather than later. In the small scales where RailPro has the biggest market, steam is not as popular as diesel. Also, in the small scales, chuff timing is not as noticeable as it is in our scales since the moving parts are so much smaller.

If you read the end credits, I mention that I intentionally filmed in dark locations so watching the gear movement would not distract from auditioning the sound. As said previously, I was a dyed-in-the-wool Pheonix fan for years. With a chuff input added, I really think RailPro’s Ultimate series sounds can compete with Pheonix and TCS.

#6

from reading several threads on the RailPro, I’m gathering you must use their sound and cannot link it to a Phoenix? I am doing all Bachmann steam and from their site, the steam sounds are limited. I have the Phoenix in a number of engines and just love the sounds. But I was thinking about changing the control and like their system, but sound could be a deal breaker. I’m looking to go battery and RC

#7

It is possible. I haven’t done it, but may try on my next conversion. Railpro offers enough outputs for the triggers on the Pheonix.

They do have a nice Shay sound and have just released chuff input, but their implementation of the chuff input needs some work in my opinion.