Greetings Shelfington and hello Ian 👋 Love the idea of linking sounds to a particular trigger using DCC 👍 it should make the sound scaping more random and natural 😇 Very late best wishes from the Emerald Isle ☘️
Hello to Wickford, and Paul! Yes, I think I've figured out how to replace the push button with a relay that can be triggered from the output from an accessory decoder! Once I've got a DCC address, I can then either use an Arduino or JMRI to link the sound to sensors around the layout, which will be really cool if I can get it working! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian, very interesting as usual, it certainly gives the layout another depth, I’ve looked into this myself and I know there is a company that makes lots of different sounds from cows in fields to seaside stations which took my interest. For the life of me I can’t remember who it was I have it written down somewhere, can’t find that either at the moment which means the cabin need a good tidy up! Cheers for now, John
Thanks very much John! Train Tech are a company that produces something similar to what you describe. Their products are also available from Gaugemaster. However, they don't allow you to upload your own sounds via USB, so aren't really what I'm after! Actually, I'm quite keen on getting involved with some Arduino projects! As I said in the reply to Peter, you can use an Adafruit sound module in conjunction with an Arduino and then play multiple sounds with the right programming! Hope you get the cabin tidied, although we all know that a tidied train room never stays tidy for long!!! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian - very clever stuff ! As someone has already mentioned in the comments John Warner at Picadilly did something very similar a couple of years ago. Think your version might just have the edge over John's as it's a real voice recorded but then distorted. Whereas John's version is a computer speaking written text. That said both versions give you the same overall effect. Cheers Euan
Thanks Euan! I haven't seen John's video yet, but have added it to my watch later list! My plan was to ask some of my friends to do the station announcements for me to get a variation in voices! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian, Nice find, this is what I'm going to use "MP3 5V DC Voice Player Module SD/TF Voice Broadcast Trigger Player " which can trigger several sounds, it took me a while to get it working, as the sound files have to be numbered on the sd card but does the same thing which would be ideal for station announcements whereby your module would be useful to trigger individual sounds around the layout in particular areas. if your going down the Arduino route you can get the mp3 player to do the same as the above circuit. All the best Tony.
Hi Tony, thanks! That looks like an interesting bit of kit, and I think it does a similar thing to the Adafruit board I was looking at! My main aim is to get something triggered using DCC, as then I can do things like play point motor sounds when points change, or trigger station announcements as the train approaches a station! It's definitely not as simple as it should be is it? There's a definite gap in the market! Thanks for the info! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian ,sound really brings a layout to life, I have a product from Big train sounds, ((not sure if they are still in business) which consists of a Lenovo tablet, pre loaded with a selection of sounds of your choice, which play via Bluetooth speaker, they even did customised station announcements ,which was great. So at the press of a button on the tablet ,the selected sound played, either as a continuous loop or as a one off. My sounds include a spitfire flying by,church bells, platform sounds, countryside sounds, a old fashioned fire engine bell ,two tone horn and much more . I did try to contact the company a few months ago but the website just have been down
Hi Colin! That sounds like a great system! I rejected the Bluetooth method though as I wanted multiple speakers around the layout, and that would be a bit expensive! I also want to control the sounds via DCC which I think I've now worked out how to do using an accessory decoder and a relay! All the best, Ian.
That's an interesting idea Mark! You'd probably need a pretty long station to hear the separation, but it would probably be quite effective! Cheers, Ian.
Hi Ian A very interesting idea, I thnk there are items available from Dcc Concepts (I think, or was it Train Tech?) whixch can used outdoors to record sounds onto a little 'device' and then played back. Although I niot sure how many sounds it can hold or if they are changable digitally, also I can't remember what the item is called, doh! Thanks
Hi Peter, thanks! Haha! You're a mine of information! Lol! I know Train Tech do a series of sound modules, but I don't think you can upload sounds to them via USB! As you say, one of their products allows you to record sounds when out and about, and then play them back at the layout, which is kinda cool, but not really what I want! I've also been looking at Adafruit sound boards, which you can pair with an Arduino to make sounds, and will probably have a play with them at some point! All the best, Ian.
Ian John Warner of Piccadilly did a useful video a few years ago showing how he did station announcement’s using text to speech. You may find it interesting to watch I played with it a little while back and found it easy to use. Here is a link to the video. ruclips.net/video/zEeODwVnI18/видео.html
Hi David, I follow John but haven't seen that video! There's actually a website that will output correctly formatted railway announcements given times, names and situations, and I was tempted to use that! However, I plan on asking friends to record announcements for me, so I can get a variety of voices! I'll definitely take a look at John's video though! Thanks for the suggestion! All the best, Ian.
Nifty idea. The sound makes it sound if it in a large lofty train shed somewhere, maybe less reverb if the station is in the open.
Thanks Dave! That's the beauty of using this technique, you can modify the sounds to suit yourself! All the best, Ian.
Cool project to give more sounds to the model railway, Ian.
All the best
Valentin
Thanks very much Valentin! All the best, Ian.
Greetings Shelfington and hello Ian 👋 Love the idea of linking sounds to a particular trigger using DCC 👍 it should make the sound scaping more random and natural 😇 Very late best wishes from the Emerald Isle ☘️
Hello to Wickford, and Paul! Yes, I think I've figured out how to replace the push button with a relay that can be triggered from the output from an accessory decoder! Once I've got a DCC address, I can then either use an Arduino or JMRI to link the sound to sensors around the layout, which will be really cool if I can get it working! All the best, Ian.
Brilliant work there. You got my wheels turning regarding how I might use sound on my layout, thank you :)
Thanks very much Mystic!! Ian
Nice video, Like
Thank you! :)
Hi Ian, very interesting as usual, it certainly gives the layout another depth, I’ve looked into this myself and I know there is a company that makes lots of different sounds from cows in fields to seaside stations which took my interest. For the life of me I can’t remember who it was I have it written down somewhere, can’t find that either at the moment which means the cabin need a good tidy up!
Cheers for now, John
Thanks very much John! Train Tech are a company that produces something similar to what you describe. Their products are also available from Gaugemaster. However, they don't allow you to upload your own sounds via USB, so aren't really what I'm after! Actually, I'm quite keen on getting involved with some Arduino projects! As I said in the reply to Peter, you can use an Adafruit sound module in conjunction with an Arduino and then play multiple sounds with the right programming! Hope you get the cabin tidied, although we all know that a tidied train room never stays tidy for long!!! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian - very clever stuff ! As someone has already mentioned in the comments John Warner at Picadilly did something very similar a couple of years ago. Think your version might just have the edge over John's as it's a real voice recorded but then distorted. Whereas John's version is a computer speaking written text. That said both versions give you the same overall effect. Cheers Euan
Thanks Euan! I haven't seen John's video yet, but have added it to my watch later list! My plan was to ask some of my friends to do the station announcements for me to get a variation in voices! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian, Nice find, this is what I'm going to use "MP3 5V DC Voice Player Module SD/TF Voice Broadcast Trigger Player " which can trigger several sounds, it took me a while to get it working, as the sound files have to be numbered on the sd card but does the same thing which would be ideal for station announcements whereby your module would be useful to trigger individual sounds around the layout in particular areas. if your going down the Arduino route you can get the mp3 player to do the same as the above circuit. All the best Tony.
Hi Tony, thanks! That looks like an interesting bit of kit, and I think it does a similar thing to the Adafruit board I was looking at! My main aim is to get something triggered using DCC, as then I can do things like play point motor sounds when points change, or trigger station announcements as the train approaches a station! It's definitely not as simple as it should be is it? There's a definite gap in the market! Thanks for the info! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian ,sound really brings a layout to life, I have a product from Big train sounds, ((not sure if they are still in business) which consists of a Lenovo tablet, pre loaded with a selection of sounds of your choice, which play via Bluetooth speaker, they even did customised station announcements ,which was great. So at the press of a button on the tablet ,the selected sound played, either as a continuous loop or as a one off. My sounds include a spitfire flying by,church bells, platform sounds, countryside sounds, a old fashioned fire engine bell ,two tone horn and much more . I did try to contact the company a few months ago but the website just have been down
Hi Colin! That sounds like a great system! I rejected the Bluetooth method though as I wanted multiple speakers around the layout, and that would be a bit expensive! I also want to control the sounds via DCC which I think I've now worked out how to do using an accessory decoder and a relay! All the best, Ian.
I wonder if multiple speakers in parallel spread out might give a good simulation of multiple tannoys
That's an interesting idea Mark! You'd probably need a pretty long station to hear the separation, but it would probably be quite effective! Cheers, Ian.
Hi Ian A very interesting idea, I thnk there are items available from Dcc Concepts (I think, or was it Train Tech?) whixch can used outdoors to record sounds onto a little 'device' and then played back. Although I niot sure how many sounds it can hold or if they are changable digitally, also I can't remember what the item is called, doh! Thanks
Hi Peter, thanks! Haha! You're a mine of information! Lol! I know Train Tech do a series of sound modules, but I don't think you can upload sounds to them via USB! As you say, one of their products allows you to record sounds when out and about, and then play them back at the layout, which is kinda cool, but not really what I want! I've also been looking at Adafruit sound boards, which you can pair with an Arduino to make sounds, and will probably have a play with them at some point! All the best, Ian.
Ian John Warner of Piccadilly did a useful video a few years ago showing how he did station announcement’s using text to speech. You may find it interesting to watch I played with it a little while back and found it easy to use. Here is a link to the video.
ruclips.net/video/zEeODwVnI18/видео.html
Hi David, I follow John but haven't seen that video! There's actually a website that will output correctly formatted railway announcements given times, names and situations, and I was tempted to use that! However, I plan on asking friends to record announcements for me, so I can get a variety of voices! I'll definitely take a look at John's video though! Thanks for the suggestion! All the best, Ian.