SoundBytes XXVI

It is time for another installment of SoundBytes. We have some trips planned in the near future including a trip to Colorado Springs to give a Tsunami clinic. Also, we will be displaying at the 30th National Narrow Gauge convention in St. Louis, MO. We will discuss a bit about the latest from Blackstone Models. For out Tech Tip, we will look more in depth into Dynamic Brakes and how they work for diesels.

Show Season
Show season is upon us. George will be traveling this weekend to Colorado Springs to give a Tsunami sound presentation at Custom Railway Supply in Colorado Springs Saturday Morning, August 21st at 9:30am. If you are able to attend, please do so as it will be fun and informative. http://www.customrailwaysupply.com/
After a busy NMRA National show, we now get to go to St. Louis, MO and set up at the 30th National Narrow Gauge Convention. This is usually a great show to display Blackstone Models equipment and to talk with many of our “Narrow-Minded” friends about current and upcoming projects. As always, we enjoy speaking with our friends in the modeling community. If you are able to attend this show, or are in the near vicinity, come by and visit. Also, Jarrette will be giving clinics on using Tsunami sound and Jeff will be giving a peek into the world of Blackstone Models. Check the clinic schedule to find out times and locations of these informative and fun clinics! http://30ngconvention.org/Blackstone Models
We have been shipping out our K-27 locomotives and our double-deck stockcars as fast as we can. We have a large demand for these items and quantities are limited. Be sure to check with your dealers to ensure you get your models before they are sold out!We also have passed the deadline for guaranteed reservations on the narrow frame and frameless tank cars. We have very limited quantities available, so be sure you have ordered yours to guarantee you receive these quality models.
Our second set of sample C-19s have arrived and we are extensively testing these models to ensure that the quality we expect is present and that these models run as good as our K-27s. These models have been great so far, we want to push these to the limits to be sure you can enjoy running these locomotives!

Tech Tip:
For this Tech Tip, we will discuss dynamic brakes and how they work on your Tsunami decoder. For those who may not know what Dynamic Braking is, let us explain.
Locomotives are not direct drive like our cars and trucks. Since they need much more horsepower to pull that much tonnage, they rely on electric motors (Traction motors) on the axles to turn the wheels. An electric generator (Main Generator) attached to the diesel engine (Prime mover) supplies the electrical power to these motors. The engineer regulates how much power is applied to the traction motors from the cab for pulling trains. Dynamic braking was developed to help reduce the wear on the train’s brake shoes while helping to maintain better control of the train when drifting downhill or negotiating territory with significant undulating grades. This method of braking turns the traction motors into generators, using electro-mechanical force to slow the rotation of the locomotive’s wheels and causing resistance to the momentum of the train downhill. The extra electric energy generated by these traction motors is dissipated in a resistor grid located in the locomotive. The dynamic brake fan sound on the Tsunami is representing the dedicated fan (or set of fans) that cools these resistor grids to prevent thermal damage to them.
Each locomotive manufacturer had a different way of addressing the locomotive’s needs for the dynamic brake application. Tsunami allows you to replicate any of these options to create a more realistic sound decoder. Since the prime mover would not be generating power to pull the train anymore, most EMD locomotives would drop the diesel engine RPMs to idle to save fuel. As an exception to that rule, Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific would have the prime mover on their locomotives drop to Run 4 so there was enough power generated by the main generator to keep the traction motor blowers running to help prevent the traction motors from overheating. ALCO and GE had these fans directly driven from the crankshaft of the prime mover and would then have to crank the prime mover up to Run 8 or full throttle to keep the fan turning as fast as it can and cool the resistors.
Following the Tsunami Diesel User’s Guide, available here: http://www.soundtraxx.com/manuals.php, these options can be set up in your diesel Tsunami decoder to follow prototype practices and therefore result in more realistic operation. F4 by default controls the dynamic brake sound. CV116 sets up a few things, including auto-notching or manual notching, auto start, and interlock as well as the dynamic brake feature. Start by determining the value for CV116 that controls the other features first. Next, determine how your prototype’s dynamic brakes behaved. Default settings for Tsunami simply have the fan sound play. If you want the prime mover to drop to idle, add in 64 to the pre-determined value for CV116. If you want the dynamic brakes to go to Run 4, add 128 to the value for CV116. If the prime mover’s RPMs need to go to Run 8, add in 192 to the value in CV 116.
With many railroads using locomotives from different manufacturers, following this procedure creates realistic operation options allowing the unique locomotives to behave differently when in a prototypical consist. A neat addendum to this is in a case where a locomotive (Or locomotives) in the consist does not have dynamic brakes. The locomotive in question, when coupled to a few locomotives that did have dynamic brakes, would drop to idle to save fuel, but there were no fans, so set CV116 accordingly and set CV 133, Dynamic Brake fan volume, to 0. This way, when in a consist, this locomotive will behave properly in accordance with the prototype, and there will be no Dynamic Brake fan sound! This feature found only in Tsunami helps create the realism we are all striving to achieve on our layouts!

SoundBytes XXV

This has been a seemingly short amount of time since our last post. We have been to Milwaukee for the National Train Show and now it is August! Also, Blackstone Models K-27s and Double Deck Stock Cars arrived here on July 29th. For our Tech Tip, let’s take a look at the UP GTEL Turbine decoder and some of its operational capabilities!

On another front, Allison got married on July 24th at the Durango Mountain Resort. It was a rainy day, so the ceremony was held indoors, but it was a nice ceremony anyway. We wish her well in her new married life!

National Train Show
This year at the National Train Show, SoundTraxx made a big splash! Many people came by our booth to talk with us.

We want to extend a big Thank You to the many people who attended our clinics at the show. Both nights of clinics were full.

After a long week of clinics, convention and fun, we were glad to be back at home!
Also, we are working on our “Official” announcements from the show. To keep apprised and up to date with the official news, be sure to sign up for our customer newsletter. Send an e-mail to customernews@soundtraxx.com with “Subscribe” in the subject and we will add you to our e-mail list.

Blackstone Models
For our Blackstone Models customers, we have received the K-27s AND the Double-Deck Stock Cars this week.

We received many pallets of product that we will now test and inspect to be sure we catch any issues before they leave our facility.

These should be shipping in a week or so.

Tech Tip:
Our Tech Tip will briefly discuss the many operational features we have implemented into the GTEL UP Gas Turbine Electric decoder. We have researched the prototype using the operator’s manual, in print as well as having worked closely with former UP shop technicians who used to work on and with these large beasts to ensure an accurately operating decoder. Lets get to some of the details…
The Turbine locomotives had a small diesel engine on board to help hostle the locomotive around the shops as well as start up the turbine. Therefore, the Tsunami has both a diesel sound and a turbine sound built in. Depending on the version of the turbine used, this diesel engine may shut off when the turbine is active, or run constantly regardless of the turbine running or not. We have allowed the user to select either option to more accurately match your prototype.

It has been written that the dynamic brakes also could have been addressed in a few ways. One publication mentions that on long runs downhill, the engineer could turn off the turbine while applying the dynamic brakes to help conserve fuel. While this is technically true, the technicians said no one ever actually did this in operation because they could hit a section of flat track and lose power to pull the train. The turbine engine took a long time to start up, so the train would be dead waiting on the turbine to get started again. We have incorporated either method for dynamic brake application, to allow the modeler to decide how he or she wants the locomotive/sound to behave when the dynamic brakes are applied.
The Tsunami has 5 operating modes to choose from. These modes are automatic, semi-automatic and fully manual along with semi-automatic and fully manual with optional speed limiting. Automatic mode does exactly what it says. As you increase the throttle, the diesel engine will rev up, then transition to the turbine and rev up from there as the speed to the model is increased. The turbine will remain on, even when stopped, but will time out after a predetermined time (Default 10 sec) while sitting and no functions on. Semi-automatic mode utilized auto notching, but requires the F9 to turn on the turbine and F10 to turn the turbine off. Fully manual uses F9 to increase the engine up through the diesel and initiates the turbine and increases the turbine from there, while the F10 decreases the RPM of the turbine and shuts the turbine off. Because the diesel engine was barely powerful enough to move itself without a train, we have also incorporated speed limiting to regulate the speed of the motor while the diesel engine is operational.
All of the options discussed here can be set up using CVs. We have made a separate manual for the turbine that can be downloaded free from our website. http://www.soundtraxx.com/manuals/Users%20Guide%20UP%20Turbine_1.14.pdf

Utilizing these options, you can simply enjoy running your Tsunami-equipped Turbine locomotive, or operate the locomotive as if you were running the real thing.

SoundBytes XXIV

It is time for another edition of SoundBytes. This time, we will look a little at what it takes to get ready for a trade show. For our Tech Tip, we will also complete the look into speed tables in the Tsunami decoders.

UP Gas Turbine!
We are shipping the Union Pacific Gas Turbine decoders out this week. After extensive testing and exhaustive research, we have built the best Turbine decoder available. We have utilized remaining audio recordings and worked with some of the remaining Union Pacific service technicians who worked with these large locomotives to ensure an accurately operating decoder. With a few new CVs to accommodate every possible operation mode, you can be sure your models operate as the prototypes did many years ago!

NMRA 75th
The National Train Show along with the NMRA’s 75th annual convention takes place this coming week in Milwaukee, WI. The NMRA convention runs July 12th through the 16th. Modelers travel from across the globe to attend the clinics, layouts and other railfan activities. This year, Jarrette and George are giving clinics about Tsunami and Prototypical operation using Tsunami Thursday and Friday Evenings. If you are attending the NMRA convention, be sure to come by and sit in on these fun and informative clinics.This convention is complemented with the National Train Show. Manufacturers work on projects and save the announcements for this show with all the Model Railroad press and attention in attendance. Many run “Show Specials” at this show as well. Here at SoundTraxx and Blackstone Models, we are no exception. Be sure to come by and see what we have new this year! We have a few surprises up our sleeves to help celebrate our 20th anniversary!

Packing Up The Booth:
Each time we travel to a show, there is much work to be done. For starters, we discuss what we want to announce or showcase at the show or convention. Next, we pre-stage the booths and displays to ensure that we have all parts in good condition and we have all the display models operating. We assemble the entire booth to stage the plaques and other signs that we want to display. This gives us a good idea of what we need to pack and ship to highlight our products. We also test every display model and set up any tracks that we have to ensure all goes well before we get there. Every DCC command station we use is tested too to be sure it all works before we send them all out. We also have to pack many ‘normal household items’ that we may need, such as power cords, a carpet sweeper, counter cleaning materials, and tools to fix anything that may have been damaged in shipping. We also print off any literature that we will hand out.
This usually takes several weeks to get it all in order. The booth and other materials has to be shipped a week or more in advance to ensure it arrives on time for us. It is a lot of work to get everything done in time for the show. We enjoy doing it though, since we get to go out and meet with many of you and show off and demonstrate our products.

Tech Tip:
Last time we showed how to set up Tsunami using the pre-loaded speed tables. Tsunami also has the ability to operate using a user-loaded speed table. Using this feature, you can limit top speed, adjust for a slower operation, and precisely speed match locomotives.
To do this, first you will need to activate alternate speed tables in CV29. Turning on Bit 4 in CV29 (adding a value of 16) will activate alternate speed tables. CV25 then tells the decoder which table to use, one of the pre-loaded tables like we discussed last time, or a user adjustable table. CV25 values 0-15 use the pre-loaded tables, but a value of 16 then activates the user-adjustable tables.
To adjust the speed tables, CV 67-94 correspond to 28 individual speed steps (1-28). Each of these can have a value corresponding to the percentage of available power from 0 (0%) to 255 (100%) to be applied to the motor in that speed step. Default values create a linear table from 0-255 across 28 speed steps, in equal increments. This can be adjusted to limit top speed to 75% of available power by setting CV94 to 192, then decreasing in equal increments accordingly throughout the remaining CVs.
CV66 and CV95 are used to ‘trim’ the speed table to help speed match locomotives as well. CV66 is for motor control in the forward direction, while CV95 is in the reverse direction. These are separate since mechanical bund and motor efficiency may not be the same in both directions. Factors for the trim are determined by (CV Value)/128. This means that CV values above 128 increase the power applied to the motor, while values less than 128 decrease the power applied to the motor. Each increase/decrease increment of 1 shifts the entire speed table up or down 1/128.
For fine-tuning the locomotive, Tsunami has 2048 internal speed steps that the decoder works through calculating in the speed tables, momentum, brakes and BEMF. Using all these factors and spending some time, you can have a great running model that meets your running demands for your layout.

SoundBytes, XXIII

Well, we have been busy preparing for and holding our annual Dealer Training. Lots to do in what seems like not enough time! In this edition, we will tell a little about what dealer training is and give you a hint to what we are displaying at this year’s NMRA National Convention and Train Show. For our Tech Tip, we’ll discuss using the custom speed curves available on the Tsunami decoder.

Dealer Training.
This year we held our Dealer Training June 9th thru 12th. This is a 4-day seminar where we invite our dealers out to Durango to learn hands-on from our staff about our DCC products and how to install and use them. This year we had a full curriculum for them as we discussed our company history, product line, how to get the best from the speakers, creative installation techniques, programming, Blackstone Models, and hands-on Tsunami sound installations. In addition to learning, we show them around to some of the fun events in Durango, like the Bar D Chuck Wagon dinner and western music show, a local 55' x 35' layout operating session, and of course, we take a day to ride the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Train! In this photo, Jarrette comes in to our car from the locomotive to say "Hi!" to everyone.This year’s attendees included: Lin’s Junction, Lansdale, PA; Mullet River and Southern, Plymouth, WI; EngineHouse Services, LLC, Green Bay, WI, TVW Miniatures, Greendale, WI; Discount Model Trains, Addison, TX; Sounds of Motion, Solon, OH; Central Coast Trains, Atascadero, CA; Mark Twain Hobby Center, St. Charles, MO, DCC Installs and Sales, Martinez, GA, Grizzly Mountain Engineering, Estes Park, CO as well as Representatives from Athearn and Bachmann. It is a fun and educational environment for all who attended. We are appreciative of all who attended and we encourage our customers to lend their support to these shop owners who invested their time and money in order to better serve their customers. With this year’s class done and in the books, we are looking forward to next year!


Blackstone Models:
The Drop Bottom Gondolas have arrived in Durango. This has unfortunately coincided with our dealer training, so we will be getting these out to the dealers as quickly as we can.

NMRA 75th Annual Convention And Train Show NMRA National Convention and the National Train Show are around the corner. This year’s annual event is being held in Milwaukee, WI July 13-18th. Anyone who is attending be sure to stop by to see the pre-production samples of the C-19, K-27s, Double-Deck Stock Cars, Tank Cars and Passenger Cars! Also, Jarrette and George will be giving Clinics Thursday and Friday Evening Covering getting the best from your sound decoders, and steam and diesel Prototype sound and how to set up the decoders to match your prototypes! Be sure to attend and don’t miss out on these informative clinics! Tech Tip:
In every Tsunami is the ability to adjust the speed curve that controls the speed of the motor and locomotive. Tsunami comes with 14 pre-programmed speed curves, along with the ability to adjust and built your own! Let’s take a look at how these are set up.
The speed curves that are pre-loaded into the Tsunami are able to adjust the speed commands to model the prototypical purpose of the locomotive. For example, the exponential curves allow more precise control at the lower end of the speed curve for switching, and the logarithmic curves allow more control at the higher end of the speed table.
To start setting up the speed tables, bit 4 of CV29 (value 16) will need to be active. When figuring the value of CV29, refer to the chart available in the Steam and Diesel User’s Guides. You can find the User’s Guides here: http://www.soundtraxx.com/manuals.php
Next, CV25 determines which pre-programmed speed curve that will be used. Looking in the User’s Guide, a value of 2 assigns a linear speed curve, values 3 through 9 assigns a logarithmic curve and values 10 through 15 assign an exponential curve. Assigning a value of 16 to CV 25 allows the modeler to input his own curve, or ‘user adjustable’ to fully customize the curve. We will talk a bit more about the ‘user adjustable’ speed curve in the next edition of SoundBytes’ Tech Tip.

SoundBytes, XXII

It has been a while since our last post. My, how the time flies when you have been busy! Speaking of busy, we have been inspecting the initial test models for many of the Blackstone Models upcoming releases, including the much anticipated C-19 consolidation. We have also been busy finishing up testing for the UP Gas Turbine decoder. In this edition, we will share another story from the early days of SoundTraxx, and for our Tech Tip, using our new product, the DBX-9000.

The Evolution of the Model Railroader (from Nancy’s perspective)

While this is a story about a long-ago tradeshow, it is also a commentary on how far we have come in recognizing that women, too, have a place in the model railroading world.
In the early days, the only two employees of the company, Steve and Nancy, attended tradeshows. Back in 1991, we attended our very first NMRA National Train Show, which was held in Denver that year. We had now attended a year’s worth of shows and it had become apparent that many modelers were not used to women being involved in the manufacturing end of the equation, especially when it related to electronics. To be quite blunt, Nancy was getting a little tired of being treated like some piece of fluff! Steve was pretty aware of how much this irritated her.
During the course of the show, one gentleman in particular came up to the booth and stood patiently waiting while Steve explained the operation of the new D220-IR to another customer. Nancy was not otherwise occupied at the moment and asked if she could answer any questions for him. He looked rather disdainfully at her and said, ‘It’s technical.’ She told him that she was likely able to answer her question and he reiterated that it was technical in nature and that he needed to talk to a man.
Steve overheard this comment just as he was finishing up with his customer. Nancy stepped back and deferred to Steve, but as the gentleman began to explain his question, Steve held up his hand and said, ‘You’re going to have to talk to Nancy – I don’t know anything about this stuff’ and he walked away. The man sheepishly turned and this time allowed Nancy to answer his questions.
Nancy is happy to report that this sort of thing almost never happens these days, noting that model railroaders have accepted that women just occasionally do know what they are talking about!

The Turbine is ready for sale.
We have been working hard to produce the most accurate gas-turbine decoder available on the market. We have been working with the original GE operator’s manual along with help from former UP employees who have worked on these thunderous beasts to ensure prototypical operation and sound accuracy. Those turbine models will no longer have to be silent.

You can listen to the sound sample on our website here: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/tsunamisound.php#turbine
Part number for these decoders is 827114 and can be ordered through your dealer today!

Blackstone News!
We have been receiving the pre-production samples of the upcoming projects for Blackstone Models. We are excited to see these and are doing extensive testing now to ensure they operate as good as they look. Take a look at the pre-production samples for the C-19;

the narrow frame tank cars;

and the passenger car.

We also have been given notification that the Drop Bottom gondolas are on their way to us from overseas. This means that provided that the shipment goes smoothly without any pirates, sea monsters or bad weather, we should see these cars arrive here in about 2-3 weeks. They will begin shipping to the dealers immediately after that. These cars are sold out, so contact your dealers if you have not ordered these cars yet to see if they have any available.

Texas Trip: George was on the road again visiting our dealers in the Lone Star State. During this trip, he was able to visit, Hobby Time in Amarillo; King’s Hobbies in Austin; Lone Star Trains and Collectibles, Dibble’s Hobbies, HobbyTown, USA, and Ligar Technologies in San Antonio; M&M Hobby Center, Larry’s Hobbies, Papa Ben’s in Houston; Spring Crossing in Spring; Discount Model Trains in Dallas; Greenville Hobby Depot in Greenville; and Angelo Hobbies and Model Train Crossing in Ft. Worth. George was able to meet with many fellow modelers and demonstrate the features of the Tsunami and show Blackstone pre-production samples. He was also able to demo the new turbine decoder for them as well! We would like to thank these dealers for their hospitality. Many thanks also to those who attended clinics at Ligar Technologies, Papa Ben’s Train Place and Angelo Hobbies! Congratulations too to Ligar Technologies for their Grand Opening! Please visit and support these dealers. For photos of these stores and any stores we visit, please visit our Facebook page.

Tech Tip:
One of our newest products is the DBX-9000, a 9-wire harness that allows easy connection from the locomotive to the tender. This will allow many of the Tsunami features to be transferred from the tender, where the decoder is typically located, to the locomotive, where most of the features are used.
The DBX board has 9 small soldering pads arranged in a semi circle pattern numbered 1-9. These numbers correspond to the wires in the mini-plug in order. This will help determine which wires would be wired to what in the locomotive. For example, we will need 2 wires for track pick-up (ideally), 2 wires for the motor, and 2 wires for the headlamp, for a total of 6 wires. If you want to use the cam option, there is another wire, and any other light functions for class lights or firebox flicker add in 1 or 2 more wires (These all use the same common blue wire). This necessitates a total of 9 wires. By determining which wires are hooked up to which soldering pads, this will enable the full features of the Tsunami decoder to be utilized. Let’s see how to wire it up.

For the above-mentioned example, solder to soldering pad #1- Track +, #2- Motor +, #3- white wire for headlamp, #4- brown wire for FX5, #5- blue wire for common, #6- green wire for FX6, #7- tan cam wire, #8- Motor -, and #9- Track-. Then simply hook up the wires from the harness to the assigned output or feature. If you would rather have a speaker in the locomotive, eliminate the 2 FX5 and FX6 wires, and use the speaker wires there. The possibilities are endless to be able to match your prototypes. It is easier to connect one small harness rather than 2 or 3 plugs based on traditional methods and it helps the model appear more prototypical as well!
To mount the DBX circuit board to the model, simply use a number 2-56 screw in the center hole to mount the board to either side, loco or tender, wherever it fits best. The versatility of this accessory helps make installation easier!

For George’s Bachmann Mountain model, he used the DBX circuit board in the tender, and wired the harness up into the locomotive, allowing 2 firebox flicker lights and a chuff cam, along with the headlamp, motor connections and track pick-ups. With the firebox lights using FX5 in phase A and FX6 in phase B, it produces a nice random flicker, along with a synchronized chuff, no matter the speed.

Looking Back at our First Sound System, 20th Anniversary Commemorative Boxcar, and Dynamic Digital Exhaust

It is time for another edition of SoundBytes. In this edition, we will share another story from the early days of SoundTraxx, this time at Timonium. We will share our first limited edition Anniversary special as well. In our Tech Tip, we will take a look at the DDE, or Dynamic Digital Exhaust.

Our First Sound System

Every company has its early memories of success (and yes, failure!). There are those that teach, those that lift your spirits and those that make you wonder what the !**@? you are doing.

Back in 1990, we attended our very first Timonium Train Show. For those who are not familiar with these shows, they occur roughly four times a year at the fairgrounds in Timonium, Maryland. The ‘exhibit halls’ are large buildings with concrete floors that generally smell mildly of hay, since they are most often used for livestock shows of some kind.

D220-IR (a revision of the D200-IR), released in 1991

We had just finished our first sound system, the D200-IR, which was a diesel sound system intended primarily for under-layout use and controlled with an infrared wireless throttle. It was the first of its kind and we were excited to have an opportunity to display at this show, since its completion had been a little too late for our first show in Springfield, Massachusetts in February. We were told that due to our late inquiry, we could have a booth at the far end of the hall in the back corner; it was all that was available.

It was a beautiful October day and we found our booth as far back in the hall as you could get and began to set up for the show the next day. The back doors (big barn doors) were open since it was such nice weather and you could see the CSX tracks running right behind the building. We set up our track, made our connections to the sound system and hooked it up to a big under table speaker and a subwoofer for the really low frequencies. We turned it on to test it.

All of a sudden, we looked up to see about a dozen men coming toward us. Not just coming, but sprinting. They rushed past us, out the door and stood looking down the tracks. They all started clamoring that they could hear the train, but they couldn’t see it. Cameras poised and ready, waiting for the train -- one by one you could see them start to look over their shoulder at our booth and drift our way, mouths open, listening to the diesel rumble of a GP7 emanating from under our table. It was at that moment we knew we had a winner.

Our First 20th Anniversary Offering: Commemorative HOn3 Boxcar

To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are proud to offer a special-run boxcar painted to celebrate our 20 years. This limited edition HOn3 offering from SoundTraxx and produced by Blackstone Models was decorated to commemorate this special occasion. These cars are available for purchase through your favorite dealers to run on your own layout, or simply to collect. A limited number have been made, so if you are interested, be sure to get yours quickly. This car (P.N. B340127), has a retail price of $39.95.

Look for more special anniversary specials in the months to come!

Tech Tip: Dynamic Digital Exhaust

One of the coolest features of the Steam Tsunami (In George’s opinion anyway) is the Dynamic Digital Exhaust (DDE). This feature allows the decoder to read the load on the motor using B-EMF (Back Electro Motive Force) and adjusts the chuff to match the locomotive’s load. When starting up or beginning the grade, the chuff will get heavier and louder to match how hard the locomotive would be working.

When slowing to a stop or after cresting the hill, the chuff virtually disappears and the side rod clanking increases to represent drifting.

Let's take a look at how to set this up.

CV 177 through CV 188 controls all aspects of the DDE, although adjusting only a couple of CVs, CV 177 and 178, will result in satisfactory results. 

CV 177 sets up the sensitivity to changes in the throttle setting, 0-255. If you are turning the throttle to start a train, this will adjust how sensitive it would be to changes. If this is set too high, then any slight adjustment will cause a dramatic change to the sound. The default value for CV 177 is 10. Start with this CV set to about 150. 

CV 178 sets up the sensitivity to motor load, 0-255. This will use B-EMF to determine if the load is heavier or lighter, for example going up a grade. Set this too high and the changes become subtle as any change in track, a turnout or curve, could cause the loco to change the chuff. The default value of CV 178 is 10. Start by setting this CV to a value of 150.

Play with the values in CVs 177 and 178 to determine good sensitivity settings for your locomotives. These settings are subjective, so spend a little time and get it right to your ears. Once these settings are determined, look at the some of the other DDE CVs to fine-tune the exhaust sounds for each locomotive in your fleet.

To get the most from this Tsunami feature, momentum will need to be added, otherwise the throttle changes would be instant and not give the DDE time to react. Using a value of 25 for both CVs 3 and 4 should yield good results.

Find us on Facebook!

Hi Everyone!

It's Allison here. I just wanted to let you all know that we have created a Facebook page. Please become our fan and pass on the word to your friends! Thanks so much!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Durango-CO/SoundTraxx/108666145830300