# Make it stop!... (too much noise?)



## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

_*A lotta "noise"*_
When sound hit the hobby it was a lot of fun.
It's still fun, but there's a limit.

Of my 38 diesel locomotives, two are DCC-Ready, and eight are without sound.
I'll get around to converting the two "Readies".

But the ones without sound might stay that way... indefinitely.
IMO, there's too much noise on the layout as it is.
After bedtime in the rest of the house, horns and ditch lights could be punishable by a grouchy crew and/or a lousy breakfast.

Now we have sound-equipped cattle cars, _(with your choice of beef or pork!)_ and there's even a _water tower_ with sound.
Eeesh.


----------



## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Sounds like a problem.


----------



## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I have a few locomotives without sound and I always think I'm missing out on those locomotives. I don't have DCC souund duplicates of those that do not have sound.

My DB Br.111 and my ÖBB 1014 does not have sound. I would really like the 1014 to have sound but Jägerndorfer holds the copywrite on that sound file and won't give it up to ESU. So the 1014 and her sister locomotive, the 1822 are soundless. Jägerndorfer announced that they will not release a re-issue of the 1822 until 3Q 2022.


----------



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

No sound for me...there's a tone in the noise that's turns on a high stress switch in me, I have to leave the room or smash the loco...


----------



## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

This is easily fixed.

First, you receive a new locomotive, or you take an old friend out of the box and set it on the rails for the first time in a year or more...as I do.

Secondly, you enter the CV for Master Volume (look in your decoder variant's manual), and you exactly halve the maximum value listed for that CV. Note that this may suffice, but there's no safe bets on that. Trust me, I have learned a thing or two about volume values and that half the range doesn't mean approximately half the volume. Not by a long shot.

Thirdly, you mute all but two or three locomotives when you power up to play with your trains. It won't hurt to have one or two idling and doing nothing but making 'neutral' noises now and then, but at half Master Volume, you should be good to go anyway.

It depends on your tolerance for noise, and also on the size of your layout. For layouts larger than about 20 feet long, halving that Master Volume greatly reduces the conflicting noises from distant locomotives, meaning cutting that Master Volume is a reasonable approximation of scaling the sound. For smaller layouts, you may find that some decoders have that repeated press of F-8 which increases or decreases the current volume. In that case, for the annoyances, you press them until they just barely contribute to the ambient noise, and you make your operating locomotives louder to appreciate what they are doing for you.

If it helps to get commiseration, I am a huge fan of sound and won't have a locomotive without it. But, as almost all of us soon learn, there's a huge difference between the sweet, tinny, HO sounds from a steamer and the cacophony that is generated by ten of them competing with each other to see whose injector noise is the most offensive. So, make them less offensive. Much less, and you start with halving the Master Volume's maximum value. From there, you refine the programmed number to suit your ears and taste, and then from there you adjust individual sounds, which the manual will also reveal is possible. For me, the bells are still too loud, the safeties just pain annoying, and so too the injector screeches. For me, chuff, pumps, brake squeal, bell, and whistle/horn (both on the BLI Niagara), are about all I want to hear regularly. The others I want to hear only if I pay attention to them.

Get out your manuals, or download them at the decoder's parent site, and figure out how to get more pleasure out of your investment.


----------



## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

I'm kinda in the middle on sound.
All my locos are sound and I've adjusted then all down.
Only have one steamer the rest are diesels, in HO.

When running on the main lines sound really isn't all that important.
It's nice but I can live without sounds that aren't all that realistic.
Do like having a horn and bell but all the other stuff not so much.
Often times will mute the sounds and just listen to steel wheels on steel rails.
For steam I guess sound would be more important and interesting.

Where I do like sound is when I'm doing switching operations.
I have a big yard and do plenty of switching.

Bell ringing and using proper horn signals is fun.
Nice to have the loco engine sounds as well and having the 
loco idle while I throw the manual turnouts is great.
It really adds to the realism of a yard.

It's also cool to have a set of F3 idling on the ready track.
So overall I do like sound in the right circumstances and continue to use it.

Magic


----------



## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

My point is, the hobby (e.g., we) are on the verge of _obsession_ with sounds.

Bernie and Jerry are obsessed with sounds.
They want industrial sounds in factories and shops; They want announcements in stations and bus terminals; They want to hear conversation between engineers, conductors, and dispatchers; They want clackity-clack rail sounds matched to train speed; They want to hear boxcar doors slide open... Jeez!


----------



## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

Don't get me wrong.
I get goosebumps when I run a hundred car drag at the club, and can start blairing a horn a scale half-mile from a grade crossing, while lumbering at 25 mph.
Outside of that and waffles & bacon, there's not much else that puts lead in my pencil.
But IMO the obsession with sounds from every corner of the layout, and from every imaginable _source_ is really getting out of hand.


----------



## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

To each his own, Nothing out of hand about it. Some like more realism than others, for some that includes all of the railroad environment to include sound. Others prefer more detail on the Loco, so just like the mechanical precision of it. 

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


----------



## Stejones82 (Dec 22, 2020)

Y'all know, I am new. That said, I am a consumer, and that ought give me some traction. 

My one loco purchased full-on-DCC is a BLI Mikado, Paragon 3. It was in deed super-cool out of the box and put a big smile on this mug. But even after a half-hour or so ... .... the noise was - well - noisy. 

After a few sessions, I found that CV and lowered it drastically. 

In my humble opinion, HO speakers remind me of those transistor radios I had when a kid. So I will buy sound equipped locos, probably, but will keep the volume turned way down. I like CT's comment about the non-scalability of sound, especially since my layout will be a glorified oval. 

Plus, what really attracts me to this hobby is the sight of those beautiful babies gliding majestically down-track with hardly ANY sound. 

To each their own, to be sure. But I may have to investigate the idea of appropriate whistle and bell sounds whilst yard switching. That sounds interesting. 

my ha-penny's worth ----Steve


----------



## davefr (Oct 22, 2020)

I tried a couple locomotives with sound and it was really cool for about 2 days then the noise just gave me a big headache. Now I prefer just the natural sound of the locomotives running along the tracks. The novelty of fake sound get's really old really fast IMHO but "to each his own"


----------



## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

Gramps said:


> Sounds like a problem.


Nah, he's just sounding off.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Sure sounds like it.....


----------



## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

davefr said:


> I tried a couple locomotives with sound and it was really cool for about 2 days then the noise just gave me a big headache. Now I prefer just the natural sound of the locomotives running along the tracks. The novelty of fake sound get's really old really fast IMHO but "to each his own"


I can't speak for other decoder manufacturers, but ESU, Zimo, and Uhlenbrock all use digitally sampled recorded sounds of the locomotive in which the decoder is installed.

There is nothing fake about the sound(s) for which the manufacturers use these decoders.

The 'noise' also has a volume CV that can be adjusted.


----------



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I still prefer the naturally occurring growl of an Athearn. Even the quiet purr of newer ones and the gear chewing racket of a 50+ year old HObbyline or Mantua is much more enjoyable, which reinforces the idea that I'm more into model trains than real ones.

As an aside...anyone remember in the 80s a product called "Olfactory Airs"? It was a series of scents you could drip onto pads installed around your layout...diesel fuel, roasting corn...even cow manure. There were about 50 of them total, brought to you by the same guys that sold industry soundtrack tapes and 'Wireless Willy', two HO brakeman figures with working grain-o-rice bulb lanterns chemically wired into them. They even offered a cattle car that mooed.....


----------



## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

I have about two liters of creosote oil in a gallon tin. About once a year I pour a tsp of it on a couple of rags and place them under the layout on sway braces or somewhere out of the way. Makes the train room a most pleasant olfactory experience.


----------



## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

Isn't creosote carcinogenic? I remember helping creosote a small walkway bridge once a year, it has a great smell. I also have had tea made from the desert creosote bush leaves. Now the best I can do is get a bottle of really good Retsina!


----------



## DonW (Mar 25, 2012)

Local lumber yards stopped selling used ties around here years ago citing health concerns of creosote treated wood.


----------



## ncrc5315 (Jan 25, 2014)

I like sound, but I turn it down to the point, that unless you are within a couple of feet, you wont hear it. Take away the horn and bell, and real trains aren't that noisy.


----------



## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Lemonhawk said:


> Isn't creosote carcinogenic? I remember helping creosote a small walkway bridge once a year, it has a great smell. I also have had tea made from the desert creosote bush leaves. Now the best I can do is get a bottle of really good Retsina!


I believe it is, as is used crankcase oil in internal combustion engines. I minimize skin contact and wash my hands after using it. Fortunately, that sweet smell lasts a good long time.


----------



## Madman (Aug 22, 2020)

I'm with those of you who like a little bit of sound. After awhile, and not a long while, sound systems become annoying, to me. Whistle and horn sounds are overused, in my opinion. While trying to watch videos of model trains, some creators of those videos must have their elbow leaning on the whistle / horn button.....


----------



## Murv2 (Nov 5, 2017)

Being half-deaf the sounds aren't really that important to me. Also, they cover up the sound of derailed cars. I have a BLI T-1 that makes all kinds of sounds too loud and because I use DC and the engine is DCC I can't make it any softer (can't change direction on the transformer fast enough to get into the programming mode). Funniest thing, when the engine crosses blocks going opposite directions it continues on at speed but the horn starts blowing and doesn't stop. Then when you stop the train and restart it it goes in reverse.


----------



## Marv (Feb 8, 2011)

I wish I was better at programing. The noise from my Scale Trains ET44s at speed is so loud it covers up the horn. I want the horn loud and engine noise turned down. On the other hand my one Athearn F59PH the horn is perfect compared to the engine noise. Go figure!


----------



## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Why not spend 20 minutes pondering the manual for the installed decoder, Marv? It's what I had to do all those years ago. It was time well spent. First, I got to learn what my decoder could do, but I also got to enjoy my investment fully. Thirdly, I got to know my DCC system better and to appreciate how well it was engineered.

Every sound decoder has a Master Volume CV. Find out what it is, find out what it's range is, and halve the upper limit by programming that value into the correct CV. That's all there is to it. In this case, it sounds like halving it will only accomplish so much. You may have to take it to the 35-40% range, and then enter the horn CV and raise it's volume.

Trust me, those reading...it greatly improves your fun by manipulating the sound volumes to suit your taste. Each locomotive will take maybe 20 presses of buttons over about ten minutes (because you will keep flipping through manual pages to find information). Ten minutes goes by, you have your sounds to the point where you can enjoy your locomotive, and your fun factor goes up hugely. You'll also feel better about having tackled something you feared.

True story:

Back about 1943, my dad was a 13 year old lad. His father had finally seen fit to have a wall-mounted telephone installed, the kind with a speaking horn and you had to crank it to get the operator. My dad was proud of this new installation, his home now joining those of his school chums. He wanted to place a call, but he was afraid of the device, or of making a fool of himself. So, he begged my grandfather to place the call for him. Grandpa, his dad, flipped down the corner of his newspaper and looked over his glasses at my father. "Son, when you want to make that call badly enough, you'll make it yourself."

One of life's cardinal lessons.


----------



## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

While I enjoy the sound ,I will admit I prefer the engine sound low, really low. 

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


----------

