AVAILABLE NOW!: EMD 40 series Total Sound Replacement Pack

[krellnut]

There are two soundpacks available in the RWA library that have their engine main sound loops slightly out of tune for the ES44 and SD70.

Like Anthony says; my sound packs use ten different engines for the sounds. Its impossible to get phasing because there different sounds. That's why I did it, to get rid of phasing. Plus, its far more realistic because no two locos of the same model sound exactly the same. So my sets do not require PitchShiftVariation.

[BNSFdude]

If I were actually able to get a hold of that many stock of full run ups and downs of an engine under load, and it paid good enough to do all the work required, I'd just retire from BNSF now. Maybe when I win the lottery or have my own railroad..

[awaken1977]

However, for the cab, which actually causes the headache, I have made it so you'll only hear the lead engine in the cab. The externals, which don't have the odd attenuation issues as often, have been adjusted to have more of a random pitch shift.

For EMD 40 pack it is perfect, but I also hear unwanted sounds of Dash9 or GEVO if they are in the consist (even 4 units behind from me).
How to make them mute in the cab of my own consist, but still sounding in the traffic?

[krellnut]

If I were actually able to get a hold of that many stock of full run ups and downs of an engine under load, and it paid good enough to do all the work required

Do what I do Woody, chase them. But you are right about one thing, I shudder at the thought of how much I've spent on fuel chasing trains for sounds. I've got over 150 Gb's of train sounds, three years worth of chasing and counting.

[buzz456]

Wally, you are our resident sound nut and we love and appreciate it more than we can ever say.

[BNSFdude]

If I were actually able to get a hold of that many stock of full run ups and downs of an engine under load, and it paid good enough to do all the work required

Do what I do Woody, chase them. But you are right about one thing, I shudder at the thought of how much I've spent on fuel chasing trains for sounds. I've got over 150 Gb's of train sounds, three years worth of chasing and counting.

Chasing doesn't work with my style of sound pack. It has to be under load but without wind and other sources of noise interfering with the recording, and it has to be from a single engine because if a pack is running, I cannot have it randomly select an individual rev up that is different than the stream of sounds because the dynamics are totally different from one engine, and one recording to another. If I were to do what I used to do with MSTS and early RW packs, I could piece together maybe 3 or 4 individual notches and synthetically blend them and it'd sound fine.

[BNSFdude]

When I record I have 3 mics positioned on a locomotive to pick up different sounds from different key parts depending on the type of engine. Typically I'll have one at engine compartment height, one near the turbo or roots blower, and the third on a boom capturing the exhaust talk. Then ill record startup, and from idle go notch by notch to 8, and notch by notch back to idle. I'll do this at least 3 times in order to ensure the levels are correct on each mic and to make sure that if some anomaly like the air compressor kicking on or otherwise occurs, I have an additional source. I'll then record the shut down as well.
From the inside I'll do the same thing, but usually with only one mic. Then Ill record auxiliary noises engines make and the whole process takes about an hour and a half, to two hours.
Mind you I don't just use these recordings for TS, I use them for Loksound as well.

[BNSFdude]

However, for the cab, which actually causes the headache, I have made it so you'll only hear the lead engine in the cab. The externals, which don't have the odd attenuation issues as often, have been adjusted to have more of a random pitch shift.

For EMD 40 pack it is perfect, but I also hear unwanted sounds of Dash9 or GEVO if they are in the consist (even 4 units behind from me).
How to make them mute in the cab of my own consist, but still sounding in the traffic?

I wouldn't know how to do it after the set is already exported. When I build in the BPE, I make a listenerdistancesquared curve and set the volume to only play X meters from the sound source. (usually center of locomotive). That way its only audible inside the cab. LDS makes a little bubble from the point of sound that changes how big it is with the X value, the Y value will equal volume when you set this as a Volume Curve. So basically its trial and error to get the distance right so I can hear it only from lead engine without the audio being totally cut out. I think I did this on the P32 sound pack.

[krellnut]

Your lucky because you can inside cabs to record squeaks, rattles and such. The thing that gets me is you admit that your engine sounds are recorded from stall tested locos. It doesn't sound the same as moving locos working. The rivet counters don't seem to care about that. What we should do is work together to make packs, I get moving working loco sounds, and you get all the other great stuff to finish it off first class. If someone uses #2 camera most of the time, you can't deny that recording locos driving beside them is basically #2 camera.

[BNSFdude]

The only thing you don't get when load testing it is the sense of movement, which is admittedly the weakness on this front. I have considered using my moving recordings (or even joining yours up) and making a complex mess of curves for distance and speed and other nonsense to have the sounds change their entire dynamic when you're moving about through the world since RW has terrible environmental sounds (its like running trains in Space!). Something that would help all of this out would be directional sound cones like FSX has.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Now that we have an excellent free pack of freight car sounds, the locomotives pulling the train remained relatively quiet in comparison.

Do you know a good and free source of locomotive rolling sounds, air brake hisses, AC converter whine, AC traction motor "musical scales" and other distinguishable outside rail/wheel/truck sounds? By distinghuishable I mean you can hear an AC44 is coming, because it sounds different from a DC44 or SD70. Do these third generation units still have audible gearbox whine?

RSC/DTG tend to use the same samples over and over again, and many MSTS sample sets don't sound much different.
The F and GP units are relatively well off, Sherman Hill route comes with a full sound set (which mostly is unused), the SD40-2 isn't bad either.
But the newer units tend to be boring.

[buzz456]

Do you have any of Ian's stuff. He has some interesting extracurricular sounds as I recall.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Do you have any of Ian's stuff. He has some interesting extracurricular sounds as I recall.

Ian as in Eyein? Only his GP/SD60, which are nothing special sounds-wise.

I am most interested in AC units.

[BNSFdude]

Traction motor sounds are what I have been working on getting, but considering I work on mostly DC powered units in yard service (save for when I start hostling soon), I don't get many opportunities to record them at work. If I was working the road I'd be able to get them. I have good GEVO-12 sounds that are ready, as well as FDL recorded by Matt Herman from ESU. But the thing holding me back is the traction sounds, as that is really what makes GE's sound neat. The DC GE's have a whiny sound when the motors are being powered (high pitched) which thankfully I do have the sound for. The AC GE's have a noise that the inverters make almost continuously like wind being blown through a tube, almost. It is really hard to describe without having a recording to back it up.
Dash 9s and Dash 8s have the sound of the Contactors engaging when going into power, and a Pneumatic Circuit breaker sound (Psss-clunk) that occurs when you go out of power. ES44DCs do this too, but it is much quieter because the traction systems and high voltage cabinet on DC EVOs is in the Inverter Cabinet.

For EMDs, specifically the 70MACs which I would like to work with Wally on since he has much better recordings than I on, they have a unique traction system. They use the Siemens designed system, which when you are standing along the long hood near these two vents on either side:

mac.jpg

(Inverter Cabinets are here for each inverter)
they make a sound similar to German locomotives before they start moving, not the musical AC tones, but the blower sounds. Hopefully I can sneak onto a MAC soon and get it, as it is a rather neat sound.

[GSkid]

This may sound like a dumb question, but does Railworks do stereo sounds or does it just take a mono sample and send it to both channels?

I'm not a sound recording expert, but I'd imagine a left and right mic spaced about a foot apart to basically simulate the space apart your ears are would be ideal. They use that concept for 3D pictures to simulate the space between the center points of your eyes.