Home > Newsletters > Archive >
Q2 Upgrade 1.15.0.3 Released!
Originally sent out 2010-06-07 09:12:06.
Subscribe to the QSI Solutions eNews here!
This update contains many new sound files for greater flexibility within Cut & Paste to better customize your Q2 (Revolution/Aristo) series decoder. Check out all the new sounds:
Steam Whistles:
MDBanshee, this is a new high fidelity recording of the popular “Pennsylvania Banshee” used on a lot of PRR freight locos including “I” series Decapods and “H” series Consolidations.
U2G, this was recorded at the same time as the Banshee, it’s a Canadian National 5 chime used in the new TrueLine Trains model of the U2G. It also has the exact same dimensions and tone as a Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk River 5 chime so it’s appropriate for many logging locomotives.
These Whistles were built by MD Whistles in Fairmont West Virginia and are built to original PRR and CN drawings. For more information on MD Whistles please visit their website: http://www.mdwhistles.com/
Air Horns:
Nathan K3L, this is a strident 3 chime horn. Recorded from a F7 currently running on the W&I out of Moscow Idaho.
Bells:
1017_bell, this was recorded from the same F7 as the K3L
Cass #5 Bell_mid, this was recorded in Cass West Virginia from Shay #5, possibly the oldest still operating locomotive in the United States.
Diesel Prime Movers:
Baldwin 606NA, a beautiful new sound of a 6 cylinder normally aspirated Baldwin motor. It’s appropriate for DS-44-1000, and a number of other Baldwin locomotives.
EMD 1st Gen (F7 #1017), another great addition to our wide variety of EMD 1st generation sounds is this new recording taken from the same F7 as the new K3L horn mentioned earlier.
GP38/40 LW4 (LB), these are “low bass” versions of the popular GP38 LW and GP40 LW EMD 645 prime movers. We re-engineered these files because due to the narrow hood on these models people commonly have to use a Mini Oval speaker and enclosure and the original files had enough bass to cause those speakers to over drive. These lower bass versions solve that problem.
Steam Air Pumps:
Strasburg 475 Pump, From SRC 4-8-0 #475
Strasburg #89 Pump, From SRC 2-6-0 #89
Heisler Pump, From Cass Scenic Railroad Heisler #6, this is a neat one! It’s a very old single lung single stage air pump.
Steam Generators:
Cass Steam Generator, Recorded from Cass Shay #5. This is a VERY prototypical steam generator recording, taking nearly 20 seconds to start up and shut down. It is such a large file that typically other sounds will need to be set for “high compression” and the alternate whistle is commonly removed. However, this generator is very nice and we feel it’s worth having to adjust other sounds to use it.
Prototype Hint:
Steam Generators:
The valve to start and stop many steam generators is located outside the cab of the locomotive on the generator itself. This means that engineers usually won’t shut a generator off until the day’s duties are finished. We've changed the headlight logic recently, now unless you program outputs 1 & 2 in both states (FWD/REV and NFF/NFR) you will not be able to turn the generator off. To enable control of the generator you need to program a value of 218 to the following CVs.
FWD/REV | NFF/NFR
CV53.1.0 CV53.1.1
CV53.2.0 CV53.2.1
Now you will be able to turn the generator (as well as the headlight) off no matter what state the locomotive is in. But as we said before, this isn't necessarily prototypical. So we recommend programming control for the steam generator only into the NFF/NFR CV’s. This way you can still turn the light out while moving if you desire but the generator sound will not shut down unless you toggle F0 while stopped, because it’s more likely that the engineer would walk out onto the running boards when the loco is stopped to turn off the generator than it is for him to do so while running down the rails!
We hope you've enjoyed this first edition of QSI Solutions ENews. We look forward to bringing you many exciting updates in the future!
