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Upgrade Software Item Numbers and Sound Files

Quantum Upgrade Chip Sound Files Table - find and download Q1a sound file.
HELP: How To Listen to and Play Sound Files?

"The upgrade of the chip for the BLI E-7 is just great. This new chip really makes a difference in the performance of this engine. I look forward the announcements of the chips for the GG1 and J-1."
Paul S.

If you are still not certain about the loco you have, you can get a vocal response from your locomotive indicating such by following the instructions for DC and DCC.

A complete list of all QSI equipped locomotives is available. On this list all "Production Release" software designations ending in an "s" require an Upgrade Chip, those that do not have the "s" can be upgraded using the Quantum Programmer.

Cut & Pastable Sound Sets for all Q1a Atlas, Broadway Ltd., Proto 2000 and other locomotives equipped with factory QSI sound

The following Q2 sound files can now be downloaded into all factory equipped QSI equipped made by Atlas, Broadway Ltd., Proto 2000 and many others. These files are completely editable by the user with the Quantum Programmer and will allow the users a multitude of sound file options:

History

Important information for the user Q1a to Q2 upgrades:

There is no special documentation for this firmware. The most recent DCC Reference Manual applies to this Q2 firmware.

There are no changes needed in either Q2Upgrade or QuantumCVManager to support this firmware. The most recent releases of these applications already support the above firmware.

QSI has worked hard to provide you with firmware and tools which allow you configure your decoder to sound and behave exactly as you think it should.

Q1a firmware allowed you to use the Quantum Programmer to upgrade your Q1 HO decoders with more recent Q1a firmware with additional features, different sounds than those included in the firmware that came with the locomotive from the manufacturer.

Q2 firmware for the Quantum Revolution went several steps further. In addition to allowing you to upgrade your Quantum Revolution decoder to more recent Q2 firmware with additional, you were now allowed to re-configure the Q2 firmware before downloading to the decoder. You were now able to Cut & Paste the sound records used in the decoder: horns, whistles, bells, diesel motor, chuff, dynamic brakes, air pumps, cooling fans, vents, and steam generators. The Q2 firmware supported several new kinds of lights and you were now able to re-assign light features to different output ports. And finally, you were able to change CV default values.

When possible, QSI migrated features developed for Q2 firmware back to Q1a firmware. However, the Q2 firmware's unprecedented level of configurability was not available in Q1a firmware. To change a single sound, such as a horn, or add a single additional light, required a special firmware build from QSI.

The Q2 firmware that runs on Q1 hardware fixes this problem. Now you have the same configurability for your Q1/Q1A decoder that you have for your Quantum Revolution, limited only by the hardware differences between Q1 and Quantum Revolution decoders. You have the same ability to Cut&Paste sounds, re-assign light features to different output ports, and change CV default values.

You use the Q2 firmware than runs on Q1 hardware the same way as you use Q2 firmware for the Quantum Revolution. You download the appropriate Q2 file from the QSI Solutions web site to your PC, load this file into Q2Upgrade, Cut&Paste sounds, re-configure the light ports if you want to add an additional light, and change the default values of any CV's. Then using the Quantum Programmer you upgrade your Q1 decoder with the firmware you modified.

If you have successfully used Q2Upgrade to modify Q2 firmware and then upgraded your Quantum Revolution decoder with that firmware, you will find that doing the same to your Q1 decoders is now just as easy.

Hints and tips on how to use Q1a to Q2 Cross Platform Software

QSI Solutions has released upgrade chip firmware which allows the end user to "Cut & Paste" the sound set the same way they do with the Q2 series of decoders. This is slightly more difficult due to the small memory size in the Q1a chip, and the increased amount of file numbers to provide compatibility for all of the factory released sound systems.

Determining What Kind of Chip You Have

Place your locomotive on the track connected to your Quantum Programmer and under the "Locomotive Information" tab retrieve the locomotive information. This looks at what is currently loaded into the chip so you can determine what soundset number you have (this becomes important later) your software version number and whether your loco has a potentiometer or a reed switch.

Knowing whether your loco has a reed switch or a pot is the most important piece, if you try to load reed switch firmware into a loco with a pot you will get a total incompatibility and will be unable to program the loco.

The software version is equally important, your software must be version 7 or later, version 6 chips are not reprogrammable.

The soundset number is also very important. All operational CVs for your loco are tied to the respective Soundset (see step 1 of Loading the New Software).

If you have a reed switch you'll use the following software(s) for your loco:

If your loco did not come equipped with a reed switch (i.e. you received no magnet) then you'll want the software for pot based sound systems:

Loading the New Software

Step 1:

The first thing we recommend you do is open Quantum CV Manager and create a new file for the default CVs for your locomotive, for example if your loco was soundset #100 (Broadway Limited E7) go through the diesel drop down menu until you find 100 select it and click "OK" now go to the file menu and select "save as" typically we recommend you save the file as its soundset number so as not to get confused. Once this CV Manager file has been created/saved, you can close Quantum CV Manager.

Step 2:

Load the new Q2 file into Q2 Upgrade (as determined by the list above).

Step 3:

Check compatibility using Q2 Upgrade, this step is optional but recommended.

Step 4:

Go into the Cut & Paste menu. There are several things which should be changed here.
To open more memory click on "Replace Alt Horn/Whistle" and select "No Alt Horn/Whistle" this should open a large chunk of memory.

Now you can go in and select your horn/whistle, bell, Diesel motor/steam chuff, Dynamic brakes, pumps, etc. You will notice that in the selection window for all these sounds there is a High Compression and Low Compression option. In most cases, you'll need to run high compression with these files to not exceed the allotted memory.

Step 5:

Still in the Cut & Paste menu there is a button that says "Change CV Default Values". Click this button and then click the button on the right side which says "Load QCV" and select the file you saved from CV Manager earlier. The software will prompt you by saying: Warning This qcv file is for model xxx. Continue? click OK.

Now all the operational CVs for your locomotive will be loaded as the defaults. If you want to change any CVs on the default level do so now (we typically put the long address as the default address, that way if you should have to reset your loco during an operating session it will revert to the defaults you have defined here).

Step 5a: STEAM ONLY

Also still in the Cut & Paste menu there is a button which says "Chuff Rate". Click this button, then click "Select Chuff Rate from Library". This will open up a list of every chuff rate ever installed in a Q1a decoder. Simply locate the original model number (this will match the soundset number that you selected when building your default CV file in step 1). Click on it and click "OK" then click "Close".

Step 6:

Now that you've built your own custom sound set you can skip down to the "Upgrade Locomotive" button and click the large button mid screen which says "Upgrade Locomotive Firmware..."

In about 8 minutes your locomotive will be finished updating and will have your new custom soundset installed!

 

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