There has been a lot of discussion about the new Hornby DCC sound Duchess.  In order that interested parties can come to a more informed conclusion I have done a series of short clips which cover the functions and various speed settings.  We found that it was not at its best at around thirty speed steps however at low and high speed it was good.  The short whistle sound clipped at the end, however this was less noticable when the loco was moving.  Overall I found it to be a good product and was happy with it.  See what you think.

The first two clips cover the functions.





The remaining ones cover various speed settings. 











Apologies in advance for the rubbish editing however given the hassle it is to upload these, I'm not going to spend more time uploading revised versions.  It took six hours for each of these clips to upload!

6 hours Neil !!:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:  Wow !!

Great videos and the sound seems very good too.  I had always preferred diesel sound but having seen this one, I'm not too sure anymore.  The shots of the old girl racing over the viaduct were a little "hairy" !!!!

Had time to study the detail in the viaduct and highland background whilst waiting for the vids to load - looks even more impressive than I remember it - and the highlands have never looked better !! thumbsthumbs

Thanks for taking the time posting the videos Neill

On other forums all i have seen to date is very conflicting opinions on the Hornby duchess sound loco with your videos it seems fine to me and you say other than around step 30 you are happy with it .

I assume perhaps one of the problems is the speaker being used as they often only use the little round 20mm ones in production models.

Im sure someone will experiment in a differant speker perhaps positioned better.

cheers Brian 

sounded ok to me but i am no officiado with sound, maybe one day
i might try one .

thumbs:cool:

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

6 hours Neil !!:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:  Wow !!

Great videos and the sound seems very good too.  I had always preferred diesel sound but having seen this one, I'm not too sure anymore.  The shots of the old girl racing over the viaduct were a little "hairy" !!!!

Had time to study the detail in the viaduct and highland background whilst waiting for the vids to load - looks even more impressive than I remember it - and the highlands have never looked better !! thumbsthumbs

The six hours is because my deal refers to dial up speeds once I have exceeded my allowance.

 

The Highlands look good because it isn't raining.  It normally rains most days so that is how most people remember it.

 

The Hornby effort isn't bad for a first go.  My opinion is that the issue is due to peoples expectations. 

 I have around 30 sound locos. I have had sound locos for over five years so am very familiar with them.  The Hornby steam loco could be improved in a couple of ways but is not nearly as bad as people on a certain downmarket forum would have you believe. 

My take on it is that the UK market is still new to sound and people are not familiar with the limitations of the technology.  There is also the issue that the UK is home instal based rather than RTR DCC sound like in Germany and the USA.   I heard someone who was caning UK steam sound ask what as CV was, so the people who are commenting are not those who understand what can and cannot be done with DCC sound.  There is the issue that what is being shown in the clips is being shown by people into model railways and not steam train drivers so the correct sounds may not be triggered at the appropriate moments.

There are also sour grapes merchants.  One guy keeps harping on that three  cylinder sound cannot be done because, get this, he cannot do it.  I have about six three cylinder steam locos and they all sound pretty good to me.

There is nothing wrong with the speaker.  It has been suggested that no baffle box has been installed but of the tender is sealed correctly then that is not an issue.  I was intending to chang ethe speaker but now that I have one and have listed to it a lot I'm not convinced the slight improvement would be worth the effort.

The issues are the clipped short whistle and the sound is a little synthesized at around 30 speed steps.  Other than that it's ok.  I'll be getting their Black Five when it comes out.

I originally posted this on MRF so that people could listen for themselves and hear what it actually sounded like so they could base their opinion on facts .  I thought you guys would like to hear it too. 

Neil, thanks a lot for these videos!

I too have read the negative comments and after seeing your videos I think that these are not justified. For a factory fitted loco that I can buy for much less than the cost of a special fitted loco it is much better then expected. I do not think that the Roco locos I know in flesh and that are much more expensive offer better sound. I cannot say wether the sound is correct as I have no protoype experience (as lots of the buyers me thinks) but I really could enjoy running one. Its a pity that sound in N scale is not possible to the same quality.

 

Thomas

Hi Neil.  It's hard to judge the sound with so many variables, camera, software, etc., but the basic sound files sound fine.  If you want a bit more bass response, there is a bass reflex speaker available.  What is the impedance of your speaker?  They come in 100 ohm (Loksound) or 8 ohm (others).  I have a 100 ohm one spare.  I could post it over to you for you to try, if you would like.  Cheers  Max

Thanks for the videos, Neil, I enjoyed listening to them and would agree with those that say the criticism is unjustified. If I was starting from scratch again, sound is one thing that would influence my choice between DC and DCC, constant lighting in carriages etc. and no isolated sections needed are the others.

Strangely though, the sound effects on your steam loco illustrate the one drawback of steam sound   …  it makes the model look somewhat incongruous because of the lack of smoke. Whilst this can be ignored without sound, when sound is added I keep looking at the chimney of the loco :exclam I guess one day a loco will be produced that has puffs of smoke bellowing out of the chimney in time with the sound. That will be the day that my DC equipment will certainly go in the bin.

Jeff it is actually possible to do the smoke puff thing some people have done it with existing smoke units pulse powered from decoders.

cheers Brian

OK, OK, but I'm a lazy sod and I want it ready done from the box :exclam:exclam :roll::roll:

excuses, excuses, tttt  Jeff.

:pedal:cool:

[user=15]owen69[/user] wrote:

excuses, excuses, tttt  Jeff.

:pedal:cool:

Leave the man alone Owen bless him, he likes the easy life

Love the vids and sounds. Being new to this kind of thing i would not know the difference between a steam sound to another :oops:, so as i say works for me.

Phill

[user=3]Gwent Rail[/user] wrote:

OK, OK, but I'm a lazy sod and I want it ready done from the box :exclam:exclam :roll::roll:

This is possible too Jeff, KM1 Modellbau do a BR44 plus other locos with sound and co-ordinated steam coming from the chimney and the cylinder cocks.

Follow this link and click on the videos under dynamic smoke.

http://www.km-1.de/32119.html

 

Does this mark the day your DC stuff will go in the bin?

 

I'll tell you honestly Jeff when I saw this at a Model Rail show last year I seriously considered for about a week selling all my OO and HO stuff and buying this.  It's gauge 1.

Max, the decoder is a loksound 3.5 so it is a 100 ohm job.

I don't think that bass is really an issue with this particular one but I would be interested in seeing if it does make any difference.  I will do it at some point but it is not urgent.

OK Neil, if you decide to give it a try, I'll post it over.  Otherwise they are available through the Loksound user group, for about  US$12.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loksound/

Thanks Max, I normally buy them from DCC supplies.  Good to know there's a local source too.

Neil, I've seen that loco somewhere before and very impressive it is too!!

The only problems I have converting are size, cost, colour and company prototype.

Now if it were OO, around £200, green and GWR   ….   thumbs:thumbs

Who knows Jeff.  One day it might happen.:cheers  Here's hoping eh.

[user=113]Neil Wood[/user] wrote:

Who knows Jeff.  One day it might happen.:cheers  Here's hoping eh.

[user=113]Neil Wood[/user] wrote:

[user=3]Gwent Rail[/user] wrote:

OK, OK, but I'm a lazy sod and I want it ready done from the box :exclam:exclam :roll::roll:

This is possible too Jeff, KM1 Modellbau do a BR44 plus other locos with sound and co-ordinated steam coming from the chimney and the cylinder cocks.

Follow this link and click on the videos under dynamic smoke.

http://www.km-1.de/32119.html

 

Does this mark the day your DC stuff will go in the bin?

 
…………………………………

Wow Neil !!!  That's amazing - a fantastic piece of kit but oh dear - look at the price !!!  I suppose for Gauge 1 it's not really out of this world and for something that looks like that. :roll::roll::roll:  Wonder if it would fit in my attic !!

Couldn't find the price, Peter, but I'm almost afraid to look :exclam:exclam