When consisting multiple diesel locomotives using Loksound V4 or V5 decoders, or later "revised firmware" Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 decoders, enjoyable sound is greatly enhanced by a simple reprogramming step.
On Loksounds, it is not necessary to load a different sound file in each locomotive. Sadly that's not possible with a Soundtraxx decoder; older decoders must be replaced with new ones for improved consist sound. But if you have new Tsu2s, then hey-ho, let's go.
I have a set of P&D F3s that run in an A-B-A consist. They don't sound like one decoder driving 3 speakers in monaural. Instead, they sound like 3 separate engines running in stereo (trinaural?) Cylinder 1 doesn't fire at the same time in any of the other engines. How can we do that?
The solution is simple and doesn't cost us anything. We can adjust the playback speed of the engine, dynamic brake and radiator fan speed, if used, so that the engines in consist don't play the sounds at precisely the same time. When we don't adjust the speeds enough, we can sometimes hear a "phasing" as though the Roadrunner was being chased by Wile Coyote. But with enough of a playback speed difference, they stay out of sync with each other and our ears hear individual engines.
Try it. I'm sure you will like it.
Bob
