Post by notabob on May 26, 2016 7:29:24 GMT -8
Having now read the full formal announcement from SoundTraxx with more details about the new decoder and after watching a couple of videos showcasing the new capabilities, here are some additional thoughts:
- Functions - I'm still a bit disappointed by the four functions on the generic version. They did acknowledge in Patterson video that other board formats will have six, which is nice, but it would've been good to get the 6 in a generic version too. I understand their desire to have a single version of a generic decoder for HO and N, but it is limiting.
- Sounds - Announcement confirmed my assumption of no replacement engine recordings (although in one of the videos they did mention that they added a new file for a prime mover that they didn't have before, for SW7/9, maybe?). "Remastering" is really just a marketing term without additional details. Listening to the sounds of the new decoder in the two videos available, I did not walk away thinking that they were a huge improvement over the old ones. Again - the old ones weren't bad, as I've said before, but not quite to the level of what comes out of a LokSound, IMHO. Prime mover sounds came across sounding about the same as the older model, and the compressors/spitters/etc just didn't sound quite as crisp as I've gotten used to hearing out of some of my recent LokSound-equipped models. Horns didn't sound as "rich" either. It's subjective, of course, but then this is my perspective . This could've been partly due to the speaker they used on models in the videos, recording equipment for the video, my own headphones, etc., but in general it just didn't seem that the sound quality was significantly improved over the earlier decoder. Many individual new sounds added, yes; they likely split up some of the previously pre-mixed sounds to take advantage of more channels they now have to play with (probably a big part of that "remastering"), but sound reproduction seems to have seen only limited improvement here. With Athearn switching to the Tsu2 I will likely end up getting one or more of these in the stable anyway (probably whenever the new run of CN SD70i comes out), so will be able to make a more definitive comparison at that time. I have a CN SD75i from an older run in the queue on the bench getting a LokSound right now, so it'll serve as a good apples-to-apples comparison when the time comes.
- Diesel DDE - This is actually turning out to be a very nice and useful feature. Initial descriptions at Tony's didn't fully explain exactly what it does. The full announcement and the videos do a better job. The automatic up/down notching based on the motor's actual current draw vs. speed step is a welcome capability and indeed different and unique from what others are offering, including LokSound. Still need to see how it's used in operation, how easy it is to enable/disable/configure, etc., but generally I like the concept and think it's a step in the right direction. As promised - I'm eating my earlier words here.
- Train Braking - another nice feature that wasn't mentioned before. While engine & dynamic braking exist on other decoders, activating a sequence of sounds for train or dynamic braking along with different deceleration rates than regular brake is a nice twist that should prove popular.
- One thing I did not see mentioned anywhere is whether startup sounds are still activated by having to jog the speed steps and shutdown by pressing the emergency stop. This is one of the things that I dislike about even the original Tsunamis, and did not see any mention of a change to that behavior. Looking at the full CV reference for Tsu2 - I don't see an ability to map a function button to engine start/shutdown, so that leads me to believe that it will behave the same. Pity.
- The limit of nine prime movers per decoder will ultimately become more of a headache for them, I think, especially for EMD. With so many variations out there, I wonder if they'll end up splitting things into older vs. newer EMD versions of Tsu2 as more prime mover sounds are added. Or maybe folks will end up being ok with using a recording from a 16-cyl version of a prime mover to represent a 12-cyl or 20-cyl version.
Ultimately - while it certainly seems like a better decoder compared to the original Tsunami and has some nice new capabilities, there's just not enough there for me personally to go back to them. This is further exacerbated by the 30% higher price of a Tsu2 vs. LokSound Select ($105 vs. $80).
- Functions - I'm still a bit disappointed by the four functions on the generic version. They did acknowledge in Patterson video that other board formats will have six, which is nice, but it would've been good to get the 6 in a generic version too. I understand their desire to have a single version of a generic decoder for HO and N, but it is limiting.
- Sounds - Announcement confirmed my assumption of no replacement engine recordings (although in one of the videos they did mention that they added a new file for a prime mover that they didn't have before, for SW7/9, maybe?). "Remastering" is really just a marketing term without additional details. Listening to the sounds of the new decoder in the two videos available, I did not walk away thinking that they were a huge improvement over the old ones. Again - the old ones weren't bad, as I've said before, but not quite to the level of what comes out of a LokSound, IMHO. Prime mover sounds came across sounding about the same as the older model, and the compressors/spitters/etc just didn't sound quite as crisp as I've gotten used to hearing out of some of my recent LokSound-equipped models. Horns didn't sound as "rich" either. It's subjective, of course, but then this is my perspective . This could've been partly due to the speaker they used on models in the videos, recording equipment for the video, my own headphones, etc., but in general it just didn't seem that the sound quality was significantly improved over the earlier decoder. Many individual new sounds added, yes; they likely split up some of the previously pre-mixed sounds to take advantage of more channels they now have to play with (probably a big part of that "remastering"), but sound reproduction seems to have seen only limited improvement here. With Athearn switching to the Tsu2 I will likely end up getting one or more of these in the stable anyway (probably whenever the new run of CN SD70i comes out), so will be able to make a more definitive comparison at that time. I have a CN SD75i from an older run in the queue on the bench getting a LokSound right now, so it'll serve as a good apples-to-apples comparison when the time comes.
- Diesel DDE - This is actually turning out to be a very nice and useful feature. Initial descriptions at Tony's didn't fully explain exactly what it does. The full announcement and the videos do a better job. The automatic up/down notching based on the motor's actual current draw vs. speed step is a welcome capability and indeed different and unique from what others are offering, including LokSound. Still need to see how it's used in operation, how easy it is to enable/disable/configure, etc., but generally I like the concept and think it's a step in the right direction. As promised - I'm eating my earlier words here.
- Train Braking - another nice feature that wasn't mentioned before. While engine & dynamic braking exist on other decoders, activating a sequence of sounds for train or dynamic braking along with different deceleration rates than regular brake is a nice twist that should prove popular.
- One thing I did not see mentioned anywhere is whether startup sounds are still activated by having to jog the speed steps and shutdown by pressing the emergency stop. This is one of the things that I dislike about even the original Tsunamis, and did not see any mention of a change to that behavior. Looking at the full CV reference for Tsu2 - I don't see an ability to map a function button to engine start/shutdown, so that leads me to believe that it will behave the same. Pity.
- The limit of nine prime movers per decoder will ultimately become more of a headache for them, I think, especially for EMD. With so many variations out there, I wonder if they'll end up splitting things into older vs. newer EMD versions of Tsu2 as more prime mover sounds are added. Or maybe folks will end up being ok with using a recording from a 16-cyl version of a prime mover to represent a 12-cyl or 20-cyl version.
Ultimately - while it certainly seems like a better decoder compared to the original Tsunami and has some nice new capabilities, there's just not enough there for me personally to go back to them. This is further exacerbated by the 30% higher price of a Tsu2 vs. LokSound Select ($105 vs. $80).