Some "Sound" advice please.

[geejbee]

Good evening.

I received my R8108 TTS decoder today and have the loco on my programing track to see whats what.

By trial and error it seems that to play a sound you need to press the number on the select,  followed by the function button. Having discovered that I began working my way through the the various sounds etc. What doesn't seem right though, is that I might play F3 screech whistle, but it then plays F2 Chime whistle straight afterwards. Why would it do that, is it something I am doing wrong or some strange glich.

[geejbee]

Ha Ha. I should have realised. You just power off and then on again and it  is now fine.

However when selecting a function I often have to enter the number twice. First press it shows "off" second press it plays ok. Isn't there some way that when up and running you can just select the number once and have it play straight away.?

Sorry if this is old hat to most of you but I can find no mention of these things anywhere in the blurb that came with the decoder.

Thanks

[Chrissaf]

I can find no mention of these things anywhere in the blurb that came with the decoder.

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It is not a decoder issue, it is a DCC controller limitation issue. So you won't find any reference to this in decoder documentation.

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Hornby Select controller spot sounds like horns and whistles operate on a 'toggle' ... that is to say ... press once for on ... press again for off.  Let's say a horn is on F4. Pressing F4 the first time should play the sound once. But you have to press F4 again [after the sound has finished playing] to reset the function for the next 'play' command. If you don't remember to send the second F4 [off command] then that means you have to then press F4 twice to get it to play again.

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The Elite functions also operate with the same 'toggle' limitations. However, just purely for info as this is completely irrelevant when you have a Select. If you did happen to have RailMaster and an Elite or eLink. Then RailMaster automatically sends the second 'reset' function after a configurable time period [default is 4 seconds].

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This is just the way the Select functions operate and you have to get into the habit of pressing the appropriate function button twice for the 'spot sounds' allowing time for the sound to play between presses.

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This is documented in the Select user guide manual. The extract below is taken from the firmware version 1.5 Select manual [Page 17] --- see yellow highlight.

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Nearly every 'how do I do this' type question I answer is actually documented in the Hornby product manuals. The skill is in knowing which manual to read. Invariably the required information is not clearly emphasised and hidden away in some obscure sentence .... and it can be hard to find  ... but it is usually there somewhere. So it is advisable to really study the manuals to fully familiarise oneself with the product capabilities and limitations.

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[ColinB]

Chissaf, my Fleishmann is exactly the same, you have to press it once to switch it on, press it again to switch it off, so nothing unusual about the Select or Elite. You might want the function to stay on permanently as is the case with a light.

[morairamike]

On Gaugemaster dcc02 F2 is a button type,  press once whistle or horn trigger while F3 F4 F5 are toggles and have to be pressed again to reset

[96RAF]

The Select ’problem’ is compounded by the fact there is no persistent on screen indicator to remind you which function is on or off, hence you have to develop a habit. The Elite does have indicators so you can monitor what is on or off. RM should show which sound is selected but it is easy to get the controller and the screen indicators out of synch. HRMS say that you should use either the screen or the controller but not both.

 

TTS has two types of sound - toggled where you switch it on and it plays until you turn it off (flange squeal, fan, etc) and play once sounds that play for a length of time and stop (horn, whistle, etc), but in the case of the controller these remain switched on, so they hog the second channel for your next sound selection. The prime channel is for your bsckground engine sound (steam or diesel).

 

Now if you overplay these sounds (select more than one secondary channel at the same time) when one has finished any subsequent selection may play. I say may play as they do not always do so.

 

You do not get these sound queueing problems with full fat polyphonic sound decoders.