Sound decoders & different assigned function keys

[centenary]

Most manufacturers seem to have different ideas of which sound functions should be assigned to different function keys beyond the standard of F0 directional lights and F1 engine.

When you have numerous locos, steam, diesel and electric from different manufacturers and even have some with aftermarket sound decoders, it's easy to forget what function key does what on individual locos.

While the likes of Hornby, Bachmann and others produce a fly leaf that states which function key does what, these are not always the easiest to reach for when running 2 or 3 trains.

Does anyone have a system or ideas for a handy quick reference or something that says what each function button does or at least, the most likely used 5 or 6 functions for each loco?

[SRman]

Funnily enough, I have just finished remapping the functions on two steam locos I fitted YouChoos sounds into two days ago. These were Zimo decoders, and I printed out sheets of tables showing which functions I wanted to remap and what values to put into the relevant F Key assignments. For ESU decoders, I use the LokProgrammer software, which makes things a lot easier to keep track of.

Answering the question:

For Diesels, I do the following wherever possible:

F0 Marker lights (directional)
F1 Sound On/Off - this might sound obvious, but when using American sound decoders like the Soundtraxx UK sound Econamis, they use F8.
F2 Brake
F3 Horn 1
F4 Horn 2
F5 Buffering up
F6 Coupling up
F7 Compressor
F8 Drive Hold (something that's essentially useless for steam or electric)
F9 May be variable - I have no specific preference for this one
F10 Guard's whistle
F11 Flange squeal
F17 to F22 I reserve for lighting if available, depending on the models; some have engine room lights (F17), Headlights (F18), tail lights (F19), cab lights (F21), Night running headlights (F22). There can be variations for depot lights too.

After that, I move volume up and down to F27 and F28.

For Steam, I like F1 and F2 as above, plus F0 if there are any lights. F3 and FF4 should be various whistle lengths, with F3 being a playable one if available.
F5, F6, F10 and F11 as above.
Safety valves and drain cocks if available I like on some of the remaining F keys in the first 10.

Electrics, again, F0 to F7, F10 and F11 should match the diesels, as should any extra lighting functions. In the case of Accurascale class 92s, F27 and F28 operate the pantographs, but volume controls can be useful too.

Electro Diesels of classes 73 and 74 have special arrangements for the two modes, but even there I have tried to standardise between the various sound files.

Having gone through all that, it is almost impossible to completely standardise, especially as each sound engineer has different ideas on what sounds should be included in their projects, and which ones may be playable, but as you can see, I try to put certain common functions on the same keys to save having to look up cheat sheets all the time. I hope this helps a bit.

[centenary]

Funnily enough, I have just finished remapping the functions on two steam locos I fitted YouChoos sounds into two days ago. These were Zimo decoders, and I printed out sheets of tables showing which functions I wanted to remap and what values to put into the relevant F Key assignments. For ESU decoders, I use the LokProgrammer software, which makes things a lot easier to keep track of.

Answering the question:

For Diesels, I do the following wherever possible:

F0 Marker lights (directional)
F1 Sound On/Off - this might sound obvious, but when using American sound decoders like the Soundtraxx UK sound Econamis, they use F8.
F2 Brake
F3 Horn 1
F4 Horn 2
F5 Buffering up
F6 Coupling up
F7 Compressor
F8 Drive Hold (something that's essentially useless for steam or electric)
F9 May be variable - I have no specific preference for this one
F10 Guard's whistle
F11 Flange squeal
F17 to F22 I reserve for lighting if available, depending on the models; some have engine room lights (F17), Headlights (F18), tail lights (F19), cab lights (F21), Night running headlights (F22). There can be variations for depot lights too.

After that, I move volume up and down to F27 and F28.

For Steam, I like F1 and F2 as above, plus F0 if there are any lights. F3 and FF4 should be various whistle lengths, with F3 being a playable one if available.
F5, F6, F10 and F11 as above.
Safety valves and drain cocks if available I like on some of the remaining F keys in the first 10.

Electrics, again, F0 to F7, F10 and F11 should match the diesels, as should any extra lighting functions. In the case of Accurascale class 92s, F27 and F28 operate the pantographs, but volume controls can be useful too.

Electro Diesels of classes 73 and 74 have special arrangements for the two modes, but even there I have tried to standardise between the various sound files.

Having gone through all that, it is almost impossible to completely standardise, especially as each sound engineer has different ideas on what sounds should be included in their projects, and which ones may be playable, but as you can see, I try to put certain common functions on the same keys to save having to look up cheat sheets all the time. I hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for this. Didnt think of remapping which would be the next best solution if manufacturers will not standardise.

I could do remapping via my SPROG II. Although some say the SPROG doesnt communicate with Loksound very well.

[SRman]

I have no experience with the SPROG. I use a LokProgrammer for ESU, and while I do have a Zimo MXFULA, I normally use JMRI Decoder Pro to reprogram Zimo and other brand decoders, although for simple remapping on Zimo, I find it easier to use the CVs through a Power Cab on my programming track.

[aleopardstail]

There is a bit I find slightly annoying, all Zimo decoders here so even a single brand cannot get this right, though I sort of see why

All except the sound fitted G5 have F3 as "shunt", which basically disables acceleration and braking settings, and F7 as "half speed" which as the name implies drops the speed to two thirds... wait.. what?

ahem.

the G5 has both functions, but on different keys as F3 & F7 are used for sounds.

as I get more sound locos the plan is to try and have constant naming so say "Whistle" is always called Whistle, or maybe sWhistle. this is so some code can have a look through the stuff WiThrottle provides and see "ahh yes function F6 is the whistle!" and have a button on screen called "Whistle" or a button on a handset called "whistle" and just work it out internally.

though it would so have made sense for the NMRA to standardise at least the basic sounds and lights to specific functions

[Mountain]

I assumed all DCC sound allocations were programmable which sounds one wants to use where? Though I no longer have a sound loco, I seem to remember that one could locate the sound to where one wanted it. Or does it depend on how good ones DCC system is?

[aleopardstail]

I assumed all DCC sound allocations were programmable which sounds one wants to use where? Though I no longer have a sound loco, I seem to remember that one could locate the sound to where one wanted it. Or does it depend on how good ones DCC system is?

I've not tried changing the assignments, with my luck I'dd find the International Space Station deorbits

[centenary]

I assumed all DCC sound allocations were programmable which sounds one wants to use where? Though I no longer have a sound loco, I seem to remember that one could locate the sound to where one wanted it. Or does it depend on how good ones DCC system is?

You're not really 'moving' the sound location, you're just changing which button or key on your DCC system activates a particular sound file. I think most DCC systems enable you to do this, not certain about basic systems like Hornby's Select or Bachmann's basic system.

I have no experience with the SPROG. I use a LokProgrammer for ESU, and while I do have a Zimo MXFULA, I normally use JMRI Decoder Pro to reprogram Zimo and other brand decoders, although for simple remapping on Zimo, I find it easier to use the CVs through a Power Cab on my programming track.

Yes, sorry, my loosely worded statement. The SPROG is a DCC system in itself and acts as an interface between Decoder Pro and the loco so it's actually Decoder Pro that does the changes.

[Bigmet]

... it would so have made sense for the NMRA to standardise at least the basic sounds and lights to specific functions

If I read the information correctly in the *NMRA's published account of how their DCC standard was developed from 1992 onwards, at that time the normal method for sound was by addition of an independent sound board: and the intent of the NMRA standard development at the time was to 'shepherd' all the interested parties onto the same page relating to the DCC signal standard, and core decoder functionality for motor control. At that stage the standard reached as far as F0 and F1 for North American headlight and rear light control...

*Digital Command Control by Ames, Friberg, Loizeaux. Such a useful publication even now. When I was first tinkering with DCC using a borrowed system and adjusting the decoders for speed matching I came upon the problem of some rather sluggish mechanisms, unable to make scale maximum speed on DCC. And there's the solution: increase the track voltage from the DCC system. Hilariously when I wrote about this online, the reaction was akin to that of proposing some sort of criminal behaviour. It took a little research at the time to find a system offering this facility, and it's been cranking out enough juice to deliver 15V at the motor terminals ever since, with no negative consequences. Even today when I mention this there are often 'oh no, you mustn't do that' responses...

[Mountain]

I can adjust the voltage on mine and I think I can get it as low as about 5 volts and as high as 28 volts in half volt adjustable steps (Via internal switching). When experimenting I assumed it needed 12v but found all my locos ran way too slow, so I set it back to its default setting of 18 volts if I recall correctly? (Obviously one can easily increase the amps by wiring boosters in series (Check with the make of the booster. Mine are Lenz and I have a 3 amp and a 5 amp booster, so I can wire them in series to provide 8 amps, or wire them in parallel to provide two separate zones, one of 5 amps and the other of 3 amps).

Now though my system was manufacturers before DCC sound, it still has enough CV allocations to to control most sounds on a DCC sound decoder when I used to own a Bachmann class 37, so via programming I was about two or four CV's short in accessing all the sounds via the usual buttons on the controller, but I could choose which sounds I wanted via the controllers programming. I also liked to use my Lenz Compact which is a basic starter controller which can be programmed to double up as an extra handset to the larger Lenz system. Now the simple Lenz Compact only has 3 functions and only 100 loco addresses (99 DCC address and address 0 is DC. Later Compacts had 128 loco addresses or something like that? The better Lenz system I have has 9999 loco addresses and the DC address), but if I use the Compact as a handset to the larger system, I have to set the larger system to two digit loco addresses tor the Compact to function.
Now I decided to use the Compact on DCC sound so I programmed the DCC sound loco so that the DCC sounds I wanted were in the first two or three CV's, so CV0 was the lights, CV 1 was the engine sound on and off, and CV 2 I allocated the two tone horn. This was possible to do with my Lenz system as I could move which sounds were allocated to which CV's using the decoder fitted to the Bachmann class 37. (I don't have a clue what make of sound decoder that Bachmann used. As default, the sound allocated to the CV2 was a single tone horn. I moved it to be two tone using the better Lenz system so the Compact could control the most important sounds. I don't really know a lot as I was reading the handbooks on the Lenz system and the decoders instructions to do this.
I had the option on my better Lenz system to upgrade it to have more CV's but as I can access all sound decoder CV's via POM anyway, I decided not to as I would lose the capability of altering my DCC system speed steps (Is a trade off if I chose to have additional functions (Already have quite a lot of functions on the better system so I don't see why one needs to hear a driver sturring his tea or some of the other unusual irrelevent sounds! My system can run 14, 27, 28 or 128 speed steps so it can run older Arnold or Marklin decoders if needed which ran on 14 and 27 speed steps. If I traded this off for extra functions I would lose this capability, so as one never knows what locos may come ones way in future years, if I do come across 27 speed step decoders at least I can use them).