Adding Auto Startup/Shutdown Sounds To v5 LokSound - Part 1

When the author starts up his TSU2 equipped diesels there is a startup alarm bell that automatically sounds for a short period before the prime mover starts. Very few ESU decoders have this alarm sound that automatically sounds off when their prime mover starts up (some do have alarm bells that are function controlled but we want automatic ones). This article will show how to add that automatic sound to an ESU decoder that comes with an alarm bell by default and thereby demonstrate how to add any sound you may want. There is more than one way to do this so one method will be demonstrated here. The author hopes in the near future to add a Part 2 where we add a startup alarm bell sound to a prime mover that does not come with an alarm bell by default. This is a little more difficult but will introduce the reader to building and adding their own containers to sound files which would be a good introduction for those wishing to learn their intricacies. It's not that difficult!

First and foremost you will need access to LokSound Programmer hardware to accomplish what is going to be shown and second, you can only do this on version 4 and 5 decoders. It is not possible to change the sound files on v4 Select decoders as you have no access to the sound file. Also the locomotive sound file must have an alarm bell installed in a sound slot. As mentioned above, not having a built in alarm bell will be dealt with in Part 2.

Figure 1 shows the v5 sound file of an EMD 710 engine. We are using the file S0821-LS5H0DCC-Diesel-EMD-8-710G3A-T2-LATE-EXH-T-V1-R1.esux. You can download this file from the LokSound website sounds.

Adding Startup Sounds
Go to the Sound Slot Settings Pane and scroll down to sound slot 22. This is usually the default sound slot for alarm bells. Turn up the volume to 75% (you can adjust that later).

Figure 1 Sound slot 22 alarm bell

Now go to the Sound Pane and double click on the prime mover sound. In this case sound slot 1 (it is usually always sound slot 1). Double clicking will present the sound chart show in figure 2 (after reducing the upper right size box to 50% and scrolling down to the MS container). MS stands for “Mute to Standing” and is the engine start. This container is the key to any starting sound you may want to add.

Figure 2 “Mute to Standing” Container

Notice the high-lighted Timer Pre-Warm Start. Set this to about 14. What is this? If you double click on the MS container you’ll see it. In essence, it is the relative amount of time before the engine start sequence actually begins. Increasing the timer means it will take a little longer for the engine to actually startup. Why would one do this? Hold on we’ll get to that.

Go back to the Overview tab near the top of the page, scroll down to sound slot 22, double click on it and you will see Figure 3.

Figure 3 Inside the alarm bell container

Double click on the T1 = 30 and set the value to around 12. This is the relative amount of time the alarm actually sounds. A value of 30 is too long unless you really want it to sound off. You can see this value used on the right side of the Start state. Shortening the alarm length and increasing the time to prime mover start (we did that above) allows the alarm to ring before the engine starts. Adjust these as you see fit.

Now go back and click on the prime mover tab and then click on the MS container. You will now see State Properties on the left. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see three drop-down boxes labeled Mapping. Open the Sound drop down, scroll down until you see SD70MAC Alarm Bell 1 and check that box. Save the file and you now have an alarm bell that will sound when you press the engine start function key. You can adjust the time to start and the alarm length as we did above.

One word of warning here, in order to hear the alarm you will have to burn the sound file to the decoder. The simulator only plays what is in the sound slot you have selected before any changes were made.

Adding Shutdown Sounds
In order to add shutdown sounds the only difference from what has been discussed so far is instead of adding the sound to the MS container, look for the SM “Standing to Mute” state and add the sound to the sound dropdown in Mappings the identical way we did in this article.

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