Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby SteveP_trains » Tue Nov 07, 2017 6:08 pm

Hi
Having mastered (hopefully) the 3D model builds and blueprints to get some decent looking locos out, I have the need to delve into the black arts of Loco Sounds!!!
I have aliased sounds before and even analysed and built up my own versions of existing sound file sets so feel I am reasonably comfortable with the basics of what goes where .

However, what I am looking for now is the advice and guidance of starting from scratch.

I have a sound recording of the steam loco from rest to speed so some basic questions are:-
How should I split the file up into the necessary sections that build the Chuffs?
There seems to be a general 6 x 4 WAV files for each Chuff build - is this normal and how should the WAVs vary from each other?

Are the curves critical and how about the Modifiers, in getting the blueprints to finally sound like the prototype??

Am sure there are loads of other questions but any help in starting off would be great!!

Thanks

Steve
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby sumitsingh » Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:22 am

Have you try reading a proxybin file of a steam loco?
Try reading a proxybin file from RWTool XML reader, because we all learn from examples.

There is some basic knowlegde about Sound - http://christrains.com/ts_faq_sounds.html
You can also refer developers documents at - http://railworksamerica.com/download-library/accessories?view=document&id=1081:rsc-s-developer-docs&catid=24:accessories.
There is PDF file on sounds.

For editing WAV files, I use GoldWave.
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby SteveP_trains » Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:43 pm

Hi
Thanks for your reply - appreciated the response.
I have looked at all the suggested material and broken down a proxyxml and rebuilt it so am comfortable with the actual components.

My questions were really aimed at the recorded WAV file starting point as to how that should be broken up and used/edited/tweaked to give a faithful replication of the real loco in the sim.

Appreciate you replying though :)

Steve
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby sumitsingh » Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:14 pm

You can use a ulitity called DAVDecoder ( File ID - 18204 ) on UKTS.
This can convert back DAV audio format to WAV audio format. After converting it, listen it or open it in GoldWave ( or Audacity ) and see cue points.
Cue points are like markers for looping the audio.

A simple example of cue points are used in horns and bells ( bells for steam Locomotives, I guess they do have horns only ).
Last edited by sumitsingh on Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby JamesLit » Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:21 pm

No need for cue points or sample loops in steam loco chuff sounds, as you have two types of sound:
Individual chuffs which are in sets of 4 (one complete revolution of a 2 or 4 cylinder loco's wheels, in order)
Loops which are at least one full revolution

The individual chuff sounds need a period of silence (I use a standard 1s) at the beginning of the file, with a marker at the very start of the sound which should be named START. Programs like GoldWave can help you do this - I don't think Audacity supports using markers though.

The loops just need to be edited in such a way that they can be played repetitively in a way that sounds as smooth as possible.

Hope that helps, Steve.
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby SteveP_trains » Thu Nov 16, 2017 9:59 am

JamesLit wrote:No need for cue points or sample loops in steam loco chuff sounds, as you have two types of sound:
Individual chuffs which are in sets of 4 (one complete revolution of a 2 or 4 cylinder loco's wheels, in order)
Loops which are at least one full revolution

The individual chuff sounds need a period of silence (I use a standard 1s) at the beginning of the file, with a marker at the very start of the sound which should be named START. Programs like GoldWave can help you do this - I don't think Audacity supports using markers though.

The loops just need to be edited in such a way that they can be played repetitively in a way that sounds as smooth as possible.

Hope that helps, Steve.


Many thanks. That is the sort of starting point I need to try these out. Are these markers just to aid editing or are they used by the Sim? I assume just editing

Cheers
Steve
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby JamesLit » Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:22 pm

They're used by the sim, I tried making chuff sounds without them years ago and it didn't like them until I added the markers in. No idea what the point of that is supposed to be though!
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby SteveP_trains » Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:51 am

JamesLit wrote:They're used by the sim, I tried making chuff sounds without them years ago and it didn't like them until I added the markers in. No idea what the point of that is supposed to be though!


Ahhh! That would explain why the bits of editing I have done to the WAV files produced nothing!!!!

Thanks for that valuable piece of info.

Steve
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Re: Steam Loco Chuff Sounds

Postby SteamSoundsSupreme » Tue Nov 21, 2017 10:23 am

It's important as well to make sure your sound source doesn't have too much background noise. Not easy with a steam engine I know! Each chuff sound needs a gentle fade in & fade out to give them a smooth sound.

Cue points are required for any sound which is tied to wheel rotation - chuffs, conrod clanks, coasting sounds etc. These are entered in the exhaust section at the bottom.

OneShots & Loops do not need cue points.

Hope that helps.

Matt

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