Re: RailPro Sounds & Future Updates

[MustDecide]

It has been a while since I have been on this forum. I still have not taken the plunge to buy RailPro but am getting closer to making a decision. I joined a local club just to learn about designing and setting up a successful layout at home. Anyway the other night there was a training session on JMRI at the club. One (among many many) setting that I saw that really caught my attention was a setting that you could turn on to automatically have the brakes squeal as the engine was coming to a stop. I see some sound files that say 'automatic brake sounds' but does that mean that you can set the sound to play automatically as the engine is coming to a stop? Or do you have to set a button to play the sound? I also have not seen any updates on the main website. Dose that mean the updates are not happening or have slowed down? The (lack of good) sound is maybe the biggest reason I have not made a RailPro purchase yet. The other reason I have not purchased yet it that if there are any big updates I do not want to have to purchase new engine modules because the current version will not accept the latest updates. 

I know RailPro cannot compete with EVERY manufacturer for DCC out there but it seems like there are a lot of settings and options on some of the DCC modules that RailPro does not have. Or are they available in RailPro but just not talked about or brought up because they are already there and everybody knows about them.

Thank you.

[William Brillinger]

The (lack of good) sound is maybe the biggest reason I have not made a RailPro purchase yet. 

There are "good sounds" in the railpro lineup, but the Older EMD sounds are lacking for sure. The EMD645E3 is 'imminent' but has not been released yet. I'm hoping to hear it soon myself. There are a bunch of sounds in the pipeline as I understand it currently but there are some software updates coming that are holding things up as far as I know.

The other reason I have not purchased yet it that if there are any big updates I do not want to have to purchase new engine modules because the current version will not accept the latest updates. 

The LM-3's and HC-2b's are not at risk of becoming obsolete for a long time. You won't have to worry about them, Ring has thought well into the future on these units and they have far more memory than they need right now. I wouldn't be concerned about them being obsolete for a really long time. In Fact, I don't think any of the first gen LM's and HC's have been left behind to date either.

[nodcc4me]

The Brake Squeal sound has to be set with a button. There may be times that you do not want the brakes to squeal. Continued squealing every time the train comes to a stop could become annoying after hearing it over and over. I would rather have that under my control.

As with any technology, new products tend to make older versions obsolete, but in the case of LM modules, the only limits on the older LM's is the memory space, which increases with each new iteration. As sound files improve they will probably get larger, taking up more memory. Under a worst case scenario, LM1's can easily be replaced by newer LM versions, but they will always work within the system if upgrading is not an option for you.

[William Brillinger]

As sound files improve they will probably get larger, taking up more memory. Under a worst case scenario, LM1's can easily be replaced by newer LM versions, but they will always work within the system if upgrading is not an option for you.

There is 1 sound file, "Steam Heavy," that is not LM-1S compatible, but Ring released a version of that sound specifically for the LM-1S too. This tends to show that Ring is cognizant of this potential issue and is willing to take steps to accommodate older modules.