Listening to the sound of the whistle on the K4 I had to look around and see if one of the cats was whining at my feet, or one of the neighborhood brats was outside whining. Most pitiful excuse for a whistle I have ever heard, or if it was an air horn even more pitiful. Somebody needs to go back to that sound package and redo that horrible rusty hinge squall or whatever it is. I am surprised that someone at Bachmann let that be recorded and I hope when it does come out that it has been improved.
It's a Soundtraxx decoder, I very surprised they didn't do a better job with the whistle, but it's still not a big deal, as everything else sounded OK. I'm more interested as to how they run.
Wow, such negativity. Listen, Why not wait until they hit the hobby store shelves and people buy them, try them out and then judge? Remember the Kato 2-8-2 was panned when it was first released and now people are calling it the "gold standard". I very much liked what I saw in the video. As far as sound goes that is subjective and everyone has their own opinion.
Well hopefully if this posts here this is the Pennsy whistle used on the K4. http://www.columbusrailroads.com/audio/PRR K4 5410 NY&LB Brielle NJ 8-54.mp3 The article this was taken from states the home road made whistle from the Pennsy shops was used on all the passenger from late 1890 to the end of steam. Obviously either the sound program or speaker was corrupt. Sources state that the freight whistles sounded like Banshees and were replaced by passenger whistles on some as passenger steam went out of service. The sound in the video unfortunately sound like a cross between a New Years whistle and a kid whining not like the recording. Or maybe that is just the Chinese translation of a Pennsy whistle.
Sounds (to me) like the whistle Soundtraxx calls a "Round Top Single-Chime (Peanut)" from their Econami decoder: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/econami/playsound_eco.php?s=w11 Other whistle sounds from an Econami can be heard here: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/econami/econami_sound.php?s=steam
Actually, that whistle is an accurate PRR whistle. Unfortunately, it's the freight "banshee" whistle that Soundtraxx includes with the medium steam decoder. http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=sw22 The K4 should have a deep, mournful 3 chime passenger whistle. The medium steam decoder also includes a B&O 3 chime, which is a bit higher than the PRR 3 chime, but in the same family. Hopefully it will be included in the K4 OEM decoder. Here's what the real ones sound like:
I think what you are hearing is the result of the small speaker used in N scale. A larger speaker would give a better fuller range of sound but the technology of getting a 12 inch woofer into a N scale tender is not here yet. So do we scrap everything because our best technology is not good enough?
If the "best technology is not good enough" yet, then make it optional - not standard equipment. Let the early adopters get it, if they so choose, but don't force it upon all customers who might otherwise want to buy that model of locomotive.
This drives up the costs because you have to add/delete and use labor to make things different. I'm glad with this release.
The 2015 Bachmann catalogue I have listed the non sound versions of some locos as about $80 cheaper than the ones with sound. All the current Bachmann locos now come with a dual mode decoder so they can run on either mode and I don't think they make any currently that don't have a dual mode decoder in them. Dealers that normally offer Bmann products at a discount most likely will be offering a non sound version with dual mode decoder around the $190 to $200 range if the Bmann elects to produce non sound versions.
With the freight Banshee sounding like a distressed Billy Goat in this model, at least for now, I wonder how many folks would end up using their K4 in freight service. I would think that folks who have Pennsy passenger consists being pulled by the old venerable MiniTrix 4-6-2 would be the first in line for this model when I hits the stores to use in passenger service not freight. Is it even possible to change the whistle sound, if it exists beside on some videos, with out having to buy a complete new sound decoder and program to get the correct sound.
I asked over on the Bachmann forum, and I was assured that there will be a selection. These are the sounds that came with the HO version: PRR Banshee: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=sw22 Baldwin B-4G connie: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=sw1 Reading 6 chime: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=sw23 Of those, the Baldwin sounds like a 3-chime, and is definitely the closest of the three. Soundtraxx does have a B&O 3-chime that's a little bit higher pitch than the PRR's, but definitely a close relative, and closer than anything else I can find in their library: http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=sw2
