# Garden Trains: $10 Dollar Sound System



## Blk69 (Dec 6, 2009)

Found this link on youtube. Anyone have any experience with this upgrade? Looks interesting.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjuqqtOLFi8


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## jwalls110 (Dec 12, 2012)

Nice economical way to get sound. Too bad i have to pay to read it.


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## Blk69 (Dec 6, 2009)

That is exactly what I thought too. I was hoping someone had a subscription to the web site and could advise if the sound system was worth the price of membership? 

Anyone belong to the garden trains website?


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## jhking52 (May 6, 2011)

There are two stories available. It is based on a MP3 player with some additional control and power mods. Original story mentions the vendor website which is www DOT electronics123 DOT com

The info on the LSOL site is to me worth the low fee to participate.


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_53&products_id=83 

Can't speak to the LSOL article, but this is a nice $10 mp3 player card. It sounds really good but needs some support to put it in a locomotive. 
I'm thinking two of these with a micro controller would be sweet. One card plays the engine sounds, the other does horns, bells and sfx.


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By jwalls110 on 06 Nov 2013 10:38 AM 
Nice economical way to get sound. Too bad i have to pay to read it. 
Yes, for LSOL, you pay before you play ( and then often dissappointed). IMO of coursel


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## jwalls110 (Dec 12, 2012)

Also what I have heard Del.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Is LSOL still around?


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

I have been using these MP3 player modules from MDFly for awhile at the Museum and they work great. I use the 2 watt amp from Carl's Electronics that is based on a LM386 Op Amp which run about $12.00 to amp up the sound of the MP3 player Module using a 8 Ohm speaker for very loud volume. So for roughly $25 I have a great sound system at add sound to the various exhibit components in the museum. On the Garden railway front though It also works well do to its small size. You could use a Picaxe Microprocessor to control the playing of the various sound files on the MDFly MP3 Player module as it can be operated via a TTL interface and play any of 999 files, stored on a SD card. Using the Analog input on the Picaxe you can sample the voltage going to the motor to select which sound to play, that is if you are using track power. If you are using and RC system you could sample the Pulse width going to the Speed controller from the R/C equipment to trigger the various sounds as well, plus with the R/C setup you could activate the Whistle and Bell remotely as well by hooking different inputs to the PICaxe processor to the servo connections of the receiver and triggering them using the joystick on the transmitter. 

I figure using a RS pref board you could mount the MP3 Player, the LM386 chip and the 4 associated parts for the amp and this little power supply ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/130994366448 ) all on the board and it would easily fit inside a boiler of any Bachmann or Delton locomotive if your doing steam. would be even easier if your doing diesels. I will make one up as soon as I get the Power supply modules for china that I ordered. It will take a couple of weeks, but at a $1.98 each I can wait. 

Dan S.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Tony, LSOL and polk/Aristocraft both left us in December.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks jhking for the electronics123 site. They have a lot of interesting stuff. 

Here's a $16 product that has 4 switch triggers for 4 different sounds, and up to 300 seconds of USB-loadable audio: 
http://www.electronics123.com/kits-...-Modules/300-second-USB-recording-module.html 

A "train sound" kit, maybe the one talked about on LSOL, don't know:
http://www.electronics123.com/kits-...Modules/Four-Train-Sounds-COB-Module-kit.html


Cliff


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

I've got mine working now. Doing almost the same thing with the MDFly Mp3 boards just using a different processor. The LM386 only takes a few components and I run everything off of a 5v source. I send commands via Xbee wireless to the AVR micro, it then plays the two MP3 Boards. Two channels for about $30 in parts. I just duplicate the sounds on both boards, that lets me run two at once. Lots of good samples of trains on Youtube. 

http://martinsant.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/mainWidget.jpg


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

Martan: are you getting both sounds to play at the same time through one speaker with your setup? I have been working on trying to put together a mixer circuit where I could use several sound modules and mix the sounds together to create a polyphonic system, that way I could have my chuff sound continue to play when I activate the whistle or bell. I would like to hear more about your design and see how it differs from what I am doing. 

you can email me directly at [email protected] 

Dan S.


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## jwalls110 (Dec 12, 2012)

Or post it here so we can all learn?


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

I have a simple mixer, yes, both sounds play at the same time. It's just a few resistors and caps feeding the amp chip. I tried a few more complex mixer circuits but didn't have much luck so I settled on simple. Here is the basic schematic, it could probably use a refactor but it works. I've since substituted the caps and resistors to what I could get at Radio Shack. The values are not super critical, just be sure use an electrolytic for the 250uf. 

http://martinsant.net/mixer.jpg 

I vary the volume for each channel with the s/w in my Attiny- that's the real mix. By themselves, when one channel plays, the other gets softer, I compensate in the s/w. 

Here is a schematic for my basic Atmel Attiny widget that I drive this with. 
http://martinsant.net/?p=1471 

I switch the serial transmit line from my micro between the two mp3 players with an 4052 analog switch. In theory you could switch 4 mp3 boards with it I guess. 

I'm also working on computer control via wireless using Xbee and I've got some RFID stuff working too. If you are interested, more details and ramblings are on my page: 

http://martinsant.net/


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

Martan: this is similar to what I have been working on as far as the sound system, but I have not used the LM3900 for the Mixer. Looks like I need to get a few of them. I was going to use a simple transistor mixer circuit with trim pots on each input so I could vary the input from each sound module and the chuff circuit. The triggers for the sound modules would come from the output pins of a Picaxe processor which in turn would be controller via R/C pulse inputs from a 75Mhz transmitter. Currently I am using the railBoss motor controller and can activate the sounds separately, but I have to have two speakers to have the chuff going when I activate the Whistle or bell. 

I think using the other servo outputs on the receiver that the railBoss don't use, I can use to control the Picaxe processor to select which outputs i want to activate on the MP3 Modules. that way I can select which whistle I want it play and when. I can also read the Pulse width input to the speed controller with the picaxe and have it automatically turn on the air pumps when sitting idle and then turn the bell on when the engine starts to move or when it starts slowing down to a stop and then turn off after a set time. Using one of the extra switches on the transmitter I could also have the picaxe operate a servo to uncouple the engine, but I will wait on that until I get the sound system all worked out. 

thanks for the input and Great website by the way. some of it is a little over my head right now, but I do have an idea for using a Windows based tablet to control the train using the touch screen and then controlling the sounds and everything else via Voice command 
I used a system from a company in canada to control a Robot I built for the Museum I work at that has many features file arms moving, wrists turning, eyes opening and closing and all are done with voice command, the driving of the robot is only handled by running a finger of the control pad on the tablet. Take a look at Ez-Robot control board and software. Yes it is more expensive that what your doing, but the control board is only like $70.00 and the software is free. The Control board has 20 input output pins and can also do serial TTL and you can do Bluetooth and wifi. Once I get a tablet, I will try working something out. 

Dan S.


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

Found a new candidate for cheap sound. Well, more or less I suppose. 
It will play up to 8 sounds at once and has an on-board mixer and amplifier - $49 
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12000 
http://robertsonics.com/wav-trigger/ 
A tad pricey but 8 tracks of playback with real-time mixing? 
Pretty slick.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Martan on 07 Feb 2014 06:42 PM 
Found a new candidate for cheap sound. Well, more or less I suppose. 
It will play up to 8 sounds at once and has an on-board mixer and amplifier - $49 
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12000 
http://robertsonics.com/wav-trigger/ 
A tad pricey but 8 tracks of playback with real-time mixing? 
Pretty slick. 

Well considering that diesels go to "Run 8" you could theroetically get i all of the steps providing you could get each to trigger at a specific voltage, but no more than one at a time. You could also get by with fewer "Runs" and add a horn, etc. A bank of relays comes to mind.


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

Not sure I follow? Why would you need relays? It has a serial port for controlling the sounds and will mix in real time. It supports up to 1000 wav files, you can assign any of them to any track. You could dedicate one track to engine sounds and swap notches (wav files) in real time, then use the other channels for bells, horns, what-have-you. I would probably dedicate two channels to the engine sounds, and fade them back and forth as I change notches. Not sure, I don't have one yet.

This is essentially what I'm doing with the two MP3 cards, one handles the notches, the other does horns and bells and stuff. However, the mp3 cards are not integrated into one unit, I have to switch the serial line back and forth between the two via a 4052 and my mixer is primitive at best. This board is a bit more expensive, roughly twice as much as a pair of mp3 cards and the glue required to run them (4052, amp, etc) but offers far more in terms of capabilities.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Martan on 08 Feb 2014 10:07 AM 
Not sure I follow? Why would you need relays? It has a serial port for controlling the sounds and will mix in real time. It supports up to 1000 wav files, you can assign any of them to any track. You could dedicate one track to engine sounds and swap notches (wav files) in real time, then use the other channels for bells, horns, what-have-you. I would probably dedicate two channels to the engine sounds, and fade them back and forth as I change notches. Not sure, I don't have one yet.

This is essentially what I'm doing with the two MP3 cards, one handles the notches, the other does horns and bells and stuff. However, the mp3 cards are not integrated into one unit, I have to switch the serial line back and forth between the two via a 4052 and my mixer is primitive at best. This board is a bit more expensive, roughly twice as much as a pair of mp3 cards and the glue required to run them (4052, amp, etc) but offers far more in terms of capabilities.





To make the engine sound "ramp up" with voltage, I would think that you could use a "trigger" so that when a desired voltage is met, the "trigger" activates the proper "Run #" track, and simultaneously dis-engages the prior trigger for the lower (or higher voltage if stepping down) so both/all "run tracks" don't play simultaneously. The trigger is the relay(s). 
I actually do this with an ITT sound card in my Goose, but only with two Run #s (low and high gears).


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

Toddalin: I see what your trying to do, would it not be possible to use a microprocessor like the PICAXE 20M2 chip and program it is use the PWM output from your motor controller and then use it as the input to your micro processor. If you program it so that when the pulse wide changes for each step in the rap of the diesel engine that it triggers a different output pin which are then connected to the 16 input pins on the wave-trigger in turn playing the appropriate wave file. It could also be programmed for when the engine starts moving the bell is activated for a set time period. Heck you could even have it play radio communication between the dispatcher and engineer as well. Not being a diesel guy and knowing all the nuances of how they sound, to me it seams possible. I can easily see how this could be used on Steam engines for the chuff different whistles, bell and steam pop off and blow down as well as the air pumps. I just might bite the bullet and buy one to play with. I have used the sparkfun MP3 trigger and it works great. I use it in a robot for the voice that I built for the museum where I work. 

Dan S.


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

Martan: Nice find, I like that it can do everything that I want to do and is all on one board. I looked at both websites and it look easy enough to set up and use and I like that you cane set the volume of each sound independently. I think I will purchase one and play around with it. I would like to hook it up to a PICaxe micro so I can read the PWM of my motor controller and then use it to trigger the sounds. It looks small enough, that I will be able to get it along with the RailBoss in the tender together, as the other MP3 modules and other components were getting pretty tight for space. 

Dan S.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Certainly sounds like it could be done that way. Mention the word "Picaxe" and Dave Bodner is sure to get involved and move it along.


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## RIrail (May 5, 2008)

One thing I've often wondered is where to get good quality wave file sounds that are locomotive related. What sites do you get them from?

Steve


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## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

Dan, I have similar plans, I'll be controlling the board with my AVR train widget using the serial port, I won't be using the triggers. Yes, I agree, the size of the mp3 boards is a bit of a pain. I have been looking for a board or chip like this for some time, we'll see if it lives up to it's press. 

Steve, I've been sampling from YouTube videos. Some good, some not so much. Takes some doing to sort them out and edit them down but there are all kinds of things out there.


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## Dansgscale (Jan 9, 2010)

RLRail: Here is something you could do to get the quality sounds. Find some Videos of Youtube of the engine sounds you want and like, then use the free online Video to MP3 conveter found at Youtube-mp3.org to convert the Video to a MP3 file. Then use Audacity program to strip out what you don't want and then loop it to get longer duration audio files.

Or you could hunt down old Railroad Sounds LP and the use a USB turntable to convert the LP's to MP3 files and the use Audacity to edit the audio files to your liking.

Dan S.


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