[GrapevineFlyer]

SoundTraxx is unveiling a new DCC product on a facebook live stream on Tues Aug 2 10AM MST. A lot of buzz going on about it.

New Product Announcement

We are excited to announce a revolutionary new product and give a full demonstration of it on our Facebook channel (8/2/22)!

www.facebook.com

 

[OilValleyRy]

I wonder if it’s going to be a new uploadable decoder to compete with LokSound?
Or a caboose sound decoder maybe?

 

[Severn]

I'm all ears...

 

[OilValleyRy]

Well I dunno if it’s just me but the live feed never loads.
I guess I’ll have to check youtube for it later.

 

[Severn]

I think this works.

https://m.facebook.com/SoundTraxxDCC/posts/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0

I didn't watch all of it but it's tsunami2 + blue tooth which is fantastic!

Now besides control which is very good if it would also allows cv programming I'd say home run.

 

[Raege]

I was a bit intimidated by setting cv’s to change sounds volumes etc so this Bluetooth interface is awesome. Will be very interested in making it part of future plans

 

[Severn]

Someone else pointed it is iOS only at the moment. It was done in a partnership with another company called BlueRail which has a similar product although I'm not familiar with it directly. Anyway I think it's disappointing there's no android support. Also I would just ask these companies to publish the dang interface specs so you know the kiddies can play...!

But yeah overall, if you provide another interface "into" the decoder such as bluetooth or even a USB plug (which I think would be super cheap and easy)... then to me it should be pretty easy to provide for the setting of CVs outside of the DCC rail system and this would be welcome.

 

[OilValleyRy]

Ah. Well bluetooth will be great for many folks.

 

[Cycleops]

Not exactly clear on how it works. Does the Bluetooth control the loco or just the sound? How does it integrate into your existing control system? Can you use another controller as well or can it only be by Bluetooth on your phone?

 

[Severn]

Think of it like this. In the middle is the "sound and loco control". On one side if you will is the traditional dcc interface. And on the other side is Bluetooth interface. Well that's the way I think of it at least. But yeah the Bluetooth side give you total control.

So I put myself on both the soundtrack and bluerail mailing lists about this thing.

And even though I still want them to put that spec on GitHub ... And I understand the need to actually make money...

But even though I still want that I may get one anyway and suck it up and buy a cheap iPad if I can find it to give it a go, just to experiment with it.

 

[Ron045]

I have been running BlueRail track and battery power for a few years. BlueRail did not have sound. You could buy any sound decoder and add it. This was simply a marriage of BlueRail and Tsunami into one simple board that does it all. The app was upgraded, mostly behind the scenes. The look of the Bluenami app looks very similar to the BlueRail app. The wonderful thing they programed in was the ease for changing settings without having to do math to calculate your CV settings.

George at Soundtraxx did a pretty good job explaining it, but you can tell he seemed rushed in his live event. Here is the other side of the house, Dave at BlueRail explaining it.

Ron