Has anyone tried the audio shack sounds

[bprice]

The Audio Shack demos sound really nice. Has anyone purchased their sound sets. If so, how are they installed and what is the performance like in actual OR play?

http://milwaukeenorth418.wix.com/theaudioshack

Thanks
Basil

[Shawmut]

I've purchased the FDL12 and FDL16 sounds; they install with an installer that you point to your MSTS installation. Since I run only mini-routes and have dozens of MSTS installations (plus the regular MSTS that I keep simply for the files the 6 default routes contain) I pointed the installer to a temp file and then moved it to the mini-routes I wanted the sounds in.

The sounds themselves are excellent; the wiper sounds and horn sounds are the best I've ever heard. The sound is about right inside the cab and quite loud outside. The FDL sounds are excellent as well. I only bought the OR sounds so can't comment on the MSTS versions, but they run and sound just fine in OR. I did try running the Audio Shack sounds in MSTS; the sounds woulnd't load, of course, but didn't cause the sim to crash ... just to have the engines run silently.

I personally think that the aural aspect of the sim is very important at bringing about suspension of disbelief, so IMHO the sounds were well worth the small amount of money they want. After I installed the sounds I ran the route I installed them in through Route Riter; it became evident that the FDL12 was missing some of the sounds the SMS files called for (the 4 wiper sounds, for example). All I did was to copy those in the FDL16 folder into the FDL12 folder and all was well.

Dave

[TGM]

Hi Basil,

The sounds are great. Better than most I've heard. Great horn sounds that cover most modern engines.

I have both sets and like Dave said I have found that they were missing lots of their wav files as asked for by both the cab & eng sms files.
I still can't find the "x_air4.wav" from the FDL16 set or a suitable replacement for it. I have contacted their support but have not heard back, that was ages ago as well. They did put out a patch but it didn't fix the issue.
My gripe above should still not put you off if you are thinking about getting them as they are still good value.

regards Tom

[R. Steele]

Exactly the same opinion as the others, however, they should up their quality control if they intend to be payware. Too many missing wav files and some other problems, all fixable (except missing files - which can be subbed in with something else until the patch is issued). It's a new operation so give them some time to adjust and make changes, hopefully they will be responsive and make improvements where necessary.

I also use many installation profiles so I installed them to my temp/test install profile and then copied them into the Common.Snd folder and use them that way. I wish they would offer them as either zip files (my preference) or with an installer.

If you are looking for a package of freight sounds buy something from Tiger Trains that includes their Tiger Trains Freight Sounds package, very good.

[bprice]

I think the main thing I am looking for is horn sounds that are more responsive, especially for the ge44cws. So many of my locomotives suffer from delays or loops that are too long. This has long been an issue with MSTS. Some are better than others. The demos at the audio shack impressed me.

Basil