Would you like a custom horn, whistle or even bell for your Trainz locos?

[JonMyrlennBailey]

I finally learned how to do it in this video as follows:

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I did it differently though. Using Audacity sound editor, to avoid pops or clicks during sounding of horn in Trainz, I made both the horn_loop and horn_start WAV files long, about 15 to 20 seconds of continuous horn blow. I just chopped a second off the beginning for the horn_loop file. I cloned an existing two-part hornsound asset form DLS and made my home-rolled hornsound using that as a platform.


This asset is what I now use as the platform for rolling my own hornsounds: CSX C40-8 #7643 Nathan K5H Hornsound <kuid:800145:100454> by we_trains_02

You can use Audacity to record your sound source or use existing sound files from other sources. I used a Casio LK-175 model digital music keyboard to make synthetic train whistle sounds. I used the Tuba tone for the d/e horn and the Bottle Lip Blowing tone to create the steam whistle. The diesel horn is in the tenor range while the steam whistle is about an octave higher. I made these sounds in diminished seventh musical chords to reflect the definitive color and harmony of classic American locomotive horns. Most modern American train horns sound dissonant to my ears. The diminished seventh chords are scary, dark, suspenseful and dramatic to give your classic American trains that old-fashioned warm and fuzzy feeling in your heart and soul. I used my Motorola Moto E6 Android phone with a voice record app to take the recordings right off the speaker of the keyboard. This is a cheesy way of doing it but I don't want to dump a lot of money into something this trivial. If I were to own my own railroad, diminished seventh chords for train whistles would be strictly stipulated by me. One might argue about high or low the pitch should be for train horns. I like them a bit on the darker, lower and spookier side. In my video below: the GM/EMD Rock Island d/e carbody E9 sports my custom G Dim7 chord while the K1D Canadian National Pacific Class steam loco sports an E Dim7 chord.


Here is my Trainz video showcasing my special hornsounds as follows:

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Question: what does anybody here think about what I was able to figure out and accomplish myself? I got no help here in the content creation forum.

Now, I know all about making my own exclsuive horn/bell sounds to be applied to Trainz locos. I can swap out enginesounds even more easily. I wish I could just find a better sound source in the musical tones/timbres/harmonies/acoustics/pitches I fancy than a cheap music keyboard to try to fake train whistles.

 

[pdkoester]

I like how you explained all the steps to achieve this. Very simple to understand, and good result.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

I like how you explained all the steps to achieve this. Very simple to understand, and good result.

Thank you. I owe most of this success to the young man who made the Trainz Tutorial video above. Without him, I would have never have figured it out on my own.
Content creatrion or modification is actually one of the more fun things about Trainzing. To piddle around and try to come up with something new or different. I've been route building in Surveyor since 2015 and first discovered Trainz in 2006. In American railroading, the sounds associated with traditional over-the-land trains are about 75% of all the excitement. A modern quiet subway train is just boring and insipid.

 

[Aiden09]

6:00 what kind the horn is it? is it custom?

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

6:00 what kind the horn is it? is it custom?

I don't know. It sounds like some little foreign automobile.

 

[Aiden09]

I don't know. It sounds like some little foreign automobile.

ik, but i'll make my own metra horns,