ELMOD

[wibblywobbly]

There are two things to consider when creating sounds, one is the quality of the source sound, and the other is the actual sound that you are creating.

The trial and error part is discovering that what sounds brilliant when played on your pc using its processing power, is not quite the same when played on the Elmod, good though it is.

The speaker that you use, and the speaker enclosure play a part in this.

Beyond any doubt, the Tamiya speaker and speaker box combination give the best reproduction that I have seen. There is a wealth of difference between plugging my Elmod into a Tamiya speaker, and using the Visitron FR7S (one of the best on the market) with a small home made box. I think that the solution is to utilise the 2nd speaker output on the Elmod board with a small tweeter speaker to output the high frequency sounds, but as yet I haven't found anything that is suitable.

I am off visiting friends in another part of France for a couple of days from Thursday, but what I will try and do when I get back is go from square 1 to completion with a new sound set. I have a web site that explains Elmod installation and will add it to that as it will be more flexible in layouts etc. http://www.hitenter.co.uk/elmod" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Yellowshaker]

Ok, I understand about the Tamiya speaker quality. Second to none in my opinion too.
Thanks again for taking the time to help out with this. No one seems to have an answer as you do.Also, the new elmod does not support 2 speakers as the older system does. This only has 1 speaker capability.

[wibblywobbly]

By jove you are right, I never noticed that they had dropped the 2nd speaker plug.

I see that they also now do a conversion board for installing Elmod into Tamiya tanks??

[Yellowshaker]

Yep, they changed things up a bit. I am loving the system, but the sounds would truly make it perfect. I have realized that I just do not have the ability to comprehend ohow this is done without some serious instructions. When you have the extra time I will be here brother. I appreciate everything very much. You have been agreat help with this.

[Johnf]

Well Rob. I downloaded the sound clips from the link and added them to my card, also saved master file on my computer. Sounds great now. I have elmod connected to a visaton 8. Is it possible to add say the gun sound clips from the othe folders on the link and have more than one gun sound at random. Also there are about 12 squeak sounds in the folder. Would adding more squeaks make the tracks squeak more. My squeaks are not noticable unless stopping or changing gear. Cannot find any place to squeeze a smoke unit in. Thanks for your help.

John

[wibblywobbly]

Sure you can, You can change the gun sound for anything you like, as long as the file has the same name as the one that is in the folder.

As for track squeaks, it isn't the number of track squeak sound bites that you have that make it squeak more frequently. It plays a bite from however many you have, at random.

To increase the frequency at which they are played, open the blaster.ini file in the folder on the chip.
It should open in Notepad.
The first two lines:

CFG M 30
CFG C 42 1000 100

...now, in the Elmod manual (translated into better English):

3.1.1 Configuration
Every configuration entry starts with the string 'CFG', followed by one to three user configurable settings.
– CFG 'M' for configuration of the speed steps of the main engine
– CFG 'C' for configuration of the chain squeaks

Configuration of the speed steps
Syntax: CFG M start
Values range:
start: 0 – 127
Suggestive values:
start: 30 – 60
This entry defines the voltage level of the motors, to set the point at which the 'idle' sound stops as the tank has started to move.
The level depends on the detection of the soil, tank type, and type of motors, gearboxes, and tracks.

Example:
CFG M 50
Meaning: the sample of an idle motor will be played up voltage level 50. It is recommended that the value is chosen below the point the tank starts moving. Otherwise the tracks start to squeak before the tank starts moving.

Configuration of track squeak
Syntax: CF start t1 t2
Values range:
start: 0 – 127
t1: 50-5000
t2: 50-5000
Suggestive values:
start: 30 – 60
t1: 500-1000
t2: 50-200
The first parameter defines the voltage level of the motors at which the squeak sounds are played.
The second parameter defines the delay between the squeak samples on slowest speed in milliseconds
The third parameter defines the delay between the squeaks on full speed (also in milliseconds).

Example:
CFG C 60 2000 100
The tracks start to squeak on voltage level 60.
The delays between the squeaks are 2000ms (2 seconds) when driving very slow
The delays between the squeaks are 100ms (0,1second) when driving fast.
The delays between both speed levels is incremented as you accelarate.
The smallest possible value for the delay is 50 ms (0,05 sec).
The first parameter (the voltage level) should be just a little bit above the value on which the tank starts to move.

So, as all motors, tank weights, and gearboxes are slightly different, you can infinitely adjust these settings until you have tracks that squeak just as the tank starts to move, and then adjust how often they squeak during accelaration and running.

Although this all sounds very 'wordy' that one line in the Blaster.ini file:

CFG C 60 2000 100

is what controls the track squeak, both when they start squeaking, and the frequency.
You will never change 'CFG C' as this identifies the '60 2000 100' as being track squeak settings.
You can change '60' until the tracks just start to squeak when you pull away.
You can change '2000' until the tracks squeak at the frequency you want when driving slowly.
You can change '100' until the tracks squeak at the frequency you want when driving fast.

Remember to save the ini file back onto the card, otherwise you will kick yourself when you start the tank and have to take it all apart again.

Half the problem is that Thomas is German, and they are IT geeks. The manual is written as a technical document, rather than a simple 'how to'. It is that shortcoming that I will address soon, even the Germans on Panzerketten have the same issues, so it is not an English thing at all.

Cheers

Rob G

Ps - I will be offline from Thurs pm until Saturday.

[Johnf]

Thank you for the detailed information. So helpful. I will play with this. Just ordered a Panzer 111 kit. Will not start for a while though. Owe you a pint for all the help.

Regards,
John

[wibblywobbly]

One other trick that I forgot to mention.

If you use a recording of a real tank extracted from a You Tube video, it will have the engine and track sounds in the one sound file.

To prevent the Elmod track squeaks from playing just delete them, or rename them, I will try and remember to cover this when I do some detailed instructions.

If you hit problems with sound files, there is a program called checker in every folder on the card. Double click on that and it will analyse the list of sound files in the ini file and compare it with the ones in the folder.

If there are any mis-matches it will list them.
If any sounds are in the wrong format it will tell you.
Warnings can be ignored, it is just telling you that something exists but will not be played etc.
Errors need to be addressed.

Hope this helps.

Rob G

[Yellowshaker]

Rob, this information is great. I can't believe that this has not been dealt with before. Elmod seems to have everything we can want to use to make the ultimate rc tank, it's only lacking in the fact that you need to be a computer genius to figure it all out. Thanks to you, we mere mortals may have a shot at actually doing all of this and having it work correctly. Thanks so very much for all the help and I hope I can help you out sometime.

[Yellowshaker]

Ok, I got most of this understood. I am running into an issue though. When I add the file to the 111 folder and then run the check on it, that file comes up with an Error. It says Wrong format-no sample data. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong now?