ELMOD

[wibblywobbly]

I have started work on a comprehensive website, but it will be a while before it is finished. Glad to hear that you have taken the plunge, and if you have any more questions don't be afraid to ask. I am always happy to help.

Rob G

[971wright]

Hi Rob This topic should be saved as a tutorial ,it gives a very good insight into El-mod .

regards pete

P.S. the more I see what can be done the more Im leaning towards El-mod

[wibblywobbly]

To be honest, the sounds are entirely configurable, once you understand how the system uses them. The main issue is getting hold of 'clean' recordings of the original tank.

What many people don't realise is just how quiet the Tiger, Stug and P3 were. It's quite a revelation being at the Bovington Tankfest and listening whilst a Tiger quietly rumbles by a few feet away. It makes sense I suppose, who wants to be sat in a mobile foghorn on a battlefield??

[Yellowshaker]

Rob, there are 2 versions of the PzIII sounds and 1 is quite loud. Do you have any insight as to what the differences are and why they are so different?
I see now how you tak the sounds and break them into sections. I assume the time comes in to save each individual sound and then add them to the tank and see IF they sound the way you want them to? It is involved but well worth the effort.
The link you had sent with the sounds to download are great too. Do you have any sources of good sounds to add?

[wibblywobbly]

Thats an interesting question.

This all comes down to the original source sound file.

If it was recorded using high quality recording equipment then it will be free of 'noise'. This means that it can be amplified without distortion. There is a limit to how much a sound can be amplified before the upper frequencies start getting distorted. A program like Audacity has built in limits and will invoke what is called 'clipping' when the loudest frequencies within a sound bite reach those limits.

You can see how this works if you do the following.

Open any sound you like.
On the screen you will see the sound displayed.
The upper and lower 'ragged edges' are clear of the upper and lower margins.
This tells you that there is room to amplify the signals without distorting the sound.
Play the sound and listen to the quality.
Now highlight a section of that sound.
Click on Effect, then Amplify.
Drag the slider to the right.
Select 'Allow Clipping'.
Click on Preview.
Now listen....see what I mean?

In order to amplify the sound to the loudest point without distortion, you need to play with the amplification setting until it is as loud as possible, but without it being 'clipped'.
The clipping sets the maximum level for all sound in that sound bite.
What is happening is that there is a ceiling beyond which all frequencies are the same, and eventually, even the previously inaudible sounds become audible...which is what causes the distortion.

To further complicate matters, bass and treble frequencies can also be manipulated. How you manipulate them depends on your speaker. Some speakers are bass orientated, others are treble. This is where the trial and error comes into play, as what sounds great played through the pc speakers may sound quite different when played on the tank.

This was why I was surprised that Elmod have removed the 2nd speaker option, as previously a user could connect two speakers, one a bass speaker for low frequencies, and a tweeter for high ones, thus getting the best of both worlds.

It may well be that they have improved the 'one' speaker system to process bass and treble signals with a higher quality?

As regards sounds to download, Jakeands sound files are the only publicly available ones that I know of. The Elmod site has copies of what is on the flash card, and the Panzerketten forum often has links to sound files that members have created. What I am hoping to achieve on the site I am building is a one stop source for sounds, so that users can contribute to a library, and hopefully with links to You Tube videos of what the sound is like when played on the tank.

Battlefield sounds, eg tank gun, machine guns, reloading sounds etc can be found all over the web for free. I just type 'free battlefield sounds' into Google and dig and delve.

[Yellowshaker]

Ah, I didn;t know that you could adjust all of these things in Audacity. taht program makes me a bit uneasy becasue of all the functions it offers, many of which I am unfamiliar with. So, when you make sounds, do you amplify them with the program or leave them as is? I am interested in getting the most out of the system and learn to consistently do so.
The 2 PzIII sounds are completely different and I am not sure why they did that. It is the only tank with 2 sounds. Searches led to no answers on this one.
As for the speaker, I am not sure why they did that. I would agree with you that there is a benefit to using a speaker for each, a high and low. I am using a few diferent speakers to test, but I feel the tamiya speakers offer much beter sounds than any others, including the visteon. Perhaps it would eb a good idea to try a blaster 3 soundcard using 2 speakers and see if it makes much difference. I have to admit that the quality is pretty good with what I am using though.
Rob, you should definitely make that site and let us know how it's going. I would like to have a site like that to find sounds. It gets difficult trying to find a specific sound on youtube.

[wibblywobbly]

To amplify a sound, you load it into Audacity, and then use that slider bar to gradually increase the amplification until the jagged edge of the display 'just touches' the upper and lower margins.

One tip is to do all of your editing on a sound file while it is a 'whole', and while it is in its original format. That way, when you splice it up, all sound will be at the same levels.

You can tweak the bass and treble using the same process. Audacity allows you to manipulate virtually any aspect of a sound, though I have never used the vast majority of what is available.

Unfortunately there are no magic settings, as you now know it depends entirely on personal preferences and speaker setups etc.

One thing that I do find annoying with the program is that it does not like over writing an existing file. It throws up a weird error. I therefore make it a habit to rename the original, or 'save as' under a different name. It makes things cumbersome, but I don't know if it's unique to my pc.

One other thing, although I am using a 'stable' version of Audacity, I did try a beta version once. That had a 'splitter' function. You simply loaded a sound in, edited it, and then told it to split the sound into xxx millisecond sections. It made the whole process much easier.

Cheers

Rob G

[Yellowshaker]

I have tried it out and all works perfectly. Seems I have a bad board though. The lighting does not work and I have a couple other issues. The sound files do work though. I am now tryingt o fin a radio that would be good for elmod to utilize all the features that the PRO version. I know the radio needs to have 2 knobs or sliders and 2 3-way switches. I have foun dit near impossible to find this for les than 600 dollars. For now I have to run it in 4 channel mode, which will still give all functions, they are simply on the left stick instead of seperated to knobs and such. All I am mising is the ability for 1 user sound. i can use a max of 3 instead of 4.
Overall the system is amazing and quite detailed and realistic. The Tiger 1 sounds that I downloaded are awesome, to say the least.
Rob, again, you are the man. If you have any other tips or links to share please do so.

[wibblywobbly]

Glad you are enjoying it all, I find it just as absorbing as the modelling.

As for the lighting, are you running it off the 8 pin plug via the HL circuit, or the auxiliary 5 socket on the Elmod board?

The reason I ask is that if you run it off the 5 pin one, then you can switch the lights on and off via the tx left stick. If you are using that socket you just need to make sure that you are using the negative for the lights, and the common positive that serves the other auxiliary functions. You can have brake lights on there too. Be aware that you need to switch them on and off via the left stick, it is a different circuit/signal to the HL one.

The Elmod board is pre-resistored, so you can wire up 5v LED's without the need for additional resistors on the cathode of the LED. It makes life very simple, especially as it means that you can plumb a high-intensity white or yellow led in, and you have an instant muzzle flash. Same goes for additional machine guns, as both the led and the sound are activated by a different left stick position to the HL ones.

I am working on a very comprehensive website...I will post the link when it is all done, but it's a lot of typing.

Rob G

[Yellowshaker]

Well the 8-pin connector is used headlights. Then you have dedicated 2 pin connectors for a brake light, an aux. machine gun, and an aux. light. None of these are working. With the PRO version the controls differ from those of the ECO version. Depending on the way it is set up, you can have the functions on the left stick or on seperate knobs/sliders, or 3-way switches. My issue is finding a radio that is affordable with the features needed to seperate everything. I need 2 knobs and 2 3way switches. Can't find a single radio like this.
I can't waitfor you to get the site up. Your knowledge of the system is inspiring. I think I speak for everyone when I say you are doing the tank community a gret sevrice by sharing this knowledge with us.