[Tom]

Just a thought on the track squeaks as I did this with TBS/BARC and it sounds great
but have to manually trigger it on/off and that isn't ideal. What it is is a long
loop of squeaking track movement that is played over the engine/moving sound.
(I also tried it as a dynamic fade in/dynamic loop/dyn loop fade out which was an
attempt to get it to not trigger as you pointed out the instant the tank started moving.)

If the minimum repeat was set able to be set to zeros perhaps then this could also
be an easy option to play a longer loop over the movement sound?

[Tom]

This is a example of a 5 sec track sound played over the engine.. of course the sound loop volume can be adjusted
up or down or volume  or the loop made longer or shorter but to my ear it sounds pretty good.

[Tom]

Here are two more versions one with lower squeak vs engine ratio and one with clack sound from the Kingtiger at Saumur. Thinking if the min can be set to zero then the option of longer loops (2-5 seconds) can be an option. Also I found in general the dynamic in loop out feature on the TBS is great and assuming this sound is triggered the usual way..the dyn in fades in ..loop..then fade out..and the delay function on the TCB  makes it all smoother and more realistic.

[Tom]

Actually was thinking if set up as a dynamic loop on the TBS it may loop in spite of a min time for random variation. But
I of course can't test that yet! Part of the reason I brought this up is that people using random squeaks on the IBU have
found it less than convincing compared to an integrated sound. Also being able to test the tank live in regard to any sound
or movements is a great option and seems the TCB can do this as well. (hope

[LukeZ]

Tom these are interesting suggestions and I am still thinking through them. I don't think using the existing squeak sounds for your track would work very well even if we decrease the minimum interval to zero.

What we would want rather is a new trigger, not some radio input or switch, but actually a trigger on an event, and the event would be tank moving or tank stopped. Then we would just assign this trigger to a "User Sound - Repeat" function to start playing your squeak track. But I need to spend some more time thinking about how best to integrate this sort of thing. With the future and as-yet-nonexistent Open Panzer sound card all this sort of functionality could be handled easily on the card itself. With the TBS Mini we have to complicate the TCB for something perhaps few people will use. The other thing I am concerned about is that if this track is playing continuously on the TBS while the vehicle is moving, it may prevent other non-engine sounds from playing (like cannon fire or whatever), unless the vehicle is stopped.

But I do like the idea so I will ponder it a bit more. In my own personal testing I have found that indeed the random squeaks are not very convincing. They were an interesting experiment and challenge to get working but I think we will ultimately want to do better. Another concept I am toying with is a different kind of squeak, perhaps I will call it a "clack" - these would again be very short sound files, but rather than playing randomly like squeaks they would be played at intervals that increase or decrease in relation to vehicle speed, the idea being to simulate track noises. But I haven't tried it and it too may end up being less than convincing in the end.

On overlay track such as the one you suggest may be the best proxy and most simple to implement, so long as we can have it start and stop playing at the correct time. I will keep you posted on what I come up with.

[LukeZ]

Also being able to test the tank live in regard to any sound
or movements is a great option and seems the TCB can do this as well.

You might want to define more specifically what sort of live testing you want to do for me to answer this question accurately. However I can say the TCB has functions for engaging and disengaging the "transmission." Of course our simple models don't actually have real transmissions but the effect is created in software. With the transmission disengaged you can rev the engine without moving the drive motors - revving the engine will manipulate the sound and the smoker as if you were driving. This can be useful for testing sounds.

You can read more about the engine/transmission settings here.

[Tom]

Hey Luke..thanks for the reply and feedback! Oh live testing..all I meant was with the TBS you have to assign volumes download it all to the tank
then test/try..just wondering if various settings the TBC can be adjusted while it is active with the tank.

I like the thinking with the track sound..what I have done is when the tank starts to move manually with the BARC left stick.. activate a dynamic track sound that fades in..loops then fades out (clip lengths and volumes all adjustable on the TBS) When timed right it sounds great. So if the trigger of the sound can be automatically done and adjusted as you have it set up to do (% of movement before the sound kicks in) that would seem ideal?

[LukeZ]

Hey Luke..thanks for the reply and feedback! Oh live testing..all I meant was with the TBS you have to assign volumes download it all to the tank
then test/try..just wondering if various settings the TBC can be adjusted while it is active with the tank.

A) I'm still not sure from your description what the question is. If you are using the TBS Mini all your sound files are physically located on the TBS Mini. So to adjust those files you have to use Benedini's program TBS Flash.
B) It's called TCB (tank control board), not TBC. I know this gets to be confusing with the Benedini TBS...

So if the trigger of the sound can be automatically done and adjusted as you have it set up to do (% of movement before the sound kicks in) that would seem ideal?

Yes my thinking is along these lines but again this will need further evaluation when I have the time.

[Tom]

Ugg I do have to stick to "TCB"!  My question was just that with the TBS Benedini I have to load the card run the tank see how the volume is
then shut down hook back up reload the whole file for any adjustments. I was just curious with the TCB could it be hooked up to the tank
for instance with it up on blocks- then adjust the neutral turn while connected (I think you can with Elmod)

Nice on the tracks! Seems like with the TBS sound capability it is almost there!  Also a few
overall squeak or clacking loops could switched back and forth for variety.

I must also say again the wiki site and all the other materials are fantastic..I don't think I have ever
seen a more clear and comprehensive manual before! (and still I have questions lol)

[LukeZ]

I was just curious with the TCB could it be hooked up to the tank
for instance with it up on blocks- then adjust the neutral turn while connected.

I'm going to assume what you mean is that you want to connect a USB cable to the TCB, connect to the OP Config Windows program, and adjust parameters in the program and view the changes in real time on the tank.

No, that is not actually possible. As soon as OP Config connects, the TCB disables all motor control for safety reasons and ignores commands from your radio in order that it can focus on communicating with the computer.

However, you can certainly put your tank up on blocks, plug in the USB cable, "connect" (with the connect button in OP Config), write your settings, "disconnect" (click the button again), but leave your USB cable plugged in, and immediately experiment with the effect of your changes.

With an optional bluetooth module you can do the same thing without a USB cable from clear across the room if you want. This would be even better because I don't know how well you're going to gauge your neutral turn adjustments when your tank is on blocks. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't make sense even with ElMod to drive your tank around while connected to the computer with a cable, that sounds like it could lead to problems.

Connecting/disconnecting is a single mouse click. So I think it's pretty easy to write your settings to the board, disconnect, and see what effect it had.

[Tom]

Thanks yes simple either way and I can see with the mouse click how easy that is. The TBS with the loading the whole program just takes a lot more time than the TCB will!

[LukeZ]

The TBS is indeed very slow to load sound files, but those are large files.

OP Config can write all the settings to the TCB in approximately 5 seconds.

[Tom]

Here is a short clack type loop and a squeak/clack. Both basically without engine sounds if this may be
of some use. I found the clack loop about as short as I can get it where it still sounds random/continuous
over the engine. (Plus there is often a cadence or repetition to an engine or track movement so that often
sounds okay too)

[Tom]

This is a video of the Elmod Fusion board somebody posted today. This squeaks, at least in this video, do sound good and as he mentioned -the
sound on applying breaks is nice.


Here's my Elmod fusion board that arrived today
I've yet to fine tune and adjust the board. What's neat is the track squeak sounds very realistic and when you apply the brakes there is a very nice audible squeak it also shifts up and into gear much more testing to follow

feature=youtu.be

[Tom]

The engine rev to idle idle and especially decel to idle  sound though is not nearly as smooth as on the TBS..very rough transition.
Though the ability to adjust the individual volume is nice (can be done on TBS but as you pointed out it is a slow process to reload the
whole file just to tweak one sound)