I don't understand.....

[Gardner]

In my first post, I mentioned that I didn't understand all I knew about Dcc. Well, this has become more complicated now since I have learned more and have a major question or series of questions. Those of you who are dcc veterans can tell from the questions that I am a rank beginner.

I have on order a Digatrax Zyphyr 3.0 plus (I think that's the name of the newest Digatrax.)

My locomotives without dcc and sounds include a number of Athearn Blue Boxes from the 1990s, several Genesises, made in Japan Katos and four Atlas units from the 1990s.

After that is all said and done, the on confustion starts.

The first is is it possible to have dcc without have sound and vise versa?

Next, is sound available without dcc?

Third, can sound and dcc be available on the same unit or card?

And, can dcc be installed on a locomotive and sound added later? and how do I know what to mix and match?

Help is much appreciated.

Gardner

 

[Lightstorm]

Yes to all of those questions.

You can have DCC or sound, DCC and sound, DCC without sound and sound without DCC.

Sound can be added before or after you have converted to DCC but it is usually easier to add sound when you make the conversion to DCC.

I'd recommend only adding sound to your more expensive models as sound chips start around $50 and go up from there depending on the quality of sound you want. But it's completely up to you what you want to do.

Tsunami Soundtraxx is one of the leading brands for sound decoders and even Digitrax's Soundbug is becoming more popular as their quality improves. I'm sure many others will chime in with their opinions on what you should do as well as there are many options when it comes to DCC mobile decoders and sound decoders.