I would like different horns and bells I don't like the same horn for 4 locomotives even the bells are the same
They used the same sounds because they couldn't get reference material for new sounds due to the pandemic. They are working to get help from the community and 3rd party creators to get better sounds.
That's good to hear. One of my favorite thing about trains are the horns. I was a little disappointed with the horn of the dash 8 being the same but hearing that they're working on changing that gives me hope.
Me too. It is nice of them to say this, it shows us they recognize some of their limitations, and they aren't a perfect company with unlimited resources. Now I just hope they can actually get that help.
Imagine if DTG partnered with Soundtraxx or LocSound in the future. That would be fantastic! Even just a rag-tag bunch of US based railfans tasked with collecting audio would make the game so much better.
I have spent a considerable amount of time on Sand Patch lately and I have something of a newfound appreciation for it. There are so many little things. I just sat by an automated switch and heard the hum of the motor and click of the points - very cool! Horns are a big part of the US Diesel immersion for me and I agree the horns on SPG could be improved. However, the existing horns already sound better to me if you park yourself under a bridge and listen. The reverb significantly improves the sound. I suggest adding a little reverb even when you aren't under a bridge as a good place to start improving the horns. Also on my wish list for SPG would be distinct horns for each loco and functional grade crossings.
The new Southeast High Speed route has functional grade crossings, so hopefully the development teams will work on changing the grade crossing in existing routes from static to functional grade crossings.
I only remember the one from the stream, but it did work very nicely. So that negates what has been said in the past about the big performance hit that working crossings would cost, and why they were missing from SPG, for instance. I don't expect any retro changes to existing routes, but I will be interested to see if they show up in Clinchfield, for instance. Getting back to the horn issue, I don't have a good ear for the different variations. My main problem on SPG is the disappearing horn and the ones that detach from the loco and then honk without being asked.
That one is interesting! FWIW, I have discovered that it tends to happen when I am on the spacebar and inputting another command at the same time. I have made some runs with this in mind and been able to avoid it for the most part when I make sure I am off the horn before inputting any other command, including changing views.