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ASC Sirens have more tones?

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 11:58 pm
by JeroenTheEnthusiast
I was watching some of MackinacFudge's Siren synth videos (very good siren synths) until some videos of the ASC controller synths having more tones called scream and hazard. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5CmOfYY0Ak) and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_J4Ay2cRE) I own an ASC electronic controller for my E-Class and have never seen these tone options on the controller. Does anyone know if it is a certain type of controller that can produce these tones or if it could be a normal thing on them that i probably never heard of before. I have seen a coupe of ASC's Hörmann sirens. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUQorKGO7HI) and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cX9ERenq-A)

Re: ASC Sirens have more tones?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2024 5:43 am
by DJ2226
JeroenTheEnthusiast wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2024 11:58 pm
I was watching some of MackinacFudge's Siren synth videos (very good siren synths) until some videos of the ASC controller synths having more tones called scream and hazard. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5CmOfYY0Ak) and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_J4Ay2cRE) I own an ASC electronic controller for my E-Class and have never seen these tone options on the controller. Does anyone know if it is a certain type of controller that can produce these tones or if it could be a normal thing on them that i probably never heard of before. I have seen a coupe of ASC's Hörmann sirens. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUQorKGO7HI) and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cX9ERenq-A)
All ASC controllers can produce those tones. They have to be activated via radio or possibly via some kind of serial connection to the logic board, as the controller doesn't have enough buttons or manual inputs to activate them all. The cancel command works the same way. The cancel command triggered from the controller's pushbutton panel will reset the tone generator and abruptly cut the tone, but you can send a ramp-down command via radio and make the controller wind down from many of the tones. You might be able to reprogram the mapping of the buttons on the controller to change this, but I'm not familiar enough with how they work to verify this for sure. This would also be applicable to voice if you have a voice module with that controller or want to do live voice via radio. FS does this with the UV/MCP, as the controller can produce more tones/voice messages than the switches can activate. Whelen also does this since there aren't enough buttons on the panel to do all 15 voice messages, force a ramp down, etc. In both of those cases, the buttons/switches can be reprogrammed to do whatever you want them to do.

The full list of tones from ASC are:

Alert
Attack
Fire (long attack, I think this can be reprogrammed into a fast-cycling attack tone)
Wail (fast wail with no sustain, ESC-D/UV/MCP style)
HAZMAT (whoop)
Scream (reversed wail with the same peak pitch as whoop - 850 Hz)
HiLo
Air Horn (pulse steady)
Chimes (533 Hz pulsed steady)

There are some slight differences in the tones depending on when the controller was made. The most obvious is where ASC dropped the alert peak pitch to 670 Hz from 740 Hz, but as seen with the videos of the ECNs you shared, they sped up whoop and tweaked the peak pitch and speed of scream and wail. Those changes were made at the microprocessor level. Changing some of the parameters for that kind of stuff would need to be done at the factory unless you have one of their newer loaded-out boards with the bells and whistles that give you more options for customization.

Re: ASC Sirens have more tones?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:38 pm
by JeroenTheEnthusiast
DJ2226 wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2024 5:43 am
JeroenTheEnthusiast wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2024 11:58 pm
I was watching some of MackinacFudge's Siren synth videos (very good siren synths) until some videos of the ASC controller synths having more tones called scream and hazard. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5CmOfYY0Ak) and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_J4Ay2cRE) I own an ASC electronic controller for my E-Class and have never seen these tone options on the controller. Does anyone know if it is a certain type of controller that can produce these tones or if it could be a normal thing on them that i probably never heard of before. I have seen a coupe of ASC's Hörmann sirens. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUQorKGO7HI) and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cX9ERenq-A)
All ASC controllers can produce those tones. They have to be activated via radio or possibly via some kind of serial connection to the logic board, as the controller doesn't have enough buttons or manual inputs to activate them all. The cancel command works the same way. The cancel command triggered from the controller's pushbutton panel will reset the tone generator and abruptly cut the tone, but you can send a ramp-down command via radio and make the controller wind down from many of the tones. You might be able to reprogram the mapping of the buttons on the controller to change this, but I'm not familiar enough with how they work to verify this for sure. This would also be applicable to voice if you have a voice module with that controller or want to do live voice via radio. FS does this with the UV/MCP, as the controller can produce more tones/voice messages than the switches can activate. Whelen also does this since there aren't enough buttons on the panel to do all 15 voice messages, force a ramp down, etc. In both of those cases, the buttons/switches can be reprogrammed to do whatever you want them to do.

The full list of tones from ASC are:

Alert
Attack
Fire (long attack, I think this can be reprogrammed into a fast-cycling attack tone)
Wail (fast wail with no sustain, ESC-D/UV/MCP style)
HAZMAT (whoop)
Scream (reversed wail with the same peak pitch as whoop - 850 Hz)
HiLo
Air Horn (pulse steady)
Chimes (533 Hz pulsed steady)

There are some slight differences in the tones depending on when the controller was made. The most obvious is where ASC dropped the alert peak pitch to 670 Hz from 740 Hz, but as seen with the videos of the ECNs you shared, they sped up whoop and tweaked the peak pitch and speed of scream and wail. Those changes were made at the microprocessor level. Changing some of the parameters for that kind of stuff would need to be done at the factory unless you have one of their newer loaded-out boards with the bells and whistles that give you more options for customization.
Welp, I guess now i know now because my controller is from the 2010's which probably explains why i don't have all of them great tones.

Re: ASC Sirens have more tones?

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 2:17 am
by FSThunderboltfan1000
To make a long story short, you can reprogram the RTU to do whatever you want. The six buttons can be programmed for whatever signal you want. Normally cancel is programmed for regular cancel which is the abrupt cut-off because ASC assumes if you are cancelling it you want the siren to stop ASAP. There is an option for Slo-Cancel which has the ramp down for most signals. All the signals are stored on the main site address EEPROM. There are custom tone timings that can be done, but that is all done with HEX and takes some messing around. If you want to change the frequency that the tone generator peaks at that would require changes to the 40-pin microcontroller on it. The 40 pin is written once and if you need a new one the chip alone is $26 before programming and if you screw it up it is shot. If you are at SirenCon I will have the stuff with me to write EEPROMS and change the signaling on your RTU if you wish.

Re: ASC Sirens have more tones?

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:36 pm
by JeroenTheEnthusiast
FSThunderboltfan1000 wrote:
Mon Apr 29, 2024 2:17 am
To make a long story short, you can reprogram the RTU to do whatever you want. The six buttons can be programmed for whatever signal you want. Normally cancel is programmed for regular cancel which is the abrupt cut-off because ASC assumes if you are cancelling it you want the siren to stop ASAP. There is an option for Slo-Cancel which has the ramp down for most signals. All the signals are stored on the main site address EEPROM. There are custom tone timings that can be done, but that is all done with HEX and takes some messing around. If you want to change the frequency that the tone generator peaks at that would require changes to the 40-pin microcontroller on it. The 40 pin is written once and if you need a new one the chip alone is $26 before programming and if you screw it up it is shot. If you are at SirenCon I will have the stuff with me to write EEPROMS and change the signaling on your RTU if you wish.
Thanks for the information about the RTU. I will be able to Change the signals and store them on the EEPROM and replace the 40 pin adapter (I replace and solder circuits as a hobby). I have ran custom tones on my E-Class before. I guess i was thinking it was a different controller that could only run them. Please correct me if im wrong.

Re: ASC Sirens have more tones?

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:21 pm
by FSThunderboltfan1000
JeroenTheEnthusiast wrote:
Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:36 pm
Thanks for the information about the RTU. I will be able to Change the signals and store them on the EEPROM and replace the 40 pin adapter (I replace and solder circuits as a hobby). I have ran custom tones on my E-Class before. I guess i was thinking it was a different controller that could only run them. Please correct me if im wrong.
I would not mess with the 40-pin. All that is gonna do is change where each signal peaks and cause potential further issues. As I said, I can put the cool signals on yours if you are at Sirencon or if you want to buy a pre-programmed EEPROM from us and I can send it in the mail.