Latest Twin Otter thoughts

[DAD 2,650]

2 hours ago, regis9 said:

may give in and buy the TSS set/download the mod

There are 2 patches out by now, one of them addressing the sound which IMHO got better. But yes, AS ordered a completely new sound recording to be added later. To me having never flown  (in) a Twotter before it flies nice in terms of great, follows FP with AP on and is easy to handle. Did not try ILS landings though, did some longer flights along AU west coast from YSSY area to Cold Coast and further, using the AP during cruise and then handfly the Twotter down. Always worked perfect. Cannot compare with the Kodak though as I don’t own that and wanted no glass cockpit (which I cannot handle); usually fly the FBW but for PAKT, EGLC or ENHF the Twotter fits better.

as per the sound mod 2 caveats: 1) it will cost some additional 12-14bucks for the TSS sound files the mod uses and 2) the mod afaik can only applied to the non MP version for encryption reasons

[jimcarrel 688]

I tried the TSS sound files, and after two tries in applying it - I gave up  on it. 'Course that doesn't mean I added the mod correctly. I may have sussed it up.

[Stearmandriver 2,296]

12 hours ago, jarmstro said:

CMM's Twin Otter sound/flight model/autopilot mod.

Nice. I find his Kodiak mod pretty important too.  Without it, at idle and full flaps with the prop all the way forward, you can come down at a whopping 400fpm.  Yeahhhhhh... in a turboprop.  😁

Kodiak is great once his mod fixed this though. 

[bean_sprout 1,201]

Just installed the Twin Otter yesterday and just sitting on the tarmac at KAVX the plane looks impressive as I suppose in RL.

I have plenty of air hauler trips planned for her and am sure AeroSoft will keep adding new stuff to round it out.

ns

 

 

[northtexas 51]

54 minutes ago, bean_sprout said:

Just installed the Twin Otter yesterday and just sitting on the tarmac at KAVX the plane looks impressive as I suppose in RL.

I have plenty of air hauler trips planned for her and am sure AeroSoft will keep adding new stuff to round it out.

ns

 

 

When using Air Hauler be sure to check your fuel load before takeoff because AH will load all the fuel in center tank #1 first leaving center tank #2 empty or near empty (depending on the fuel load size) that can cause an engine to shutdown.

Edited February 14, 2022 by northtexas

[bean_sprout 1,201]

2 hours ago, northtexas said:

When using Air Hauler be sure to check your fuel load before takeoff because AH will load all the fuel in center tank #1 first leaving center tank #2 empty or near empty (depending on the fuel load size) that can cause an engine to shutdown.

Thanks for the tip but I was speaking in general terms as I don't own any career software (yet).

The plane offers many flight options .  I'm sure that it'll become an MSFS classic over time.

ns

[DAD 2,650]

Yeah, like it too. Did a beautiful morning flight today from Lukla to Paro in impressive sunrise, weather and clouds were gorgeous 

[enright 496]

On 2/13/2022 at 1:26 PM, regis9 said:

Did they improve the sounds at all in the patch a few days ago?  I may give in and buy the TSS set/download the mod but I’m curious if there’s been further improvements.  

The patch was an improvement, but the sounds are still not configured correctly. The biggest issue is that the pitch / frequency of the engines and prop do not scale with the throttle. It's very much like driving a car with a CVT transmission - it sounds like it's at a constant RPM no matter how hard you step on the gas. Very immersion breaking.

There are a few easy to use dev tools that would address this issue by simply adjusting the pitch of the existing sound files in proportion to the amount of throttle and/or feathering.

They are in the process of re-recording the audio samples - but ironically, the quality of the samples are already excellent - the fix is far easier than that, and I'm a bit concerned they'll implement the new audio samples, and once again forget to configure them correctly.

This same issue also exists on the CRJ BTW - once you notice it, it's hard to unnotice it.

Fingers crossed that the eventual patch fixes this, because it's an otherwise good product.

[MarkDH 234]

10 hours ago, enright said:

The patch was an improvement, but the sounds are still not configured correctly. The biggest issue is that the pitch / frequency of the engines and prop do not scale with the throttle. It's very much like driving a car with a CVT transmission - it sounds like it's at a constant RPM no matter how hard you step on the gas. Very immersion breaking.

Surely this is exactly how it's supposed to behave? It has constant-speed propellers, so the pitch of the engine note will only change with the RPM. This varies with the power levers until the RPM enters the governed range and then only with the prop levers above that. This is what I see and hear in the sim.

[bobcat999 8,482]

1 hour ago, MarkDH said:

Surely this is exactly how it's supposed to behave? It has constant-speed propellers, so the pitch of the engine note will only change with the RPM. This varies with the power levers until the RPM enters the governed range and then only with the prop levers above that. This is what I see and hear in the sim.

Is the TSS mod wrong then?  As you can clearly hear the prop and the turbine sounds reacting independently to movement of their respective control levers.

Edited February 15, 2022 by bobcat999

[ckyliu 1,749]

1 hour ago, MarkDH said:

Surely this is exactly how it's supposed to behave? It has constant-speed propellers, so the pitch of the engine note will only change with the RPM. This varies with the power levers until the RPM enters the governed range and then only with the prop levers above that. This is what I see and hear in the sim.

Only the propeller is constant speed, the engine is not and turbine RPM changes with every movement of the throttle. There is no physical connection between the engine and propeller on a PT6, it's all done with a free power turbine.

Your synopsis would be correct for a geared turboprop such as the Garrett TPE331, then the key variable in-flight is propeller blade pitch.

Edited February 15, 2022 by ckyliu

[MarkDH 234]

2 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

Only the propeller is constant speed, the engine is not and turbine RPM changes with every movement of the throttle. There is no physical connection between the engine and propeller on a PT6, it's all done with a free power turbine.

Your synopsis would be correct for a geared turboprop such as the Garrett TPE331, then the key variable in-flight is propeller blade pitch.

Do you really hear any turbine noise above the sound of the props?

[ckyliu 1,749]

@MarkDH Depends on the aircraft type and where you are sat, the propellers are louder inside because the lower pitch sound penetrates more but the "gas generator" is definitely in the sound mix, and is more noticeable as the prop RPM is backed off. Outside you frequently hear the jet scream more than the prop (just watch any video featuring a Rolls Royce Dart engined aircraft).

I should add even with a constant speed propeller you get sound changes when moving the power levers purely from the propeller biting into the air more (or less). The constant speed is achieved by adjusting propeller blade pitch angle to suit whatever power the engine is outputting at that moment.

Edited February 15, 2022 by ckyliu

[enright 496]

2 hours ago, MarkDH said:

Surely this is exactly how it's supposed to behave? It has constant-speed propellers, so the pitch of the engine note will only change with the RPM. This varies with the power levers until the RPM enters the governed range and then only with the prop levers above that. This is what I see and hear in the sim.

That's what I thought at first: "there's no way that all this work went into this and they overlooked this one thing - this has to be by design - maybe there is something about the Otter engine I'm not aware of".

Here are two examples of what a Twin Otter sounds like in real life - there are clear and definite pitch changes all throughout the throttle range. I think the sound samples in the Aerosoft Twin are well recorded and really do capture the unique audio characteristics of the engine - the turbine, the prop wash, etc.. That's what makes the complete absence of pitch adjustment such a bummer - its just a small oversight in the configuration of excellent sound samples in an otherwise good product, but one that breaks the immersion. 

They have already acknowledged that there is an issue with sounds - I just hope they fix the thing that needs fixing (sample transitions and pitch) and not the thing that isn't broken (the quality of the sound samples).

 

[bobcat999 8,482]

29 minutes ago, MarkDH said:

Do you really hear any turbine noise above the sound of the props?

I suppose we would have to ask a real Twin Otter pilot that, or maybe someone who has been a passenger.
I'm no expert - as many years ago I once ran towards a perimeter fence hoping the get a glimpse of a Brymon Twin Otter taxiing out, only to find it was a guy with a petrol powered strimmer cutting the grass!