Hi Al,
In O scale, choosing a sound decoder is basically just a matter of
which of the "usual suspects" (see list below) carries the sound file
for your locomotive. Then you choose from that subset, which sound
decoder falls in your price range and contains the sound features you
want. Here is a list of more common large scale DCC sound decoder
manufacturers:
ESU Loksound 54500 XL V4.0 0/G Scale Screw Terminal
http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads...loksound-select-usa/
SoundTraxx ECO nami 4.0 Amp
http://www.traintekllc.com/sou...ound-decoder-diesel/
TCS WOW 505 Diesel O Scale (not yet available but supposed to ship any
day now but their current supported sound file list is rather restricted)
http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer...WSound/WOWDiesel.php
Protocraft Super Tsunami (just an HO SoundTraxx Tsunami beefed up to
handle O scale current levels - not all equivalent HO decoders are
supported either, only a reduced list)
http://www.protocraft.com/cate...9C3-7B5075C1711C30BF
QSI Solutions Titan
http://www.traintekllc.com/qsi...scale-sound-decoder/
Zimo is also in there but sometimes hard to find large scale decoders here in the states.
So for your GP15-1, you'll need to look from the list above (go to
respective manufacturer's web site and browse their sound file list)
and look for a diesel sound file that supports an EMD "non-turbo" 645
12 cylinder prime mover or they may list the actual GP15-1 loco model
that the sound file supports (a GP15T is a different animal so don't
fall into that trap) - basically if the sound file supports the more
common SW1500 then that will work for the GP15-1 as well. Now...
you'll notice that not all of the sound decoder manufactures listed
above will support a sound file for this GP15-1 (EMD "non-turbo" 645
12 cylinder prime mover) loco, so your choice becomes that much
"easier" as to which sound decoder you end up going with.
As for plug-n-play or DCC Ready, well...that sounds like it means that
the DC circuit board in the loco is ready for an "Atlas sound board"
that is made for that loco which uses sound technology from 10 or more
years ago, if you can even get one of these older QSI sound boards. I
would stay away from that old stuff as the new sound from 3rd party
suppliers has much better sound quality and motor control but going the
Atlas sound board route would allow as close as plug-n-play as you are
going to get in O scale.
If you'll notice from the photos of the above sound decoders, all these
3rd party large scale decoders have pretty much a generic board design
with screw terminals around the perimeter so what that means you are
probably going to need to just rip out all the existing circuit boards
from your loco until all you have left is just bare bones wires coming
from the track pickup, motor leads, lights, and speaker (if it is a DC
loco, you'll need to source a speaker that fits in the GP15-1 fuel tank
speaker opening - Atlas generally carries these in their parts
department or find a similar size from a 3rd party). You can just
attach the new decoder to the empty space on the frame between the two
motors with some double stick foam tape and then start reconnecting all
these wires to their respective new sound decoder screw terminals.
Getting the motor connected and the sound piece up an running is
easy-peasy. Follow the instructions and take it slow and you won't let
out the magic smoke that they package with the decoder when they make
it 
. Also note, you may need some little pieces of small wire and
some heat shrink tubing to cover the solder joint if you have to grow
out some of the shorter wires left over from removing the old
electronics but not a big deal "if" you even have to do that. Lights
are a little more involved because you are probably going to have to
put a 470 ohm 1/2 watt resister inline with one of the two leads going
to "each" LED so you don't turn the headlight LEDs into onetime "flash
bulbs". You can get the heat shrink tubing (all different sizes and
colors available) and resistors off eBay - like $5 for 100 resistors or
even $0.99 for 100 if you are willing to wait a couple of weeks for
shipment from China.
Then once the installation is complete, you just put it on the program
track and program it up, such as: decoder address (usually just give it
the loco number), set the volumes, sound mixers, function mapping
(which button on your throttle do you want to control which sound
function), and its just that easy. Or you can just program up the
address and leave the rest set to the factory defaults. Also a note on
programming, some of these sound decoder manufacturers have special
programming modules and custom software that hook up to your computer
(such as QSI Solutions) that are a onetime purchase for their brand of
decoder so remember to factor that into the cost but they do make
programming their decoders much, much easier, especially when programming all the
volume controls, functions and mixers.
Go for it... it is not really that hard to install a sound decoder from
scratch and with all the big empty space in O scale, wiring is way easier
than HO. Once you hear the first prime mover cranks, you'll never look
back. There's a lot of You Tube videos on installing and programming
DCC sound decoders (mostly HO installs but the principles are the same
for any scale) so browse these vids too.
If you are not comfortable installing one of the sound decoders
yourself, then just box it all up and send it to one of the DCC decoder
installers like Alex at DCC Train in Cincinati, OH and I'm sure he'll
fix you up - he has a bunch of You Tube videos for reference as well.
Scott Kay
Austin, TX
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