The Dream Player has four opto-isolated inputs which can be triggered by loco decoder function outputs for manual hand-held control, or by stationary decoders, Team Digital's SIC24, and other such devices to have close -proximity automatic sound.

It also has four outputs which can control lights, motors, relays, or other loads in conjunction with the sounds being played - perfect for simultaneous operation of animation and sound.

It can play a sound track and stop, or loop it so it will continue playing as long as it stays triggered. There are several configuration dip switches that allow you to set all sorts of scenarios for loop or single playback.

The Dream Player does not come with, but uses standard SD Flash media cards for memory - from 64MB to 1GB. Plug a 128MB card in for about 12 minutes of audio; 1GB provides about 96 minutes. 2GB cards have not been tested yet, but they should also work.

With the SD card connected to your computer with your adapter, loading sounds is as simple as copying your WAV files to the root folder of the card. You can create your own WAV files, purchase or obtain various sounds from the internet. A CDROM with a variety of railroading sounds is provided with the Dream Player.

The Dream Player is designed to be used under the bench-top. As such, it can drive any audio amplifier or powered speakers typically used on computers. It cannot drive a non-powered conventional speaker without an amplifier. It may be able to be used on-board some G-Scale equipment if you can figure out how to provide it with 9V DC and powered speakers.

By adding the Dream Switcher, sold separately, you can direct each of the four sound files to different speakers.

With 16-bit processing (like the Tsunami), you get very-high-quality, state-of-the-art, playback. The difference between this and sound modules which use 8-bit processing is night and day. Put in numbers, 8-bit processing is 256 while 16-bit processing is 65536 - that's a big difference. But remember, the sound quality coming out can't be any better than the sound quality you record into it.

Finally, like all new products, there are bound to be updates. No problem. Dream Player firmware updates will be posted on the PriCom web site for free downloading - you can even register to be notified when an update is available. After downloading the update to your PC, you then connect the Dream Player to your PC's RS232 serial port with a cable, available separately.