Looks like Chad has taken a vacation from the forum for over a month.
Not sure why there haven't been some more updates on the progress being posted here, but in case anyone else is interested ... here is one of the latest videos of the TK-20 board posted by Clark.The new TK-20 boards have passed final inspection & testing, can be ordered, & are already shipping!
I had just gone ahead & ordered 2 TK-20-T boards last week myself, & they have already shipped this week. In the next few weeks there will probably be quite a few new Youtube videos of the new board in action from the various tankers around the world who have purchased & will be testing them.
From what I had been communicated a month ago, Clark was initially only going to release 1 German, 1 Russian, then 1 Allied sound set version of the TK-20 board, starting with the German version sound set based off the Tiger. This set should be very good in portraying the sounds of the King Tiger, Tiger I, Panther & their variants. Because other engine, gun ,etc. sounds of tanks from each force (German, Russian, Allied) would not be too accurately portrayed using the initial releases, I had asked him if he had plans on releasing other specific tank sound sets for each force after those initial 3 sets, & he simply answered no. I have since learned through a 3rd party, not Clark himself, that there is now a possibility after the 3 initial releases, there will be other sound sets created for those forces to represent more tanks. This would be fantastic!
I have also learned a little more about the TK-30 boards. Clark said the engine sound on TK-30 requires much more memory, better chip, & software effort, which translated into the extra $30 mark-up from the TK-20. I believe the engine sounds on the TK-20 are stepped, Clark calls it frequency shift mode, while the TK-30 uses a wavelet mode producing a supposedly almost seamless acceleration sound which is more life-like.
Not only will the sounds be much better on the TK-30 (not that the TK-20 sounds are poor, because they are quite good), they are also tied into the ESC driver (called RealEngine) supposedly creating a much more realistic tank-like driving experience because the operator will have to wait while the motor ramps up & goes through gear changes before reaching maximum speeds!
If anyone knows that I am mistaken on anything I've posted above, please correct me, thanks. Otherwise, I can't wait to see some more videos & pictures posted by others with TK-20 functioning tanks, as well as being very excited to receive my own boards!
~ Craig ~
