Hi, in the March 2025 Model Railroad News Justin Sobeck reviewed the new Rapido E8A, which was factory equipped with an ESU Loksound decoder. He said “I attempted to change CV163 to 9 for the Nathan P5 that the prototype featured. Upon further investigation, choosing any value for CV163 above 6 didn’t yield a different horn; all went back to the default.”
This rang a bell (or honked a horn perhaps) with me, as I had a similar issue with the Rapido GP9M I received at Christmas. In my case, I could only seem to access a couple of somewhat similar options, despite the manual that came with it showing there were 15 options.
I e-mailed Rapido about it, and their reply said:
Our manual is not correct as there are only 3 horns. Not the 15 listed.
I thought this was a bit odd, since otherwise there seems to be quite a few sound options, including of course their ‘hidden’ sounds. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue.
BTW I do have a LokProgrammer, so might just replace it with a new sound project from ESU’s website.
I tend to load new sound files on my LokSound decoders, because, not only problems such as this, but also because of the lack of information in the mapping of manufacturer’s files. For example, instead of a certain sound effect, e.g, flange squeal, bell, or prime mover, it will just say “sound file 6.” Not helpful. It’s very difficult figuring out what is what, so I usually just load a new sound file from the ESU website, which will provide this information.
I preordered a Rapido E8 in Seaboard Coast Line paint, so when that arrives, it sounds like I’ll have to do this again.
I got my Rapido UP E8 A-B set last Christmas, and when I did go to program a Nathan three chime for the horn in the A unit, I do seem to remember having cycled through all the horns before deciding. Maybe it depends on what decoder version your model is equipped with? My memory is a bit foggy of that, so I could be wrong. Incidentally, I never liked the format of the ESU decoders, so I swapped them with Soundtraxx ones not long after. Although the ESU decoders had some great features, personally I prefer the customizeability of Soundtraxx and wouldn’t go back.
Depends a bit on the manufacturer; Rapido for example includes a booklet with their engines that list what all the function buttons do. You can then read the decoder in a LokProgrammer, and go to the “Function Mapping” page. So if say F25 is the brake function button, you can look on the page and see that that is like Sound Slot 10. Then you know Sound Slot 10 is the one you need to adjust the volume of.
Not trying to start a war, but even using JMRI LokSound decoders are not the most intuitive to program. Never understood why they label everything slots, and not horn, prime mover, etc. Kind of a guessing game. But they do run great.
Yes, if you’re going to run a lot of ESU Loksound equipped engines, you probably will want to get a LokProgrammer. As I mentioned above, with that it’s easier (still not as simple as it should be) to figure out what each sound slot does by going to the “Function Mapping” page. Then you can adjust the sound accordingly.