Thanks Lutz,

I think I want a CS.
Judging by the pictures you and other fellow forum members have shown of the CS it's an amazing piece of equipment.

Kind regards
Guus

I have never heard of these hidden functions, but it is very nice.

Lutz, is the sound 2 and 3 the only extra functions that exist in the starter BR50 or are the more hidden gems?

What other locs show similar easter eggs?

And to jeehring:
Yes, the CS has nice function mapping of buttons with custom icon to functions which can be made even directional dependent as you can see in the screenshot. This functionmapping is "stored" in the mfx-decoder in case of an mfx-train. You can program up to 16 functions, decide is they are momentary or continuous as well as choice from 18 or so icons. If some icon is more than once a small number is applied. Of course you can change a bunch of other settings with the CS also without having to remember CVs. It is all very cleaver.

You can get a feeling for the function mapping by playing with lokprogrammer software from ESU (www.loksound.de). It free to download and play with but of course you can't actually program anything without the hardware device. The programming of say an mfx decoder in lokprogrammer is very similar to the programming by the CS although especially the sound settings are of course more advanced.

Regards Brian

Hi Brian, Forum,

The BR50 has more hidden sound slots, but these two are IMHO most useful.

There are already a larger number of mfx-models/decoders out with additional hidden sounds. As simple as this: at your own model(s), just take a look at its soundslots, test and change/add them as desired with your CS; it doesn't matter on which function the hidden sound is configured (you might even unconfigure braking disable - for the BR50 that would be f8 - and use that function key for a hidden sound if the function key limit is an issue; i.e. 6021/IB/MS). If you don't have a CS yet, do it at a friend or at your friendly dealer.

Regards,
Lutz

I concur, Gert-Jan. I have not regretted buying mine.

Agreed. I envision ESU doing their future programming trough the EcOS and not a dedicated box. In the meantime, however, I have enjoyed having my lokprogrammer for the past year or so and will continue to enjoy it until something better comes along. If you are always waiting for an improvement, you never get anything done.

Hi, Gert-Jan,

both pieces have their specific advantages (and disatvantages) - that's why I have bought both, besides the 'fun' part which is the most important factor for me in my engagement for this hobby.

Selecting the corresponding sound slots and associated pictograms with the CS appears easier to me, in particular since the (re-)programming is done automatically. Furthermore everything is executed using mfx, whereas the LokProgrammer (at least until now) uses solely MM; that limits the usable functions to 8 and requires that functions are activated by the primary and secondary MM addresses. Also, the Programmer still has a minor bug with the correct display and selection of MM addresses in conjunction with mfx projects. However, obtaining unused (hidden) sound slots seems to be easier with the LokProgrammer.

If you happen to have a Re460 Polmengo from #29850 (like I do) [:p], you might just want to assign sound slots 1 and 2 on a CS (which translates to LokProgrammer slots 2 and 3) to f6 and f7, associate both to the "Horn" picto - and then just listen what happens when you activate these two new functions (don't forget your earplugs!).

The reason why Märklin hides these functions is because of the MS pictogram limitations.


Regards,
Lutz