I had an announcement: template for sound slots is available for download.

I din't take much notice of it in the first place but now the loco I'm converting for a client
has awoken me to this addition.

What it is all about, your sound decoder can be extended with sound slots, such as Station announcement or any other additional sound which is not present in your selected loco.
for instance the DB BR 18 has 9 sound slots and I've just extended it to 18.
The process is really easy, all you have to do is download your BR 18 sound file go under sound (providing you've downloaded your templates for extra sounds) select on the right hand side window which function you like to add,select the sound slot on your right handside and click the arrow on your right hand side window, this will automatically add the additional sound so your sound slots. go to write sound decoder and the sound files will be down loaded via your lok programmer with your loco on the connected track.
When the download is finished, select decoder, go to Function mapping and you will see under the section @Sound@ your additional sound slots have been added.
All you have to do is activate the sound slots for each function by clicking the field window and again clicking the sound slot in the same line as the function number.

Isn't it great, your own selections of sound slots and this doesn't restrict you to German locos only it has a wider application for other countries as well.

regards.,

John

Hi John,

that's great! Could you please post a video of the whole operation, or maybe more detailed instructions?

Thanks!
Ricky

For whatever reason ESU produced a lok programmer, I couldn't be without one and to be honest I had my money worth of programming done with it.
As you most probably know, I have an ECoS as well but don't use it for programming at all except downloading my own loco pictures or any updates.

The template itself is an addition of sounds you can add to your existing sound file, e.g. DB BR 18 has 8 different sound files with the template I have been able to increase it to 18, furthermore you can personalize the soundslots to your liking, e.g. German station announcements (5) and there are others available in other languages, conductor whistle, curve squealing, track sounds and many more.

It is not for modelers who buy a loco off the shelf and leave it on the shelf or for a modeler who buys it and is satisfied the sound slots it provides.

A lokprogrammer is more than just being able to download an extra template for sound slots.
It is a tool for modellers who like to have an extensive option of programming a decoder including the Lenz railcom plus addition, dimmable lights, smart fire box light, the brightness of lights, the functionality of lights with a consist of locos, switchable headlightsfrom low to high and visa versa, all of these CV's can be changed via a lokprogrammer or you use your command station and try to do it and this is not an option for me, trying to figure out the bits, multiplying it by 4 or 8 or 16, adding it up and the mathematical nightmare goes on and on, I gave up in the end.
I'm a member of the ESU ECoS forum, although they have a good team of expert who can help you with problems and this particular member took time out to explain to me including a chart, which he had developed to program a long address, I just didnt get it, the lokprogrammer did it for me automatically.
Now e have Lenz railcom plus and the decoder is automatically recognized by the ECoS, again it does it for you.
So this is my 2 cents why I prefer to own a lokprogrammer.

regards.,

John

Ricky,

What digital command station have you got ?

regards.,

John

Thomas,

This I do not know, I can cope with basic tasks so long they are in front of me or guide me to it.
I've come a long way to be able to operate a computer as I had no formal training but as I said before with all the bits and pieces the computer or digital world talks about it, my mind goes blank.

On the surface I would say no, the reason for it, ESU most probably likes to protect their own programs so a data base link from another source may be asking too much but you never know, I'm not the person who has such expertise.

regards.,

John

...yes you can.
You can do it only with Loksound decoders. Not with that special range of ESU sound decoders....I don't remember the name presently...
...More specially you need to be experienced in computing and in the handling of sound files with your PC.
First you have to register your own sound and to put it as a digital sound file in your PC through the correct protocole of course !

For instance : I know that some train-spotters have registered themselves the sound of some french railcars at different places...(station, when starting or arriving, in the open countryside, on loops in both directions up & down, etc, etc ...).
Those railcars were made as a model from Electrotren without digital equipment.
There are few dealers selling this service : they know how to implement their own sound files on a Locksound decoder, then they install it on the railcar model, so you can get this railcar model with sound for a certain price + with a sound that doesn't exist in ESU database...

The Lokprogrammer itself is quite an old stuff....Began years 2000 it was existing already....they have made it available at the same time as the sound decoders.
In the beginning it didn't work very well.People often had to wait next software version release, it was not always easy to get a connection with ESU database....... Today I'm not experienced myself, I think (& I hope) that they have improved the whole system , it seems to work. As John really tested it, he can confirm...
theory and practise ..

I must have been one of the first buyers of the lokprogrammer and I never had any problems with it, so mine is the first version they've bought out.

Again I can''t tell whether or not, for no reasons at all, some of my earlier loksound decoders stopped working when trying to update them but received new ones for an exchange of the faulty ones.

regards.,

John