Loksound 5 decoder in Rapido Turboliner, Setting volume CVs, with Decoder Pro

[Trnsrus]

Rapido's operating instructions for its Loksound 5 equipped N scale RTL Turboliner warns:

"Before you change any of the volume control CVs, you must set CV31 to 16 and CV32 to 1. CV31 and CV32 are used as index selection registers and if you don't set them first, unspeakable things may happen to your unit..."

I assume this warning refers to changes made using a dcc system's programming mode. Can Decoder Pro safely change volume level settings without setting CVs 31 and 32 to 16 and 1?

[reinhardtjh]

I assume this warning refers to changes made using a dcc system's programming mode.

Correct. It's in reference to programming the decoder manually without using the LokProgrammer software/hardware or using something such as JMRI which automatically manipulates the indexing CVs 31/32.

Can Decoder Pro safely change volume level settings without setting CVs 31 and 32 to 16 and 1?

Yes, it does it behind the scenes so you don't have to worry about it.

[peteski]

To give you a peek behind the scenes, LokSound decoders have hundreds (thoudsands?) of CVs.  There are so many that they use indexed CV registers, and CV31 and 32 are index registers which need to be pre-set before programming the actual CV.

While it is possible to manually program them one-a-time, it is very cumbersome. Thankfully LokProgrammer and even DecoderPro take care of all the indexing for you behind the scenes.

[jagged ben]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 'unspeakable' things would just be programming the wrong CVs that control something else, and then never being able to reconstruct the CVs you changed inadvertently that did who knows what.  Or, perhaps more likely ... nothing happens.  So then the sound levels drive you nuts and you smash the unit with a hammer.

[peteski]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 'unspeakable' things would just be programming the wrong CVs that control something else, and then never being able to reconstruct the CVs you changed inadvertently that did who knows what.  Or, perhaps more likely ... nothing happens.  So then the sound levels drive you nuts and you smash the unit with a hammer.

Same "scramble" could happen when you accidentally programmed the wrong CVs on any standard basic decoder without index CV addressing.  But just like with any other decoder, if you mess up CVs on a ESU LokSound decoder, decoder reset will restore all the original  sound project settings to what they were when the model left the factory.  That is when the sound project installed int the decoder had the original settings saved properly, which I assume is true for any sound project professionally done by the manufacturer.  If it was some home-brewed project, the creator of the sound project would have had to save the default settings in their sound projects when they created the project.  In most cases the creator is savvy enough to do that.

Another way to restore original settings would be to reload the original sound project, but as mentioned above that is likely not necessary.  Just a decoder reset will do the trick.

[Trnsrus]

Thanks to all for replies to my OP. After verifying  proper operation of motor, sound and light functions, I decided the train was defect free and put it aside until today when I encountered this problem: I used DecoderPro to set the Master Sound Volume value to  15 on one loco and 35 on the other since one was noticeable louder than the other. After these adjustments the F4 sound function (HEP Turbine) no longer worked properly. The sound effect is supposed to play only in the loco at the rear of the train (the one operating in reverse) and automatically switch location with change of direction. The effect now plays only in one loco, ŵhen running both forward and reverse, and not at all in the second loco. This occurs when run consisted and when both are set to same address. I considered performing a Factory Reset until reading the DecoderPro "Read Me - IMPORTANT" tab which says "Occasionally a Factory Reset has rendered the sound project apparently inoperable." It goes on to explain that the sound project may contain invalid CV defaults and cause the unsuccessful reset. Installing the correct "Export CV list" file using a Lokprogrammer restores the decoder but I do not have access to these resources. Any suggestions for a remedy short of reloading the decoders?