So, the never ending story with setting up the Expert Sleepers hardware modules with software continues. I’ve got the ES-8 and multiple expanders (which are all correctly connected), but I will focus on a “minimal” setup here.
My ES-8 is connected over Lightpipe to my MOTU Ultralite AVB and can be accessed on channels 9-16. The interface itself and the VCV Rack 2.3.0 engine (standalone) are explicitly set to 48kHz. No other app is using the interface. Sending a signal (e.g. bipolar square LFO) to any of the ES-8 outputs entails the expected behavior of alternating blue and red lights. Measuring the voltage shows -5V and +5V, respectively.
Now let’s add the ES-5.
With the default jumper position the ES-5 employs channels channels 7 and 8 of the ES-8. In VCV rack the ES-5 module is merely a hub for all available expanders, so in order to make use of the actual ES-5 hardware’s functionality, one needs to connect an instance of the VCV rack ES-8GT module to port 1 of the VCV rack ES-5. The logic being, port 1 of the hardware carries the same signals as the ES-5’s own output jacks.
While we are at it, let’s connect an ES-8CV to port 2 of the ES-5 (both in hardware and software). The result should look like this:
Here, the square LFO signal is being sent to the first channel of the ES-5/ES-8GT. Light blinks red. Much success. Or is it?
Let’s unplug and connect the blue cable to channel 7 of the ES-5 instead. Channels 1 to 7 of the hardware ES-5 now all light up. In addition, the hardware ES-8CV outputs random signals although no cable is connected in VCV.
So let’s send a sine LFO to ES-8CV. The channel doesn’t matter as the outputs are all over the place, i.e. across all channels. Measured voltages span a range from -3V to +5V. Okay then.
I’m on a M1 Mac mini (Ventura). I tried the exact same setup on my old Windows 10 machine, which works fine.
EDIT: There is no issue when using the Silent Way’s ES-5 Controller. So there must be a problem with the current VCV rack build for Ventura.