Particles not playing via Control Track

using 2021.3, I add a particle effect, create a timeline director and asset on a parent, add the effect to the control track and check the “control particle effect” checkbox. Nothing happens, the particles do not show in the editor and I can’t preview my work. The internet told me, this is not supposed to happen.
Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? Has this feature been disabled?

I tried calling Simulate with an editor coroutine from another object and no luck either.

Cheers!

It works if I select both the director and each particle effect and then preview the timeline. Is this by design?