Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

Superstar Instant Sequence questions


awardblvr

Recommended Posts

Newbie to Superstar Sequencing.... Trying "Instant Sequencing" feature.

What is the definition of TCM?
What is the definition of a TCM combo?

I wish there was more info for newbies to understand the differences in different kinds of sequences: inch worm, 2 segs, morphs colliding, star twist, etc.

Why do I have 4 TCM's if I only have two CCR's?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TCM stands for Theme, Color, Motion.

A TCM combo is the Theme, Color, and Motion selected for that particular TCM.

You are correct, the 4 TCM combinations are only useful if you have 4 or more CCRs. Note that even though you have a 2 CCR license, you can still set the Layout to have up to 24 CCRs just so you can see what it would look like. The 2 CCR limit only comes into play when you export, when you export the sequence it will only let you export if you have 2 CCRs set in the Layout.

So in your case, you can set TCM1 and TCM2 to whatever you want and apply TCM1 to one CCR and TCM2 to the other CCR. Note that you can apply the same TCM to both CCRs if you want. You can also choose "None" for one of the CCRs and just do Instant Sequence to one of them.

The different Themes are just names I came up with. Some of the names may not match what you think they should do. To find out what they do, select it and do "Sequence All" and see what it looks like. You will find some favorites and some you may not care for.

In the Color settings, RGBW stands for Red, Green, Blue, White. It will cycle through those colors for each particular ribbon. Color Wheel cycles through all the colors on the color wheel. Each Theme has 1, 2, or 3 effects that get applied every time they are triggered. If you do RGBW by effect, it will cycle through the colors for each effect in the Theme. If you do RGBW by group, it will apply the color to all the effects in that Theme each time it is triggered. The end result is you will see the colors change in groups.
If say you just wanted Red for your color, choose Red-Orange in the Color setting. In all the pairs of colors, the first color is the main one it will use and it will migrate to shades of the second color.

Movement - None means the effect will get applied in the same location each time. Slow Left and Slow Right will move the starting location of the effects by one pixel each time the effect is triggered. Fast Left and Fast Right moves the starting location of the effects by 4 pixels each time the effect is triggered. Random is self explanatory. Pass By moves the start point of morphs at a different rate than the end point.

The bottom line is to try each setting and see what they do to get a feel for what they look like. And you can always do "Roll Dice" to randomly choose TCM combinations.

This year I focused on getting something that you could just do "Roll Dice" and get some cool results. Next year I will focus on giving more control over how the effects are created.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK COOL. Thanks

When I see how well the "Wizards in Winter" is done (I purchased it Wednesday and got it up and running pretty quickly), I am hopeful to be able to produce some of the same QUALITY effects as is in that. It is pretty obvious that you spent a good deal of time , probably hand-crafting those sequences? I wish you can tell me that you pretty much just strung effects together from your tool to put WoW together.

Your explanation of effects is great. I hope that as you go, you can put some tips together on getting started.

One thing I notice which is a bit distressing is that there is no way to shrink the timeline so that you can get a quick overview of the workspace, or a slider which would you quickly scroll to any part of the music to work on it. Markers would also be helpful so you could break your work up into different sections easily.

Oh also... Is there any way to link two CCR's so that an effect ending at the first one can continue on to the second one?

Thank again... CCR's would be a disaster without your tool.

-A

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently all effects are applied to one CCR at a time, there is no way to directly link them together.

However, some of the Themes will appear to 'coordinate' with each other simply because the freqs in some songs migrate in patterns. I did a sequence to "House on Christmas Street" using the Instant Sequence feature. Towards the end you can see some patterns across all 12 ribbons that are produced because the audio freqs migrate that way across the ribbons.

The Instant Sequence feature allows you to create some cool effects very quickly, but I call it 'The Microwave' of sequencing. There are some pretty good meals you can make in a Microwave, but its never gonna compete with Mom's home cooking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

CCRs $250 x 12.....$3000

Star........ Not sure but a guess would be $100

Seeing the magic Brian does with it..........Priceless.

I did a test on my CC Pixel tree last night. I'll have it on Vimeo soon. Neat stuff.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Is there much I can do with just a single CCR.  Since I bought three other controllers the single CCR is all I could afford this year.

 

Any suggestions on how I might use the single CCR and the Super Star Sequencer?

 

Thanks,

 

Wes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Wes,

 

I too started with one CCR, first year I use it in a large Arch made out of 3/4" pvc and the next year I use it in a Circle on 1/2" pvc. Both times it was a hit with the visitors. If you are not up on sequencing you can use the "Instant Sequence" feature in SuperStar to get some reasonable results. 

 

Ron.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

HELP, PLEASE!  I just upgraded to SuperStar Sequencer and I am having trouble making an Instant Sequence. I do not have any CCRs, but I was of the impression that I don't need to.  My wonderful son has programmed all of my sequences and he encouraged me to upgrade (probably getting tired of my questions).   I tried to print out the instructions, but cannot get the whole thing to print and I lose a good amount even when I use landscape.  I have tried unsuccessfully and now I only have the 2 CCRs showing up in my sequence (I clicked something about default 2 CCRs).  Can you please send me easy instructions.  My son sent me some, but there are differences in what it says on the screen and what the instructions say.  Such as:  #7 - 'click "timing Map" then check the box that says "extend length of effects"...I do not have that.   DID I UPGRADE TO THE WRONG THING?  I use the sequences on our Christmas Village and everyone is very impressed.  It's on the 2nd 2012 Christmas Contest page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HELP, PLEASE!  I just upgraded to SuperStar Sequencer and I am having trouble making an Instant Sequence. I do not have any CCRs, but I was of the impression that I don't need to.  My wonderful son has programmed all of my sequences and he encouraged me to upgrade (probably getting tired of my questions).   I tried to print out the instructions, but cannot get the whole thing to print and I lose a good amount even when I use landscape.  I have tried unsuccessfully and now I only have the 2 CCRs showing up in my sequence (I clicked something about default 2 CCRs).  Can you please send me easy instructions.  My son sent me some, but there are differences in what it says on the screen and what the instructions say.  Such as:  #7 - 'click "timing Map" then check the box that says "extend length of effects"...I do not have that.   DID I UPGRADE TO THE WRONG THING?  I use the sequences on our Christmas Village and everyone is very impressed.  It's on the 2nd 2012 Christmas Contest page.

Carol-Lee,

there are great video tutorials at (scroll down towards the bottom)

 

http://www1.lightorama.com/tutorials/

 

I'm just learning about SuperStar myself and these are a must.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HELP, PLEASE!  I just upgraded to SuperStar Sequencer and I am having trouble making an Instant Sequence. I do not have any CCRs, but I was of the impression that I don't need to.  My wonderful son has programmed all of my sequences and he encouraged me to upgrade (probably getting tired of my questions).   I tried to print out the instructions, but cannot get the whole thing to print and I lose a good amount even when I use landscape.  I have tried unsuccessfully and now I only have the 2 CCRs showing up in my sequence (I clicked something about default 2 CCRs).  Can you please send me easy instructions.  My son sent me some, but there are differences in what it says on the screen and what the instructions say.  Such as:  #7 - 'click "timing Map" then check the box that says "extend length of effects"...I do not have that.   DID I UPGRADE TO THE WRONG THING?  I use the sequences on our Christmas Village and everyone is very impressed.  It's on the 2nd 2012 Christmas Contest page.

Really Mom?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Has anyone else had this happen? I tried the instant sequence in 3.10.6 and 3.10.14 with the same result. When I try to open the audio, this box pops up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The error means that SuperStar failed to open the .mp3 file. The first thing to check is to make sure another program such as the sequence editor is not also using the file. If that is not the problem then there is some other reason why it can't open the file. If you can email the .mp3 file to brian@superstarlights.com I will take a look at it to pin down why it won't open the file.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got a question for ya Brian, i will have the 900 channle RGB mega tree and 64 regualr channels, will the "role the dice" feature do all at once, or do i need to do then separate? I just wan the tree to look good with the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can do them all together or separately. Would have to try it each way and see which looks the best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more question Brian, after i get the sequence i like, before i export it, is there a way to change the channels to a DMX universe or will i need to do that some how in the S3 sequencer? I will be using RGB in a DMX universe.

Edited by jerry72
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you create a visualization that uses DMX and then import the visualization, SuperStar will export the sequence using DMX channels.

But if you use SuperStar in CCR mode (the default mode that does not use a visualization) then the sequence will export using CCR channels. After exporting you can change it to DMX in the Sequence Editor. Or, if you have the DMX channels set up in the Sequence Editor, you can copy/paste the first 150 channels of each CCR and paste them into the DMX channels that you already have set up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you create a visualization that uses DMX and then import the visualization, SuperStar will export the sequence using DMX channels.

But if you use SuperStar in CCR mode (the default mode that does not use a visualization) then the sequence will export using CCR channels. After exporting you can change it to DMX in the Sequence Editor. Or, if you have the DMX channels set up in the Sequence Editor, you can copy/paste the first 150 channels of each CCR and paste them into the DMX channels that you already have set up.

I have a mega tree in my visualizer so i can just import it then? Works for me. I wasnt aware that you could import a RGB file, i just thought the visualizer was for regular channels. Thats good cause i would have to have to convert all those channels over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Here's another question.  I have 5 "ribbons" (5 - 50 pixel strings) that I am using on the house.  However, it is leaving out 1 ribbon. I am sequencing sections of the song and in each section is it not sequencing ribbon #3.  Is there a way to get past this?  I included a screenshot.

 

Thanks,

Larry

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is possible that there are no notes in that frequency range. Click on the Timing Map button. In the Timing map there should be some check marks showing the frequencies that are assigned to ribbon #3. Add a few more check marks to either side of what is already there and see if that fixes it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...