Scheduling a four hour show with sequences every 30 minutes

[CanelaLights]

This is for my 2014 holiday display.  This is my first year, I just purchased my equipment this past spring during the LOR one-day sale.  All of this is new to me so I appreciate your guidance and/or help.  I have a desk-job for a living and this is totally a hobby/dream come true.  I live in South Florida, so snow and ice are not issues.

 

I am still in the process of creating most of my musical sequences, but am almost to the point where I need to build my show(s) and schedule.  Since this is my first year, I am setting up a few weeks early to have a few runs and make sure I have enough lights (there are never enough lights).

 

About the equipment and display:

I have the ShowTime Central starter package with 32 channels and a pair of Easy light linkers (my display is split on opposite ends of the house).  I want my entire display to run for four hours with shows of 3-4 songs at every 00:00 and 00:30 (every half hour).  Since my transmitter will be running the entire time, I have hired the Demented Elf ("DE") to create Spicy Canela radio segments to fill in the time in between my shows (8 segments that run for about 30 mins or less).

 

I have eight mini coro trees, one small section of ground cover, three channels for the gutters (three different strings of lights) and two light arches several trees and bushes that will be lit.  These are all LED, the light arches, mini trees and some trees all have full wave, the rest are standard.  I also have two motifs (with two to three point channel controllers), which will remain off during the light display sequences.

 

Since it is the first year, I have SPT1 and plenty of vampire plugs on hand to run lines from the trees.

 

What I would like:

I want to have my lights on, maybe some animation loops, during the 30-minute DE segments, and schedule my light displays every 30 minutes for about 2-3 songs. 

 

My questions:

1. How do I go about getting scheduling this?  Do I build several shows and then schedule them with the show editor or do I build one giant show?

 

2. Any cautions or tricks I should know about the Easy linker pair?  They are about 65' apart on opposite ends of the house.

 

3. If I build the show using editor and then save it to the SD card, can I leave the controllers/director powered the whole time instead of using the external timer?  Will the mini-director pick up the 24-hour schedule from the Show Editor or do I still have to use the timers?  I should have gotten the G3-mp3 director but I didn't know any better at the time.  We occasionally get short brown-outs this time of year when the temperatures (don't laugh) dip below 60's at night.  Not often, but it does happen.  My concern is that the timing on the timers will be off. 

 

 

[Don]

What I would like:

I want to have my lights on, maybe some animation loops, during the 30-minute DE segments, and schedule my light displays every 30 minutes for about 2-3 songs. 

 

My questions:

1. How do I go about getting scheduling this?  Do I build several shows and then schedule them with the show editor or do I build one giant show?

 

2. Any cautions or tricks I should know about the Easy linker pair?  They are about 65' apart on opposite ends of the house.

 

3. If I build the show using editor and then save it to the SD card, can I leave the controllers/director powered the whole time instead of using the external timer?  Will the mini-director pick up the 24-hour schedule from the Show Editor or do I still have to use the timers?  I should have gotten the G3-mp3 director but I didn't know any better at the time.  We occasionally get short brown-outs this time of year when the temperatures (don't laugh) dip below 60's at night.  Not often, but it does happen.  My concern is that the timing on the timers will be off. 

 

Mini director (MDM) has no ability to play based on time of day. If it has power, then it's going to play. Also, with the mini director you don't use the Show Editor to build the shows. You can use the Simple Show Builder, or the Hardware Utility, (HWU) MP3 tab. I recommend the HWU.

 

In the HWU, you are going to need to program a show that is as close to 30 minutes as possible. Why? Well, the mini-director has a few limitations that are going to complicate things. When you build the show in the HWU schedule it for as close to, but not over 30 minutes, as possible. Then select the "repeat every 30 minutes" option at the lower left. You'll then want to add a filler sequence so that you have some lights on. If memory serves correct, this must be an animation sequence, but by all means, see if it will take a musical. This will cause the show to restart every 30 minutes, and play the filler sequence the remainder of the time.

 

As mentioned above, the MDM doesn't know time of day. So when it has power, it's going to start playing the shows. You will need the external timer. I wouldn't worry about the timing on the LOR controllers. They've been used in much colder weather than what you get. (No, I'm not laughing.) As for the external timer, I don't think I'd worry about it. Most timers would be rated for temperatures well above/below what you see there.

[CanelaLights]

Thank you.  I have done some research and read quite a few blogs since I posted.  I have decided to nix the mini director and just ordered another Easy Linker for my laptop and have my laptop run the shows.  I found that if I wanted to add DMX, I would have to make a change anyway.  I am kind of disappointed I wasted the money on the starter package.

 

Now my question is, how do I have my laptop run the show?  If I have the show built, do I leave the Show Scheduler open?  Better yet, are there any instructions or video for this?

 

I will also heed any advice on the best way to connect the FM whole house transmitter to the laptop; i.e., should I make sure the transmitter is outside or can I just place it close to a window?

[Don]

The software comes with documentation. Check out the help file to see the details. Also, look at the top of the page for "Video Tutorials" -- There is a lot of information there, including how to schedule and run shows.

[CanelaLights]

First, I want to thank you for reading my post and helping me out.

 

The gentleman at HolidayCoro.com was very helpful.  He directed me to a blog post.  I learned that the mini director could do it but with a high capacity SD card to hold all four plus hours of the show.  However, the mini director cannot handle RGB, which I might still throw in during the season. 

 

So I bought a used single Easy Linker from Ebay (I have two, one for each of my controllers, already) and decided to use the good ole laptop instead.  It is a waaaayyyy cheaper option than having to get the LOR g3-mp3 since I already have the spare laptop.

 

Thank you again!