Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I saw Carson's WOW display on the net a couple of weeks ago. Hooked everyone in my office on it. We spent quite a bit of time debating whether it was real. I'm deep into home automation and a coworker knows a lot about stage lighting, so we were certain that even if it wasn't real, it could be done with the right equipment.Little did I know there was an entire community revolving around this! Someone found the snopes article yesterday and I've been going crazy doing research since. I have to say, I love the Christian-centric focus of this forum. It's very nice to find a "home" where people can celebrate and discuss the reason for the season without being flamed. I made the mistake of wishing somebody "Merry Christmas" on another forum and it started a big anti-Christian flame-fest. :{Anyway, what's with the LOR web site? I can't pull it up at all. Neither can I find prices anywhere on this equipment. From my understanding it doesn't look hideously expensive, but still, I'd like to see some actual pricing, not to mention more details. Any idea when the site might be back up? What's a basic 16 channel controller run? I'd like to setup a small display next year. Something on the order of 32 channels, maybe 48 depending on cost.I've got some basic questions if anyone has time to answer them:- Anyone running LEDs? From the LED forums it looks like they work well with newer LOR boards, is this accurate? I don't want to put in 100 amps of service to run a small bank of LOR boards. I'd rather spend more up front on LED lighting and run the whole show on a single 20 amp circuit.- Can LOR sequences be changed by remote trigger? Is the software scriptable in any way? How easy is it to load & unload different sequences? Reason: I'd like to run a basic, non-musical show most of the time, but allow the public to start a music-synched show by pushing a button. My AMX Netlinx automation equipment can handle the button logistics and should be able to take limited control of the LOR software, but since the LOR web site is down I can't play with the software.- Along with the above question, do sequences have to be downloaded to the controller, or can you change on-the-fly via the PC? I'm envisioning a system where you just open a sequence file, hit play, and it runs. Is this how it works?- Do you have to purchase the software seperately? How much does that run?I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but that's all I can come up with now. I appreciate everyone's time, and, -- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 First --- Merry Christmas!The LOR website should be up and running.http://www.lightorama.comhttp://www.lightorama.com/Store.html.........People have had good luck with LEDs with all controllers except the CTB08... The CTB08D and CTB16D and the Showtime controllers work fine.You cannot use remote triggers with the current version. The next version does have a new section added to a show... It is called the "Interactive section" It should do what you want.Sequences can be run from the PC or downloaded. Musical sequences must be run from the PC.The Software is about $80.You could just open a sequence file and click play... But there are much higher levels to it. You build shows that are made of sequences and then you schedule when the shows will play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 LightORama wrote: People have had good luck with LEDs with all controllers except the CTB08... The CTB08D and CTB16D and the Showtime controllers work fine.Rut Roh, no LED's with CTB-08's? That's most of my controllers...Any chance the code can be tweaked before you send out those replacement micros? Or is the micro just too small to accommodate the new code? In that case, is there a good workaround?-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 tfischer wrote: Rut Roh, no LED's with CTB-08's? That's most of my controllers...Any chance the code can be tweaked before you send out those replacement micros? Or is the micro just too small to accommodate the new code? In that case, is there a good workaround?Yes we will get the CTB08 to work with LEDs and do as you suggest. It is really just some parameter changes (not sure what they are yet) so it should not take additional code space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Dan - thank you for the reply.On the web site - I can't get to it at all from here. I can get everywhere else, though. Since you said it's up, I bounced off my private proxy server on the east coast and it's coming up fine from there. Not sure what the issue is, I'll have to try it from home, could be my employer's network though I can't imagine why. I can see the pricing now, though! Wow, the products are quite affordable. I assumed it would be more expensive. Of course, I won't be saying that when I turn crazy and decide I need 200 channels like some people (*ahem*, that's a compliment, my fellow crazies). Or for that matter when I start adding up the costs of LED strings. More questions:- It looks like your top of the line controllers are the LOR1602W & the CTB-16D. Other than the enclosure & cords included with the 1602, and the 30 vs 40 amp capacity, is there any other difference between the two?- I'm a bit confused on the concept of sequences vs. shows, and how they are executed. I've got the demo version here. It seems to me, if I wanted to run a given song, I'd have a single sequence setup with that song. To actually execute the sequence and play the song, all I have to do is "file, open" and hit "play" and that sequence runs. Right?The reason I ask is, I can script that remotely, assuming I'm not missing anything here. It's easy to execute a Windows event from my Netlinx system that will send the appropriate keystrokes to the editor. If I had a dozen songs created, I could place a dozen buttons on a panel in my yard and let visitors select which sequence to play Jukebox-style. If nothing has been selected, then I could auto-load a generic sequence without music.- When will the "Interactive section" be ready, and will owners of the current version get a free or reduced-price upgrade?Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Hi,The LOR1602W has a CTB16D in it. The reason for the 30A vs 40A is that the LOR1602W's power cords are rated at 15A each.The DEMO software only has one of the suite of programs that comes with LOR. You have the Sequence Editor which is used to create sequences. It is not generally used to run a show. The programs that you do not have are the Show Editor (builds shows which are really a number of playlists), the Schedule Editor (schedules when the shows should run) and the Hardware Utility which is a program for configuring and testing controllers.Today a show has many parts ( Background, Startup, Animations, Musical and Shutdown sections(lists).... You need to have someting in the Animation or Musical section but the reset are all optional.A new section is being addes called the Interactive Section. It will give the user the ability to control sequences based on inputs received. There will be things like a Jukebox (which is one type of interaction) and some other types.... It will be pretty flexable but we hope simple to understand and use. Input devices will be deployed in the field and can be wireless or hardwired into the network.This will be available early next year when we release LOR II. It will be a free upgrade to existing users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Exciting -- thanks Dan.I'm still not fully understanding how to create a complicated musical show, but I'm going to play with the editor some more and start a new thread with any questions I come up with later.Appreciate your time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 jjpicard wrote: Exciting -- thanks Dan.I'm still not fully understanding how to create a complicated musical show, but I'm going to play with the editor some more and start a new thread with any questions I come up with later.Appreciate your time!You might consider the following page:http://www.wonderlandchristmas.com/synchdemo/index.phpThere I have created a demo on how to sequence a song. It's not the only way, and may not be the best way. It's provided to help people get an idea of what you can do with LOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 LightORama wrote: Yes we will get the CTB08 to work with LEDs and do as you suggest. It is really just some parameter changes (not sure what they are yet) so it should not take additional code space.Excellent! Thanks!-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 Thanks Don. That helped immensly. I think I've got it down now... I have the intro to "Carol of the Bells" on a layout of my yard working and it looks great! Also looks like I'll be buying 40 channels for next year, based on the layout I came up with. Boy, I hope the after Christmas lighting sales are good to me this year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts