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Mini Director with MP3 (stand alone) questions/problem


crny1

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Well I have been building a sign basically with LED's and have been relying on the fact that it will be ran by the stand alone Mini director. I just need the "show" if you will to run as soon as the power is turned on at dark. Well after alot of time programming the sequence I tried to use simple show builder to load the show onto the SD card only to find out that my "show" has 5 tracks and it will only let a single track show be loaded onto the card!!!!!! I need the 5 tracks for looping different channels seperate from others but I also need it all to run stand alone!!! Just when I thought I had it all whipped and done I run into this...........

Any suggestions on how to make this work?? Is there a work around?

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You can simply eliminate the additional 4 tracks, as all of your channels and effects should be on the master track (unless you deleted channels from the master, which folks don't usually do).

Although you may see on/offs/fades, etc seemingly in between your timing marks on the master (assuming you used different timings on the other tracks) things will play just fine.

The mp3 diector has always been limited to single track use.

Greg

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crny1 wrote:

Well I have been building a sign basically with LED's and have been relying on the fact that it will be ran by the stand alone Mini director. I just need the "show" if you will to run as soon as the power is turned on at dark. Well after alot of time programming the sequence I tried to use simple show builder to load the show onto the SD card only to find out that my "show" has 5 tracks and it will only let a single track show be loaded onto the card!!!!!! I need the 5 tracks for looping different channels seperate from others but I also need it all to run stand alone!!! Just when I thought I had it all whipped and done I run into this...........

Any suggestions on how to make this work?? Is there a work around?



Try using the Hardware Utility MP3 tab to set and run your show. I used to use the SSB, but it is TOO LIMITED for SD Card usage. I think the HWU will load your sequence and do what you want it to do. I use tracks in my sequences, matter of fact my Halloween sequences were if I recall 13 tracks, my Christmas show was 11 tracks, and I ran them off my DC-MP3 Showtime Director unit. No problems.

So give the LOR Hardware Utility a whirl, it actually has more options and gives you better control over your show than the SSB does!

I'm almost 100% positive the HWU will have your show up and running, it's not the Director that is limited, it's the SSB software, that's why it's named SIMPLE Show Builder! Because it is extremely simple, but by being so, is also very limited in what it can do.

Good Luck!
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@crny1: BTW: if you have any questions on how to use the HWU if you get confused, just can't figure it out or don't understand how to do something with the Hardware Utility, just ask.

I've been using the DC-MP3 Showtime Director for 2 years to run my Halloween and Christmas displays.

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Greg,
I don't use a Master track. So I'm one of those that uses tracks, but I see no reason to keep a master track that is nothing more than a large area that is all together and is basically a duplicate of everything in my sequences. I just see no need for it, too me, just seems to take up unnecessary real estate and makes the file size just a little larger.

So I delete or don't even set up or use a master track, unless you consider track 1 the master track, thenI guess, even though it's only for my 7 C7 illuminated translucent red bells and 7 tracks (1 track per bell), could be considered the "master track" I suppose, but I wouldn't call it that.

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Greg Young wrote:

The mp3 diector has always been limited to single track use.

Greg

If that were true, neither my Halloween (13 tracks), nor my Christmas (11 tracks) would have ran. I use the DC-MP3 Showtime Director and it uses MULTIPLE tracks just fine. But you have to use the Hardware Utility to add the sequences to the show. The Simple Show Builder software is where the issue lies, I tried using it and couldn't. Plus the HWU gives you more options and better control over your shows!
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crny1 wrote:

So basically since I am not using musical tracks that is why it isnt working. All I have is a light sequence.
Or am I wrong?


Correct. The Directors (mini or Showtime) will not accept tracks in an animation sequence (one ending in LAS.) It will, however, accept musical sequences (ending in .LMS) with tracks.
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crny1 wrote:

So basically since I am not using musical tracks that is why it isnt working. All I have is a light sequence.
Or am I wrong?


Okay, I misunderstood your original post, I thought you were referring to a musical sequence.

So yes, Don is correct. Animation sequences can only have 1 track and will create an error message if more than one is used.

However, there is a way around it, but you have to create a musical sequence with an MP3 file that has nothing but silence in it. Nothing in there at all.

This is what I had to do to run my silent animations overnight. I created a 1 minute long SILENT MP3 from an audio/music editor, saved it as SILENTMP3.MP3 (so not to confuse it with Silent Night LOL).

Then I infused that silent mp3 file into an musical sequence, and then the software will accept it. This is the ONLY workaround that will work with the DC-MP3 Director units and multiple tracks where you don't want any music, vocals or any sounds to play at anytime.

If you need someone to create a silent MP3 for you, send me a PM with how long you need it and your e-mail address and I can create one to send to you.

Again, this is the only workaround to the animation error.



Sorry Don, I was thinking they were talking about multiple tracks in a musical sequence, not an LAS animation sequence. If I'd seen LAS, I would have realized that, and posted the above info in this post, instead of what I had posted initially, as I thought they were talking about the LMS file type.
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