vsnsound Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 I have been doing this for 6 years so not really a newbe, but this is an issue I was "cheating" getting around but now that I add a song or something its more difficult. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? In the past I timed everything out to make things run smooth in the schedule editor but now my first show since I added a song wont stop to let the 2nd one run. Here is what im trying to do.... I have a "pre" show that runs 4 on channels of lights with music behind it for about 45 min. Then right after that I have the full show fire up. Then that ends after the last song and the "pre" show comes back on. I want the main show to start on the hour. Basically this is how I was running it the same every day: 5:00 - 6:00: Pre show 6:00:05 - 6:13:25 - Full show 6:13:30 - 7:00 - Pre show and on at every hour until the last show at 10:00. Now the pre show is running into the main show and wont switch to the full. I know there has to be an easier way but I cant figure it out and now every year im going bigger and its becoming more of an issue now. Thank you for any help you can give me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddm1919 Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 What does each show consist of? Is your pre- show one 45 minute sequence? If it is, and you have it scheduled from 5 to 6, the sequence repeats at 5:45. Even though you have your full show scheduled to start at 6, LOR will not interrupt a sequence that is running. It will wait until that sequence is over before it starts the next show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 First comment is that you run your show for 23% of an hour and then have a static show for 77% of an hour. Most people that show up at a random time won't have any idea why there is not a show running, and they will just keep on driving - unless you have REALLY OBVIOUS sign. Even with that, unless it's less than a couple minutes till the top of the hour, they wont wait for it. As for how to do it, if the Pre-show was animation, it would be easy because the show player will stop an animation abruptly. With the pre-show being musical, and your desired show times, you really need two pre-show musical pieces. The first is truly the pre-show and runs from 5:00 till 6:00 and lasts as close to an hour as you can manage (without being short). The second will be used as the intermission and needs to be as close to 46:35 as you can get it (again, without being short). Then in the Schedule Editor, you have a couple of choices. The first would be something like this: 5:00 - 6:00 Pre-show 6:00 - 6:13 "real" show 6:13 - 7:00 Intermission 7:00 - 7:13 "real" show 7:13 - 8:00 Intermission 8:00 - 8:13 "real" show 8:13 - 9:00 Intermission 9:00 - 9:13 "real" show 9:13 - 10:00 Intermission 10:00 - 10:13 "real" show 10:13 - 11:00 Intermission So for the sake of discussion, let's say that the Pre-show sequence is 3601 seconds long (one extra second). Also the intermission sequence is 2786 seconds long (also one extra second). So when the show plays, the timeline will be something like this (there is an adjustment I'll talk about a little later): 5:00:00 Pre-show show plays 5:00:00 Pre-show sequence starts 6:00:00 Pre-show show goes into shutdown mode 6:00:01 Pre-show sequence ends, Pre-show show ends 6:00:01 "real" show starts 6:13:00 "Real" show goes into shutdown mode 6:13:26 Last song in "real" show ends, "real show ends 6:13:26 Intermission show starts 6:13:26 Intermission sequence starts 7:00:00 Intermission show goes into shutdown mode 7:00:02 Intermission sequence ends, Intermission show ends 7:00:02 "real" show starts 7:13:00 "Real" show goes into shutdown mode 7:13:27 Last song in "real" show ends, "real show ends 7:13:27 Intermission show starts 7:13:27 Intermission sequence starts 8:00:00 Intermission show goes into shutdown mode 8:00:03 Intermission sequence ends, Intermission show ends This continues for each hour. It is VERY important for the Pre-Show sequence and each run of the Intermission sequence to run past the scheduled end of that show - or else the sequence will run again. The above timeline made the assumption that shows end, load, and start sequences in zero time. In reality, that is not the case, so the times will slowly drift later. The adjustment I mentioned earlier would be to shorten the intermission show slightly to make up for that time. You could also put the intermission piece as a Shutdown sequence for the "real" show. As mentioned before, you may also need to slightly tweek the length of the intermission. I am going to make the assumption that your "real" show is a couple sequences that are intended to play one time only for each show iteration. If that is the case, there is another option. Create a single show that has everything in it - such as this: Pre-show sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence This may be the cleanest way to do what you want.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhammer53 Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 (edited) In my area, if there is more than a 3 minute pause, they drive off. Some only stay 4-5 minutes max no matter how complex or entertaining the show. In talking with a couple others doing similar shows this seems to be the average at least for the Spokane, Wa. area. We run ours as a continuous program varying 36 to 44 different sequences each day as a looping show from 5pm until 10pm M-F and 4:30-11pm Sat & Sun. We shut down the external audio at 10pm as we have a city "quiet time" mandated at 10pm. From Dec 23 to Jan 1 we run the show until 11:30 with only the FM transmitter on after 10pm and still have visitors stop by that late. Very few stay longer than 4 or 5 sequences which also seems to be what the others experience with their displays. Between parts of sent sequences from others that I have customized for my use and my original sequences, I have a current Christmas pool of 214 possible, arranged in categories of child, modern, comedy and classic. I also have a similar arrangement for Halloween and the Patriotic holidays although those shows are shorter than my Christmas endeavor. Dead air is a killer for any show, I seldom use any "spacers" or fillers for that reason. The audience wants it NOW... so to keep the cars and pedestrians watching, the show has few breaks or DEAD AIR...a lesson learned as a DJ at a Chicago AM station in the late 60's, your audience is your BOSS. In reality, you play to their demands. Jim Edited November 12, 2019 by Rockhammer53 spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vsnsound Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, k6ccc said: Well, That's a lot to take in. LOL! First question you asked... I do this to raise donations for the local food bank so there are signs all over town, in store windows, in the newspapers and even sometimes on the news, so people do wait till the top of the hour for the show. There is no drive by since I live on a dead end road and everyone there knows what time it starts. We took in over 400 pounds of food last year for them. Last year I had a animation sequence on a loop and had no issues. Its when I changed to a musical sequence is where it went haywire on me. I only did this because people were out there 20 even 30 min before the show sitting there waiting so I figured I would play some music while they wait. So basically the pre show is a show with lower background music with a few lights on while they wait for the main show to start on the hour. So if the pre sequence runs into the scheduled time of the main sequence will the main sequence cut the pre show one off? Pre Show is 46:15 minutes Full show is 17:09 minutes Both musical sequences But I might want to add more songs to make the full show longer so what will that do? Im going to tinker with your suggestions today unless I hear back from you soon. Thank you sooooo much. That was a lot of typing for you. heheh. Jay --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First comment is that you run your show for 23% of an hour and then have a static show for 77% of an hour. Most people that show up at a random time won't have any idea why there is not a show running, and they will just keep on driving - unless you have REALLY OBVIOUS sign. Even with that, unless it's less than a couple minutes till the top of the hour, they wont wait for it. As for how to do it, if the Pre-show was animation, it would be easy because the show player will stop an animation abruptly. With the pre-show being musical, and your desired show times, you really need two pre-show musical pieces. The first is truly the pre-show and runs from 5:00 till 6:00 and lasts as close to an hour as you can manage (without being short). The second will be used as the intermission and needs to be as close to 46:35 as you can get it (again, without being short). Then in the Schedule Editor, you have a couple of choices. The first would be something like this: 5:00 - 6:00 Pre-show 6:00 - 6:13 "real" show 6:13 - 7:00 Intermission 7:00 - 7:13 "real" show 7:13 - 8:00 Intermission 8:00 - 8:13 "real" show 8:13 - 9:00 Intermission 9:00 - 9:13 "real" show 9:13 - 10:00 Intermission 10:00 - 10:13 "real" show 10:13 - 11:00 Intermission So for the sake of discussion, let's say that the Pre-show sequence is 3601 seconds long (one extra second). Also the intermission sequence is 2786 seconds long (also one extra second). So when the show plays, the timeline will be something like this (there is an adjustment I'll talk about a little later): 5:00:00 Pre-show show plays 5:00:00 Pre-show sequence starts 6:00:00 Pre-show show goes into shutdown mode 6:00:01 Pre-show sequence ends, Pre-show show ends 6:00:01 "real" show starts 6:13:00 "Real" show goes into shutdown mode 6:13:26 Last song in "real" show ends, "real show ends 6:13:26 Intermission show starts 6:13:26 Intermission sequence starts 7:00:00 Intermission show goes into shutdown mode 7:00:02 Intermission sequence ends, Intermission show ends 7:00:02 "real" show starts 7:13:00 "Real" show goes into shutdown mode 7:13:27 Last song in "real" show ends, "real show ends 7:13:27 Intermission show starts 7:13:27 Intermission sequence starts 8:00:00 Intermission show goes into shutdown mode 8:00:03 Intermission sequence ends, Intermission show ends This continues for each hour. It is VERY important for the Pre-Show sequence and each run of the Intermission sequence to run past the scheduled end of that show - or else the sequence will run again. The above timeline made the assumption that shows end, load, and start sequences in zero time. In reality, that is not the case, so the times will slowly drift later. The adjustment I mentioned earlier would be to shorten the intermission show slightly to make up for that time. You could also put the intermission piece as a Shutdown sequence for the "real" show. As mentioned before, you may also need to slightly tweek the length of the intermission. I am going to make the assumption that your "real" show is a couple sequences that are intended to play one time only for each show iteration. If that is the case, there is another option. Create a single show that has everything in it - such as this: Pre-show sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Intermission sequence This may be the cleanest way to do what you want.. Edited November 12, 2019 by vsnsound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichRX7 Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Also, more information on this topic in this thread: http://forums.lightorama.com/topic/50416-is-it-possible-to-keep-lights-on-when-not-in-a-show/?tab=comments#comment-465038 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts