vipzach Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I ordered my first controller the other day and it should be here on the 28th. I ordered a CTB-16K kit, Basic plus starter package and the 16 output cords. I am excited to start putting it all together!! Of course I downloaded and installed the software. Oh my gosh, I am confused! :shock: Where in the world do you start? I see a beat wizard, tapper wizzard and other stuff, but really have no idea how they are used!I downloaded the Halloween song and show that lightertainment provided for free and figured out how and where to put the music. Then made up a show with the sequence editor, but it looks horrible. I have seen where you guys have shows that the music and lights are coordinated, mine just looked like a bunch of lights that blinked and an idiot made it. Somebody please help me get started and what in the world to do!Thanks, Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 LOR has a couple of video's that show how to use their product. They are located on the support page. Also, lorsequences.com has some tutorials that will help alot. Start there, and welcome to the insanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hi Zach,My advice is to read the LOR help pages and read the software manual. There's a lot to learn, but it's pretty simple to get the basics down. From there, you can take it at your own speed one new thing at a time. I personally recommend that you practice using the beat wizard. Getting the lights to do their thing according to the beat is one of the most basic and necessary steps. And don't hesitate to ask questions here, either. There's a lot of knowledge to mine. But do yourself a favor and study the software manual first. Welcome aboard and happy sequencing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownTown Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Zach -I just want to add my 2 cents worth...First, you need to have a picture in your mind of where all your light strings are going to go. Then you assign each of those strings a channel. Some people use the animation window to check their work. If you choose to do so, this would be a good time to get that set up. Then it's on to song selection. Choose something with a strong beat for your first couple of songs while you get used to the sequence editor. Listen to the song you're working on. Listen to it many times. I usually make a CD of a new song (just that one song) and I listen to it going to and from work for a few days, over and over and over. Does it sound like an "up and down" song, or a "left and right" song? How does it make you feel? How can you interpret that feeling into the lights that you have? Use the sequence editor to make it happen. Don't be intimidated by the wizards (tapper, beat, etc). This is my 4th year with LOR, and I still have not been able to get the beat wizard to work to my satisfaction. I use the tapper wizard heavily. Others have just the opposite experience. It all depends on your skills and preferences. There is no right or wrong, just different. It will take a lot of work to get your lights sequenced to the music the way you want. It currently takes me about 15 hours per minute of music to get things the way I like them (160 channels). Take your time. Enjoy the process. Have fun with the lights.D.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 DownTown wrote: I still have not been able to get the beat wizard to work to my satisfaction. I use the tapper wizard heavily. Others have just the opposite experience. It all depends on your skills and preferences.The success of the beat wizard depends a lot on the music. For instance this song: Joy to the World by Bob Rivers works very well with the beat wizard. It's also fairly short, which is a good thing for sequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmer From Morristown TN Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 WelcomeYou are surrounded by alot of very helpful people. Last year was my first year and started very late. I did not have a clue with anything. Read alot then read alot then read alot. I looked at videos and other web sights to see what the general ideal was. I then took pen and paper and decided how I was going to decorate and labled each section as a channel. My house has a porch so each pole was a channel then the door was a different channel and so on. Extension cords , you will need alot if you are not running LED. MARK EACH CORD WITH THE CHANNEL IT RELATES TO BOTH ENDS. AFTER YOU ARE DONE READ AGAIN. Dont overwhelm your self and have fun.You have alot of great people here to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipzach Posted August 26, 2009 Author Share Posted August 26, 2009 Thanks for the advice so far guys! It is pretty intimidating when you first open this up! :shock: I watched the music sequence videos earlier and it makes a little more sense now. The videos are of the old software and I didn't find anything about the beat wizard. I am going to watch the tutorials over on lorsequences this evening.I like the idea of labeling cords at both ends!I hope to get this figured out a little bit so I can try to make a small Halloween display this year.Thanks again, Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Sarge has some real good advice on the extension cords. Red and green are the primary colors in my yard and there are a lot of cords running in a lot of directions. Somehow I got a couple cords switched during setup last year and it took quite a few choice words before I found the screwup. This job would be a snap if it wasn't for the extension cords. When you begin measuring your cords by the mile, you know it's out of control... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjmiller Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Zach,My 2 cents....2007 I had approx. 7,000 lights in my static display. 2008 I bought a 6 channel preprogrammed controller - it would only drive about 4,500 lights. I did an upgrade for 2009 1) I switched to LOR, 2) 64 channels of LOR, and 3) 96 channels of DIO, 4) I plan on about 24,000 lights (already bought).Before you do anything else, sit down with a piece of paper and draw out your house and lawn and where you hang lights. Now start grouping light strings into channels. My house roof eave is M shaped - Channel 1 is left 1 = /, channel 2 is left 2 = "", channel 3 is right 1 = /, and channel 4 is right 2 = "" or "//". I have a live evergreen tree in my front yard - so I have 8 channels of lights going "up" the tree, and 8 channels of verticle lights strings. I did that for all 114 channels I plan on running for this year.Now is where we get to an area that there is not a lot of good direction (for long term planning). Open up a Musical sequence, specify your controller(s) and number of channels, and I always select a .05 timing grid for track 1. For your song(media) I would suggest Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms - strong beat and simple song.. Now go in and edit each channel for a description and controller/channel assignment/color. Now you open up the animation and translate/assign your diagram to real channels. Now export the channel config - you will import it for future songs.This gets you the basic setup, Track 1, song, and animation. Now you can experiment with the various wizards - always add a new track for a wizard. If you don't like how the new track turned out - right click on the name and delete it.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipzach Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 Wooooo HooooooUPS site says my controller is delivered and on my porch!!Color me happy! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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