Trying to focus in

[csf]

So I figured I would ask this question to all of you.

How do you guys keep so focused on working on your projects? I know quite a few of you are already building and sequencing for next Christmas.

Right now I am not really even thinking about starting work for the Christmas display...

As far as a time line of projects go.

I am thinking of trying to do a light show to queen's bohemian rhapsody for fourth of July. Have not started sequencing yet, and would have to buy some new hardware to build what I have in mind.

Halloween display, this I have fairly planed out, but have not started building any thing or sequencing any thing yet.

Then there is the big one, the Christmas light display.

I may also be doing a small size 16 channel display for my college this year, if it gets final approval.

I have also been throwing around ideas for programs to aid in making light shows.

Now granted the semester does end for me in about 2 weeks so I will have more time to work on this stuff, but I do wonder if I should be cutting back and trying to focus more.

Or am I just thinking to much in to this and should just go with the more lights the better :dude:

[Brian Mitchell]

I think my biggest driving force is the passion for the display and the enjoyment of the obsession......errr..hobby. Seeing the reactions of all the people about something that I created really fires me up. I don't overtax myself. I grow the display modestly every year. Last year I didn't change any of the music from the previous year and we really all got really sick of the older music in the display. I vowed to change most of the music for this year and since it takes me about 10 hours per minute to sequence, I started early.

I don't work on it every day but I try to get 4 or 5 hours a week sequencing in right now. I also get my larger projects done fairly early so if I see anything else I want to do later, I'll have some time to do it. (maybe)

I don't drink, smoke, hunt, fish, own a boat or recreational vehicle. This is my main hobby. I dabble with it whenever I have the time in between all the other household projects. There really isn't a day that goes by where I don't at least think about the display and there are so many things I'd love to do that I know I'll never have time for. I choose my projects carefully and try to learn something new every year.

I think this years challenge will be trying to live up the quality of sequencing I know I have in me somewhere, getting the lights to tell a story.

Hope this gives some insight and its not me just rambling aimlessly.

[George Simmons]

csf wrote:

So I figured I would ask this question to all of you.

How do you guys keep so focused on working on your projects? I know quite a few of you are already building and sequencing for next Christmas.

Right now I am not really even thinking about starting work for the Christmas display...

Many of us are forced to keep focused, at the very least, by the simple math involved in what we're doing. As the channels start piling up, the bar of what you do with all those channels keeps rising. As more elements are added to the display, the flow chart just stretches farther and farther back in the year in order to get everything done in time. It's a lot easier to relax when fall yard work arrives if you've got almost everything done. Do the math - take the amount of time you spent with sixteen channels and multiply that by ten, thirty, fifty, or even a hundred and see where that leaves you...

[Greg]

The way I keep focused is to try to reach target dates for everything. I don't make the dates impossible to reach but rather flexible while only working on display a few hours a week to avoid burnout. It also helps that this year I am only doing a Christmas show. Last year trying to do a july show, plus halloween show wasto much.

[J_Plak]

I work on two year plans, sometime the plans work into the current year display :-), I echo the comment from Brian, George and Greg!!!

There are days I wish at home playing & working on my projects then at work...

One thing I am doing this year is making a soft target dates for everything be built,

Be sure to listen some holiday music.
As I am working on my projects I find Peace & Happiest in myself.

[J_Plak]

[jimswinder]

When it becomes "work" and is not fun anymore, you are doing too much...

[Guest guest]

I actually started doing my sequencing before I ever got the actual equipment, and this will be my first year using the LOR system.

So far I have 6 songs completed for my Christmas display, but a couple are still in need of tweaking them a wee bit to get the music and lights lit at the correct timing. One thing I learned while sequencing is, listen to the music with headphones to try and discern out any additional instruments or vocals that may be lower in volume than the main music. Sometimes I need to turn up the volume a bit to distinguish where I want to make the transition or effect wanted, for example I have some lighted bells that I modified to now be 1 channel per bell, originally these bells would have been 2 bells per channel, but I needed them seperated for some of the music I'm using that has bells or simulated bell tones where a bell or bells would light at the correct time. Anyway, this does take a lot of time and effort.

I will usually spend anywhere from 1 hour minimum or keep plugging away until I either get bored with working on the particular piece and then either work on another piece(sequence) or go take a 30 minute (minimum) to a couple hours (maximum) break from sequencing and then come back to it. My breaks are usually watching some TV, going out and doing a bit of yardwork or just relaxing by one of my ponds for a bit, but even though I'm taking a break and doing other things, believe it or not, I'm still thinking of the display, how it's going to come together, sequencing, what other music I am considering.

I was going to do a Halloween display this year and I do have a couple of seuqences completed, but seriosuly considering abandoning them for and working spedifically on the Christmas display as this is the one that seems to take the most time.



I may still yet do the Halloween display since I have a couple done, but got quite a few "in the works" as it is.



Basically to boil it all down, it all depends on YOU and WHAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE IN DOING with the time you have to put into it. Again, this is a very time consuming process, something I learned just as I was starting to really get into this myself, which was basically the very beginning of this year (2010)!

Good luck and enjoy what you do. If it's not enjoyable and becomes more tedious, stressful or too much work, then you'll feel you've made a big mistake getting into this stuff. So try and prepare yourself for all that this entails to keep it enjoyable for yourself.



BTW: Since I'm NOT employed at the moment, this is why I have been able to devote a little more time (I even do sequencing during my employment searches) to sequence what I've done. I'm sure the 6 songs I have done have probably taken me well over 900+ hours, plugging away at this sometimes for as long as 14-18 hours in a day! (I usually sleep 2-4 hours maximum a night, always been this way ever since I can remember, so I get up early and stay up late.)

[csf]

Thanks guys for the suggestion! Gave me a few good ideas. I think I have a more clear plan for my summer projects, which now mostly seam to revolve around LOR... Yes it must be an addiction....

Finals end for me next tuesday, and the experiments will begin, I will let you know what I am up to if things come out good

I'm sure the 6 songs I have done have probably taken me well over 900+ hours, plugging away at this sometimes for as long as 14-18 hours in a day! (

I completely agree that sequencing takes the longest time by quite a bit, which is why I am really thinking about how I can use my programing skills to help in the process. I can't help but think that there must be some way to help automate the process a bit more.

One thing I have been trying to think of quite a bit is to try some type of patten matching over a sound wave. I have to think if you isolate the split second of lets say a drum beat, or a bell ring, on the sound curve of a song, may need a setting for % error, since the other sounds in a song at the same time may produce a slightly different curve, you should be able to isolate a sounds though out a song. I am sure we have all been there when your trying to isolate a drum beat or something in a song, that can be heard many places in the same song.

Another idea I have always wondered about was a sequencer that allowed channel spacing to vary by channel, this way if you wanted one channel to be on longer for a guitar cored and one to be on shorter for drum beat you don't have to sub divide the longer spacing of the guitar to add in the drum. But this posses quite a bit of a coding challenge, and the benefits may not be worth the time to code up some thing like this, since standard grid is much easer to work with from a coding prospective.

[wallleyes]

Being a newbie this year has kept me motivated.I have a buddy sequencing songs with me.We have 28 songs done already.192 channels to start with.Although i bought 9 blowmold soldiers last weekend.2 drummers and 7 soldiers.Then today i bought one of them 3 channel santas from wowlights.com.I said 192 was it and final for this year but i slipped.I bought another controller a couple weeks back.Now i am thinking about adding another 16 channels and going back and sneaking the santa and the soldiers in.Walleye season opens here in another week so i will be fishing most weekends till fall.

[jimswinder]

wallleyes wrote:

Walleye season opens here in another week so i will be fishing most weekends till fall.

What??? No jumping fish in your display??? :?

[wallleyes]

Hmmmmmmmm thats an idea instead of the flying deer

[jimswinder]

wallleyes wrote:

Hmmmmmmmm thats an idea instead of the flying deer

Someone out there did a great job of some jumping fish...just tried finding it, but couldn't...

[Guest guest]

csf wrote:

Thanks guys for the suggestion! Gave me a few good ideas. I think I have a more clear plan for my summer projects, which now mostly seam to revolve around LOR... Yes it must be an addiction....

Finals end for me next tuesday, and the experiments will begin, I will let you know what I am up to if things come out good

I'm sure the 6 songs I have done have probably taken me well over 900+ hours, plugging away at this sometimes for as long as 14-18 hours in a day! (

I completely agree that sequencing takes the longest time by quite a bit, which is why I am really thinking about how I can use my programing skills to help in the process. I can't help but think that there must be some way to help automate the process a bit more.

One thing I have been trying to think of quite a bit is to try some type of patten matching over a sound wave. I have to think if you isolate the split second of lets say a drum beat, or a bell ring, on the sound curve of a song, may need a setting for % error, since the other sounds in a song at the same time may produce a slightly different curve, you should be able to isolate a sounds though out a song. I am sure we have all been there when your trying to isolate a drum beat or something in a song, that can be heard many places in the same song.

Another idea I have always wondered about was a sequencer that allowed channel spacing to vary by channel, this way if you wanted one channel to be on longer for a guitar cored and one to be on shorter for drum beat you don't have to sub divide the longer spacing of the guitar to add in the drum. But this posses quite a bit of a coding challenge, and the benefits may not be worth the time to code up some thing like this, since standard grid is much easer to work with from a coding prospective.

Sounds to me this is a lot of what the "subsequences" would be used for here.



Believe me, I thought about and asked some time back if there was an easier way to sequence and "automate" the process, afraid not, the responses I got were all pretty much "THERE IS NO EASY WAY OUT" with the sequencing, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort on the person doing the sequencing, most will agree that it takes at least 40-100 hours just to sequence 1 minute of music in the LOR sequencer.



Now I have attempted and at some times, not all, been successful in using the LOR built in "helpers", basically the VU Wizard and Beat Wizard, BUT, and this IS A BIG BUT too, you still need to go back over the song and move, edit, and delete a lot of what these features turn on because they may not be "exactly" where you need them to be and could be off or on just before or after where the part of the song is that should be on or off.



Like said, I had asked about this too and once I really got into this, found out, just as I was told by many folks, it's an art and it takes a lot of time and patience to get things moving along just the way you want them.



The first song I ever sequenced was total crap and I had to basically redo it several times, so basically it was my "learning curve" to know how to get the sequencer to do what I wanted. Also many folks that sequence may set up temporary lighting on their house and see how well this is all working together.



I actually have all 4 of my CTB16PC's currently set up in my spare bedroom, now my LOR sequencing and test room, these have both Christmas and Halloween lighted blowmolds and LED strings attached to them, as well as 4 coro arches so I can run basic tests and see just how the LED's and the incandescents (standard 25, 40 watt and C7 bulbs) and arches will react to my sequence,

I have created two 64 channel files with names, one 64 channel setup specifically for my Halloween decor and one 64 Channel for my Christmas decor. This way I can test sequence just the Christmas or just the Halloween by pulling up these channel grids that have only those type of holiday decor items listed on the channels.

It just makes it easier for me to see how everything will come together inside my test room BEFORE I actually install or do the outside set up. And I also have the LOR MP3 Showtime Director to run my shows stand-alone without my computer being attached, and I use the Simple Show Builder to install the show on an SD card with times I want the show(s) to start and end each day, and then allow them to run standalone to make sure everything is working as I planned.

Doing this, I have had to go back quite a few times and "tweak" a song file or two, by finding out after installing the show on the SD card or even running it from my system, that I had gotten some timings off slightly, not much, just a note or two one way or the other. Rarely I have gotten the sequence just right the first time through, usually requires edits and re-edits.



So if you have the extra room, I'd recommend setting up some lights, LED strings and Blow Molds to be able to get a better feel, and a better view of what will actually be happening once you complete a sequence, and then let it operate during an actual showtime.



Just my way of doing things, I know there are others that have differing ideas, and that's a good thing because it gives one ideas on how they may wish to set up a test area for checking/watching their shows and making sure they've got their sequencing in the correct spots.



Good Luck and Have Fun!

[shfr26]

Orville wrote:

Believe me, I thought about and asked some time back if there was an easier way to sequence and "automate" the process, afraid not, the responses I got were all pretty much "THERE IS NO EASY WAY OUT" with the sequencing, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort on the person doing the sequencing, most will agree that it takes at least 40-100 hours just to sequence 1 minute of music in the LOR sequencer.

Not that I am douting your word, but, 40-100 hours per minute sounds like alot. I was thinking more about 8-10 hours per minute, I could be wrong.

[Guest guest]

shfr26 wrote:

Orville wrote:

Believe me, I thought about and asked some time back if there was an easier way to sequence and "automate" the process, afraid not, the responses I got were all pretty much "THERE IS NO EASY WAY OUT" with the sequencing, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort on the person doing the sequencing, most will agree that it takes at least 40-100 hours just to sequence 1 minute of music in the LOR sequencer.

Not that I am douting your word, but, 40-100 hours per minute sounds like alot. I was thinking more about 8-10 hours per minute, I could be wrong.

That's what I thought too until I really got into it, then I found out, it's "extremely" time consuming and it's not as easy as I thought it would be either, but I'm not letting that deter me from continuing on with sequencing.



I'd definitely recommend starting out with a small music file to get the feel of all this, if you can find one that's about 1-2 minutes in length is a great starting point, if you start on a large one, say 3-5 minutes, you may start thinking why did I ever get into this? LOL I know I did at first, but the more I plugged away at it, it becamse a little easier, but still time consuming because you will always seem to find something you just don't like and want to either change or tweak it so it works the way you want.



I'd say, to me, anyway, sequencing is pretty much a never ending process as it can be refined, re-defined and modified in many different ways to different tastes.

I've just started on a new song several days ago, not even close to being into it for even a minute of sequencing as yet and I've already put 30 hours into what little I've done with it.



Some songs I get done somewhat quickly, but most eat up a LOT of my free time and currently I do have more than most.



I may actually spend more time on this than I should, mainly because I'm a darn perfectionist and with us types like that, we tend to overdo things.



Here's a link (hope it's not taboo to post the link here) to a good thread where I had asked about this some time ago over on Planet Christmas.

http://forums.planetchristmas.com/showthread.php/39029-Please-enlighten-me-as-to-why-Synchronizing-Music-to-a-display-takes-so-long?highlight=sequencing+songs


This may give you some better insight than what I've posted, since, like stated, I tend to "overdo" this a bit and spend more time on it than I probably should or need to perhaps! LOL