Desperately in need of programming help

[Leroy Thompson]

I'm using 2.7.6 and it I'm having a nightmare trying to program. I've never done this. It is much more difficult than video editing or desktop publishing. I've view the tutorial video's and got no help. I need a manual. Can anyone tell me where I can buy, beg, or borrow a printed manual? Or where I can get some real help? I have spent a lot of money on lights in January and I'm building the Holdman Bethlehem Star. I want to build my program around the star, but I can't even get to first base. I've done the tapper and it was a disaster. Can someone help please before I throw the whole thing away! I actually took a week of vacation to do this and nothing is working out.

[jem5136]

Hi,
What do you need help with exactly. I am sure I can help you with whatever you need. Shoot me an e-mial if you need; jmiskovi@hotmail.com. This stuff takes time to learn, I am sure within a couple months you will be a master at it, you just got to give it a little time.

Jesse

[Don]

Congratulations on your LOR purchase.

There are several places you can get help. In the software there is a help file you can access. It has a lot of help in there to help you out.

Another thing that might help is the lightoramasequences.com site. There you can download sequences that others have donated to the site. That might help you get some better ideas who to program the lights.

There is a learning curve with this. I spent from March through December working on my first year sequences. (And this was with the older LOR 1 software!) Take your time, and start with an easier, shorter song. Just takes time.

[Leroy Thompson]

Thanks for your note. I appreciate your offer of help. I need a manual that takes me through the programming process step by step. There is no one else who does this in our town. The only people I've found on planet Christmas live some distance away. I took a week of my vacation to build a Christmas Star and program. So far, I have no programming done. I've tried the tapper and it was a disaster. I watched some video's and they go way too fast. I need a book to read slowly step by step. I do video editing and desktop publishing regularly but this makes no sense. I NEED A BOOK or printed materials. I am a college VP and don't have months. I have this week before we start getting ready for students to return.

Thanks,

Leroy T.

[cmoore60]

Adding your location to your profile can help.

There are many silent decorators that may not post on the forums.

Chuck

[scubado]

I noticed you have two threads going about your situation. I sent a couple replies on your disappointed thread. How many channels do you have? 32 is a good starting point to get used to the software and not burn yourself out on the first song. First setup your channels, then setup the visualizer to some what resemble your yard and lights. Once this is done try not to make changes to your setup.

[Leroy Thompson]

I started with only 16 last year. I used pre-designed sequences that other people had created. I am upgrading to 32 channels this yea

Here is my central question, I think:

1. What I can't figure out is how to tell where I am in the song. I have my lighting arrangment set up with my channels identified. I have done a 'tap,' but it was way off. I turned on the wavefile display but that doesn't seem to help. In video editing and audio editing you can 'scrub' the cursor across the timeline and hear one sound at a time. That way you know where the voice and/or music changes. If I could do that I would know when the notes change and then would like to 'drag' the timing to fit the notes. Is there a way to do this in the LOR software so that I know where to make breaks?

Basically, How do I know how long to make a particular timing slot? I think that is probably the same quesiton I just asked.

I know these are probably baby questions but that's where I am in this thing.

Also, I still need the book info

[Greg]

This might help. I have a hard time trying to figure out a "timing slot" also so I use a standard .05 timing interval throughout the entire song. Then I simply turn channels on and off to match beats in the waveform (this is a basic way I create sequences)

[Surfing4Dough]

I always create several empty channel rows in which I put the tapper beats in. As the song is playing in the tapper, I visualize the display in my head and tap whenever I picture something turning on or off (which is usually on a strong beat in the music). I may end up using one of these empty channel rows for a particular item (i.e. mega tree) that I want to tap for as I picture it in my head. Before doing any additional sequencing, I adjust the accuracy of my tapper beats I initially created. Sometimes need to slow down the speed of the song in order to tap it just right.
Before doing sequencing, I then adjust the play range of the song to just play what is on my screen. That way I can just listen to a few seconds of music at a time (over and over and over and over), adding on/off/fade commands for the channels during just those few seconds. That way you are kinda breaking down the song into small segments. Sometimes I will do all display items (all channels) for just those few seconds, and other times I will just pick one display item (one or just a few channels) to sequence for the entire song one segment at a time.

[Leroy Thompson]

I have no idea how to get to my profile. Didn't even know I have one!

[Brian Mitchell]

PM sent

[Leroy Thompson]

Thanks to all for your help

[Keith Adams]

The tapper method didn't work for me either. I usually set mine for .05 timings and set the play to "selection". This allows you to select a few timings you think you want to affect and if it is not exactly what you thought you can choose other cells until the playback gives you exactly what you were looking for. Also sometimes you can slow the playback down under the play menu with speed.

[PaulXmas]

thompsol wrote:

I started with only 16 last year. I used pre-designed sequences that other people had created. I am upgrading to 32 channels this yea

Here is my central question, I think:

1. What I can't figure out is how to tell where I am in the song. I have my lighting arrangment set up with my channels identified. I have done a 'tap,' but it was way off. I turned on the wavefile display but that doesn't seem to help. In video editing and audio editing you can 'scrub' the cursor across the timeline and hear one sound at a time. That way you know where the voice and/or music changes. If I could do that I would know when the notes change and then would like to 'drag' the timing to fit the notes. Is there a way to do this in the LOR software so that I know where to make breaks?

Basically, How do I know how long to make a particular timing slot? I think that is probably the same quesiton I just asked.

I know these are probably baby questions but that's where I am in this thing.

Also, I still need the book info

I tried the tapper wizard...didn't like it (couldn't keep up)
Here is what I do...
- Create a New Musical Sequence
- Pick the music file
- Use a fixed timing grid Fixed grids must be set now (I use 1/10 of a sec)
- Click OK
- View - Wave Form - Full Height
- Scale Up or Down so you can see the peaks and valleys
- Every peak turn something on (the length of time you want something on depends on the song.
To see how it looks
- Play - Play Range -Visible Screen (plays just what is on the screen)
- Selection (I think this is what you want place the mouse on one square and drag it to where ever and it will play the part you have selected, good for the short pieces).
From Selection (click the mouse and it will play from that point)

Hope this helps

Something I have tried and helps (me) speed things up is use a fade down from the peak to the valley using one channel. Once I have done all of the peaks then I copy and paste the row to another row. Listen and remove whatever doesn't fit.

[Bob Hall]

PaulXmas wrote:

thompsol wrote:

I started with only 16 last year. I used pre-designed sequences that other people had created. I am upgrading to 32 channels this yea

Here is my central question, I think:

1. What I can't figure out is how to tell where I am in the song. I have my lighting arrangment set up with my channels identified. I have done a 'tap,' but it was way off. I turned on the wavefile display but that doesn't seem to help. In video editing and audio editing you can 'scrub' the cursor across the timeline and hear one sound at a time. That way you know where the voice and/or music changes. If I could do that I would know when the notes change and then would like to 'drag' the timing to fit the notes. Is there a way to do this in the LOR software so that I know where to make breaks?

Basically, How do I know how long to make a particular timing slot? I think that is probably the same quesiton I just asked.

I know these are probably baby questions but that's where I am in this thing.

Also, I still need the book info

I tried the tapper wizard...didn't like it (couldn't keep up)
Here is what I do...
- Create a New Musical Sequence
- Pick the music file
- Use a fixed timing grid Fixed grids must be set now (I use 1/10 of a sec)
- Click OK
- View - Wave Form - Full Height
- Scale Up or Down so you can see the peaks and valleys
- Every peak turn something on (the length of time you want something on depends on the song.
To see how it looks
- Play - Play Range -Visible Screen (plays just what is on the screen)
- Selection (I think this is what you want place the mouse on one square and drag it to where ever and it will play the part you have selected, good for the short pieces).
From Selection (click the mouse and it will play from that point)

Hope this helps

Something I have tried and helps (me) speed things up is use a fade down from the peak to the valley using one channel. Once I have done all of the peaks then I copy and paste the row to another row. Listen and remove whatever doesn't fit.

Wow, this has just confused me even more....

I made a post on on PC about how the software is kicking my butt.
I'm not grasping the 'basics' of this and alot of the terminology and how it's used is throwing me off as well.

On a side note, I took my laptop into my dayjob with the software on it, and none of the other 'computer nerds' can make heads or tails on what to do. Is this software just too 'simple' and that is why we have no clue what to do? Anyway, I'm off to my evening job for another 3 hours.

[Guest guest]

B

On a side note, I took my laptop into my dayjob with the software on it, and none of the other 'computer nerds' can make heads or tails on what to do. Is this software just too 'simple' and that is why we have no clue what to do? Anyway, I'm off to my evening job for another 3 hours.

I think there is a general misconception that what one might deem as a "computer nerd" is capable of grasping any available software package in a heartbeat....

Do these "computer nerds" even understand the concept of animated lighting, etc?...

[Bob Hall]

DonFL wrote:

B

On a side note, I took my laptop into my dayjob with the software on it, and none of the other 'computer nerds' can make heads or tails on what to do. Is this software just too 'simple' and that is why we have no clue what to do? Anyway, I'm off to my evening job for another 3 hours.

I think there is a general misconception that what one might deem as a "computer nerd" is capable of grasping any available software package in a heartbeat....

Do these "computer nerds" even understand the concept of animated lighting, etc?...

Only what I've explained to them and shown them through You tube and Vimeo videos. I was being facetious with the term 'computer nerds'. My guys are pretty slick when it comes to setting networks, writing log in scripts for said networks and configuring proprietary software for customers, etc. After I'm done with the books and such, I'm installing hardware in the new machines and configuring them for the techs to set up when they go on site and I do some repairs on the public machines that come in house. I'm the weakest link on the tech side in the office though since that isn't my primary duty.

Now for the bank that I work evenings at, I'm in the IS dept there as well. I've been talking through email since I'm in the office when nobody else is to the one network specialist who is responsible for all things software related at the bank. He's interested in the blinky blinkies too and I might let my laptop on his desk one night for him to play with and see what he comes up with.

[Leroy Thompson]

Paul:

Thanks for your note. This has been the most helpful of anything written so far. I am moving along now.

Leroy

[Leroy Thompson]

I agree with the point made here. This is difficult because it doesn't work like anything else. As we all know, the key is the timings. Once it was explained to me how to see the wave form, sloooooowww down the music to 1/4 speed, play only a range of the song, and physically move a timing, I finally got started. I think I could use the tapper to get started and then make adjustments now.



QUESTION: Can you use an existing file that is partially done and do a 'tap' on it without messing it up?

[scubado]

Yesterday I read in one of the threads about being able to play the music at 1/2 speed, I just tried it out and love that feature. Sounds weird, but sure helps timing the beats. I'm currently working on a faster song and was struggling with it.
As your sequencing, check in with the forum once in a while, you'll discover helpful gems. Just stay away from the 'Heard it through the grapevine' thread, no gems there, but if you need a chuckle... Beware, it'll waste the rest of your weekend!