Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

Show Structure


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

How do you insert an Intro voiceover and an ending voiceover in a show so that they play only at the beginning and ending of the show while the songs in the show repeat? According to the Help files, you cannot use a musical sequence in either the Startup or Shutdown components. Do you just make one long show by putting the Intro and then enter the songs repeatedly for the duration of the show time and then enter the ending voiceover?

I have seen suggestions to run things in the background, but can't find anything on that in the help files either. I would like to run my "tune to" sign in the background.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

circus4u wrote:

How do you insert an Intro voiceover and an ending voiceover in a show so that they play only at the beginning and ending of the show while the songs in the show repeat? According to the Help files, you cannot use a musical sequence in either the Startup or Shutdown components. Do you just make one long show by putting the Intro and then enter the songs repeatedly for the duration of the show time and then enter the ending voiceover?

I have seen suggestions to run things in the background, but can't find anything on that in the help files either. I would like to run my "tune to" sign in the background.


The help must be outdated. That used to be a limitation, but it now works fine. Just place the musical sequence in the startup/shutdown area (assuming you're not on a really old version of the software).

-Tim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm trying to do this as well but having no luck. Here's what I want to do.

Intro (Musical)

Seq1 (Musical)
Seq2 (Musical)
Seq3 (Musical)
Seq4 (Musical) (Repeat with Seq1)

Outro (Musical)

If I understand it correctly, Intro should be placed in the "Startup" tab, Seq 1-4 in the "Musical" tab, and Outro in the "Shutdown" tab. If I save this show and schedule it to run for 3 hours every night, it should, in theory, run like this:

Intro
Seq1
Seq2
Seq3
Seq4
Seq1
Seq2
(...etc., until end of scheduled time)
Outro

For whatever reason, mine is not working. Am I missing something?

Thanks all!
~K

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kaeleb wrote:

Now I'm seeing that you can't use musical sequences in the startup/shutdown tabs. Can anyone verify this one way or another?

Thanks!
~K


I know I tried it last year, with bad results. From what I understand, musical sequences can only go in the musical tab. No exceptions. I don't recall new software coming out this year that would remedy the problem.

Now, a way around this is to create a one sequence show for your opening and ending.

Remember: LOR will advance to the next sequence in a show, so long as it's within the allotted time. Thus, if your opening is 45 seconds, then you will need to insert some blank audio at the start, so you get it just over a minute. Otherwise, your startup sequence will play twice, because LOR would play it again if it were under a minute.

Same goes for your ending sequence. Just make it a one minute show, (using your shutdown show consisting of one sequence) and play it at the end of the night.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don wrote:

Kaeleb wrote:
Now I'm seeing that you can't use musical sequences in the startup/shutdown tabs. Can anyone verify this one way or another?

Thanks!
~K


I know I tried it last year, with bad results. From what I understand, musical sequences can only go in the musical tab. No exceptions. I don't recall new software coming out this year that would remedy the problem.

Now, a way around this is to create a one sequence show for your opening and ending.

Remember: LOR will advance to the next sequence in a show, so long as it's within the allotted time. Thus, if your opening is 45 seconds, then you will need to insert some blank audio at the start, so you get it just over a minute. Otherwise, your startup sequence will play twice, because LOR would play it again if it were under a minute.

Same goes for your ending sequence. Just make it a one minute show, (using your shutdown show consisting of one sequence) and play it at the end of the night.


Strange. I used a musical shutdown sequence last year with no problems at all.

I swear I remember Dan posting on the old board that the original limitation was artificial and it had been removed -- several software versions back.

Dan or John, comments?

-Tim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just an FYI, I have two shows I run each night , the first is a short "music only show"
and a music shutdown on that , which is really the start of the next show (the main light show) with a short "shows starting announsment" voiceover at the end with the radio sign lit, the next is the main light show with a music shutdown on that (Silent night with just the tree star lit ) I have one voice sequence within the main show "welcome thanks for not blocking the neighbors' driveway, announcment" this seems to work well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was just reading the LOR202 from the support page ...



[align=left]The Startup section
!This section contains a list of Sequences to start the show.
!This section is optional and may remain empty.
!Can contain both Animation and Musical Sequences.
!Will execute the sequences in the order listed
!The next section will not begin until the last Sequence is completed.
!A good place to put a special song to start the Show.[/align]

[align=left]
So ... the mystery continues ... :D[/align]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget you can use the scheduler to schedule seconds. So if your into is 45 seconds, why not schedule the show "intro" to play 5:00:00 until 5:00:30. Then, schedule your normal show 5:00:30 until whenever. At 5:00:30, the intro sequence will continue playing until it finishes, and then the regular show will start. Just my 2 cents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My plan on this topic is:

The VoiceOver should be in every iteration of the show ...

Opening Song (with Voice Over)
Song #2
Song #3
Song #4
...
End Song

Unless you do it this way, most of your visitors wont be around to hear the voice over.

My method is to have all the songs in order, then let the whole thing run for 3 or 4 hours looping continuously. If I want something different, then I program a different show to run at different times.

As for just having a show run 1 time. (reference the 45 second discussion earlier)


  • Just set the show length to be shorter than the song length. The show will play the one song, to its full length. Then will proceed to the next Show on the schedule.
  • A song (musical sequence) will complete to its normal end if the "show" finishes (runs out of time) ... the following show will either start then, or the show will shut down if there is nothing schedule after the end of the last song.


On a side note: I thought I would have specified show times every 15 or 20 minutes ... after experimenting, I decided to just let the show run ... and scheduled some visual breaks (non-musical sequences) in between the songs ... these breaks didn't last more than 30 seconds.

Later all,

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are the voice overs accomplished by editing the wav file for the song, or is a short wav file created and added to the show.

this is confusing to me. is there a good place to read about this. thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

re: How I do the voice overs ...

I use Audacity, and I place the audio clips where they work in the song. Also, you can bring the volume of the music down a bit to allow the voice to be heard better.

Hope that helps,

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so lets say i have 4 sequences complete now, and desire to build the show. i may desire to have 30 minutes of just christmas songs, other than my show songs, and have a few of the lights remain in static on condition. then, i may want to announce that the show will begin in 5 minutes, then play some more static music and lights, then count down, 5,4,3,2,1, to show start, run show for maybe 2.5 hours (same 4 songs) with a reminder to not block the neighbors driveway about every 4th song), then announce "the end, thankyou, enjoy the season", and play static music and lights for 10 minutes.

we could some it up to: preshow, show and post show. i understand i'd take one of my sequences, and add to the length of the one song, perhaps at the end, then add my "courteous to neighbor" message. But i am still unclear how i'd do all the fancy stuff in the pre and post show sessions using the show editor and or sequence editor. your reply was appreciated. thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It can be tricky because there are a lot of different ways to do it. Here's three suggestions:


  1. This is how I run my shows. Since it uses another piece of software, it probably is not a good choice for you (because you have to learn how to use it fast.) But, I use Direttore for preshow and post show. GOAL: Play 30 minutes of random music before the LOR show, start the LOR show, play 30 minutes of random music after the LOR show.

    1. At 4:30pm, direttore automatically loads up 20 random songs and starts playing them.
    2. At 4:48pm, direttore adds a "the show starts in 10 minutes" when the current song finishes playing, and then continues with music.
    3. At 4:53pm, direttore adds a "the show starts in 5 minutes" when the current song finishes playing, and then continues with the music.
    4. At 5:00:02pm Direttore stops the music in the middle of the song. (It takes LOR 2-4 seconds to load up and start the first song, so I play the music a few seconds after 5pm.)
    5. I don't have my shows timed yet, but say i know the last song ends at 10:02:32pm. Then I tell Direttore start playing at 10:32pm and 32 seconds. Since LOR and Direttore run on the same computer, they sync to the same clock. It works perfectly!
    6. At 10:02:32pm, the Direttore plays the "end of shows track" and then plays the remaining songs of the original 20 in step #1 play. When the playlist is over, direttore stops playing.
    7. At 4:30pm the next day, the same process repeats, and Direttore randomly selects another 20 songs to play.

    There is no reason you couldn't use direttore and program in the exact times you want music for your static display. You just have to know exactly when you want the direttore music to start and stop, and it will work great for your application.

    A side note, as with all software, it will take you a while to learn and understand the program. IT IS BETA. YES, IT CAN CRASH SOMETIMES. Also, there is a dialog box that comes up when you open the program. If you reboot, Direttore will not start playing until you click OK on the dialog box.

2. Choice #2, why not create 7 preshows? Then you can time the 7 sets of music including the show starts in 10 minutes and anything else exactly as you want. Just plan out the playlists so their times match up as you want. Then just schedule one preshow per day. Since you will do 7 of them, the audience doubtly will attend two nights with the same intro.

3. Choice 3, set up an complicated show structure. For example, make 3 preshows. One is your normal which starts the preshow. Then schedule the second with 10 minutes before the show, and this will do your "the show starts in 10 minutes" and play say 2 songs. Then schedule the 3rd 5 minutes before your show. Something like this could work, but it may be more complicated than it's worth.


In all cases, the shows will be musical sequences with the static lights you want on. Depending on which choice you use above, you may want to turn random on or off for the musical sequences.


OK, i'm out of ideas. Your turn!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks Mike, nice detailed reply.

lets say i like the Preshow idea, using lor, "how" is my frustration. preshow creation is not obvious to me. the show editor does not like musical animations in the preshow animation tab, only light animation, so how do i add music. the only way i could figure is that i only use the musical sequence. i'd add 8 presongs, they'd be musical animations with no real light animaitons, then add my 4 songs, but keep adding them over and over till i thought they'd equal 2.5 hours of play time, then add some more static musical animations for the post show. would that work or is that what you were saying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...