petenice Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 today i finished a sequence I started a week ago. I never realized how much work goes into making one. but I did it and even though I think i can and will be better as I go back from time to time. I'm proud of myself. is there any software that can make it a easier or at least less stressful job.i guess the question i should ask is which is the best verison of the showtime suite to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I can't say that I know of software that will make it less stressful. Goes with the territory, I think.The Superstar Sequence Editor can take your visualization file and do some auto sequencing with it. I haven't used it, so I don't know how good (or bad) of a job it does. Though, what looks good to one person may not look good someone else. I suspect the results of the auto-sequencing functionality would be the same.Aside from that - practice, practice and practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Good job and keep working at it. It does get easier with time, but probably not shorter since channel counts tend to increase as the years go by. I give you credit for taking on the challenge though, and realizing the "pain" involved sure does help build respect for the many incredible displays you see amongst the users here. I don't think there are any significant tools in the higher versions of the software that make it much easier. The most useful tool when first starting a song IMO is the Tapper Wizard, in order to help get the basic timing marks down to give you somewhere to start. It is demonstrated well in this tutorial video:http://www.lightorama.com/downloads/Master03A.htmMake sure you eventually post a video of your finished product so we can all enjoy it too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 The Tapper Wizard and Beat Wizard should both be your friends and you should get to know them intimately.Great job sticking with it. I'm a total newbie and I've done all my own sequencing this year (7 songs in my show). It really makes me appreciate how great a job some of these guys and gals do. Amazing displays!!Good luck and keep hammering away. The quality difference between sequence #1 and sequence #7 was huge for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milateket Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 The best software that i can recommend is called "Drink Some Beer 1.2 PACK" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 petenice wrote: today i finished a sequence I started a week ago. I never realized how much work goes into making one. but I did it and even though I think i can and will be better as I go back from time to time. I'm proud of myself.You should be proud of yourself. Not everyone is determined enough or industrious enough to learn the craft from the bottom up. We're proud of you too.I differ from Surfing in that I never got comfortable with the Tapper. But a lot of people have done some mighty fine work using it. My advice would be to go with the advanced version of the software so you never find yourself wishing you had access to features omitted from the lower versions - specifically the Beat Wizard.I second Aaron's recommendation of the Beat Wizard. It's been my best friend ever since S2 came out when I was first getting started. I use it in every sequence I've ever done, and I promise that if you take just five minutes practicing with it, it will pay back that investment many times over in the very first sequence you use it.Good luck. We're here for you with any questions you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightzilla Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 I agree with George in that you can be proud that you finish your own sequence. It helps that you have good software to work with......Lor is very good software.I knew what it was to sequence using software that was not updated for whatever length of time , & a number of the functions (tools) on the software did not even work.Anyhow, well done! Plus sticking to it is a bonus too.For me personally I like the "Beat Wizard" & the "View Wave Form"...... the cross hair on the view wave form helps me with words & the beat as well.I also click on the speaker on my computer & click on voice cancellation & that helps me get a better hearing on cymbals, guitar, bells.... etc.I was a little disappointed with my performance this year as I only got 9 of the 16 songs I wanted done for this year. Just was not up to par this year.I was happy with what I did with the 9.Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veedubbman Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 this thread took the words right out of my head. it took me an hour to seq 25 seconds of "jaws" with only 4 channels. :shock: but i love it. even impressed the old lady. well....for 25 seconds. this was my first attempt and i found out right away that the wave, beat wiz and 1/10 timing are handy. also, i hooked up my xbox turtle beach headset to the laptop and with the surround sound blasting, you can really hear the subtle sounds in songs. is there any way to just play a certain section while seq'ing? once i get towards the end of the song, i have to start over playing it and by the time it gets to where i was editing....i forgot what i wanted to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I have found the "subtle" parts of a song, the parts that are very diminished and hard to discern are not even worth the time to add to a sequence.If you're using a transmitter, most car stereos won't even pick up on them, if using outdoor speakers, either alone or in conjunction with a transmitter, the volume has to be cranked so high it would disturb your neighbors and their neighbors, probably the entire neighborhood area!So I just use the basic computer headphone output and a cheap set of headphones to emulate what I hear in the car when I transmit the music.Also when I did add the subtle areas of a song, the display looked very disjointed because you'd have lights going off/on or fading to parts that couldn't be heard. So it seemed you added effects that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Just makes the whole sequence look goofy.I'd lose the surround sound and the fancy headset that allows you to hear those very subtle/diminished parts of a song/music, believe me, they just aren't worth listening too to add them in, nor are they really going to be relevant to add them to a sequence.Just my experience and opinion, as I did add these very subtle parts to a sequence, and I took them out just as quickly, if not faster than I put them in. YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veedubbman Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 good points, Orville... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irene Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 to listen to the section of song you are working on go to Play - play Range -visible screen. hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veedubbman Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 YAHTZEE !! !!Thanks Irene...I knew there was something, I just couldn't find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 You can also highlight the area with your mouse by left clicking and holding down the mouse button, then dragging it over the parts you want to listen to, it'll highlight those cell blocks, and then hit the space-bar to listen to that section. If you use tracks it only highlights the cells in that track.If you don't use tracks it'll highlight all the cell blocks in the entire sequence from top to bottom.To move on to the next section or track when you're done, you do need to go back and click anywhere in the greyed out area, and repeat the above for each section you want to work on.It's how I do it when tweaking/modifying my sequences to locate the exact, or close to the exact beat, where I want the light(s) or prop(s) to come on and go off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgordon Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I found it helpful in the beat wizard not to try to tap on every beat -- just the main ones. I then filled in the missing beats afterwards by splitting each large cell into 4 or more equal sized cells. It made it much easier not having to concentrate on hitting every single beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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