CLD Kevin Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Sorry for the many post lately asking questions. I have been fortune not to have many big problems I could not figure on my own. Now to my question...Converted from S2 to S3. When I run my show from the sequencer, as the screen scrolls playing the track and sequences, I can see it continuously skipping which also the lights themselves skip too. Just a little bit, but noticeable. I'm running 3 networks and 3 CCRs per network for the first 2 and 2 DC controllers on the third...932 channels total. So each network is not even close to being overloaded. My PC is new HP i3 2.2GHz, 4GB ram running Win7. I used this same PC to run my Christmas show with more channels, but used S2 and worked perfect...zero lag. And suggesting what may be causing this?Why am I using the sequencer to run the show? Because I need to que it up at different parts of the track for the filming. Seems the easiest and did the same for previous filmings.Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 That's the way it works. Always has as long as I've been using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 have you updated to the latest version (3.1.4) that corrected the "memory usage" issue?http://www.lightorama.com/SoftwareDownloadPage.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 jimswinder wrote:have you updated to the latest version (3.1.4) that corrected the "memory usage" issue?http://www.lightorama.com/SoftwareDownloadPage.htmlYes, forgot to mention that. I'm running 3.1.4It doesn't really affect my current show as the lights do a lot of random chasing effects, but would with mouth sequences. I will go back to S2 if this is how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heystew Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Kevin,not sure what type of audio files you are using, but some folks have said that WAV files perform better than MP3s in the sequencer.I've never had a problem with skipping during playback.. takes forever to kick off the sequence, but does fine once it's going. There is some weird behavior when you use repeat and are not playing the whole song. Seems to get stuck at the end when looping back to the beginning.davebtw.. no CCR's in my display but plenty of rgb pixels so your channel count isn't the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Yeah, I always use WAV too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 What version of S2 had you been using?You might want to try turning off various options during play, and see if that helps. In the Play menu, turn off "Control Holiday Lights Designer", "Control Visualizer", "Move Grid with Play", "Vary Color of Channel Buttons", "Vary Color of Channel Button Fonts", "Highlight Current Event", and "Highlight Current Time". Also close the Animator if you have it open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 I was running the latest version 2.9.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texascop Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Since I upgraded to S3, my laptop is pretty much useless for sequencing. It will run the show fine but the sequence editor runs slow and choppy. It is an HP with a dual core AMD processor and 3GB of memory running 32-bit Windows 7. All the newest patches to LOR are installed. My two desktops are quad-core Intel, one is 32-bit and 2GB memory, the other 64-bit, 8GB memory. No problems with them. I get the impression that S3 requires a little more processor and/or memory to effectively use all the bells and whistles in the sequence editor. Maybe not, just an observation. But that is common in the evolution of sotware. Been in IT for over 40 years and software development for 25 + years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 texascop wrote: Since I upgraded to S3, my laptop is pretty much useless for sequencing. It will run the show fine but the sequence editor runs slow and choppy. It is an HP with a dual core AMD processor and 3GB of memory running 32-bit Windows 7. All the newest patches to LOR are installed. My two desktops are quad-core Intel, one is 32-bit and 2GB memory, the other 64-bit, 8GB memory. No problems with them. I get the impression that S3 requires a little more processor and/or memory to effectively use all the bells and whistles in the sequence editor. Maybe not, just an observation. But that is common in the evolution of sotware. Been in IT for over 40 years and software development for 25 + years.That's odd. I sequenced a 3 minute song, with 1,000 channels, on a 5 year old Core Duo (not core2 duo) with 2G ram, and XP, under 3.1.4. I had to be careful not to have much else open, but it seemed to do pretty good for general responsiveness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 I hear what you’re saying, and I believe my newer current generation laptop I’m using should be able to handle the program. It may not be the fastest, but much faster and way more memory than the previous laptop I used for my Halloween 1144 channels show. I didn’t have to turn off all these features and make special adjustments to make it work with the previous version. But if that does the trick, then I will run it that way when controlling the lights from the sequence editor. I’m also wondering since my laptop is new, it may have some un-needed memory hogging software that HP put on it? I have a few questions to add...Is this a memory issue that still needs tweaking in the software and will be addressed in a future release or this is the way it’s going to always run when using the sequence editor to control the lights?I didn’t try running the show from the control panel as I needed to start on command and anywhere in the track instead of scheduled show time. Will I have the same lagging problems or should it run smooth within the control panel?Do I need a more power laptop like an i7 with 8GB ram to control the lights through the sequence editor?Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Does this issue occur for musical sequences, animation sequences, or both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texascop Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I think my problem is either related to the AMD processor or the onboard display circuit/drivers. I don't think an i7 processor is going to be needed. Memory always helps, especially if you are caching to disk a lot. The bigger the sequence, the more memory I would assume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 I've only run musical sequences in S3 so I dont know about animation.I just thought of something...in S2, I had the sequence broken up into 5 tracks. When I controlled the lights through the sequence editor, I’m only seeing the 1 track run. In S3, I have all 6 CCRs plus the 2 DC controllers all in the same track but in groups. It makes it easier for me to manage, but does it require more memory to run in the sequence editor since all the sequence groups are visible when running? The groups are closed when I run it...so only 7 lines are visable. Each CCR in its own and 1 for both DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Could you please save a sequence that is affected by this as an animation sequence, and see if the issue also occurs with that?I doubt that having the groups open or closed in the display will significantly affect performance, but you might as well try and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmaness Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the laptop uses the main processor to also control the display. With desktops, you typically have a display board that off-loads a lot of the display to its dedicated processor. That might be what you're seeing with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I've seen integrated chipset video, with shared memory on both laptops, and desktops. Though desk top systems are less likely to have them integrated, or at least once you get out of the low cost systems.I do tend to forget that this laptop does have a the separate video card in it, and that I probably want to try to do that again on the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jldavis1969 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Don't forget to shut off the file compression in LOR, it has been reported that can cause some of the glitches you are talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CK57 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 If your having issues with the 64 bit the problem most likely resides with the way the music file was made into an MP3, and or your drivers. 64 bit W7 has to use different drivers. IF you made from Audacity be sure to go back to their website and download the new drivers specific to Windows 7 and 64 bit. MP3's made from Version 1.26 will not always work http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/features-1.3-a#detailsYou will also need the new LAME code which Audacity will direct you toward. I went to using music files in WAV format as well and improved things even further. Your RAM is fine, don't spend any more dollars than you need to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLD Kevin Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 OK, so I figured out the lagging problem….but now I have a new problem.The lagging disappears when I used last year’s sequences even though I have more channels. So I changed all 6 CCR sequences in the new sequence that I’m having lag problems with from a solid red and fade to green for about the first 10 seconds at the beginning on the song. The lag is gone for those 10 secs, but instantly comes right back once it hits the existing sequence I created. The sequence I created for all 6 CCRs are from SuperStar Instance Sequence. So if you ever used the Instance Sequence, the sequence pattern is all over the place and it creates a bunch of different effects...which I’m guessing is hogging at lot of memory. I closed every check that Bob suggested and got the same results. I then removed 1 CCR at a time and the lagging finally stopped when I only had 2 CCRs visible on the screen. This makes be believe that the Instance Sequence patterns is just way too much for the Sequence Editor when controlling the lights. If I uncheck the Controlling Lights, the lag is gone even with all 6 CCRs using the Instance Sequence. I check the Controlling Lights again and the lag is back. I used my desktop PC to run the test which is an i7 with 10GB of memory.I also saved as an animation as Bob suggested and the lag is still there. I removed 1 CCR at a time and the lag disappeared when only 2 CCRs were left on the screen. I didn’t check if setting up on a schedule time would still have the lag.Ok, now to my new problem. Originally I tried to test with my laptop, but now I cant get it to control the lights. The Sequence Editor works fine and so does the Visualizer together, but when I connect the USB485B adapters, check the Control Lights option to click on play, the Sequence Editor will start, but will not control the lights, nothing is happing in the Visualizer and when I click to stop...the music just keeps playing. I have to exit out of the software to get to stop. I tried all 3 of the USB485B adapters, changed out the USB wire, rebooted the PC 3 or 4 times...it just will not work. This is the same laptop that worked just a few days ago and nothing has changed. The hardware utility works fine and sees all the controllers. Just controlling the lights through the Sequence Editor will not work anymore? Very strange.Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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