hellooldchap42 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I am on a hardcore budget for my first time doing this, because I want to make sure it doesn't become something I do once and never touch it again. Does anyone know if there are controllers that a free software would work with? Or better yet, does anyone know if there ARE free softwares out there to use?If this year turns out really well, I will probably invest in the LOR setup, but as I said, just not ready to spend 500 dollars on my lighting yet.All help is greatly appreciated. Thank you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friskybri Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 MR. Christmas is what you are looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Unless you want to try to re-invent the wheel. LOR IS the least expensive way to create a custom animated lighting display.If you are not ready for that then I agree that Mr Christmas is the way to go for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Hate to say as the other 2 have. Wrong hobby to be on a shoe string budget. Lights, controller, wiring, sequencer software, I would say at best you will spend $500.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellooldchap42 Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Ok, but is Mr Christmas something that I program? Or is it preprogrammed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Pre-programmed.http://lmgtfy.com/?q=mr.+christmas+light+show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearcat Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The 1 thing I have noticed with Light O Rama is used hardware holds its value and sells fast. If you purchase a controller during the summer sale and decide to sell it next year, you won't loose to much money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 hellooldchap42 wrote: If this year turns out really well, I will probably invest in the LOR setup, but as I said, just not ready to spend 500 dollars on my lighting yet.You've never had an addiction before, have you?:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 jimswinder wrote:hellooldchap42 wrote: If this year turns out really well, I will probably invest in the LOR setup, but as I said, just not ready to spend 500 dollars on my lighting yet.You've never had an addiction before, have you?:cool:I'm dumping 18 of them next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulXmas Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Only $500 ?!?!?!I am another one that suggest you go with Mr. Christmas.For $50 - $100 it is plug and play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErnieHorning Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Not many people at this site will tell you this but there is another way. If you can solder (almost anyone can) you can build controllers yourself. Checkout Http://DoItYourselfChristmas.com where you’ll find very simple controllers to much more elaborate ones. They are about half the price of the LOR controllers, mostly because you do most of the work yourself and the sequencing software (Vixen) to run them is free. The circuit boards are already made; you just need to put the parts on them. They don’t run with the LOR protocol (on purpose) but later on when you’re more advanced, you can switch to the DMX protocol and combine the DIYC controllers with LOR controllers. At that point, you can use Vixen or LOR as your sequencing software. I’m not trying to step on any toes over here but there really are better options than Mr. Christmas. In fact we can help you convert your Mr. Christmas too if you want to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Good information, Ernie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I'd heard so little about Vixen lately, I thought it was dead. That was the route I thought I was going to have to go before I found LOR. I don't really care for soldering.Glad it's still kicking for the real DIY'ers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainyoregonchristmas Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I have a mr christmas, liked it then stepped up to lor this year. $65 + shipping and its yours. What no one has said yet is that this is an expensive hobby. Software and controllers are just the start. You also need an FM transmitter lots and lots of cords, plus lights on top of that just to mention a few things. read as much in the forums as you can, then jump in when you think you can aford it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 rainyoregonchristmas wrote: What no one has said yet is that this is an expensive hobby. I thought a few of us said that (in not so many words)!!! LOLYou've never had an addiction before, have you?LOR IS the least expensive way to create a custom animated lighting display.If you are not ready for that then I agree that Mr Christmas is the way to go for now.Wrong hobby to be on a shoe string budget.Only $500 ?!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torqumada286 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I used the Mister Christmas system for the last couple of Halloween's and Christmases. It worked fine. The only problem I have had with Mister Christmas, is that the company gave really poor customer service last year. I tried to order some additional channels last year and 6 weeks after I ordered them, I found out they still hadn't shipped them and didn't know when or if they would. They had known for weeks what was going and chose not to inform their customers of that fact. Mister Christmas can be a good way to start.I have stepped up to LOR for this season. Since I already have the lights, I probably have spent $500 for this season.Edit: Let me also add that something I have learned over the last 4 or 5 years: If you don't have the money, do it in small steps. Add a little each time you put up your display. There are people out there that have more money than I do and have been doing it longer. It's no wonder they have displays with hundreds, if not thousands of control channels and tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of lights. Don't compete with them. That race has already been done. Just do it for yourself.Torqumada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Tor,has it right. I started off with 32 channels and over the past 3 yrs have added a few boards at a time. This year I will say I might have gone a bit over budget. Will have 32 D.C. channels and 160 channels. But there will be about 6 or so channels not used this year. I would usually suggest that you go with LEDs strings right off of the bat. But in your case start off with incans and then work towards replacing the icans.So, for 500 bucks you can get two PC type controllers (provided you can dedicate a PC for the shows). LOR software for 2 controllers for less than 100. This will put you right at about 500 bucks. Do you already have lights? If not, then drop down to only one controller and then use the cash that you saved to buy lights. Year 2 buy another controller and more lights. 3rd yr you are going to need to upgrade the software and get a 3rd controller and some more lights. Now a couple problems with incans. lights burn out and need to be maintained before more burn out and the whole string or part of string shut down causing more work figuring out what bulb is bad. Also incans draw much more power. I ran my whole show last year drawing only 10 amps with everything on at the same time. Same display with all icans would be needing several separate circuits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Double tap.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Wanna be a smart man? I would start off with software specifically made for sequencing RGB, purchase some pixels (GECE), pixel controller, and a power supply. Put all of that together... and you would end up less than $500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny M. Carter Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Brian Mitchell wrote:I'd heard so little about Vixen lately, I thought it was dead. That was the route I thought I was going to have to go before I found LOR. I don't really care for soldering.Glad it's still kicking for the real DIY'ers.Vixen is alive and well! Plenty people use it every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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