bblumka Posted October 16, 2012 Posted October 16, 2012 I'm a total newbie this year. I did the Mr. Christmas 4 channel pre programmed thing for a couple or years . . . but now it is on to bigger and better. I've got all my displays built and ready to go out and I have have to finish putting together my last two controllers and all hardware will be complete (112 channels in all). So I'm trying to start on some sequences. On that note I have tried to use the Beat Wizard. What I want and what it is giving me are not the same and it has to be just me being a noob. I am doing my sequences in .05 seconds. What I would like to see is the Beat Wizard turn on a "cell" maybe two for every beat. What it is return is turning on 8 "cells" per every beat. So, like for the song I am trying to work on the channel I ask for it to apply itself too is constantly on. Not sure if I am saying this right but any help would be greatly appriecated.
Don Posted October 16, 2012 Posted October 16, 2012 Did you change the "this many beats:" number to 1? That would cause every single beat to be turned on.Getting to a bit of a musical lesson here*, but a song with a 4/4 time signature would have 4 quarter notes in a whole note. The first quarter note is the first 'beat' that I personally have turn on/off. So if you leave the "this many beats:" to 4, then every 4th 'beat' will have a channel 'on' signifying the start of a whole note.* Yes, this is a greatly simplified and somewhat basic lesson.
bblumka Posted October 16, 2012 Author Posted October 16, 2012 Yes I turned the "this many beats" to 1 instead of four. When is is one the channel is ON for the entire song. It is only when the "this many beats" is at 4 do I see that it is turning on the channel for like 8 cells or (8*.05) .4 seconds per beat.
Don Posted October 16, 2012 Posted October 16, 2012 Try this. Since the majority of songs that we use at Christmas are in 4/4 time, this might work for you.Start Beat Wizard.In the "Preview" section click on the 3rd dot (which is under the 4th box.)Click the "Or add a new timing gird" and create a new grid."Insert a timing into the ..." should be checked."Turn on a channel every ...." should be checked.Select the channel you want to put the 'on' command into."this many beats" should be 4.Again, with a high volume of songs being 4/4 this will probably work for you. At the very least, it will give you a start.
bblumka Posted October 16, 2012 Author Posted October 16, 2012 I understand a very little bit about music, but from what I know and what you are saying, I want two cells to be turned on every quarter note. What I am seeing again is 8 cells being turned on at the start of every whole note.
Steven Posted October 16, 2012 Posted October 16, 2012 Some of the replies you have received are from "old timers" who started with LOR 1, in which things worked much better with fixed timings. The LOR software has evolved from that point, giving us many more options. IMHO, the best use of the Beat Wizard is to start with a blank timing grid, and to "Insert a timing into the timing grid for each beat." Don't use the "Turn on a channel every so many beats", because that can always be done with other tools, after the timings have been set.One you have your timings set up so there is one per beat, now you can turn a channel on (or fade down) on the first beat, then select 4 cells, and copy, paste multiple to the end of the sequence. At this point you have a downbeat channel that you can use as a base for other effects.If you need a fixed timing grid, you can always add one later after you have established the beats.
Steven Posted October 16, 2012 Posted October 16, 2012 (edited) Since the majority of songs that we use at Christmas are in 4/4 time, ...With the notable exceptions of: "What Child is This?"; "Carol of the Bells"; "The Christmas Waltz"; "We Three Kings"; "Christmas Time is Here" (from A Charlie Brown Christmas); "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"; "Silent Night"; "Away in a Manger"; "O Holy Night"; and some others. These are all in 3/4 (waltz) time.Edit: As Don pointed out, I should say that yes, most are indeed 4/4, but for some reason the Christmas season seems to bring out more waltzes than other seasons. Edited October 16, 2012 by Steven
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