SetUp Question For 12 CCRs - 1 Star - One Multichannel Controller

[mixnight]

Recently I bought the E682 controller for up to 16 CCRs (from sandevices.com) and 12 CCRs from Ray Wu, I'm planning to do mega tree with 12 CCRs and 4 stars in one, my question is what is the LOR SuperStar layout and configuration including network for my set up (controller will be at bottom).

 

Also I would like to know if the instant sequences is capable to do the sequence that include my 4 stars in one (4 different sizes), and what can be the setup for the instant sequence mode to make the sequence including the 12 CCRs for megatree and the 4 stars.

 

Another question: my CCRs are 16' long each and I just bought 12 CCRs planning to do a 12 CCRs megatree that include 4 stars in one, I'm planning to cut 1' of every CCR and I will have 12-1' long parts to make my 4 stars (2'x2' the bigger one), How can I setup SuperStar to make the star be sequenced with the other 12 CCRs?

 

Is the usb 485 adapter that I used for regular 16ch controller the best option for CCRs or do I need another kind of usb 485 adapter?

 

Thanks in advance for all of your recommendations.

[BrianBruderer]

SuperStar has 2 modes, CCR mode and Visualization mode. In CCR mode you are limited to the layouts that are in the Layout dialog box. To do anything else you must make a visualization of it and import the visualization into SuperStar. If you make a visualization that includes the star, the star should get placed on its own sequencing row and then Instant Sequence will sequence the star as well.

 

If the CCRs you have are DMX then there is a keyword in SuperStar that you can use that will aid you in making the visualization. Here are instructions on how to use the keyword:

 

 

 

v3.10.14 and above have an added feature to help support DMX lights.
 

In this version there is a new keyword that you can put in the comment line of a Prop that tells superstar that the prop is to be treated as DMX lights. Note that the keyword only works in a prop, it will not work in a fixture. To use this new feature do the following:

1) Launch the Visualizer

2) Click on the "CCR Draw Wizard" tool, this is the one that has a multi-colored circle with a 2 segment line on top of it. (do NOT use the "Draw Cosmic Color Ribbon" tool)

3) Do a click and drag to draw a single line, double click to terminate the line.

4) A dialog box titled "Number of Pixels" will appear, Type in a name for the "Prop (CCR) Name" and then change the number to the total number of pixels in your DMX string. This number can be any number from 2 to 500. In other words, don't worry about having it be more than the number of pixels in a CCR which is 50. In most of my testing I used 60 as the number of pixels in a string.

5) After clicking on OK, a dialog box will appear titled "New/Existing fixture". Use the default which is "Create as many new Fixtures as required (Recommended)"

6) After clicking on OK, the visualizer will create a string that will have one or more CCRs in it, enough to create as many pixels as you specified. Don't worry about defining the Unit IDs for the CCRs, you can leave them undefined because SuperStar will ignore them.

7) On the right side of the visualizer are two buttons labeled "Fixtures" and "Props". Click on the "Props" button and then double click on the prop that you just created.

8) In the comment line of the prop, add the text "superstar dmx=<universe>,<channel>"   (do not enter the double quotes into the comment line, just the text inside the double quotes)

    <universe> is the universe to use for the first pixel of the prop and <channel> is the channel to use for the first pixel of the prop.

   For example, if you had 6 strings with 60 pixels each, you would add 6 props and you could add the following in the comment line of the props:

   superstar dmx=1,1

   superstar dmx=1,181

   superstar dmx=1,361

   superstar dmx=2,31

   superstar dmx=2,231

   superstar dmx=2,410

 

In the above example, the third string starts with universe=1 and channel=361. SuperStar will automatically bump up to the next universe when it runs out of channels for the current universe. So the last 10 pixels in the third string will use universe 2.

Also, as noted earlier, when SuperStar sees the keywords "superstar dmx=" then it ignores the unit id settings in the CCRs that are in the prop and uses the universe, channel settings that you specify.
 
I did my testing using vertical strings. It turns out there is a bug that the lights don't get mapped properly if the string is laid out horizontally. I have it fixed on my computer, if you need it to work for horizontal strings let me know and I can give you instructions on how to get an SSEdit.exe with the fix in it.

Note that because SuperStar is using the comment line to supporting dmx, you cannot play the exported sequence back to the visualization because the Visualizer doesn't recognize the dmx settings that you placed in the comment line.

[mixnight]

Thank you for your answer.

 

What about the usb adapter, can I use the usb485B with voltage booster for CCR or do I need another kind?

[BrianBruderer]

Sorry, I forgot to answer that. The CCRs can use the same USB485 adapters as the 16 channel controllers.

 

However, the issue is the network speed. The older USB485 adapters are not rated at 500K however, I have some older ones and the new ones that are rated for 500K and I see no difference. Dan Baldwin reports the same thing, he has had no problem running the 500K speed on the old adapters, but there may be some of them that don't run the 500K speed well. Also, my adapters do not have voltage booster on them and they run my CCRs fine. The voltage booster is only necessary if you have long cat5 cables, mine are 50 ft long.

 

So in conclusion, I think you will do fine with the adapters you have. However, you probably will what to get the new ones Light-O-Rama sells that are rated for 500K because otherwise if you have a problem you will always wonder if it is because of your adapters. But until then, use your current ones and you should be fine.

[ralinn]

Are these the CCRs from Light-O-Rama or are the the strips from Ray?  If you are using the strips from Ray and driving theme with a E682 you can NOT use USB485 adapters.  The E682 connects to your computers LAN port or your home router.  Connecting the E682 to a USB485 adapter may cause damage.  If you have Light-O-Rama CCRs then yes, USB485 adapter is the way to go.

[BrianBruderer]

Thanks for the comment from ralinn. I actually have never used DMX and so my knowledge is limited on DMX and non-LOR lights.

[mixnight]

My CCRs are from Ray, thanks for the on time comment

[mixnight]

Brian, after I updated my S3 from light o rama website, everything is in demo version, what is the best option for me to upgrade to a full version having 2 16ch and 1 CCR controller (the E682 for up to 16 CRRs) planning to have a mega tree with 12 CRRs with a star of 4 CCRs or maybe 4 regular channels from the 16ch controller?

[mixnight]

I forgot to mention that my license is for advance version of s3 3.0.2

[BrianBruderer]

Check with lightorama. I believe you will need to pay $29.95 for a license renewal in order to use the latest download.

 

Also, if you don't want to pay the fee, you can remove the installation and re-install your older version. The older versions are at the bottom of the page that lets you download the latest version.