Demetious Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Hey all,New to LoR but have been eyeing it for over three years. I work as a Home Automation Technician and an Electronics Technician at night so this has always been something I thought I would love to do. I just bought the 16 channel startup kit and a 16 channel add-on for good measure. I was going to buy the DIY kit but I didn't want to end up needing a bunch of stuff I missed on the site. This year I plan on animating only the 7 columns on my house to display an equalizer display of sorts plus maybe the dangling blue and whites from the eves. The columns are 8 feet tall and are 4 feet apart, 5 on the side and 3 up front but both are very visible from the street. Anyone have any good ideas for this? My display to date has been all static lights and yard displays with about 10K lights. Also, if anyone has any tips for a newbie, I'm all ears. Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 An equalizer displays a visual representation of audio so this implies you would be doing a formal musical show as opposed to an animation show. They are slightly different only in that one has music and the other not. But sequencing to music is considerably more involved. I would suggest trying the SuperStar instant sequencer but that involves an upgrade in software. I think I understand that the programmer for SS built the instant sequencer based on frequency response across the channel assignments but please don't hold me too that. Understand too, I've not had a lot of luck with that one function but I've also not tried much at all. I hear that it will work once you try the many options it contains. Please look in the SS section of the forums before spending for the additional license. Sequencing takes time and a lot of it. This is way late in the year to get started. Most of us begin planning each January. Its certainly not a plug and play hobby but the rewards are seeing it all run! I do wish you a warm welcome to our fascination with lights and making them do something other than just turning on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrymac Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Since it is late in the season, suggest getting one of the RGB sample kits from Holiday Coro. This will give you something to learn with and get into sequencing for next year. RGB is great but exponentially increased the channel count and sequencing requirements.Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demetious Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 Thanks guys, maybe I bit off more than I chew. I was assuming I could plug a 1/4 section of each column for a total of 28, and animate them to an MP3 that I sequence myself to look either like an equalizer or even just piano keys but light more sections up depending on the perceived audio gain levels throughout the song. I downloaded a couple same programs to tweak and get the effect I want. Does the hardware I bought not allow for music integration? I can always play the sequence from my computer and output the audio via 3.5mm jack which is what I planned on for this first year. Are there many people who just animate lights without audio? I could have saved a bunch just using Control4 to turn lights on and off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredrick Hagemeister Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 I'm in the same place. I'll try to look upon the kindness of strangers and purchase some. BTW, I'm a newbie and just getting my feet wet. I've done other light sequencing in the past but had too much trouble and am starting over with LOR but small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Demetious, you could do your 8' columns in a candy cane affect with whatever lights you currently have. I would do four sections of two feet each or eight sections of one foot each and turn your columns into fire sticks. Link the columns together so they move in sequence or break them into four groups. You would however have to get on the ball and get some music sequenced for them and you could do that pretty quickly with the beat wizard. That is what I would do with such little time remaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 If I understand "equalizer" correctly, you might want to check out the VU Wizard. Here's a basic video overview, and here is the help file entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 SpEx will build an EQ effect for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demetious Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Thanks guys, the VU Wizard was what I needed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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