seriouslylosingit Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Good Morning All, I am new to this, but have spent time reading forum posts and trying to learn from others. I see people talking about using different tracks for different reasons. I am a bit confused about this. I see the "track" button on my dashboard, but don't really know what the benefits of using different tracks are. What would be the reason you would use multiple tracks and what would be the conditions that would warrant using more than one. Like I said, I am quite new to this, so this may be a reeeeeaaaaallllllllllllyyyyy "green" question. If anyone could share some wisdom, I would love to hear it. Thanks,Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullets Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi Roberta,"listentoourlights" has an awesome video series on YouTube about sequencing, one which includes a "how to" on tracks. The series run from "Light-O-Rama Sequencing Tutorial 1 Breakdown" thru Tutorial 4. The "how to" on tracks is in Tutorial 3 "Making it fast and easy". Hope that helps you.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seriouslylosingit Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Thanks. I have watched many of those videos and they are very good. I may have seen the one about tracks, but just not processed it because of all of the information presented. I will give it another look.Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilmoney Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Here's my laymans view of it....As most on the forums preach, don't ever mess with the channels on the master track! Don't remove any from there and always add new channels at the bottom. If you want to remove a channel just unassign the ID you had set to it and re-label it as spare. As far as other tracks go, once you learn what they can do for you then you'll want some for yourself. Tracks are useful for when you want to group multiple channels in a specific order or group and you don't want to mess with the master track to do so. For example I'll use my display, between my mini trees and arches I have 108 channels. 27 red, 27 white, 27 green and 27 blue. On my master track they are listed as mini tree 1 red, mini tree 1 white, mini tree 1 blue, mini tree 1 green. If I want to turn on all the red on my mini trees on the master track I have to go one by one for each tree to turn it on but if create duplicate channels of my trees and arches on another track I can rearrange them in a more usuable time saving configuration, put all the red in one group, white in another etc. That way I can turn on 27 channels with a single click of the mouse. If you like doing chases or sweeps across your display you can arrange your channels in order on a separate track so that these are easily and quickly done as well. It just takes a little time to set up but the time you'll save in the future far outweighs the time to set it up. Tracks are your friend, learn how to use them!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Tracks are like drawers in a file cabinet. The "files" those drawers contain in our example are channels. And In each of those drawers you can rearrange the files any way you want. Channel one needs to be your master track and like Oily described once you add channels to the bottom of that list they never ever leave or get moved for any reason. Follow that 100% and you'll never spend more than five seconds updating your new channel config into existing old sequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seriouslylosingit Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 I think I am catching on now.. As with much of the other LOR terminology, I had an assumption about what a "track" was and I was wrong..I guess it is like the old saying about assuming anything.. I will leave that at that. Thank you all for your explanations and advice. This has painted a much clearer picture for me about this topic. I am anxious to try it out, but off for a getaway with my mom and sister tomorrow so it will have to wait a few days.Thank you all again!! Much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadthedrummer7 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 For some reason i can't add more than one track? is that a problem or do i have some cheap version? i am using basic plus and v3.12.0I added one track but "duplicate track" isn't selectable??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 You can only have 2 tracks maximum with basic plus. The next license level ( standard) can have 4 & advanced is unlimited tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadthedrummer7 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) Thank you sir. Just getting started here. Man, what a bummer! I am trying to follow the John Storm vidz and makes it a lil tough. I need more! haha. thanks again- $50 EXTRA dollars? ouch. Great software... but man! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Edited April 14, 2015 by Chadthedrummer7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I would imagine that $50 is quite small compared to the overall cost of your whole display..isn't it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thank you sir. Just getting started here. Man, what a bummer! I am trying to follow the John Storm vidz and makes it a lil tough. I need more! haha. thanks again- $50 EXTRA dollars? ouch. Great software... but man! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Save yourself the effort - go straight to Advanced. You will end up there eventually, mark my words.... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadthedrummer7 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) Well after spending over $800 on my first controllers you would think i would get a version of the software that has some perks, i just expected more since i spent that much. But you are right, i will probably go for advanced $70 more. HOW CAN I SEE WHAT IS ADDED with each of the software upgrades? i really thought i was screwing up not seeing another track to add. nevermind, i see it now:http://www1.lightorama.com/sequencing-suite-software Edited April 14, 2015 by Chadthedrummer7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstorms Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Tracks are just different views of the same data. The main/master track is very important. Never, never rearrange the order of your master track, just add to the end. It will mess up your ability to load in new channel configurations, which you will need to do when you add to your show in future years. To order your channels to make it easier to sequence, do that in a different track. Note, aside from the master track, most the benefit you can get from a track you can also get from a group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Saunders Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Ok Masters of tracks. I have a question. If you have your Master/default track and always sequence using that then decide to add a track named say "working" then you save the sequence. What will play in the show? What will load if I save, close and then reopen later to work on it some more? I have been using 48 channels last few years with 2 CCR's and been able to just use the default "untitled" track. I am adding 5 more controllers plus another CCR and also have a 16 string DMX pixel system using an e682 controller.I have a channel config and have added to it at the bottom and have had the need to rename channels and have never deleted a channel. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks,Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 If you have the same channel in multiple tracks, whatever you do that channel in one track will appear in any track with that channel. Let me give an example of what I have used tracks for the past couple years. I have a pixel star on top of a 12 string tree. I have a master track that is not changed (and is kept locked). I then have several tracks that have all 360 pixels of the star, but arranged differently. It's all the same channels but arranged in these different orders: Horizontal sweep, Vertical sweep, Diagonal sweep (four different variants), Rotational sweep, All six rings of the star, All five legs of the star. I thing I forgot a few here - there are 13 if I remember right. All the tracks are remembered when a sequence is saved and re-opened. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdanna77 Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 That very interesting the way you laid that out using the tracks. Also helpful to know they save like that. I think I may have to adopt some of how you've done that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulXmas Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 My display has 4 colours.I have 4 tracks, one for each colour.I use each track to do things like sweep across the display or have everything change the colour at the same time.Another track has the house, another has all the deer and so on.I think I have 16 tracks right now and while sequencing I could add even more.This year I got some CCB and I will add them to the bottom of the MAIN track each section of 50bulbs has a track.I have CCR arches on one track in order and another has them in reverse (so I can just copy them going one way and paste then they are going the opposite way).Tracks are AWESOME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justaddmorelights Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Ok, I have a question for you guys, I'm a newbie and have spent alot of time watching Jstorms tutorials (which were a great help!) but I am having issues with duplicate tracks. As Jstorms shows in his tutorial (3) he duplicates the "master" and names it "ordered" so that he can rearrange the channels without disturbing his "master" track. However, when I duplicate and go to put my channels in groups or whatnot, the master track changes along with it! What's up with that? Is there a setting I need to change? Thank you Jstorms for your tutorials, your guidance is much appreciated!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justaddmorelights Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) Ok I realize that this thread is a few months old but, I'm a newbie and I have watched jstorms tutorials (thanks!!) and have played with the sequence editor for about a month now. The problem I am having with is duplicate tracks. For starters I have the advanced license, I have configured my "master track" and have duplicated the "master" to create an "ordered" and "groups" tracks just as jstorms did in his tutorial (3), however, unlike jstorms tutorial showed, when I change the orientation of my channels in the "ordered" track the "master" and "groups" tracks mimicked the "ordered" track and the same happened when I grouped. Did I miss a setting change? How do I keep this from happening? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! Evidently I am not up to speed with the forum posting, I thought I had posted last night, but my profile said I had no posts to show...now that I posted this I see both and don't know how to delete a repeat post, but I found out how to edit! :-) Oh the life of a newbie! Edited September 8, 2015 by justaddmorelights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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