debtoews Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I plan on making an audio files made up of several songs back to back so there is no pause in between as I want all the lights just on 1/2 hour before the show...is 30 minutes too long of an audio file??? We are having a HUGE lighting party and while people are getting food, I want music playing and the lights just on..let me know your thoughts or other suggestions- thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbayjohn Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I have had a sequence of over 10min I found it difficult to work on in that would take a long time to load & save etc. but with the new S4 that won't be an issue. It played fine, sequencing took a while with constantly shuffling threw the mix. I ended up braking it down into smaller sections to work on and then put it all back together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 (edited) I'm picturing your display in my head, without having seen it of course. I would just do some of the lights, not all of them, possible slow fades for a few regular light areas but again, not all of them. Then, let them be surprised when you start the show. Actually better, create the one sequence and use it in the "Startup" location of the show player. The rest of the sequences in the musical sequences location. That way, when you start, you'll know precisely when things will ramp up. You can also program in an extra string or more to let "You" know when its about 5 minutes away, then 1 minute and so on, so you can gather people around for your first full blown sequence. I happen to use a countdown sequence that displays to a pixel tree, then go into Griswolds intro which twinkles everything! From there, the main program sequences all begin normally. I'd love to do an outside party here, but its way too cold by Thanksgiving night when I traditionally turn it all on for real. Edited June 20, 2015 by dgrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 You are trying to get a 30 minute song with just one event of On for most channels? I think SE can handle an extra long audio file and the sequence file will be a very small since its the events that make it big, not the audio length. I am not following why a blink between songs is undesirable though. There is a setting to not turn off lights between songs which might be helpful here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 (edited) Why not simply run an animation sequence and have it loop for the half-hour prior to the show? You could use Zara Radio (or even Windows Media Player) for the music. (Zara would be my first choice.) Edited June 20, 2015 by George Simmons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtoews Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 This would be the Pre-show time. So while people are waiting and getting some food, I would have Christmas music playing outside on all the speakers. Hubby thought it would be nice to just have some lights on- no blinking. We are excepting several hundred people to our party. We are doing something new for our community and I have sequenced 16 houses ( the whole street). Or do you think its better to just have some music playing, no lights on and then BAM! the show starts? I just thought people showing up and no lights on at all they would say- wow- this is lame......we have 30 minutes from the time we are telling people the event starts and when the show actually starts....of course Santa Claus will make an entrance since we are called Santa Claus Lane :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 That sounds like a lot of fun. If it was me, I'd be doing some slow fades on your home, the at the last, say 5 minutes before showtime, start turning on the fades at the other homes...couple at a time, till they are all fading. Then slowly fade them all off at the start of showtime, then begin your first sequence. Depending on what you wish, you could suddenly crank it all up or do something less flashy or super flashy...whatever you are thinking is best. I've wanted to do that here but so far, they haven't mentioned sequencing all the homes. My thoughts drift upon a song called "Wassailing" or something like that and picturing people singing, walking together as they converge on your home. This is achieved in lights on the farthest away homes, syncing to the song and filling up the street as the lights move closer till the whole street is in sync together. Just wild thoughts here, do whatever will work for the whole neighborhood. Got to ask, where will this be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtoews Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 dgrant- Clovis Ca- central California where there is no water...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightzilla Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 The longest sequence I made was 22 minutes. "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" in 2009 & I defied all the rules because back then the mini mp3 player / Director unit was good for a 10 minute song tops but because of music, words & pauses between words (I am guessing) the mini director unit ran the full 22 minute sequence. So this year I am going to try doing the same story again but for a ccr tree. Should take 3 days to load but we shall see. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomsusie Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 If you make a video of your street lighting please share with us. I would love to see this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtoews Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 If you make a video of your street lighting please share with us. I would love to see this. One of the participating neighbors is buying a drone video camera..should be cool as hell :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightzilla Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 If you make a video of your street lighting please share with us. I would love to see this.I agree with you. Would be cool seeing 16 houses all sequenced to music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 What I did for 2014 is as follows. My official lightup was at 7:00 PM, but the normal landscape lighting started about 4:30 when it got dark, so the yard was not dark. At 6:55, a startup sequence started that looked exactly like the landscape lighting except that there were a couple times that a single bulb came in that would likely not be noticed by anyone but me. The one bulb got me in sync with the computer. At 6:59 I called to the house and had an interactive conversation with the house requesting that the house start the show. Of course the house part was all pre-done so I HAD to stick to the script. The house did a couple false starts, but right at 1900, the real show started. If I do that again for 2015, it will be a series of short interactive sequences with a handheld control panel that I control manually. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 That would be excellent. Just use the DI inputs on the controllers and have it do whatever you wanted, when you triggered each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 We do not explicitly impose a limit. There are definitely implicit limits, though. For example, I would think that an audio file longer than about eight months would be problematically long, because that many centiseconds will overflow 31 bits (i.e. the computer will incorrectly think the audio file has a negative time length, i.e. it travels backwards in time, or something like that). I would also think that there are much (much much) shorter lengths which would also be problematically long, for... other reasons (disk space, memory space, who knows what else). With that said: is 30 minutes too long of an audio file??? I've seen customers successfully use audio files that long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 This would be the Pre-show time. So while people are waiting and getting some food, I would have Christmas music playing outside on all the speakers. Hubby thought it would be nice to just have some lights on- no blinking. For this, I would suggest taking advantage of the different sections of the show. For example, instead of making one huge audio file that contains ten songs, then making one huge sequence that uses that one huge audio file and turns on the lights without turning them off, then putting that one huge sequence in the show's Musical section, you could instead do something like: (1) Make a short animation sequence that turns on the lights and doesn't turn them off. I'd suggest a second long, or a few seconds (it doesn't really matter all that much exactly how long, but a second or a few seconds is good for various reasons). (2) Put that short animation sequence in the show's Background section, or in the Animation section. If in the Animation section, make sure to set it to "Run Concurrently" rather than "Run Sequentially". (3) Make ten different musical sequences, one for each of the songs, that control no lights. Don't even put any channels in the sequences (well, you'll have to have at least one channel, but just have it with device type "None"). (4) Put those ten different musical sequences in the show's Musical section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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