Using tracks

[JimCanfield]

I am reading in the help and it says you can have another track with different timings and have been trying for half an hour now. How do I get another track with different timings?

Actually, I am not seeing any use with the tracks. They are so confusing. I tried to use the tapper wizard with track two and lost track 1.

[JimCanfield]

Ok this is really bad. I started using the tracks and now my sequence is all messed up. I saved my animation drawing a while back and now since i did the tracks I lost my most recent animation drawing. So I lost about 6 hours worth of work because the sequencing I also did is messed up as well. Odd thing is I never saved the tracks I just hit revert to saved. Mind you I saved everything b4 I did the tracks so everything should be ok. I better take a break before I get any more upset.

[iresq]

To add another track with different timings:

Edit - add new track - How much timings (you can select tapper, beat VU, etc). Can't help on the rest of your issue.

[Larry Leonhardt]

Does anyone have a sequance with tracks they could share, so we could see how to use tracks ?

[Ryan Johnson]

Larry Leonhardt wrote:

Does anyone have a sequance with tracks they could share, so we could see how to use tracks ?

Larry-

Let me say first: this isn't my house (just copied a page from the HAR Website), it isn't even close to my display, and it was done in about 10 minutes just to show everyone here how easy the Tracks function is, and how cool the Animation is now (with the picture function added).

Hope this helps. BTW, this isn't a musical animation. Simple animation: 3 tracks (fast moving stuff, slower items, and constants), just to give you an idea.

Ryan



Attached files Sample LOR 1.las

[Larry Leonhardt]

Thanks for the LAS file, i will download it and see just how this works, Thanks..

Thanks,

Larry



PS. What is" HAR Website"

[Ryan Johnson]

Larry Leonhardt wrote:

Thanks for the LAS file, i will download it and see just how this works, Thanks..

Thanks,

Larry



PS. What is" HAR Website"

Houston Association of Relators. Easy place to find a picture of a house to use!

Hope that file helps you. BTW, are you coming to the Houston TCL meeting on January 27th? I'd be happy to show you first-hand how the tracks funtion works if you make it to the meeting.

Ryan

[Ed]

Ryan, thanks the sequence but it did not really help to clear up my confusion. I can do the same thing that is shown in your example without the need to use tracks.
Thanks for your effort, but it is still not clicking with me.

Ed

[Ryan Johnson]

Ed wrote:

Ryan, thanks the sequence but it did not really help to clear up my confusion. I can do the same thing that is shown in your example without the need to use tracks.
Thanks for your effort, but it is still not clicking with me.

Ed

Without using tracks you cannot have different timings in the same song/animation, which is what I was illustrating.

For instance, the 1 song I have completed for 08 is 160 channels, and it's a TSO song (NOT Wizards or Sarajevo! ). So it has very specific piano, drum, and guitar parts (as most TSO does). I took certain channels and put them in a track called "Piano", and then I Tapped out the notes I wanted for the piano track; each display element representing a different note on the piano keys.

After that I created a Track called "Drums", although I allowed the Beat Wizard to find these events for me (drum tracks are a set repetitive rhythm so the Beat Wizard works well for this). I selected which elements would represent the different drums ( Lawn Lights for the bass, peak of the house for the cymbal, and different bushes for snares, tom toms, etc.).

Lastly I created a Track called "Guitars", and in here were the bulk of my channels. I used them to create different chords and notes that represented the guitar parts of the song.

What I was doing with the sample I posted was showing how you could have a simple 16 channel display and animate each track differently (in this case it was fast (1/10 of a sec), slower (1 sec), and constantly on). You can't do that in the old LOR I as your events cross over ALL of the channels, not just the ones designated in the specific track.

Maybe I'm just not explaining this well.... I smell a new Video How To on my website coming!!

Ryan

[JimCanfield]

Wow that is so cool, that will be so much easier for me! Thank you a ton, that is what I needed to see. Did you use duplicate tracks or did you make new tracks? What I am asking is this. I have TSO Carol of the Bells partially sequenced and I can see where having another track will be useful. Would I duplicate tracks or would I make a new track?

[Larry Leonhardt]

When you start a new musical sequance, do you add all your channels to the first track, or do you add them to other tracks ? Not sure i'm asking this question right.

[Ryan Johnson]

JimCanfield wrote:

Wow that is so cool, that will be so much easier for me! Thank you a ton, that is what I needed to see. Did you use duplicate tracks or did you make new tracks? What I am asking is this. I have TSO Carol of the Bells partially sequenced and I can see where having another track will be useful. Would I duplicate tracks or would I make a new track?

Soooo glad it helped you... I was afraid I wasn't explaing things very clearly.


Duplicate vs new tracks... here's what I do:

1. I open the sequence editor and create a complete sequence with NO events (160 channels, each one named, color coded as I want, and then the animation already in place).

2. I then use the "Export Channel Configuration" and save the whole thing as a channel configuration (why? Who changes the lights BETWEEN songs? No one! They stay where they are anyway.). So every song I start, I import the channel configuration, which saves time.

3. Then I use the "Move" function to move channels to another track. If you "Copy" the track it is then in both tracks and it could cause a conflict (If you want to see what I mean, click on any of the channels in my Sample sequence and instead of "Moving" it, "Copy" it to a new track. Make the new track have no events. CLick the entire track ON from start to finish. See what happens? The channel is in both Tracks but it copies the most current selection, which in this case would be to turn the channel on the whole time.).

So my suggestion? Make a new track, seems to work better for what you (and I) are trying to do.

Larry- I think this answers your question as well. Create, then move. That's what I do at least.

Hope this all made sense.

Ryan

[M Gardner]

Ryan

Correct me if I am wrong but did you say NOT to copy the channels to the new track?? The reason I ask is because I have been reading the 200+ page manual for LOR2 and they say you should copy the channel that if you create a new track then put the same channel info in it will cause problems but if you copy it then it wont.

I agree that the ability to create new tracks is AWESOME I can see whe it will be used heavily in 08. one of the ways I have been playing with it is breaking my display up. I create a track for my minis a track for my mega tree ect. the reason I decided to do this is because things like minis trees and mega trees you typically do chases and spins so for these items if you have a slow song then you can stiill create a fast chase or a quick spin or different illusions that require faster tracks but the song might be a slow song.

Mike

[Ryan Johnson]

M Gardner wrote:

Ryan

Correct me if I am wrong but did you say NOT to copy the channels to the new track?? The reason I ask is because I have been reading the 200+ page manual for LOR2 and they say you should copy the channel that if you create a new track then put the same channel info in it will cause problems but if you copy it then it wont.

I agree that the ability to create new tracks is AWESOME I can see whe it will be used heavily in 08. one of the ways I have been playing with it is breaking my display up. I create a track for my minis a track for my mega tree ect. the reason I decided to do this is because things like minis trees and mega trees you typically do chases and spins so for these items if you have a slow song then you can stiill create a fast chase or a quick spin or different illusions that require faster tracks but the song might be a slow song.

Mike

First of all, is this Michael Gardner from TCL? Just curious...

I fully acknowledge that I could be wrong about something LOR II related... haven't read the manual and probably won't. I'm more a trial and error guy. In reading your question I suppose you can, in fact, copy the channel. What I did personally was MOVE the channel to the new track. I haven't seen any issues with doing it that way.

Does the manual say why it could cause a problem or what the problem may be?

Ryan

Edited a little later...

Hang on, hang on... I'm re-reading your post:

"should copy the channel that if you create a new track then put the same channel info in it will cause problems but if you copy it then it wont."

I didn't do that (put the same channel info in). I moved the whole channel from one track (the original that is created when you start a new sequence) to the new one. Maybe that makes a difference? So far, no issues... check on "Move" in that novel you're reading and see what that says. BTW, where did you get the manual? Did I miss that somewhere?

Ryan (again).

[taybrynn]

I have a music background ... so I tried to use tracks to create a kind of musical approach to using LOR II with tracks.

I don't know if I'm using the tracks correctly, but this was what I did.

First, I created a track with the beat wizard and had the tempo set to 2x faster. I named this track 'eighth notes'.

Second, I created a track with the beat wizard and used the default tempo. I named this track 'quarter notes'.

Third, I created a track with the beat wizard and had the tempo set to 2x slower. I renamed this track 'half notes'.

Fourth, I created a track with the beat wizard and had the temp set to 4x slower. I called this track 'whole notes.

Fifth, I create a track with the tap wizard and tapped something I was attempting to sequence. I was then able to map the taps into the correct sections above, using the most appropriate track. Eventually, I would get rid of the fifth track and redo it again to another part of the song. Each time, mapping a channel into the appropriate track or tracks.

Again, I'm brand new and this might not be such a great method ... but I'm trying it and seeing how it works.

Scott

[M Gardner]

rmjohn99 wrote:

First of all, is this Michael Gardner from TCL? Just curious...

I fully acknowledge that I could be wrong about something LOR II related... haven't read the manual and probably won't. I'm more a trial and error guy. In reading your question I suppose you can, in fact, copy the channel. What I did personally was MOVE the channel to the new track. I haven't seen any issues with doing it that way.

Does the manual say why it could cause a problem or what the problem may be?

Ryan

Edited a little later...

Hang on, hang on... I'm re-reading your post:

"should copy the channel that if you create a new track then put the same channel info in it will cause problems but if you copy it then it wont."

I didn't do that (put the same channel info in). I moved the whole channel from one track (the original that is created when you start a new sequence) to the new one. Maybe that makes a difference? So far, no issues... check on "Move" in that novel you're reading and see what that says. BTW, where did you get the manual? Did I miss that somewhere?

Ryan (again).

Yes Sir thats me

I just reread that section and yes they tell you that when using multiple tracks to control the same channel that it is best to either copy or move the channel.

Here is a link to the PDF file for the manual it is VERY informative.

[Ryan Johnson]

M Gardner wrote:

rmjohn99 wrote:

Does the manual say why it could cause a problem or what the problem may be?

"should copy the channel that if you create a new track then put the same channel info in it will cause problems but if you copy it then it wont."

I didn't do that (put the same channel info in). I moved the whole channel from one track (the original that is created when you start a new sequence) to the new one. Maybe that makes a difference? So far, no issues... check on "Move" in that novel you're reading and see what that says. BTW, where did you get the manual? Did I miss that somewhere?

Ryan (again).

Yes Sir thats me

I just reread that section and yes they tell you that when using multiple tracks to control the same channel that it is best to either copy or move the channel.

Here is a link to the PDF file for the manual it is VERY informative.

Good to "see" you Michael- so what I was saying and what the manual was saying are the same? You can copy OR move the channel? But you shouldn't just create a new one inside of an independent track?

[taybrynn]

This just sounds like a silly limitation, if its real. It's nice they pointed it out, but why should it matter whether I copy or not?

The problem is that the program flow allows you to do this is several different ways ... but from the sounds of it, only one procedure works exactly right.

So do I have to import my channels into the first track and then clone from there into new tracks? Then can I change the timings of the other tracks after the copies are done? Can I do the timings and then copy afterwards? Does it matter?

Just a little confused.

[Ryan Johnson]

taybrynn wrote:

This just sounds like a silly limitation, if its real. It's nice they pointed it out, but why should it matter whether I copy or not?

The problem is that the program flow allows you to do this is several different ways ... but from the sounds of it, only one procedure works exactly right.

I think* you can do it any way, as long as you copy/move the channels. I have not read the manual, and I am going on trial and error here (haven't had any error yet).

So do I have to import my channels into the first track and then clone from there into new tracks?

You don't HAVE to. The reason I do a channel configuration and then import into any song I create (and I did this for LOR I as well so it's not new) is to save time... my channels don't change from song to song so create the configuration, export it, and then import each new song/animation works for me

Then can I change the timings of the other tracks after the copies are done?

Yes, this you can do.

Can I do the timings and then copy afterwards?

Yes, to the best of my knowledge.

Does it matter?

As I said above, I think* you can do it any way, but somewhere in the manual Michael's refering to it says there may be some "bad mojo" if you do it wrong.

Just a little confused.

You think WE'RE confused? Wait until October when the late-comers are trying to figure all this out! :D:D

Ryan

[bob]

Copying and moving are two totally different things, and either one is OK, depending on what you want to do.

What you don't want to do is have two different channels that have the same device type/network/unit/channel, unless you use "copy" to do that.

In other words, you don't want to add two different channels, then go into the channel property grid and set them both up (independently) to be "Light-O-Rama Controller", "Regular Network", "Unit 3", "Channel 7".

If you want unit 3 channel 7 in both tracks, copy its channel from one track to the other.

"So do I have to import my channels into the first track and then clone from there into new tracks?"

I'm sorry, but what is it that you're trying to do, please?

"Then can I change the timings of the other tracks after the copies are done? Can I do the timings and then copy afterwards? Does it matter?"

You can always change the timings of any track.