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Using rgb pixels


christmascrossing

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I have been slowly getting into RGB lights in the last few years, buying some CCRs and CCBs. I have manually programmed them via sequence editor, nothing fancy.

I have the advanced version of lor software, and saw the pixel editor. It looked interesting. And an easier way to program rgb lights, which I've been struggling at the old fashioned way.

I quickly, well after several hours of trial and error, was able to define props and assign them to the rgb lights I have already set up this year.

It looked great on the visualizer. I clicked the control the lights, and nothing happened. Although my kids enjoyed helping dad out running outside and letting me know if the lights turned on.

Then I read more information. I needed to be on the enhanced network, whatever that is. To be on the enhanced network I needed to upgraded my rgb controllers to the latest firmware. I did that. Then I realized that my advanced version wasn't able to set the enhanced network, whatever that is. So I spent $50 to upgrade instantly.

At this point my child helpers had gone to bed. So, I enabled the enhanced network, whatever that is. And started the visualizer with the control lights enabled, then ran outside to see the amazing effects. Yeah!

Ok, now my question. Since my other lor controllers are several years old, and can't be on the enhanced network, whatever that is, I've seen some posts where people were talking about 2 networks. I want to sync both networks to the same show. Has anyone solved this? One show, one musical sequence, outputting to 2 networks.

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Why cant your LOR controllers be on the network? How old, model number?

My CTB16PCg3 's work fine and I did upgrade the firm ware for them. 1.08 I think. Original one is over 4 years old at least.

 

Did you upgrade to PRO? That was my decision when going to PE as you need PRO.

Decided it was worth it. But I did spend money on Super Star also which I doubt I will be using this year after all.

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You just need another LOR usb adapter. Each will have its own Com port assigned. The first adapter will be your regular network and the second one will be Aux A. In Network Configuration you will have 2 rows, one for each network. One will have "enhanced" enabled and the other won't.

Matt

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To Christmascrossing I also am taking the same route your are and as Matt describes. Just make sure the second LOR usb adapter you get is the high speed version. It has a red color case.

 

I have a mix of newer and really old controllers. Per another post I saw the Gen 3 controllers have a Green blinking status light. That is one way to tell them apart. Also the drop down menu in the Hardware Utility will tell you what you have.

 

Scott

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Just as an example

I have G2 and G3 plus dmx stuff; each on its own network

5 controllers G2 black usb485 adapter, Aux A network, 115k speed

1 CCB controller G3 high speed, red usb485 adapter, regular network, set at 500k speed

dmx on e1.31 board/network

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Of course you can run two networks. Just buy a second RS485 adapter and plug it in. Find the com port using the HU or the Windows device manager, just like you did with your first one. And in your sequence select AUX A instead of Regular in each channel config.

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Thanks everyone. Hopefully this thread will help others like me who are just getting into RGB, coming from the old school ways of single channel programming.

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I have 4 CTB16D ver 4.40 controllers.  They aren't that old (less than 5 years, I think).

They have the red LEDs. And they do not work on the enhanced network.

 

Might be easier for me to just stick with the non-enhanced mode, and use my RGBs the old fashioned way this season.

 

Light-O-Rama should create a FAQ or white paper on transitioning to pixels, and clearly define what customers need in controllers, software, network, etc.  Unless I missed it, I didn't find any documentation that provided me with an easy transition to RGB and enhanced network.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have always used the Hardware Utility to program the SD cards for my DC-MP3 Director which is so much easier to deal with than a computer.   

 

If I purchase the G3-MP3 Director (which I'm not opposed to doing) what’s the next step?  After loading the SE sequence I want to add a PE element.  In the Tools >> Channel Configuration, it appears that after I click add a controller, I select LOR Controller and put it in Network Aux A.  Can this 2nd network start with ID 01 again, or do I have to add an ID after the legacy network such as 12?  And how many channels do I choose for the CCP-100D?  It actually has 300, but in the tutorial, they created just one but there was no reverse-linking back to an existing SE sequence.  

 

I've created a non-musical sequence in the Pixel Editor following the tutorial - it all appears to be good and well as it will be a "filler" between shows. 

 

Now, if I want to add a PE element to an existing musical sequence that works great in SE with my Legacy controllers, how do I merge the PE sequence into the SE sequence to load into the Hardware Utility to create the SD card for the G3-MP3?  Obviously both the Legacy and Enhanced networks must be "on the same page" and in sync even though they may be running at different communication speeds.  

 

This is a lot to wrap ones head around after being so straight forward thinking for many years with LOR.  Progress comes with headaches.  

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I have always used the Hardware Utility to program the SD cards for my DC-MP3 Director which is so much easier to deal with than a computer.   

 

If I purchase the G3-MP3 Director (which I'm not opposed to doing) what’s the next step?  After loading the SE sequence I want to add a PE element.  In the Tools >> Channel Configuration, it appears that after I click add a controller, I select LOR Controller and put it in Network Aux A.  Can this 2nd network start with ID 01 again, or do I have to add an ID after the legacy network such as 12?  And how many channels do I choose for the CCP-100D?  It actually has 300, but in the tutorial, they created just one but there was no reverse-linking back to an existing SE sequence.  

 

I've created a non-musical sequence in the Pixel Editor following the tutorial - it all appears to be good and well as it will be a "filler" between shows. 

 

Now, if I want to add a PE element to an existing musical sequence that works great in SE with my Legacy controllers, how do I merge the PE sequence into the SE sequence to load into the Hardware Utility to create the SD card for the G3-MP3?  Obviously both the Legacy and Enhanced networks must be "on the same page" and in sync even though they may be running at different communication speeds.  

 

This is a lot to wrap ones head around after being so straight forward thinking for many years with LOR.  Progress comes with headaches.  

 

If you do a firmware upgrade on the controllers then you will be able to use them with enhanced LOR.

 

I think that it is best to use a computer to run your show if you have pixels. With a PC you can get E1.31, and run a lot more pixels.

 

The 2nd network can start with unit 01 again.

 

I don't know much about the PE as I have not used it yet.

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I have always used the Hardware Utility to program the SD cards for my DC-MP3 Director which is so much easier to deal with than a computer.  

 

Bear in mind that for what I'm doing, I can't use a director, so I don't own one, nor have ever played with one in any way.  So my comments might be a bit biased.

 

From everything I have read on the forums, I would have to go the other way.  Running the show on a computer is easier and gives FAR more flexibility.  Just of couple reasons for my statement:

 

Show on Demand,

Don't need to rebuild the entire show every time you want to make any change,

Easy to store multiple show configurations, and schedule the ones you want whenever you want to,

More network capability - in my case I have three LOR networks plus E1.31,

Easier ability to see what is happening in the show without going out and standing in the cold.

 

Let me give an example.  Last night I completed sequencing an additional song for my show.  I run two versions of my show - an evening show and a night show.  The only difference is the evening show has a background sequence that controls the amplifiers for the speakers in the yard.  To add the new song, took the following steps:

Open the Show Editor,

Open the evening show,

Go to Musical tab and add the new song, and move it up one to make it the next to last song,

Save the file,

Open the night show,

Go to Musical tab and add the new song, and move it up one to make it the next to last song,

Save the file,

Open one of my single song shows (I have a show of one song for each of my songs - used only for testing)

Go to Musical tab and add the new song, and delete the existing song,

Save the file with a new file name (in this case it was Rudolf only show.lss)

Exit the show editor.

Total time was about 45 seconds - took longer to type those steps than to do them.

 

Next up was to start a Show on Demand for the Rudolf only show to start in about two minutes and run for two minutes.

Walk outside to watch the new song run one time.  At the time set for the show on demand, the overnight animation show stopped, and the new song ran one time (it looked fine BTW).  After Rudolf ran one time, the overnight animation show resumed.

 

Try doing that with a director and tell me that it is easier...

Yea, I know you could accomplish the same, but it would not be easier.

 

Also remember that several year old PCs are almost give away items when people upgrade.  Or do as I did three years ago and buy a lease return refurb from a dealer that does such stuff (TigerDirect.com in my case).  I ended up with a two or three year old XP desktop that had a clean XP install for $80 that runs my show just fine.

 

BTW, what I mean about seeing what's going on without going outside to look.  My show computer is in the far back end of my house and is where I generally hang out in the evenings.  I can simply look at a monitor on the show computer and look at the status display and know that all is well.  I also have the show player set to control visualizer and that points to the IP of my sequencing computer.  I can start Visualizer on the sequencing computer and watch the actual show in real time from my family room.  I don't actually do that very often, but I can if desired.  OK, I can also do that by looking at the monitor for the security cameras too.  I also have the ability to remotely access the show computer from the internet (yes, it's quite well secured), so I can see status or change things from almost anywhere.  The show computer also sends me E-Mail messages when it does it's daily reboot, when the evening show starts, when the night show starts, when the overnight animation show starts, when the overnight animation show ends, and a daily log file of every song that was played.  During non-show hours, the show computer plays Christmas music using Zara Radio, and that also sends me a log file via an E-Mail twice every day.  Try doing ANY of that with a director.

 

OK, I'm done ranting...

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My controllers all have the latest firmware, but they appear to be no longer updated as the newest unit is about 3-4 years old and the updates seemed to have stopped in the past year or so.  

I have 2 or more of each of these:  
CMB16D-QC v1 (Green board) v1.30 firmware

CTB16PC v1 (Green board) v4.32 firmware

CTB16PC v2 (Green board) v4.40 firmware

CTB16D v5 (Blue board) v4.32 firmware

CTB16D v5 (Blue board) v4.32 firmware

CTB16D v6 (Blue board) v4.32 firmware

 


and one each of:

IDMX1000 v1.5 firmware
DC-MP3 v4.20 firmware  

 

 

The DC-MP3 is currently the most critical part of my whole display, so I was already planning to get a G3-MP3 when they go on sale as a backup controlling device.  And for the present time, I plan to continue using the SD card in the MP3 Director or the G3-MP3 Director as that is so much more reliable than a computer.  Plus it's so easy to change a show -- card out, card in, new show running.  I can have several SD cards at the ready and change shows in seconds if the need arises.  

 

So, I guess my real question is, how do I tell if all this will work in the enhanced mode so I can use the CCP-100D on my current network and not have to pull a single wire to the CCP-100D location?  I'm only looking at the one pixel unit right now and how it works out may determine adding more.  

Edited by George Cotton
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The CMB16D-QC will run on an enhanced network, but I don't think that 1.30 is new enough firmware.  I just checked - mine are 1.34 and are running on an enhanced network just fine.  For the CTB16s, if the LED is green, they are Gen3 and can be firmware updated (if needed) for enhanced networks.  If the LED is red, they can not.  I don't know about the iDMX or director.  The CCP-100D will run on enhanced networks with new enough firmware.

 

Currently I have two older controllers that can't run on an enhanced network, and I plan to replace them in 2016.  That will allow me to run everything in my show on enhanced networks.  I will still need a non-enhanced network because you can't use input triggers on an enhanced network, so I will have a separate network for my InputPup that are used for my landscape lighting shows.  The big reason for me to upgrade is so that I can sequence everything in SuperStar and export as intensity files.  This year, I have to separately sequence about a dozen channels in SE.

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Thanks for the insight.  All board LED's are RED ones.  So that answers many questions.  I think, for the time being, I will just use the G3-MP3 as two networks with Legacy and Enhanced outputs.  Now all I need to do is figure out how to get my CCP-100D sequences added to my SE (legacy) sequences so both are called up by one filename to play.  

 

A typo got into my previous.  The CMB16D-QC v1 (Green board) is running v1.34 firmware

 

Jim we have something in common other than ham radio.  Our call signs are both triple letter - WB5JJJ here.

Edited by George Cotton
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My main question still remains unanswered.  Let me put it another way that might shed some light on it.

 

1)  I have been using LOR for 5 or 6 years with what is now old school sequences (SE) and controllers listed above.  I have updated SE to the latest version at S4 Advanced level.  I know I'll need S4 Pro and a G3-MP3 to move ahead with pixels.  No problem.  

 

2)  I'm looking at the CCP-100D pixels to update an existing 4' star that is in most of my sequences.  Currently the star is running on SE and the colors are called up by channel when needed, as dumb RGBW strings.  

 

3)  I would like to update the star using pixels instead of the dumb RGBW strings to EXISTING SE sequences.  How do I do this?  In other words, I have Song 1 all sequenced in SE with the current star and now I want to delete the RGBW channels for the star and add the "new" pixel star back where the original star was without coding 300 channels manually.  So, I would be using PE to create the pixel sequences ALONG with the existing SE sequence for all of my playlists.  

 

4)  I have all of the current star RGBW cue points and those could be recreated in PE.  But how do I merge, or can I merge, the PE sequence back into the SE sequence to get Song 1 to play using both the original SE sequence and the new PE sequence?   Or stated another way, how can I access both versions (PE and SE) of Song 1 for playback in my show at the same time?  

 

5)  I understand the concept of the G3-MP3 with dual network outputs and that should be easily addressed and workable in my setting.  I will be using the G3-MP3 and SD cards to run the shows and not a computer.  

 

From what I've been able to find out, which is nothing, therefore can I only assume that this is not possible?  Surely there must be a way to use both SE and PE without trashing all old controllers and sequences and updating everything at once to PE.  I must be missing something.  

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The way the pixel editor works is the way you want it to work in your case. You send you old sequence to the pixel editor and create you pixel star in the previewer you create effects and add them to the sequence when your done with the sequence you send intensity file to that sequence now go back to sequence editor and play your sequence like always the only thing that has changed is you added the star sequence everything else still plays the old way.

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Dennis:

 

What I did was to open PE and then File >> Open a working SE file.  PE loaded the file and music just fine.  Created the star (again) and plugged it into the sequence at the proper times.  Saved the file and the "intensities File".  Then I exited the PE and opened SE and then did a File >> Open on the same file and all was good as it grabbed the Intensity Files as it should.  The SE and MP3 were still there (of course) and the PE Intensity File info was at the bottom of the screen.  The only problem was that I didn't set the Device ID I wanted in PE.  So I went back into PE and fixed that.  Opened the sequence back up in SE and it looks like it will work.  

 

Next, I opened HU and added the SE file and was able to identify BOTH ports (Legacy and Enhanced) for the G3-MP3 Director, set the proper (recommended) speeds and saved the files on an SD card.  So far so good.  

 

Now to get the G3-MP3 and the CCP-100D ordered and that will be the final test.  But I think it will work.  I just could not understand how 2 programs would combine their individual efforts to a single output.  The answers were there, just not easy to find at first.  

 

I might have never found all the answers until you gave me some direction.  The manuals are not at all in the most logical order for someone thinking about getting into pixels.  Like many others, they were probably written by the coders/engineers that know the Suite inside and out.  They leave out a lot of critical steps and explanations as to what is going on along the way.  The flow could be outlined a LOT better, even if just a stand alone guide for first-timers.  

 

Once someone figures it out, they can kinda see the logic, but the other way around it is very frustrating especially for me as a retired engineer and former coder.  When I was coding, I would give someone the instructions to the software module and see where they got stymied -- fix that spot in the instructions and try again until someone that had never seen the instructions could go to the final step without any calls for help, even though they may have had no clue what the program was going to do.  Then you know, you've done your job -- or found your replacement.  

 

Thanks.  I knew someone would get me kick-started on this eventually.  

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For a single channel or single RGB channel, down at the bottom of the fixture properties, when you select the assigned channel(s), the network is one of the options.

 

For Cosmic Color devices, at the bottom of the fixture properties, one of the options is the network.

 

If you run the channel wizard for a prop, network is one of the options.

 

Does that answer your question?

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