Carson Sequence

[Guest guest]

cghargis wrote:

Santas Helper wrote:

Craig wrote:

I must say I am amazed at what you guys are doing. Do you just play around till it looks right?

Some call it play and some call it work. But pretty much you tweak it until you feel good about it (which is a never ending deal because you always find something else to add or change).

It's almost like a game to me. Filling in each block here and there until the music stops and could take a day or two to finish. And it's hard to stop until you reach the finish line.

Tom

A Day or two? I must be really slow then, cause it usually takes me over two weeks to program on song for 32 channels. I just use the play a section feature and keep running through it until I thin I have everything covered musically. I can see a difference in the first one I programmed and the last one though. I have gotten more creative with the songs and the effects look better.

OOPS, I should have added, I have an office job and when times are slow, I sequence music. I'm not talking an hour or two a day either. It's more like 4,5,6 hours per day some times. It really does take a lot of time and actually, I do go back at times to add this or that. So I guess I could say it does take longer but it depends on how complicated the songs are and how complicated I want my shows.

Tom

[Guest guest]

i figure, with the fact that it is not really carson's song, and there were other people who did wizards in winter before his video was popular, we can do it if we want. It's not original, but i don't care. it's a cool song.

Greg

[Guest guest]

yeutterg wrote:

i figure, with the fact that it is not really carson's song, and there were other people who did wizards in winter before his video was popular, we can do it if we want. It's not original, but i don't care. it's a cool song.

Greg

I won't argue that it is a cool song. But then again, TSO has many cool songs. I do enjoy having my CD player in my car loaded with TSO and Gary Hoey for the Christmas season. Run whatever show you want to run.Everybody changes things in their sequences, so they are all different in some way. Just by virtue of the lights you have set up, they will be different. I plan to have lights that are just for the show and then my regular display that will go off when the show runs. Basically two different set ups that are not on at the same time. I can't wait to see all the impressive displays next year.

[Guest guest]

OOPS, I should have added, I have an office job and when times are slow, I sequence music. I'm not talking an hour or two a day either. It's more like 4,5,6 hours per day some times. It really does take a lot of time and actually, I do go back at times to add this or that. So I guess I could say it does take longer but it depends on how complicated the songs are and how complicated I want my shows.

I sequence up to a couple hours a day during the week at school during my conference period when I'm not grading papers or makin' copies. Sometimes being a teacher's cool when you have time to fool around with sequencing (or surfing the web!)

[Guest guest]

Craig wrote:

G'day all I know this is a thread about weather or not to use Carson's sequence but I was wondering where I can download it from as I would love to see how he did it.

At one time Don had Carson's LOR sequence posted on his website www.WonderlandChristmas.com along with instructions, but it looks like he has recenty removed it. I have a copy I can e-mail you as long as Don doesn't mind...

[Guest guest]

This was our first year with LOR and at first it was a little overwhelming. My husband had very excitedly told everyone how great the lights were going to be this year. I was afraid I bit off more than I could chew and not be able to deliver. Marty very graciously shared some sequences to get me started. I adapted "Deck the Halls" to our scaled down display and it was one of my personal favorites. I hesitated doing WIW, but eventually couldn't resist any longer which was a good thing since I couldn't get it out of my head. IMHO, it was the best sequence of our show.

[Guest guest]

Murl wrote:

At one time Don had Carson's LOR sequence posted on his website http://www.WonderlandChristmas.com along with instructions, but it looks like he has recenty removed it. I have a copy I can e-mail you as long as Don doesn't mind...

True, it was on my site. However, I was asked to remove the file, and I complied. I don't mind what you do with it, but it's not my sequence.

*** The following statement has not been approved by Carson, and I do not speak for him.*** That said, if PC members are helping new people out, those who have shown an interest in the hobby, and are sharing the sequence among themselves ... well, I don't see a problem with that.

[Guest guest]

[Guest guest]

Annalisa wrote:

Jeez, talk about beating a dead horse!

Now I understand why you called your website CrazyLightLady.us! :laughing:

I think part of the fascination with Carson's sequence (at least for us beginners) is that it's one of the few where both the video and the sequence were readily available so we could compare them and start to put 2 & 2 together.

I do agree that there are some awesome displays out there - and you belong towards the top of that list as well.

[Guest guest]

Annalisa wrote:

Jeez, talk about beating a dead horse!

Give it at rest already, Carson's wiw has marginal entertainment at best, (to be honest, I never watched it all the way through, I got bored, Ho Hum),.
There are way too many other musical/animated displays that put his meager display to shame. Ron Lister's, Marty's, Jeff W, Jeff T, Bryce and his totally amazing train,... the list goes on.

There, I had my say, and I now fully expect to be "banned for life from PC" for speaking my mind.

And in the immortal words from Johnny Storm.

FLAME ON!!!

Annalisa
crazylightlady.us

LightORama wrote:

Daniel,

Thanks for starting this topic. As you can see it turned into a very productive series of posts. It has brought me up to the next LOR contest for the year. I think a contest of the best "Wizards Sequence" with a pre-determined set of channels and and an animation window that has been pre-created. This could be judged by LOR users who could download the sequences and play the entries with the sequence editor. Not sure of the details yet but I think this has some potential. There may be so many entries that it becomes impractical for everyone to be a judge. You have me thinking.

Yeah time to move on to the next Tickle Me Elmo craze.. . I think the fascination was 1) 99.999% of the world did not know it was possible to do a display like his and alot of those people thought it was fake.

2) Not sure who was the first to start the emailing the video or posting it online but it almost could have been anyone.. it could have been Ron Lister's, Marty's, Jeff W, Jeff T, Bryce, Darryl Brown, Mark O's display from 2002, Chuck, and so on who were doing it long before Carson. I am not jealous.. I would not want to be famous on that scale.. locally would be fine with me just to get a little more traffic.

[Guest guest]

Annalisa wrote:

Jeez, talk about beating a dead horse!

Give it at rest already, Carson's wiw has marginal entertainment at best, (to be honest, I never watched it all the way through, I got bored, Ho Hum),.
There are way too many other musical/animated displays that put his meager display to shame. Ron Lister's, Marty's, Jeff W, Jeff T, Bryce and his totally amazing train,... the list goes on.

There, I had my say, and I now fully expect to be "banned for life from PC" for speaking my mind.

And in the immortal words from Johnny Storm.

FLAME ON!!!

Annalisa
crazylightlady.us

Is it really necessary to attack Carson's display, Annalisa? How would you like it if I told you I didn't watch your videos all the way through because I thought they were "marginal at best"? And they were way too blinky?

Lets stick to constructive criticism, and then only when asked for by the display owner, please.

-Tim

[Guest guest]

Annalisa wrote:

Jeez, talk about beating a dead horse!

Give it at rest already, Carson's wiw has marginal entertainment at best, (to be honest, I never watched it all the way through, I got bored, Ho Hum),.
There are way too many other musical/animated displays that put his meager display to shame. Ron Lister's, Marty's, Jeff W, Jeff T, Bryce and his totally amazing train,... the list goes on.

There, I had my say, and I now fully expect to be "banned for life from PC" for speaking my mind.

And in the immortal words from Johnny Storm.

FLAME ON!!!

Annalisa
crazylightlady.us

Okay, my friends, it is a cold gray day in Indiana, a little snowy ... I'm at work trying to catch up on a few things, but decided to check in on this running conversation. I wasn't very cheery until reading Annalisa's post ... now, I think a hearty:

"BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

is in order. Perhaps a little too much drama here on this topic.

Let's just leave it at: Carson's Version of WIW helped cause an explosion of awareness in animating Christmas lights. And perhaps did more to make "Christmas Lighting" "cool" again, than anything I can remember in a long time. And for me, it was just one of many cases of shear inspiration that I found on PC.

I don't know about you, but I suspect you feel this way -- when I drive down a sparsely lit neighborhood during the holidays I'm depressed. And if there is no other after effect to Carson's fame than many more people will put up Christmas Lights this season, then I'm all for it.

I for one, being a 1 year veteran of LOR, will be promoting the lighting season in my neighborhood a little bit extra this year ... so that everyone is ready to LIGHT UP (their lights that is *grin*) the day after Thanksgiving this year.

Personally I feel much like Annalisa. I'm not a fan of WIW -- to me it doesn't sound like what I "feel" Christmas sounds like. But, I have come to appreciate over the year I've been hanging around PC, that everyone here are artists. And each will find beauty in their own way, with their own music, blowups, blowmolds, wireframes, c9s, minis, megatrees, LEDs, LORs, ALs, DLights, etc., etc., etc.

If I would have been smart enough to get an adequate video of my pride and joy from my 2005 Light Show I'm sure most reactions would fall in to the following categories:

• 
  
• "I like that song, but I would have done it differently"
  
• "I don't like that song, but I like that idea, and I'll incorporate that idea into my design"
  
• "I like that song, and I like that idea, but I'll do it a little differently"
  
• OR, some would say: "If that were available, I would set it up as close to the same as I could at my house."

Whatever your response might have been, I would hope, it would have helped you be inspired when doing your own display.

So, to all those who had the guts and the techno-ability to share your ideas visually for the rest of us and to subject yourself to public review, I say, THANK YOU. Yours is a gift of inspiration and immeasurable!

To those who went, and continue to go, beyond the pale to share your detailed instructions and advice with us, I say, THANK YOU. Your generosity of time and expertise, helped make my 2005 display one of the best experiences of my life!

And finally, to those who chose to take the old adage to heart that "one can't help but help themselves, when they help others" ... and gave away their hard work and actual sequences, I say, THANK YOU to you too! Some times we learn best by seeing the actual work of the masters, and I can tell by the testimonials above that your gift was appreciated greatly.

Isn't this a great place! (Viva la PC!)

[Guest guest]

We are getting a bit off track here...

Lets freeze this for now....