programing new music to new controllers

[joe b.]

can i add more channels or add a new controller so that i can program existing and new music to stuff im building for next year without havig the control boxes yet? and also when i get the new control boxes it will be # 4and 5 do i need to upgrede licence,

[Orville]

Yes, you can, just assign those "ghost" controllers in your channel config in the Sequencer.    I did that when i started, however, it also depends on your license level, you need at least Advanced if memory serves for 5 controllers.    1-2 controllers is Basic, 1-4 controllers is Basic+, then I believe Advanced is the next level up, which will give you infinite number of controllers.   Can't say about the Pro version license, I'm using the older 3.8.2 of the LOR Software and Advanced license and controlled 5 controllers with no issues.

 

Not sure if the SE will allow you to add any additional controllers above your license level though.   So if you have Basic only 1-2, and Basic+ you can have up to 4, so if you have basic plus and only have 2 controllers, you can add 2 more, controller 3 and controller 4 to your channel config, it will take at least the Advanced license to be able to add controller 5 to the mix.    At least this is how I think it worked when I started in 2010.   Don't know if the newer software will allow you to add in more controllers than your license level allows, but I wouldn't think that would change.

 

The Hardware Utility or the SE wouldn't see or know the added controllers exist, so they wouldn't show the lights working in the animation window or the visualizer window if I recall correctly.

 

So even if you could add the additional controllers all in, they wouldn't show up if your license level can't handle that number of controllers.

 

I'm sure if I'm in error with any of this, someone here that has more insight to the workings of the LOR software will chime in and correct it, just seem to recall this is how it functioned when I started with a Basic+ license and went to 5 controllers, had to upgrade my license.     Which you can do that before getting or ordering your new controllers and start sequencing them before they actually arrive and put into service.    It's what I did when I started..

[KStatefan]

Light O Rama has a license level  chart here

[Orville]

Thought I may have missed one, which I did, I missed Standard which does control up to 8 controllers and 4 tracks.   Since my sequences are broken into tracks, still had to go Advanced in my case, just to keep everything separated the way I wanted I needed anywhere from 6 to 8 tracks to accomplish that.

 

But if one doesn't use tracks, then license level wouldn't even be an issue, it's only an issue for the number of controllers you want to have in your display and possibly for some features in the other LOR Software suite.

[shfr26]

If you add a controller, even if you don't have one, you can still sequence it and it will show the lights on in the SE.

[Orville]

If you add a controller, even if you don't have one, you can still sequence it and it will show the lights on in the SE.

Yes, you can.  But if your license level doesn't support the number of controllers, you can't add controller #03 if your license only supports 2 controllers.   At least that's how I remember it when I first got into this in late 2009, early 2010, when I had to go from Basic+ {4 controllers} to Advanced to add in Controller 05 and make it work.   With Basic+ I could have 4 controllers available in the SE, even though at the time I only had ONE controller, I could add in the additional 3 and they would animate the lights in the animation window.  Tried to add controller 05, and I seem to recall I got a pop up window stating my license level did not allow more than 4 controllers.      Had to go Advanced before I was able to add in Controller 05.

 

Not sure if the latest versions work the same way or not in this respect, just seem to recall I could not add in any more controllers than what my license level would permit.

[Don]

Uh ... you can add as many controllers as you want. 4, 8, 99.

 

If your license level doesn't support it, then it simply won't play the controller numbers you are not licensed for. Been that way for a long time, possibly since S2 was released.