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Get caught up to speed...


rgardner518

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So I'm a former customer that used to use this a lot. Had a falling out and stop performing shows at Christmas time back in 2013. At that time I was living in Upstate New York just an hr away from the corporate offices of LOR. Since then my wife and I have moved to Arizona. And we are in the process of possibly starting these backup.

But I'm almost new again and need to get caught up to speed on all of the changes that have happened. Anyone willing to post the new and improved suggestions ideas anything that would help me to learn this again? I'm sure I'm going to need to upgrade my advanced copy of  software because see its been upgraded several times since the last time I used it. And I'm sure Technologies gotten better with smart and dumb rgb's... plud the controller's.

I'm a PC controller user with about 15 units. Most are version 2's, but a couple were version 1's and I think I may even have a couple version 3's. Not sure if I can still use them all or not.

I see the voiceovers I was using from DementedElf has quit. Whos doing them now. I have sooo many questions.

 

Thanks in advance...

PS: I was once known by, poestenkilllights.com

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Greetings!

I remember you as poestenkillights from "back in the day!!!  I too live in upstate NY (45 miles from Lake Placid) and remember you on the forums when I was also doing shows.  I had to stop due to health and income issues back in 2014 myself and sadly now am having to sell my house so pretty much the shows are over for me (at least for now).

I have been trying to get back into sequencing and understanding the different things with pixels for the last year till a month or so ago when it I just had to realize that I had to move and sell.

I downloaded the new S5 software and have played with it some but am not at all up to speed with it.  I still have 21 controllers myself that are 1st and 2nd generation that I would like to use once I get moved and settled in (I'm staying right here for now although we just got 12 inches of snow yesterday and places like Arizona are looking very nice to me right now 😂)!

I would say get the new software and go with the full Pro license so that you can use all the capabilities.  Then just start asking questions as you come across problems.  I have gotten a lot of advice on here so far that has helped me get back up to speed with things.  You can find people who will send you props that will help "explain" how to set things up as well.  I got a prop for my mini trees that made the light bulb go on for setting up stuff!  Once you grasp the basic concept of the new stuff, it falls into place pretty quick.

One thing with the new S5 you will find is that you will have to set up things in the preview for stuff but you will probably have to anyway as you now have a different house and display layout.  You can "probably" import your old sequences though and still use any that you might want too.  The new software will run our old controllers just fine as far as what I have found so far.  There is a new adapter that will run at a higher speed (red adapter) that you may want to look at and will need if you want to run an enhanced network with pixels from what I gather.

Anyway, welcome back!  Good luck and happy holidays to you.

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If using Pixels with older generation CTB16PC controllers, definitely recommend getting the red High Speed USB RS485 adapter if you're going to add RGB.  I added RGB lighting this year to my display and with the old controllers and just a dual USB RS485B adapter, thought I could run everything, nope.  Won't work, you'll have severe lag times on BOTH the RGB Controllers and the older {Pre-Gen 3} CTB16PC controllers. 

You really need the HS adapter and set up a separate comm port and enhanced network for the RGB.   My older Version 2 CTB16PC's {4 of them} are on a standard LOR Network, my RGB Controllers {Version I CCB-100} are on Aux A, Enhanced, 500K Network using teh red HS Adapter.  Once I did this, all lag times went away.   Gen 3 CTB16PC controllers may not and probably do not have the lag issue since they can run on Enahnced 500k speed networks, but older CTB16PC Controllers, V1 and V2 can not.

I'm staying with S4 because it's what I'm comfortable with, that and S5 the new Pixel Editor and Sequence Editor are both incorporated as one program.  I prefer them separate, for one thing the PE screen blocks are just too tiny and me being legally blinf, I just can't see to do anything with it because of it's size.   At least S4 the SE is still separate and I can see the SE screen, but, again, my preference due to my vision issues, which have worsened recently.   And I found the PE extremely confusing to get working when I did try and use it.

Personally if I had better vision, I'd still start with S4 after coming back into this after being out of it for awhile {5- years I had no display, no power in our home for that duration, just got it back this past summer 2018}, then I'd migrate to S5 after I learned how to use, set up and sequence in the PE while it's separated from the SE in S4.

There is a huge learning curve in S5, so if you are planning starting up again for this year, I'd recommend S4 first, it's pretty much what you know with a few changes here and there, but sequencing is still the same as previous versions except for the PE {Pixel Editor} addition.

Welcome back! :)

 

Edited by Orville
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