Where do I start?

[Pappy]

Getting ready to start the path down a LOR show. Just don’t know where to begin. If I want to control each individual light do I need to go with pixie controllers?  Does a strand of rgb lights of not on a pixie controller have to all be the same color?  Can you chase a strand or does that require a pixie controller?  Do they make mini strobes?

So many questions. I know when I get started I will buy the pro software. Go big or go home. 

So I guess the first decision I need to make after learning is pixie controllers or pro controllers  

Thank you for any input. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Pappy
Wanted to add an item

[dibblejr]

That all depends on which type of lights you plan to use

Regular lights LED/ Incans (getting rare) as you find at Walmart - take AC controllers

Smart RGB lights (each node or pixel controllable)  pixie series or pixcon16 (pixies being the easier to start with)

Dumb pixels  (all must be same clor) - CMB24

JR

[MichRX7]

Well, it is October 27th today. Are you thinking of having a Christmas display this year? If so, you should start with 1 or 2 AC controllers. I could not imagine trying to program all those smart rgb lights before it is time to start the lights flashing.

[BobW]

2 hours ago, MichRX7 said:

Well, it is October 27th today. Are you thinking of having a Christmas display this year? If so, you should start with 1 or 2 AC controllers. I could not imagine trying to program all those smart rgb lights before it is time to start the lights flashing.

He could use pixels on his house and the built-in motion effects to 'start the lights flashing' for this year and leave the music syncing for next year. Then he wouldn't wasting any money on AC controllers and light strings. No?

Bob

 

[dibblejr]

58 minutes ago, BobW said:

He could use pixels on his house and the built-in motion effects to 'start the lights flashing' for this year and leave the music syncing for next year. Then he wouldn't wasting any money on AC controllers and light strings. No?

Bob

 

Well if he gets it up and cant figure it out , then he wasted his money. It never hurts to have a blend of traditional lights in a show.

He would still have to figure out the software.

JR

[Rockhammer53]

With roughly 8 weeks until Christmas... a VERY short time for a new show, new software, I would suggest just some walmart lights to hang for this year and take the time afterward to learn the differences of the controllers and begin to learn the software...confusion abounds when stress driven...

[dgrant]

I suggest that you start by taking a picture of the front of your home. Print it out then start drawing lights on it or strings of lights and etc...this will dictate your hardware requirements. As already stated, its way late to be starting now but you could do paid sequences from LOR and use 1-2 controllers instead of going all out, this late. Its a good rule of thumb as such to start planning in January. Cabling, communications, FM transmitter if desired and radio "Tune To" sign(s) and so much more. Acquisition of the controllers and infrastructure of your cabling. There's RS485 and TCPIP type communications and in this case, both use CAT5/6 cables. You must be super careful to insure they don't get mixed up so consideration needed to mark or identify cables...

[Pappy]

Thanks everybody. Not this year. Just planning on starting to buy the equipment. Not sure if I’ll be using any of the old time lights in the show or not. Would rather go with all leds with individual light control. Bit I’ll probably have some rgb that I’ll stick to one color. So for those I think I’ll need a pro controller. For the others a pox controller.  

 

[MichRX7]

Truly the idea of taking a picture of your house and scribbling colors on it with your favorite computer paint program is a great one. I have done this a few times. Go out, stand where you think the main viewing position of your house will be and snap that photo with your phone. Also, go to the main website for Light-O-Rama and watch some of the customer videos to get ideas of what you might like to do. Combine those two thoughts and you can then ask about what equipment you would need to go about making that a reality for your place. Many people are willing to help/share what they did and used to make certain effects.

[TheDucks]

Where were your lights last Year?  Hang them again, but plug them into your controllers outlets (take notes or mark that poto to what outlet goes where).

Make them Bink, shimmer, turn on and off.

It is a start 👍

 

[MichRX7]

19 hours ago, TheDucks said:

Where were your lights last Year?  Hang them again, but plug them into your controllers outlets (take notes or mark that poto to what outlet goes where).

Make them Bink, shimmer, turn on and off.

It is a start 👍

 

This is true, if you do this you do have time given the long month this year to Thanksgiving. If you are off a little on a beat this year, just no that no one watching will notice (except you) (oh, and us if you show the video, but we are forgiving, lol). It is funny when I watch a new song in my show for the first time and I'm thinking, "wtf, did I do there?" and then I look over at anyone else watching and they are just grinning away at the flashing lights.