Trying to create a VU meter effect with a 10x50 matrix

[Rabeiler]

this year I built a 10 row by 50 column matrix with 2" spacing for my display using 5 CCP controllers (10 strings of 50 lights).  I was trying to create a frequency dependent VU meter type effect with SuperStar but can't seem to figure out how to do this. Each unit ID one row of 50 pixels.

Anyone have any pointers to help me get this? I am using the latest software version 5.10 and in the preview, the prop is 10x50 RGB matrix.

[PhilMassey]

Look at Motion effect fire, with a waveform on the height parameter and change the color with hue. No exactly VU but not bad.

Or look at the VU wizard, but it take a little practice.

[BrianBruderer]

What PhilMassey said is probably the easiest way.

In superstar there is a VU meter motion type, but it does the VU meter from the top. Set the trigger type to rapid fire, set VU meter for the motion, and set the same TCM for all 10 rows

To do a VU meter from any location you can also do it with Auto Sequence.

Bring up the scene dialog box and click on the green car

In the Auto Sequence dialog box choose "burst and return"

Set the direction arrow and set a pixel on the green sequencing grid. The pixel will "burst and return" to the music. To get it to react to only certain frequencies set 4 or 5 of the freqs. 

Create 10 of these with the dot at a different location and different freqs and you will get something that is sort of like a VU meter.

Note that the "burst" will only work well if you have at least 4 freqs selected. You want each dot to be reacting to different freqs, but you can have the groups of freqs for each dot overlap a bit.

The above takes some time to do but it does give you flexibility to do things other than the traditional VM meter. You could have all of the auto sequence effects start from a center location, but give each one a different direction and you would have a "radial" VU meter.

The above probably only makes sense if you have watched the video tutorial "Auto Sequence, Introduction and Preview" which is in the superstar group of tutorials on the lightorama website.

[default]

If your willing to get your hands dirty with software other than LOR, here is a way I did EQ meters in Jinx.

In a nutshell, you use Jinx to display the Eq on the screen and play it, capture it to video, then load it as a picture/movie (gif/.avi) to motion effects in S5. It is not live, it is a recording of the Eq as the song is played.

You will need a Video Screen capture program.

Here is a link to a couple of links about VU Meters and LOR. It has been discussed before. My post was back when I used Pixel Editor briefly. Same steps still apply.

Based on your 10x50 matrix, I created some to gifs to show you what these files would look like in S5.

This is the spec analyzer.avi file applied to a movie motion effect on a 10x50 matrix in S5

For some reason, this is a flipped copy of the same spec analyzer.avi file applied to a movie motion effect on a 10x50 matrix in S5 (I have 2 opposing matixes, I wanted to see what it would look like, thus I created it)

Here are the spec analyzer.avi files if you want to download them and apply to your matrix to see for your self. The song they are snyc'd to is Looking out my back door by CCR.

Right Click - Save As.

spec analyzer.avi file bottom up

spec analyzer.avi file top down

Hope this helps.

Alan...