Brand Newb and wanna get two singing tree faces up. Help and guidance appreciated.

[Rhizzlebop]

Hi all.  I’ve been amazed by these displays for years.  This year due 5o covid I’ve started a small business but this is the off-season. So as I battle through little work this winter I have time but a limited budget.  I’d like to get two singing tree faces up on my garage with a handful of songs by thanksgiving.  Is that even realistic?  

 

I was looking at the LOR tree faces that I don’t think use rgb.  I was just going to look at some samples and draw out my own pattern on wood and make the faces.    I was looking at regular led string lights from lowes or Walmart.  Trying to figure how many I need.  Do bulb holes go about 1 inch apart?   Might go incandescent to save money if it’s hundres and Hundreds of lights. 

 

Would you use thin thin plywood and put a mortar anchor in brick garage wall or something lighter weight in case it falls? 

 

I was was not thinking color control (isn’t that rgb.). I was just thinking green tree   Blue and white eyes and prob white and red mouth sections.   Thoughts?   I’m looking at an 8 channel face and want two faces.    I have an old windows mini laptop from 2014 that I hope will run the software.  

 

Thats all all I know.    I’m great with wood and building something.  I have no idea about the programming side or how much songs and sequences will cost me.  I see talk here of sharing sequences. Is that separate from the song?   I’ve seen songs for sale but not sure if that includes a sequence.    I need guidance.    Maybe it’s far too late to begin this.   All my other Christmas lights are just static.    

 

I think if if I can get this up for a few hundred dollars my two boys would love it. 

 

I was was looking at the starter kit from LOR that has a USB adapter an Ethernet and the 16 channel controller and power cord.  For like $317.   Is that my best starter path?   Anyone selling used stuff like this because they ,over to more complex hardware?

 

thank you all.  I’ve been reading up on this all day and I’ve picked up some stuff but a bit lost where to start.   I think I could have trees cut from plywood painted and drilled out this week for sure.   Light strips cut and glued in in a few more days. And then to figure out how and what to make it happen from there. 

 

Help appreciated. 

[Kapkirk]

Rhizzlebop

 

You can maybe get 2 singing faces done, by Thanksgiving will be hard, you can purchase sequences for the singing trees from holiday sequences.com for around $15 per song, get the music from Amazon for a buck or two. The Light O Rama controller will control 2 singing trees, 8 channels each tree. I would recommend the Holiday Coro singing trees. Can't remember the cost but they are not real expensive. But they have done all the real work and layout, you just build a frame for their coro board.

 

The lights will be the costliest part after the controller and software, each tree is 800 lights, you might want to do just one tree this year and add another next year, but if you are still wanting to do this you better hurry, if you need more info or recommendations just pm me and i'll pm back my phone number, I do 4 holiday coro singing trees and the majority of my sequences were purchased from holiday sequences.com, he advertises here on the forum, look at the vendors section.

 

Keith

[dibblejr]

7 hours ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Hi all.  I’ve been amazed by these displays for years.  This year due 5o covid I’ve started a small business but this is the off-season. So as I battle through little work this winter I have time but a limited budget.  I’d like to get two singing tree faces up on my garage with a handful of songs by thanksgiving.  Is that even realistic?  

 

I was looking at the LOR tree faces that I don’t think use rgb.  I was just going to look at some samples and draw out my own pattern on wood and make the faces.    I was looking at regular led string lights from lowes or Walmart.  Trying to figure how many I need.  Do bulb holes go about 1 inch apart?   Might go incandescent to save money if it’s hundres and Hundreds of lights. 

 

Would you use thin thin plywood and put a mortar anchor in brick garage wall or something lighter weight in case it falls? 

 

I was was not thinking color control (isn’t that rgb.). I was just thinking green tree   Blue and white eyes and prob white and red mouth sections.   Thoughts?   I’m looking at an 8 channel face and want two faces.    I have an old windows mini laptop from 2014 that I hope will run the software.  

 

Thats all all I know.    I’m great with wood and building something.  I have no idea about the programming side or how much songs and sequences will cost me.  I see talk here of sharing sequences. Is that separate from the song?   I’ve seen songs for sale but not sure if that includes a sequence.    I need guidance.    Maybe it’s far too late to begin this.   All my other Christmas lights are just static.    

 

I think if if I can get this up for a few hundred dollars my two boys would love it. 

 

I was was looking at the starter kit from LOR that has a USB adapter an Ethernet and the 16 channel controller and power cord.  For like $317.   Is that my best starter path?   Anyone selling used stuff like this because they ,over to more complex hardware?

 

thank you all.  I’ve been reading up on this all day and I’ve picked up some stuff but a bit lost where to start.   I think I could have trees cut from plywood painted and drilled out this week for sure.   Light strips cut and glued in in a few more days. And then to figure out how and what to make it happen from there. 

 

Help appreciated. 

The LOR faces, if looking at the LOR store are RGB trees. (singing Quartet)

JR

[Rhizzlebop]

7 hours ago, dibblejr said:

The LOR faces, if looking at the LOR store are RGB trees. (singing Quartet)

JR

Yea I think I saw those.  Rgb is a bit more complicated and expensive correct?   I was just going to use standard LED lights.  I see Walmart sells a box of 400 4x100 leds in green or red or whatever for $23.   Can I just use those and cut up the lengths to the number I need per channel?   To clarify that question, on led lights there’s no little transformer at the end to control voltage, so I can just cut a 100 set down and wire them in?    Also does it make financial sense to buy a 16 channel controller or buy a 32 and only use 16 for now.?

last I have no idea what Coro is.  Is that plastic?   Should I not use plywood? 
 

can someone link me to the faces mentioned because I do recall seeing something about rgb and thoughts that’s multicolored leds in each light pixel and way more complex 

[Kapkirk]

2 hours ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Yea I think I saw those.  Rgb is a bit more complicated and expensive correct?   I was just going to use standard LED lights.  I see Walmart sells a box of 400 4x100 leds in green or red or whatever for $23.   Can I just use those and cut up the lengths to the number I need per channel?   To clarify that question, on led lights there’s no little transformer at the end to control voltage, so I can just cut a 100 set down and wire them in?    Also does it make financial sense to buy a 16 channel controller or buy a 32 and only use 16 for now.?

last I have no idea what Coro is.  Is that plastic?   Should I not use plywood? 
 

can someone link me to the faces mentioned because I do recall seeing something about rgb and thoughts that’s multicolored leds in each light pixel and way more complex 

https://www.holidaycoro.com/Singing-Christmas-Trees-p/100.htm

Link for the singing trees from Holiday Coro, yes they are coro plastic like campaign signs. They last a lot longer than plywood and they are already for lights.

 

No, you can not just cut up light strings to fit the tree sections. You need to purchase light strings in the nearest qty for the section you want to light. These Holiday coro trees use 200-300 lights for the tree outline, and different qty's for the eyes, different mouth movements etc. Memory says 800 lights per tree, I purchased my light strands in 35,50,70 and 100 from Holiday Light Express during their sale and have been very happy with their longevity.

 

Keith

[Kapkirk]

Just noticed that if you scroll down a little on the link I provided there are pic's of the qty of light strand per face feature needed. This will help if you decide to go this route. You can find/order the lights needed now and get your trees ordered and LOR controller starter package too. Remember with this time of season and Covid thing shipping may take a little longer and you will need all the time you can get.

 

Sequences for the LED Singing trees use 8 channels, 5 for the mouth movements, 2 for the eyes and one for the outline. Most available sequences will follow this outline, the sequences from Holiday Coro and Holiday sequences.com are easily available and cheap when compared to the time to actually sequence each song.

 

Hope this helps, Keith

[Rhizzlebop]

Thanks for the replies.

I just spoke with a guy at Holiday coro.  he was somewhere between helpful and short.  Maybe its just me being from the South.  either way, he directed me to the correct faces for regular lights, as well as to their 16 channel controller, which all in the cart was $345  including 2 tree faces.

The starter kit controller from LOR is $317 and that does NOT include two faces.

I mentioned LOR, and he said LOR was a more basic technology, and they really focused on the next tier of technology and user.  When I mentioned the LOR trees were $300 each ready to light and RGB, and I didnt wanna spend that much, he didn't know what to say.

He indicated  could download and use Xlight for free.  

It makes me tempted to go with the Holiday coro trees AND their controller,c ause it seemed cheaper, and Xlight says it runs on windows and Mac.   I'm trying to use an OLD netbook with windows 8.1, and an atom 1.3 ghz processor.  If that doesn't work, my wife has an old macbook.  However the sequence software from LOr doesn't say it'll run on mac, so Xlight would give me more flexibility.

I DO need community support here as I've never done something like this.

Looks like at the $335 for 2 faces, and controller setup from Holiday coro, and a USB to ethernet dongle since my netbook only has USBs for $10, and then I need 800 LEDs per face.   I found a 4x100 set of LEDs from walmart.com for $24 shipped.   Need to find some smaller 50 sets, and would be good on lights for prob $125 in lights.  That lands me around $470 to get rolling.

Now, sequences, and songs.  Can someone tell me a bit about getting that set up?  is Xlight user friendly?  would I be able to ask folks here to help and support if using a diff software that what LOR has?
I'm also not clear on where I get the song if I'm able to get or make the sequence for it.    Clarity and help is appreciated.
I saw somewhere someone mentioned amazon for music, but no idea how that ties in with doing these faces and running it in some software.
 

[TheDucks]

HC is in Texas, so I don't think SOUTHERN is an issue.  Remember, it is almost 'season',. Hand holding takes its toll (any vendor). Another thing you get with LOR controllers: US

That netbook is really not up to sequencing. It may RUN a LOR show. But it will crawl during sequencing (I have and older Toshiba AMD dual core with 1G RAM and the SE goes out for coffee AFTER  😧 every change. I make (not disk activity)

[Rhizzlebop]

Well, thats good to know.  I didn't know how intense sequencing really is.

I have a 2.6 ghz 64bit I7 Lenovo laptop with 8 gig of ram that I can use for the sequencing, and assuming I can get the files easily transferred to run on the smaller computer, then I'd just leave the netbook in my garage to run em.

 

As for the setup and software, is the software so unique that if I go in the path of Xlight, that i couldn't work with you guys or have you share things that were done on LOR software?

[Kapkirk]

1 hour ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Well, thats good to know.  I didn't know how intense sequencing really is.

I have a 2.6 ghz 64bit I7 Lenovo laptop with 8 gig of ram that I can use for the sequencing, and assuming I can get the files easily transferred to run on the smaller computer, then I'd just leave the netbook in my garage to run em.

 

As for the setup and software, is the software so unique that if I go in the path of Xlight, that i couldn't work with you guys or have you share things that were done on LOR software?

There are a bunch here that know Xlights, I do not, and I have no experience with Holiday Coro controllers. I use 10 of LOR's controllers and have been very happy with them and their software, there is a bunch of guys here that will help as they can, I have spoken with a bunch on the phone or CPU and am always amazed at how far they will go to help a stranger.

 

Some will reply back soon, remember this is our busy season, me too, back outside to work on a neighbors display, good luck and don't give up. Keith

[Rhizzlebop]

Thanks for your feedback and honesty.    I think from a support standpoint, the LOR might be the way to go.

I see tons of LOR sequences etc for sale through the site you mentioned, and even ebay and nothing for xlight.

I guess my last question, now knowing this is going to cost me about $500 to setup, is it a small additional cost and hassle to do the RGB stuff, or should I stick with this until I learn it better?
I would hate to spend what I consider a good bit on this, and then find out later for another 10% or something I could have been more so futureproof with RGB.

 

 

[Kapkirk]

2 hours ago, Rhizzlebop said:

I guess my last question, now knowing this is going to cost me about $500 to setup, is it a small additional cost and hassle to do the RGB stuff, or should I stick with this until I learn it better?
I would hate to spend what I consider a good bit on this, and then find out later for another 10% or something I could have been more so futureproof with RGB.

 

 

Well I hate to advise on this as I was not able to advance on RGB, but I will say there are a lot of Xmas Lighters who do both, and do both very well, so which ever way you go it will not be waisted. You could do LED lights with a A/C controller this year and when you get comfortable and better then add an RGB tree or arch or something and see if that interests you.

 

Keith

[dibblejr]

3 hours ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Thanks for your feedback and honesty.    I think from a support standpoint, the LOR might be the way to go.

I see tons of LOR sequences etc for sale through the site you mentioned, and even ebay and nothing for xlight.

I guess my last question, now knowing this is going to cost me about $500 to setup, is it a small additional cost and hassle to do the RGB stuff, or should I stick with this until I learn it better?
I would hate to spend what I consider a good bit on this, and then find out later for another 10% or something I could have been more so futureproof with RGB.

 

 

I wasnt going to beat you up bad about the xlights comment you made earlier. However now that you seem to be tracking a little straighter I will say.

You will not go wrong starting and sticking with LOR- Top notch support, software and forum members. hands down.

When it comes to singing faces feel free to ask me anything. Also feel free to sign up and attend my free zoom singing face sequencing classes. I also cover other aspects of sequencing as well.

I have a lot of singing faces.

If you look at the Halloween Light Show thread you will see the 10 I used for Halloween. I normally have 16-18 for HAlloween but I didnt get all of them converted to RGB in time.

Happy lighting, the faces are crowd pleasers.

JR

[Orville]

7 hours ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Well, thats good to know.  I didn't know how intense sequencing really is.

I have a 2.6 ghz 64bit I7 Lenovo laptop with 8 gig of ram that I can use for the sequencing, and assuming I can get the files easily transferred to run on the smaller computer, then I'd just leave the netbook in my garage to run em.

 

As for the setup and software, is the software so unique that if I go in the path of Xlight, that i couldn't work with you guys or have you share things that were done on LOR software?

One suggestion, LOR offers a fully functional Demo of their software suite, it won't control lights, but it will allow you to add the MP3 file {music format} and Sequence the song.   Without the song you can create what is known as an ANIMATION file {.las = LOR Animation Sequence}, but if you wantt to sequence music, the sequencer WILL require the music file, which usually creates an .lms file {.lms = LOR Music Sequence}.

Also in the Demo you can't use any of the special features like the wizards, those require a license to use, and some of the wizards require higher license levels than others.    If you did decide to go RGB, then you'd need the PRO license level, as that opens up everything within the software.

Also having LOR software and their Controllers can get you much more help here than other vendors products.  Although some here use them, the majority here may not be of much help to you with Xlights or other vendors products when/if you encounter issues.

Final decision rests on your choices, we can't make them for you, just recommendations.   I've been with LOR since 2010 and have been extremely happy with their Quality, Customer Service and Product lines I've purchased from them, both directly and used equipment.  And their Help Desk is also fantastic, but at this time of year, even LOR gets a bit over-whelmed with help requests from new folks starting so late into the hobby.  Best to learn the software {whichever version you choose to start with and license level you'd need}, learn to sequence and then build an actual show for 2021.

You might, with a wee bit of luck be able to pull it off this year for Christmas 2020, but building props, getting them sequenced takes a lot of time.  And finding sequences for Xlights may not be as easy or plentiful as LOR sequences, since that is what the majority here will use and sometimes share with others.

Best of Luck to you Coach on whatever you decide.

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Orville

[Rhizzlebop]

Ok, My order is placed.  I went with the LOR controller, and 2 Holiday Coro Tree faces.   
After I finish this job project I'm working on I'll download the software and start playing.  i have tofigure out how to get songs, and sequences.   I've started watching some tutorials I found about how to setup LOR software to get going.  I watched one tutorial on Xlight and it looked more complex, but probably more capable.

I'd be happy to join a zoom on tree faces this saturday.  Not sure how I sign up for that just yet.   Hopefully by the time my order arrives I'll have some basics of one song worked out.  Probably insanely ambitious but I'm an engineer, haha I can figure it out.   Just don't ask me to do photoshop.  One package I never have figured out how to use.

I am hoping this community finds it in their heart to help a guy out amid what I'm sure is a busy time.  I've never had the time at home before this year to work on something like this, so I am just too excited to try.

I was also looking at FM transmitters, Looks like around $100 bucks worth on amazon is probably what I've got to have.   I'm also hoping I can connect just a small speaker directly to the minijack on the netbook, with a Y splitter, just loud enough to be heard in front of the garage so the boys can stand out there and watch and hear, but noone else would be bothered by it, or would use FM to do the trick.   I initially thought FM transmitters were like $20, but I'm seeing those are for In car use and range is only like 10 ft.      To hear this in the culdasac the range would need to be like 35-50ft.                                                                                                  

[dibblejr]

32 minutes ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Ok, My order is placed.  I went with the LOR controller, and 2 Holiday Coro Tree faces.   
After I finish this job project I'm working on I'll download the software and start playing.  i have tofigure out how to get songs, and sequences.   I've started watching some tutorials I found about how to setup LOR software to get going.  I watched one tutorial on Xlight and it looked more complex, but probably more capable.

I'd be happy to join a zoom on tree faces this saturday.  Not sure how I sign up for that just yet.   Hopefully by the time my order arrives I'll have some basics of one song worked out.  Probably insanely ambitious but I'm an engineer, haha I can figure it out.   Just don't ask me to do photoshop.  One package I never have figured out how to use.

I am hoping this community finds it in their heart to help a guy out amid what I'm sure is a busy time.  I've never had the time at home before this year to work on something like this, so I am just too excited to try.

I was also looking at FM transmitters, Looks like around $100 bucks worth on amazon is probably what I've got to have.   I'm also hoping I can connect just a small speaker directly to the minijack on the netbook, with a Y splitter, just loud enough to be heard in front of the garage so the boys can stand out there and watch and hear, but noone else would be bothered by it, or would use FM to do the trick.   I initially thought FM transmitters were like $20, but I'm seeing those are for In car use and range is only like 10 ft.      To hear this in the culdasac the range would need to be like 35-50ft.                                                                                                  

Sorry my classes will not resume until after Christmas is finished. Feel free to browse the shared singing section of the forum. Since you are just starting and may need regular house sequences and face sequences pay particular attention to my great friend James Morris shared sequences. They contain my face sequences and other house light and prop sequences you may want.

That saves you from having to try to learn sequencing this close to the holiday. Copy and pasting is a chore on its own but a great place to start.

No photo shopping here either. 

JR

Edited November 3, 2020 by dibblejr

[Kapkirk]

8 hours ago, Rhizzlebop said:

Ok, My order is placed.  I went with the LOR controller, and 2 Holiday Coro Tree faces.   
After I finish this job project I'm working on I'll download the software and start playing.  i have tofigure out how to get songs, and sequences.   I've started watching some tutorials I found about how to setup LOR software to get going.  I watched one tutorial on Xlight and it looked more complex, but probably more capable.

I'd be happy to join a zoom on tree faces this saturday.  Not sure how I sign up for that just yet.   Hopefully by the time my order arrives I'll have some basics of one song worked out.  Probably insanely ambitious but I'm an engineer, haha I can figure it out.   Just don't ask me to do photoshop.  One package I never have figured out how to use.

I am hoping this community finds it in their heart to help a guy out amid what I'm sure is a busy time.  I've never had the time at home before this year to work on something like this, so I am just too excited to try.

I was also looking at FM transmitters, Looks like around $100 bucks worth on amazon is probably what I've got to have.   I'm also hoping I can connect just a small speaker directly to the minijack on the netbook, with a Y splitter, just loud enough to be heard in front of the garage so the boys can stand out there and watch and hear, but noone else would be bothered by it, or would use FM to do the trick.   I initially thought FM transmitters were like $20, but I'm seeing those are for In car use and range is only like 10 ft.      To hear this in the culdasac the range would need to be like 35-50ft.                                                                                                  

For a speaker in front of house I use a external radio with 2 speakers tuned to the frequency you choose to transmit your show, my neighbor across the street uses a simple boombox radio also to the correct frequency, any simple radio that receives fm signal will work. For the FM transmitter I purchased this one from Amazon 5 years ago, they have double in price but it was the best recommendation from most 5 years ago. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FO4UHW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . It has been flawless and I recommend it.

 

For sequences just purchase a couple you like from holiday sequences .com, download from them and get the proper song from like Amazon. run the song thru Audacity and make sure the bit rate is set at constant , speed 128 kbps. You can download the software from LOR and create a sequence and attach the media, you will see your sequence already has the singing trees done for you. Now you can add your house lights and arrange as you like. Make sure you save your sequence a lot and make a backup.

 

It is going to seem very complicated at first, but it gets real easy the more you experimate with it. Pm me your phone number if you need extra help, I might be able to steer you around any trouble, my set up is going along real well and we have had a lot more help than usual so I have some time if needed.

 

Keith

[dibblejr]

You can buy or you can ask for the faces from some of our shared threads. Just look in the Sequence Sharing threads. 

JR

[Rhizzlebop]

Ok, So my stuff arrived earlier this week.  I'm about to build the face frames tomorrow.

I have lightly browsed the sequence share forum.  I posted in a couple asking but noone sent anything to my email.   I'm sure folks are busy.

I had found a youtube tutorial the other day about how to use the LOR software, so trying to watch that and downloading the program now.
I'm planning to try and get things set up on my nicer laptop, and then run it from the tiny netbook I mentioned previously which is on windows 8.1   Hopefully it'll be compatible and all good.

If anyone sees my thread and is willing to talk me through a couple things or share a few popular sequences, it is much appreciated.  I'll try not to waste your time.

 

 

[Rhizzlebop]

Well, that was brief.  I installed the software, registered and opened it, and click "new" to start ...umm something, and nothing happens.  It wants me to OPEN a sequence, but i havnt yet created a sequence.  what siliness am I doing wrong?

 

thanks