BASIC set up of a Pro v 4.4.6 - cannot get it to start

[Andrew Mc]

I don't want to edit or do anything other than make the sequences I bought start and play.  I have a red light and the sequence only plays .25 of a second and stops.  I have tried every timing option.  I have highlighted everything, won't play.  Lights are on in test mode perfect.  The FAQs skip past a lot of important set up stuff as evidenced by my inability to get the freggin' thing going.  I need a step by step startup without rabbit trails down the customized routes or assumptions like "map a drive to..." (if I don't know how to map a drive, it's not step by step).  That's just an example... there's nothing telling me to map a drive but you get the point.  I am smarter than the average bear, but I am missing something somewhere.  Does the PC have to be plugged into the lights to set up or play the sequence if all I want to do is tinker?  Where do the sequence files need to be stored?  I have a lot of questions and have spent hours poking through forums and .pdfs.  Help!

[Don]

If you bought sequences from Light-O-Rama, then they come with an installer that places them in the appropriate places.

Where are the appropriate places? Well, all files for LOR are stored in your Light-O-Rama directory. Unless you changed this during the install, that folder will be in your Light-O-Rama folder. As you stated you are smarter than the average bear, I'm going to guess that once you see that folder you will figure out that the "Sequences" is where Sequences are held, etc.

You can program lights with no hardware hooked up. Just open the sequence editor and ... sequence.

Only playing .25? Sounds like you might have accidentally highlighted part of the horizontal bar across the top, and then hit the space bar. Thus it's only playing the highlighted section.

[Andrew Mc]

No, when I load a new sequence and I don't do anything but hit the play button... only .25 sec plays.  It stops before tripping any of the lights.  I have a red bulb in the tray, so that's one problem.

[k6ccc]

1 hour ago, Andrew Mc said:

I have a red bulb in the tray, so that's one problem.

Red light only means that you don't have play schedule enabled.

Does not effect the ability to play from the Sequence Editor.

 

[Andrew Mc]

Well, something is.  When I click on the app, it should default to the original settings.  So, I am thinking there's some configuration I need to do.  I can't just click on my sequence and hit play... 

[Don]

If a musical sequence has the audio file properly associated with the sequence, then the file should play when you hit "Play" (or space, etc.)

Normally, if an audio file can't be found, you would get a pop up message basically saying, "Hey, we don't know where that is." However, you have not indicated this is the case, and I suspect you would have mentioned it if you were getting this error message. Light-O-Rama uses the Windows Media Player subroutines to play the audio file. I would next open the file (should be in your "Audio" directory) and see if it will play with a normal Windows based music player.

How many sequences do you have?
Are these sequences you purchased from Light-O-Rama?
If LOR Sequences
Did you have any problems with the sequence installer?
Did you have the audio files already on your computer before you ran the installer?

 

[Andrew Mc]

I have 5 I bought and they are available in the drop down menu.  The installer worked fine.  No other audio files installed.

[Don]

8 minutes ago, Andrew Mc said:

No other audio files installed.

But you have the audio files for the sequences on your computer? You either purchased them from somewhere (Amazon?) or already owned them, yes?

[Andrew Mc]

Bought them from Wowlights.  The whole thing appears in the sequence editor but won't play when it hits the first light 

[Don]

A few things to check.

Open the sequence editor. Open a sequence. Click "Edit -> Media File" and make sure that the correct audio file selected.

Two: Run the LOR Verifier on a Sequence. See if it shows any errors: http://www1.lightorama.com/downloads/4.4.6/help/verifier.htm

Three: If the above failed, run the LOR Diagnostic Utility http://www1.lightorama.com/downloads/4.4.6/help/diagnostic.htm and send that to the Help Desk.

[Andrew Mc]

In  the verifier it says each trach has the channel completely off.  Restarts disabled.  Compressed Sequences disabled.

[Don]

6 minutes ago, Andrew Mc said:

each trach has the channel completely off

Would that have been Error 28? If so, that's not a real concern unless it's every single channel in the sequence; then that would be a slight problem. However, it would not explain why the sequence would only play .25 and then quit.

Have you opened the audio file(s) outside of the Sequence Editor to see if they will play on your computer?

[Andrew Mc]

They won't play anywhere

[Andrew Mc]

It's a .lms file

[k6ccc]

1 minute ago, Andrew Mc said:

They won't play anywhere

That would likely be your problem.  What was the source of the music files?

 

[Don]

Audio files are in the "Audio" directory, and would have an MP3 extension.

.LMS files are the ones for the sequence editor.

I'm trying to see if you can play the Audio files outside of the Sequence Editor.

[Andrew Mc]

Each file has two: an MP3 and a WMA

[Don]

And when you clicked on them, what happened?

[Andrew Mc]

Windows media player comes up but it says it encountered a problem while playing the file

[Don]

Just now, Andrew Mc said:

Windows media player comes up but it says it encountered a problem while playing the file

We now have the source of the problem. Windows Media Player is unable to play the file. As mentioned, the LOR Software uses WMP to play the files.

You will probably need to open a ticket at the LOR Help Desk. I don't know the answer to this one. But, something is preventing Windows from playing the media file. It's not a LOR problem, but they may have an answer.