Brettlws Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 We started our light show last year as a fundrasier here at our middle school. We purchased a TSO starter package and 2 extra controllers. Everything went so well last year that a community member donated 8 more controllers to us and a Pixcon16. We now have 11 contollers and a Pixcon16 to do an even bigger show with, but all of the TSO sequences are not written to run on more than 4 controllers. What do I need to do so that we can use all of these extra controllers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 You do like the rest of us and learn to sequence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSignGuy Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 For the AC controllers you can just copy and paste the sequence on other elements or props. To use the PixCon just put some Motion Effects into the sequence or buy some, running out of time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 For the Pixcon16, you'll need intelligent pixels, power supply and ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 If you find an RGB or AC sequence you like and way to add to RGB Open up the RGB rows Copy paste within so everything is white Copy one of the R/G/B rows to your sequence and if RGB adjust the color from that Same applies either way. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 1 hour ago, k6ccc said: You do like the rest of us and learn to sequence. You mean “some of us” A lot more of folks these days rely on others or auto. The closest I get to auto is the occasional motion effects. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 My point was that as your show gets more involved, the need to learn to sequence is greater. You likely will be able to borrow or purchase pieces (pixel tree, matrix, basic few controller setups, singing faces, etc), but you still will need to blend them together, and in many cases modify then to fit your show. For example if you obtain a sequence for 64 basic channel that has mini trees in red and green, it may look great - until you get the same sequence for a pixel tree that is mostly orange and purple. Not likely going to look good together. You need to be able to sequence enough to modify one or both in order for them to work together. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 24 minutes ago, dibblejr said: You mean “some of us” A lot more of folks these days rely on others or auto. The closest I get to auto is the occasional motion effects. JR Is that anything like Auto in Airplane (the Movie)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasLights Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 in my opinion for what its worth, the more controllers just mean you have a lot more lights to consider. Obvious I guess. But the real question is how do you want to expand. For example, if you had a back and a front or left and right, you might want to duplicate effects on them. In my case, i have a large yard and I repeat a lot of the effects on the trees in 3 different places (most of the time). Copy/paste is your best tool for expanding to new props. Select a row or rows and press the R key and it will select the whole row, then Ctrl-C; then select the first row you want to paste in on your new props, and press R again (to make sure the paste is identical) and then CTRL-V to paste and you have duplicated those rows. You can also set multiple controllers to the same ID if you just want them to be exact copies. For the pixie, its a different style of programming and consider that your 8 controllers is just 128 decisions to make (on/off or dimmed) but with pixels, you can choose from any color, make patterns, pictures or just about anything. It was quite a shock to me the first year i did it because i way underestimated the time. Although, S5 and motion effects are the key here to get up and going quicker. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 @Brettlws - The easiest thing to do would be to duplicate the controller numbers on the AC controllers and let those do the same as your current controllers. If you purchased a PixCon, I hope you purchased lights and power supply/enclosure for it. Otherwise, it won't be of any good with AC LED lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brettlws Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 I am sorry if my questions were taken as being lazy, I am a teacher and a coach that got handed this responsibility by my principal. I am more that fine with learning to sequence, but I do not have time to do that this year. I have bought a starter kit for my own personal use so maybe I can learn how to do more with the equipment that I have on my own time. For the school show I am just trying to be sure that we are using all of the equipment that was donated to us, because that is all that was asked of us. Thank you all for the wonderful responses and ideas, I really like the idea of duplicating the controller numbers in order to use all of the controllers. The Pixcon16 was purchased by the person that donated it to us as an add on and was used to run a pixel screen. We do have some sequences for the pixel screen but I have to make sure that we have light sequences for those same songs. We have the pixel screen and all of the power supplies for the Pixcon16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brettlws Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 On 10/1/2021 at 7:39 PM, Don said: @Brettlws - The easiest thing to do would be to duplicate the controller numbers on the AC controllers and let those do the same as your current controllers. If you purchased a PixCon, I hope you purchased lights and power supply/enclosure for it. Otherwise, it won't be of any good with AC LED lighting. I love this idea! Is it really just as simple as setting the contoller ID's the same? I can have 3 controllers that are #1, 3 controllers that are #2, 3 controllers that are #3, and with the purchase of one more controller 3 controllers that are #4? That would be awesome! We could essientally spread the light show around the whole campus instead of being isolated to just the back of the school. Then I would just have to figure out how to add in the Pixcon16, which the help desk told me could be operated by a minidirector if it was set to run in LOR mode. Thank you again for the suggestion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 46 minutes ago, Brettlws said: I love this idea! Is it really just as simple as setting the contoller ID's the same? I can have 3 controllers that are #1, 3 controllers that are #2, 3 controllers that are #3, and with the purchase of one more controller 3 controllers that are #4? That would be awesome! We could essientally spread the light show around the whole campus instead of being isolated to just the back of the school. Then I would just have to figure out how to add in the Pixcon16, which the help desk told me could be operated by a minidirector if it was set to run in LOR mode. Thank you again for the suggestion! On Pixies you set the Base Address and it inherits the rest (port counts), So 01,02,03 would only be for AC and Dumb RGB. Remember LOR counts ID's in Hex (I tend to put my dumb ones in the 01-0F group. I also do NOT have a 01 any more, that means I can add a factory fresh (ships 01), without clashing. (Note Basic level users do not usually have ID's to spare) 10-1F, 20-2F, 30-3F You can skip (leave spares). I assign by 8's so it was easy to upgrade a Pixie4 location to Pixie 8 becaus I left a 4 ID gap to the next controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 3 hours ago, Brettlws said: Is it really just as simple as setting the contoller ID's the same? Yes. The controllers are listening and hear everything that is sent to them. They ignore information that's not assigned to them. So if you have two #3's connected they both respond to instructions sent to UnitID 03. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 2 hours ago, Don said: Yes. The controllers are listening and hear everything that is sent to them. They ignore information that's not assigned to them. So if you have two #3's connected they both respond to instructions sent to UnitID 03. But ONLY if they are on the same Network cable. eg Regular 03. AuxA 03 is a different beastie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Just now, TheDucks said: But ONLY if they are on the same Network cable. eg Regular 03. AuxA 03 is a different beastie True. That said, I was assuming that someone just trying to expand this years show wasn't going to try and run multiple networks. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brettlws Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 13 hours ago, Don said: True. That said, I was assuming that someone just trying to expand this years show wasn't going to try and run multiple networks. :) Again thank you so much! That brings up my next question, how do I need to run the CAT 5 to the boxes with the same controller number? Do I have to split the same cable to all 3 #1 boxes or can I just run from contoller #1 to the next controller #1 to the next controller #1 and then run to controller #2 so on and so forth? I apologize if this is a stupid question, but my principal is going to expect me to be able to pull this off so I just want to be sure of what is involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Brettlws said: Again thank you so much! That brings up my next question, how do I need to run the CAT 5 to the boxes with the same controller number? Do I have to split the same cable to all 3 #1 boxes or can I just run from contoller #1 to the next controller #1 to the next controller #1 and then run to controller #2 so on and so forth? I apologize if this is a stupid question, but my principal is going to expect me to be able to pull this off so I just want to be sure of what is involved. The order does not matter. Just that all the same numbers are connected together by CAT5 on the same chain. Edited October 7, 2021 by TheDucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brettlws Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 2 hours ago, TheDucks said: The order does not matter. Just that all the same numbers are connected together by CAT5 on the same chain. Okay so bare with me, If I use my original controllers in their orginal spots and then come out of the last contoller which is controller #4 and run CAT 5 to a new controller set to be controller #1 will it work as another contoller #1 and do the same things that the original controller #1 is doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 10 minutes ago, Brettlws said: Okay so bare with me, If I use my original controllers in their orginal spots and then come out of the last contoller which is controller #4 and run CAT 5 to a new controller set to be controller #1 will it work as another contoller #1 and do the same things that the original controller #1 is doing? Is it assigned to UnitID 01? Then yes, it will do the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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