Really Lost

[EdB]

Hi Everyone, new to wowlights. Just purchased the basic 16 station controller. I am having a hard time with the preview and sequence creator. I thought the sequence I purchased would automatically set my lights to the music, I am able to set up a preview of my props but I am really doubting that I can create the sequence myself to make the lights match the music. Am I missing something? Is there a default for each sequence that I can use? 

[dgrant]

Hi, So first you need to know that its not WOW Lights as they are a just a distributor of LightORama products. LOR(LightORama) is the main company. Next is that this is not a "Plug and Play" system. It "Is" a professional level control system that allows you/us to create your own shows, using your own music and become an artist in lights. May I respectfully suggest that you should be looking at the video tutorials on the LOR website. They can assist you faster than most of us, stepping you through the process. At this point, I think I need to point out the communication differences. So just in case you don't yet know, there are two different types of controllers. Those that use RS485 and those that use TCPIP/Ethernet. You probably bought an AC controller so you will be using RS485 but please verify or this instruction is wrong. You CANNOT mix those protocols. Both use CAT5/6 cables so please take a piece of advice, mark your cables or find some way to identify the different ones, if or when you add controllers. RS485 gets daisy chained from controller to controller, in no specific order.

Your computer will need an LOR USB Adapter. It connects and converts the USB Serial data to LOR's RS485 protocol. There's a couple of different ones so please choose carefully. The controller comes with ID "01"(Hex). Your preview addressing will need the controller ID and which channel 1-16 you wish to use for a specific prop. Load your music into the sequencer via the media file. From there, you create as you wish. You can use on/off commands, fades, twinkles, shimmers and etc...It takes the average user about 3 hours for every one minute of music depending on the number of controllers.

Once you've created your "Sequence(s)", you'll need to create a "Show" to play. So before we get ahead of ourselves, start with the basics given and please watch the tutorials. Its very, very late in the season to start this learning curve but it can be done. There's lots of free sequences available here in the forums that might assist you.

Welcome to the madness!

Edited November 10, 2022 by dgrant

[tlogan]

I started out with WOW Lights, too. They provide a premade Preview for the version of the LOR Sequencer software you have. It will match their sequences. If you download the preview (it's free!) and install, you should have a better idea of how things work. And don't forget that you want to pay the little extra for the "You Can Modify" sequences and that they download as zip file that you click on to install. They default install to the default LOR Sequences directory. SAVE THE ZIP FILE and BACK IT UP! Believe me, you WILL be glad you did.

As I recall, the one controller package defaults to Unit ID01 and controls the 10 mini trees, the Santa face, 2 house lights (usually a roof outline, but could be spotlights) and one extra channel. In the 32 channel package, the second controller (Unit ID02) controls the 16 strings for the mega tree and the "extra channel in Unit ID01 controls the Mega tree star along with everything listed. Each higher level adds on to each lower level.

IF you are NOT planning to follow their layouts, this what I figured out after my first year. I STARTED with the 32 channel (2 controller  package) and did it the way they lay it out. The second year, I realized that to expand and change to fit MY yard and layout, you can download their sequences in the highest level package your initial purchases allow. I believe that unless you purchased PRO level, you can download up to the 128 channel version.

Once you download the proper preview, and I would recommend the 128 channel version of the sequence, you can open the sequence in the LOR Sequence Editor and push play to see what each channel does in the preview. Once you see that, you can start to map lights that default to a controller that you DON'T have, to the controller(s) that you DO have.

For instance if you see lights on Controller Unit ID04, Channel 5 and you want to use those lights, you can remap (reassign) them from Unit ID05 to the "extra" channel Unit ID 01, channel 16. 

If you look on the WOW site under Support, they show all the props and the channel assignments for each controller package. That should give you a pretty good idea of what I am trying to describe above. As matter of fact, last year I changed my 16 channel original mega tree for an 8 channel RGB tree on a new (to me) RGB 8 channel controller. So this year, I have an "unused" 16 channel controller Unit ID02. Since I have the 128 layout, I remapped the Unit ID04 channels 7-14 to Unit ID02 and now I'll have 8 flood lights (L+R RGBW) to light the big sidewall of my house that has no windows. Once you update the preview and channel configuration, EVERY sequence that is assigned to that preview picks up the change, so I only had to make that change once. Which is nice since I run 15 sequences.

I hope this helps a little. Feel free to post your questions.

Edited November 10, 2022 by tlogan

[TheDucks]

To add, Your profile says Basic+. That means you can add 3 more Dumb (AC or DC) LOR controllers before you have to upgrade that.

Dumb DC (consumes 1 unit ID) is good for 8 RGB channels (or you can degroup any 1 of those, for 3 monochrome ones) , like the 10W floods. Remember Dumb RGB has 4 wires (+RGB) and the whole thing on that port is the same color at a time.

Just remember for the future: LOR ID's count in Hexadecimal: 01-0F   

Have fun