How any channels do people usually start with?

[sjmiller]

I started this thread back in December of '08, everything including sequencing was overwhelming at first. By the time of the Feb. sale - I "needed" 48 channels so I bought 3 controllers. Going into April - 48 was not enough. I ran across and built a do-it-yourself project that added 96 channels of DIO on/off - which is cool. I still wanted more full function LOR controllers, when I asked the boss (wife) if I could buy three more controllers during the July sale - I got the "your out of your fraking mind" look, so I only ordered one:D

My year one wth LOR - I'm doing 64 channels of LOR, and about 40 channels of DIO controlling about 24K minilights (11 wireframe deer, 19 minitrees, one mega tree).

[melwelch]

sjmiller wrote:

I started this thread back in December of '08, everything including sequencing was overwhelming at first. By the time of the Feb. sale - I "needed" 48 channels so I bought 3 controllers. Going into April - 48 was not enough. I ran across and built a do-it-yourself project that added 96 channels of DIO on/off - which is cool. I still wanted more full function LOR controllers, when I asked the boss (wife) if I could buy three more controllers during the July sale - I got the "your out of your fraking mind" look, so I only ordered one:D

My year one wth LOR - I'm doing 64 channels of LOR, and about 40 channels of DIO controlling about 24K minilights (11 wireframe deer, 19 minitrees, one mega tree).

And folks that is way this is an addiction and not a hobby... lol

[HowardShank]

Let's see...

2007 - 5 strands on our Christmas tree, give or take...
2008 - 48 channels
2009(planned) - Xmas 578 channels, Halloween (? - maybe 32-48 channels)

What's my next progression?

I need an electrician, is there an electrician in the house?

It's too early to do addition!

[Joey Monsko]

Im starting off with 32 channels and i plan to add on to it each year. I have a Mega Tree (6) Mini Trees (6) Leaping Light Arches (8) and a whole bunch of other stuff!
www.youtube.com/JMDecorating

[eurbani]

I came across this post looking for a planning spreadsheet. The spreadsheet mentioned above (Quartzhill) can be found here http://www.quartzhillchristmas.com/12.html

[ShaggySS]

technically I started with 1 channel log before LOR.

First year of LOR Halloween I did 32. Though I was burnt out from Halloween so I went back to 1 channel for Christmas.

[Jim Hans]

My first year I started with 16 channels. I then went to 64 and then to 128. I liked this growth as I think quality sequencing is in some ways more important than number of channels. It took me a long time to sequence songs my first year and that was only doing 16 channels. I was glad I didn't try more as I'm sure the final the product would have suffered. As I have grown in my sequencing ability (and sequencing speed) I have also grown my channel count.

Just my opinion but start small and concentrate on sequencing. As you get sequencing down increase your channels. Each step up in channels requires more refinement in sequencing so grow every year. A 16 channel show sequenced well will look a lot better than a 128 channel show that is poorly done.

[JSelph]

I started in 2011 with 32 channels. With 18 of them devoted to a mega tree, the sequencing was a little less challenging since the majority of the channels were for one single element. But it still took a lot of time.

I hope to go up to 64 channels for 2012 which will require much more sequencing time, but I plan to split it up over several months so there is no rush and I can focus on the quality of each sequence.