Method for programming lots of channels

[tyler9613]

How do you sequence more than about 60 channels? I am trying to sequence 32 and have a hard time scrolling down to sequence the last channels. Can you have different sequence files for the same song and then copy and paste it all into the same sequence for the final display file?

Thanks,
Tyler

[Brian Mitchell]

I break my channels into groups and put a beat track at the top of each group.

I usually work thru a sequence by sections. I'll go thru all the house lights first and do the entire sequence then I go back and sequence the minitrees all the way thru. and so on.

If there are some parts of a song where all the elements have to work together to create a certain effect, I'll work that part top to bottom. An example of that would be Richard Holdmans waves of colors where all the house and yard elements work together.

I do use tracks some but not a whole lot.

[Paul Roberson]

I use tracks extensively. I used 21 tracks last year for programming.

I have tracks set up with different channel orders. Like for a color sweep from right to left. Track for mini trees. Track for Z trees. Among several others.

I plan on adding a mega tree this year and it will be in its own track.

I also have tracks with different timing marks.

I have a "master track" where ALL my channels are in their proper order as they are on the controllers. Controller 1 channel 1 and so on.

[George Simmons]

I also use tracks extensively. I have 12 tracks covering 144 channels. I don't use twelve duplicate tracks of 144 channels - I group channels into tracks according to what they are - mini trees, arches, poles, mega tree, spinners, red, green, etc.. Then I arrange the tracks in a general left to right order. There's no way to get around having to scroll up and down, but what I like most about tracks is the ability to group things the way my brain works, and then being able to use different timings for different display elements.

Once I start to get an idea in my mind what I want the arches to be doing, what I want the mini trees and the beat trees to be doing, etc, I do pretty much what Brian does - I go through the song from end to end working one or two particular elements at a time.

The Beat Wizard has become a good friend of mine since it can be reproduced identically in any or every track. Regardless of how many segments each beat might be divided by to accomodate a particular element of the display, it provides an easy and precise common point of reference from one track to another.

Yes, you can have different sequence files for the same song and do a bunch of cutting and pasting, but personally I find that cumbersome and inefficient - too many things to keep in sync, like timings, animation and channel assignments.

[beeiilll]

George Simmons wrote:

I also use tracks extensively. I have 12 tracks covering 144 channels. I don't use twelve duplicate tracks of 144 channels - I group channels into tracks according to what they are - mini trees, arches, poles, mega tree, spinners, red, green, etc.. Then I arrange the tracks in a general left to right order. There's no way to get around having to scroll up and down, but what I like most about tracks is the ability to group things the way my brain works, and then being able to use different timings for different display elements.

Once I start to get an idea in my mind what I want the arches to be doing, what I want the mini trees and the beat trees to be doing, etc, I do pretty much what Brian does - I go through the song from end to end working one or two particular elements at a time.

The Beat Wizard has become a good friend of mine since it can be reproduced identically in any or every track. Regardless of how many segments each beat might be divided by to accomodate a particular element of the display, it provides an easy and precise common point of reference from one track to another.

Yes, you can have different sequence files for the same song and do a bunch of cutting and pasting, but personally I find that cumbersome and inefficient - too many things to keep in sync, like timings, animation and channel assignments.

Well I think that this answers my questions about how I am going to set up a "master config file" and work with things as well. I had a post about making one master config to use with my display that will probably end up around 500 channels or so. I won't be using all of them (well yet anyway) and I was worried about how I was going to be able to work with that many channels showing.

But as I research this and if I understand things, I can have a lot of channels (ie say 112 channels for mini trees set up in the master config file even though I will only be using say 32 or 48 for now) and then I can make those channels or even a part of them into a track or tracks and work with them that way?

Sounds like this will also make it easier to work with my lights on the house since I am using 4 colors around everything and allowing for future expansion I can see where I could end up with 144 channels just for them in a few years (unless I go with the Glaxia route or something new comes along).

And I know that I only want to "define" the actual controllers and channels that I will be using for right now, but this way I will have "headroom" built in to expand later on without having to radically redo all my sequences.

My only concern is will having a bunch of "blank lines" in my sequence files cause any problems? Seems to me that if I am using tracks to break things up into smaller bits to work with, then I shouldn't have anything to worry about?

Is my thinking and logic okay to do this or is there something that I am missing in all this?

With last year as my first, believe me I certainly have a lot to learn about this. But that is part of the fun of doing it.

Thanks for any pointers.

Bill

[Paul Roberson]

Bill,

I think that should work fine as long as you do not assign, or put lighting commands on unused channels. I don't think it is really necessary though. You can just as easily use your "Master Track" to add whatever you want to the bottom. Then use what ever order you wanted in the rest of your tracks.

It is VERY important to keep your Master track in the order it was the year before if you plan on doing an import and use your programming from the year before.

I also use 4 colors on everything and I have a RED track, GREEN track, BLUE track, and WHITE/CLEAR track. They are arraigned in a display order of left to right fashion.

Whey I was with another company their software also had "tracks", but they were not as stable nor could you do all the different things with them that LOR S2 can do. S2 and the way it can use tracks is awesome.

[LENNY RUEL]

Tyler:

Just zoom out.

Maximize your screen first then along the upper tool bar as you scroll across them you have zoom in and zoom out next to each other about 3 or so icons left of the play arrow. Click on it as many times as it lets you, I think it's four, and it will take you out to about 60 channels.



Lenny

[tyler9613]

I am sure that I'm going to feel stupid for asking this question:shock:, but...

What are tracks? Are they within the program or is it just another way to say "multiple files for one final sequence." How do you compile them all together? Copy and Paste?

Thanks,
Tyler

[beeiilll]

Hey Tyler

Well I am sort of in the same boat as you as far as tracks are concerned, but I am going to give them a shot and see how it works.

If you go to the Edit tab you will see a selection about halfway down that says "Add New Track". That will let you create a track in the sequence.

I am going to play with it tonight and see how it works myself. You can take one of your sequences and save it as a different name and then play with the new file and try adding tracks to see how things work. Then you will always have the original to fall back on if things don't work.

Hopefully someone on here will jump in soon and give you a better explaination (and I could probably use the help as well :cool:).

Bill

Oh yea, check out the help file in the sequencer as well under tracks. It can't hurt.

[tyler9613]

beeiilll wrote:

Hey Tyler

Well I am sort of in the same boat as you as far as tracks are concerned, but I am going to give them a shot and see how it works.

If you go to the Edit tab you will see a selection about halfway down that says "Add New Track". That will let you create a track in the sequence.

I am going to play with it tonight and see how it works myself. You can take one of your sequences and save it as a different name and then play with the new file and try adding tracks to see how things work. Then you will always have the original to fall back on if things don't work.

Hopefully someone on here will jump in soon and give you a better explaination (and I could probably use the help as well :cool:).

Bill

Oh yea, check out the help file in the sequencer as well under tracks. It can't hurt.

What version does this begin with? I am using the demo and I see no "Add New Track" option...

Thanks,
Tyler

[beeiilll]

Ding, Ding, Ding OOPS - my bad.

I think that the demo does not allow tracks. I think the demo is also version 1.something?

I have the newest full version 2.1.6 and I seem to remember that tracks were added in when 2.--- versions came on the scene.

So I guess that will make it really hard for you to see the track things.

Do you plan to purchase the full version of the software anytime soon? That will make things a lot easier to explain.

Bill


Well I just went and looked and it seems that the demo is 1.6.2 version. I'm pretty sure that it does not have the tracks selection in it.

[tyler9613]

beeiilll wrote:

Ding, Ding, Ding OOPS - my bad.

I think that the demo does not allow tracks. I think the demo is also version 1.something?

I have the newest full version 2.1.6 and I seem to remember that tracks were added in when 2.--- versions came on the scene.

So I guess that will make it really hard for you to see the track things.

Do you plan to purchase the full version of the software anytime soon? That will make things a lot easier to explain.

Bill

Luckily, Dan said that the demo version should be upgraded to 2.1.6 within a couple of weeks...

Thanks,
Tyler

[beeiilll]

Well there you go. That will make things a lot easier for you for sure.

Good luck with it.

I know I enjoy playing with this even though I get frustrated at times trying to learn it all and absorb all the new things it can do.

Just keep on the forums and you will pick up a lot of information that will help. I scan them everyday and it seems like I pick up something almost everytime I am here or over on the Planet Christmas forum.

Bill

[Paul Roberson]

Here is another thread talking about tracks.

Tracks can be very helpful with programming.

[Denny]

tyler9613 wrote:

beeiilll wrote:

Ding, Ding, Ding OOPS - my bad.

I think that the demo does not allow tracks. I think the demo is also version 1.something?

I have the newest full version 2.1.6 and I seem to remember that tracks were added in when 2.--- versions came on the scene.

So I guess that will make it really hard for you to see the track things.

Do you plan to purchase the full version of the software anytime soon? That will make things a lot easier to explain.

Bill

Luckily, Dan said that the demo version should be upgraded to 2.1.6 within a couple of weeks...

Thanks,
Tyler

Version 2.1.6 will expire next month; Dan is supposed to have the registered version available by then. Sometime ago, I think he said that when the registered version is released that LOR I would no longer be offered. If you are sitting on the fence about purchasing the software, you should probably do it very soon. When the switch occurs, S2 will go up in price but those who purchased LOR I and have been using S2 will have a free upgrade to the registered version. So, if you want to save yourself a few dollars, I would purchase the software now. You will also be able to use all the great new features including tracks.

[cmoore60]

Denny,

I think you should re-read the release document for version 2.1.2 and above.

The license scheme is suppose to activate in July. 2.1.x extended the time till then. This gives LOR time to send out your codes and for you to register. When 2.1.x was releases they gave details on how things will be working.

Chuck

[Denny]

Thanks for the correction, Chuck. My apologies for passing out erroneous info. With everything going on in December, I somehow missed that very important statement.

[lightzilla]

This is an interesting thread.

Just curious, are those "tracks" that are put between groups, or after a mega tree, or after each unit...... are those the short yellow lines I see go right across the grid on many of shared sequences? Or what are those

I just started getting to know AL's AD software then I abandon ship and hoped on board the USS LOR and now I am learning a great software in the V2 and wow there is so much to learn in a short time before Christmas 2009 setup begins.

I didn't use groups last year and I was content with the program, but after viewing some shared sequences, I can see that perhaps groups are not all that bad.

I take the 1st four channels, and run 4 mini trees on the left side of the front yard in multi colour, then the next four channels can run the multi coloured mini trees on the right side of the yards.

The next four channels can run my multi coloured lights on my 3 dwarf spruce trees and my dwarf cedar tree.

Looks more uniform that way. I would think it would be a bit easier to sequence as well.

My 3rd LOR controller is heading my way now...not bad in 1 months time. Just two AL things left to trade and wow 4 or five LOR controllers and a mini MP3 player/director later.

My goal of 7 LOR controller for my 1st year is looking good. Then I want to buy 1 for a friend....but that does not look good. ......$$$$$$'s......could be an issue if this last controller can't be traded.

[Paul Roberson]

lightzilla wrote:

This is an interesting thread.

Just curious, are those "tracks" that are put between groups, or after a mega tree, or after each unit...... are those the short yellow lines I see go right across the grid on many of shared sequences? Or what are those

I just started getting to know AL's AD software then I abandon ship and hoped on board the USS LOR and now I am learning a great software in the V2 and wow there is so much to learn in a short time before Christmas 2009 setup begins.

I didn't use groups last year and I was content with the program, but after viewing some shared sequences, I can see that perhaps groups are not all that bad.

I take the 1st four channels, and run 4 mini trees on the left side of the front yard in multi colour, then the next four channels can run the multi coloured mini trees on the right side of the yards.

The next four channels can run my multi coloured lights on my 3 dwarf spruce trees and my dwarf cedar tree.

Looks more uniform that way. I would think it would be a bit easier to sequence as well.

My 3rd LOR controller is heading my way now...not bad in 1 months time. Just two AL things left to trade and wow 4 or five LOR controllers and a mini MP3 player/director later.

My goal of 7 LOR controller for my 1st year is looking good. Then I want to buy 1 for a friend....but that does not look good. ......$$$$$$'s......could be an issue if this last controller can't be traded.

When you open a shared sequence if you see "Track 1: ALL Chanel's" at the top of the grid window then whoever made the sequence used tracks. There may be two scroll bars on the right hand side. Scrolling down should show Track 2, Track 3, and so on or just 2 if that is all they used. (The "ALL Chanel's" above may be different if they named if differently. It will still say Track 1: though)

Tracks in LOR S2 are awesome and much different, and more useful than tracks in AD. Tracks in S2 are nothing like "groups" in AD. In LOR tracks you can have different channels and or different timing. You can even have the same channels that are in another track but in a different order, which is good for doing right to left color changes.

[lightzilla]

Thanks Paul.

The more I use this LOR S2 the more upset I get, the more I shake my head and say "Why didn't I go with my 1st decision and buy LOR Last spring, but no I went another way. Well now I need to start over......on a bright note......the small village of nearly 800 people is still buzzing over my light show from Christmas 2008.

So I need to buckle down and get this software figured out....because the village is expecting something by the sounds of things.

I think I will do another toy drive again this year....I believe I will do a bit better than last Christmas. Nearly 25,000 children in Edmonton won't receive a gift at Christmas time.

Your a blessing to me Paul....you have been a help.....and I may need more of it as time wares on.