Grawolph Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Hello all. Please forgive my newbie question, but I have a question about setting up my show. I had this working last year, but my hard drive crashed, taking all my shows and everything with it. I had to start all over again this year, and with very little time to set things up.I currently have 5 songs resequenced and ready for a show. I also have a sequence for "normal" lighting and have about 30 songs sequenced just for playing. Here's my question, how do I have my 5 sequenced show songs play once ever half hour and have my "normal" lighting routine run the other times? For the life of me, I can't figure it out.Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 In the Simple Show Builder you can choose to have a show play every 30 minutes. So make a show with your five sequenced songs in whatever order you want to play them and then add other music afterward. (If you're using the show editor, make sure these are all in the musical sequences tab.) What will happen is as follows: At whatever time you choose to start, your show will begin. The five sequenced songs will play and then the musical filler will play. At the half hour mark whatever song is playing will complete and then the show will start over and play again from the beginning.The only issue with this is that not all of your filler songs will play - just whatever fits into the remaining time after the sequenced ones play. If you want them all to play then you'll have to make more than one show using different songs for filler and then arrange the shows to run sequentially in the schedule editor. If one show plays from 5:30 to 6, then start the next show at 6:00:01 and end it at 6:30:00 and so on throughout the evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iresq Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 Backup Backup Backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grawolph Posted December 12, 2009 Author Share Posted December 12, 2009 iresq wrote: Backup Backup Backup.Yeah, yeah, I know. And I'm in the I/T field... you'd think I'd know better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulXmas Posted December 12, 2009 Share Posted December 12, 2009 iresq wrote: Backup Backup Backup.Ditto! Ditto! Ditto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grawolph Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 George Simmons wrote: What will happen is as follows: At whatever time you choose to start, your show will begin. The five sequenced songs will play and then the musical filler will play. At the half hour mark whatever song is playing will complete and then the show will start over and play again from the beginning.Then the animation will be filled in by whatever the controllers wish to do, which in my case wasn't very good because I control blowups and motors with my controllers. I couldn't find a way to change that, so I had to resort to setting up two different shows every 30 minutes. One lasts for 12 minutes, and then my filler lasts for the balance of the 30 minutes. It was the only way I could think of to do this.I'm curious though, how many people run their animations all the time the lights are on? I have seen one other display here in Kansas City that uses controlled lights, and they seem to run a 20 minute show over and over again.Am I just being strange in that I want a "normal" light pattern, and then a special "show" pattern? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwilliams Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I think this forum is pretty much a poor barometer for measuring what "strange" is. It seems like everyone posting here probably qualifies as "strange" in the outside world, and everybody has their own tastes. I think it really just comes down to what make you happy. If you want a "normal" light pattern and then a "show" pattern, do it.I promise, whatever you want your lights to do, if you can't figure it out on your own, someone can help you figure out a way to do it. This is really the only forum I am ever active in anymore, because here, the attitude is really always helpful. There are guys here that could probably build a computer with a coat hanger and some sewing needles - half the time I have NO IDEA what they're talking about - but if you ask them to explain it, they always do.The bottom line is that your display is whatever you want it to be - whatever makes YOU happy, and the folks on here will always help you to do it - no matter HOW strange it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grawolph Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 mwilliams wrote: no matter HOW strange it is.Well, then I should fit right in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwilliams Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 By the way, I wish I was more of a "helper", but I seem to be perpetually in the "helped" column.I'll just be glad to make it through the season without suffering any involuntary holiday electro-shock therapy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melwelch Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 My show runs continuously from 6:00pm till 10:00pm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grawolph Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 melwelch wrote: My show runs continuously from 6:00pm till 10:00pm....How many songs do you have setup? Or put another way, how many times in an hour does it repeat? And I guess the companion question to that is, how much is too much? Until the neighbors complain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Grawolph wrote: ...how much is too much? Too much? I'd say that having room for 100,000 lights and posessing 500,000 is too much. Or having a need for 20 controllers and posessing 50 is too much. Or running your Christmas show until Easter is too much.In other words, by the standards of us strange folks here, there's never "too much". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melwelch Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Grawolph wrote: melwelch wrote: My show runs continuously from 6:00pm till 10:00pm....How many songs do you have setup? Or put another way, how many times in an hour does it repeat? And I guess the companion question to that is, how much is too much? Until the neighbors complain? The number of songs varies... Some time it is 5 songs and by the time Christmas is here it may be 15 songs.... So no matter when you come by between thoes times you will see the show up and running... I spend too much time on this stuff to then go ang limit the play times even more... "Let it Show, Let it Show!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 melwelch wrote: I spend too much time on this stuff to then go and limit the play times even more... "Let it Show, Let it Show!" Amen. My shows run continuously from 5:30 until either 10 or 11 (depending on the day of the week) every night from Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve. I only wish Thanksgiving was November 3rd and New Year's was January 20th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Shultz Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Hi! We're BRAND NEW to all of this. Given the forecast today for 20 inches of snow (unusual here in central NJ), hubby took the day off yesterday to get all the remaining lights & controllers set up. Fired off the show last night, and it was AWESOME!But, I'm having the same issue. I used the regular and the simple show builder. I have 3 songs 'choreographed', and then I just want some (not all) of the lights to stay on before the next show. I only want an hourly show (really don't want to push the neighbors over the edge). My show lasts for about 15 minutes between the 3 songs and the lag in between songs.I put the 4 sequences into my show and into the scheduler, but the songs keep starting over and looping. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.Should I set up the main show to last only 15 minutes, say, 6:00 - 6:15, and then set up another show with some steady lights to run from 6:15 - 7:00 when the next "real" show should kick off?Again, I didn't set the 3 songs I did for looping, so I don't know why it keeps restarting. I <> I set the 4th sequence up with the steady lights on a loop, but it does not seem to be the case.Help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Shultz Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Eureka! I found the answer buried deep in another thread. I had to put my musical sequences into the STARTUP segment of a show, then put my solid some lights on sequence into the ANIMATION tab and that will loop through the rest of the hour w/ only having played my songs once at the top of the hour. SWEET! This place ROCKS!BTW - we have a 16-channel startup. My husband also made custom wires to include the window candles and x-mas tree in our huge bow window as part of the show. We have wires EVERYWHERE. This is GREAT!Our 3 songs are George Winston's Pachabel's Kanon (aka The Christmas Kanon), techno Amazing Grace, then techno Auld Lang Syne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts