Sequencing

Sequencing lights to make them flash to the music

  • Top 10 Christmas Tunes for 2022

    2022 Top 10 Christmas tunes list

    At PlanetChristmas we get to see a lot of Christmas displays. We also talk to music producers, programmers and radio DJs about what they think will be hot come Christmas time. This is tough because people love the old traditional tunes when it comes to Christmas but we’re going to give it our best shot. Here’s the official PlanetChristmas top 10 list of the most popular tunes people will use to create over-the-top Christmas shows in 2022.  A Holly Jolly Christmas by Michael Bublé  White Christmas by Bing Crosby  Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande  Run Run Rudolph by Luke…

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  • Typical AC light controller

    Squeezing more from your light controllers

    Do you wish your light controllers had more channels? Me too. If you have recently joined the ranks of the “Computerized Holiday Lighting Crowd” you’ve probably figured out it takes a bit of an investment to get a decent display up and running. Controllers, light strings, extension cords, FM transmitters – it adds up quick. Most reasonable people operate within some type of budget when planning a light show, so where do you draw the line (from an investment standpoint) from year to year? Last year I learned the hard way why it makes sense to have a spare controller/board…

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  • iPad screen

    Show testing from an iPad

    So, you want to test your lights, and the more you have the more you need to test as you get ready for launch night. Like most however, I started off my first year of doing animated lights using the more primitive 2FSS run method. Better known as the two feet, two sneakers and stairs method, aka: running upstairs to turn on display, then back down to see if it works, then back up if it did not, or if it started some of them, but not others. Wow, plain exhausting, and the more lights, stairs, yard you have, the…

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  • 4 x 4 design example

    4 x 4 Design

    So it’s time to take the big step and animate your light display? Since most people use Light-O-Rama controllers we figured they would have a few tips on how to get started. We talked to John Potochnak and he said they’re now getting serious with simple plug and play solutions. Light-O-Rama is about make available 50 music sequences that should help bring animation to more displays. The challenge is everyone uses their light channels differently so it’s tough to create sequences that will work over a variety of venues. Luckily the pros have figured out a trick that will make…

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  • SuperStar screen

    SuperStar Sequencer

    For Christmas of 2008 I spent untold hours building my first SuperStar display using 288 segments of green and white rope lights. Controlled by 48 multiplexed channels it was a true example of Light-O-Rama’s motto of “imagine it, then do it.” Traditional mega-trees can spin, but my SuperStar could do patterns in all directions. Most importantly it could shoot beams downward from the star to the ground. The next summer I got an email from Light-O-Rama announcing a device called a Cosmic Color Ribbon. I thought, well they did it, they made my SuperStar display obsolete. With 12 Cosmic Color…

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  • Light-O-Rama University

    Light-O-Rama

    In 1975 Dan Baldwin was a newly minted computer science wizard and had just married his longtime sweetheart, Mary. That first Christmas together they bought a three foot tree upon Mary’s insistence and a family tradition was born. For the next 20 years that little tree, plus some accessories, was just about all the decorating the couple did for the holiday season. Something changed in 1995 when Mary took it upon herself to go outside and string a few lights along the top of the fence. Dan looked at her work and said “we need more lights!” Soon there were…

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  • RGB (red green blue) pixels

    Christmas lights version 3

    For nearly a century our parents and grandparents have been hanging lights on trees, houses and yards – and, for nearly that entire time, they were just static, sans maybe a blinking bulb or two – this was Christmas Lights Version 1.0. Then, in the late 90’s, a movement started to sequence lights to music using personal computers. Since the late 90’s and up through 2010, that same basic system of controlling lights has prevailed – a personal computer with software, that controls a box, that turns a typical strand of incandescent or LED (Light Emitting Diodes) lights on and…

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  • Electric meter

    Synchronized lighting means plan, plan, plan.

    In an earlier issue of PlanetChristmas magazine, I talked about the nine steps of getting into synchronized lighting in an animated display. Now I’m going to take a few of those and go a bit further into detail on things you can do, ideas you can use and ways to make it that much easier for you this year and for years to come. I also want to tackle a decorating subject quite foreign to many of us: Halloween. Planning and Powering This is a step that I cannot stress enough. Grab your paper, pen, pencil, crayons, chalk, computer, notebook…

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  • LOR sequencing

    Sequencing time savers

    Learning how to sequence the lights to music in your display can be a daunting experience. It takes a lot of time, patience, a knack for using your computer and a good ear for music. Chances are if you dance like a rock, you’ll have a difficult time starting from scratch but that doesn’t mean all is lost. The newest versions of the Light-O-Rama S2 sequencing software have put some very powerful tools in the hands of every sequencer out there, including the newbie. Now it just becomes your task to quickly figure out how to best use all of…

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  • Syncing the lights to music with a computer

    Getting into synchronized lighting

    Over-the-top decorators with computerized displays are constantly being asked “How did you do that?” When we answer “I spent three weeks setting up everything in the yard and another three weeks hunched over a computer getting the timing just right…” most people are impressed and intimidated at the same time. More and more budding decorators want to shift from a static display to a dynamic show by adding music and making the lights dance in sequence to the beat. It’s not as tough as you might think but you do need to commit major time to learn the basics on…

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