Can I use others sequences?

[dadams14]

I built the hardware for a grinch 32 channel and I have my radio transmitter going and now I am bogged down in trying to make sequences.. I think I will die in VIXEN...It is so tedious and I feel like I am getting nowhere slowly.
Can I go to school on 32 channel sequences others make and adapt them to my light setup.?
This would be a big help to me..
Can I just assign channels to lights in my yard or will it look bad?
Help me please..
Thanks in advance
Dennis

[deplanche]

First, a 32 channel grinch? Are you only using have of the SSRs possible? Or are you just only planning on using 1/2 the channels?

Onto your main question. I was thinking I would be able to use the same sequences for both my parents house and my house. They'd like the lights, but don't want to put in all the front end work. In theory, it should work fine. However, in actuality, I have run across some difficulties. The main reason is that in sequencing for my house, I ended up tailoring the sequencing to the layout of my house, rather than just to the music. For example, during a series of 4 beats, i have 4 windows that light up to these beats from one side to the other. On my parents house, the windows are spread apart by a greater distance, and it just doesn't flow as nicely. When I tried moving to it to the bushes, it also didn't work as well as I would have liked. So I have given up on using that one for both.

But if the sequence is created more for the music than the layout, i am sure you could adapt it to your layout. I think some of the pre-manufactured packages come with sequences tailored to the music light that. Heck, even the 6-channel lights and sounds of christmas had that. So sure, it can be done.

A few important questions for you, if you are going this route:

- Are you limited only to the on/off of the grinch, or do you have dimming by using a Ren-C/Ren-T with it?

- What music do you have access to? While sharing of sequences wouldn't violate any laws that I am aware of, sharing of the mp3 or other music files, would violate copyright laws. And without the music, it almost isn't worthwhile.

[ErnieHorning]

You could use sequences written by others and it may look OK. The problem you may run into is that it really depends on what the channels were meant to do. Your layout is most likely different. It will probably look a bit random with your layout. Also unless you get the exact song that was used, you’ll probably have sync problems. If the song doesn’t start at exactly the same time, the timing will be wrong. I trim all of the silence at the beginning and end, but others may not. There might also be slight speed differences which will cause eventual timing differences.

I did barrow a part of someone else’s sequence once. I got it to work but it required quite a bit of tweaking.


What the heck, try it and see if you like it. You ay sped more time fixing for your display than you would just writing your own though.

[rlilly]

I was able to use parts of sequences that can be found here. (http://web.olpdsl.net/firegod/Sequences/vixencomet.htm)

[cobraman44]

I also used some ideas from the above web site. My boys just love the Rudolph blinking nose. They make sure to point it out to everyone. We even used a regular red light bulb so it was good and visible. :)

[Mudsculpter]

I think using someones sequences is a valuable tool in learning how the Vixen software works. Seeing how others used the features for their own display was useful (to me). Tweaking the individal sequences to conform to your own design did not take much effort but was just as time consuming as developing your own sequence to your own audio selection. I have not done my own sequence yet but this year I plan to do a few (at least one). When I do,... I will post it's content where others will be able to use it as well. I have a few public domain music selections that I would like to use so that there is no issues of copyright infringement.

[ron d]

I have been messing around with cutting and pasting odd parts into other places like my mega tree into my arches and mini trees into mega tree or just pasting over parts just to see what happens and oddly enough i saw some pretty amazing effects i would have never guessed. More or less just random fades , chases and dims over mini tree fields,arches and mega tree parts. If that makes any sence try it. Not saying itll work for you but while my 5 color mega tree is spinning clockwise there were different color fades that went front to back and side to side rather then spinning.