Dear experts, I need your programming advice!

[Lezen]

Hi, all!
I am literally shocked and surprised by the amazing qualities of the light shows you people posted in this page!
I'm really new to FS (about 2 months of experience now) and I'm seeking for some good advice.

In particular, I'm interested in hearing on how you FS experts control the lights simultaneously and so perfectly synchronized? Do you make a full use of Sound2Light? Or are you guys pre-programming all sorts of light attributes (e.g. color, pan/tilt) into submasters beforehand?

Until recently I did my shows with submasters, pre-programming all sorts of attributes and then clicking particular attributes when I need it. But I encounter many limitations in having a smooth-control over the lights (e.g. I make three separate clicks for changing moving head colors, its gobos, and its movement - which takes me about 5 seconds to complete the transition...)

It'd be amazing if anyone can actually post their shows in .flf format! It'd be a great reference for me to learn from!! I would really love to hear anything from you! Thanks in advance.

Lezen

[spud1511]

I actually use my DJ software to send cue triggers and beat grid to freestyler. It effectively means that when I trigger something at that point in the song once, it is then remembered next time I load that track back up. The newer version allows multiple triggers from a single cue point too (eg movement/colour/shapes, etc). Also, no sound2light audio in required because freestyler gets the bpm timing from the beat grid.

[Bigtoddy]

Work your style to fit your technical capabilities. Maybe you only need to change one attribute at a time. Plenty of places to use the various dynamics of the fixtures.

From a technical side, while I started using submasters for isolating attributes, I'm finding as I go on that sometimes, submasters need to trigger multiple attributes.

Also, use keyboard shortcuts/midi cues to assign buttons to things you do a lot, like start/stop cues.

[cralmu]

a tech knowing their tools is the biggest attribute a light can have. know how everything works every way it can so you can recognize what you need to do to get what you want done....that means using submasters, cues, timecode, over rides, manual operation, and on the fly editing options....i know its an obvious answer, but its the only answer

you can use keyboard or midi control to trigger your show, i use manual triggers on midi controllers for submasters and cues and overrides and have color bumps and fog on keyboard

Depending on the size of the rig and channel and options each light has, i would leave submasters to single attributes... they then become cue building stepping stones!

[spukemonkey]

I use mine with Virtual DJ 8 Pro and use the cue points which react a set programmed light setup

mylists.jpg

each line is a pre programmed sequence
which looks like this
set $fsvalue 255 & set $fscommand 267 & set $fsvalue2 255 & set $fscommand2 273

list2.jpg

as you can see I have setup for all songs (provided I have pre programmed it)
below is a vid I did using only a few lights


https://www.facebook.com/puresoundzdisc ... 646288697/

[Nathanrs93]

It all depends on what type of show you're actually doing.

I know a few members on here use DJ software i.e Virtual DJ to control their lights, but for full on Lighting shows I know MIDI is a good part of the community as well.

I was in your position like most of the guys on the forum and it's something that we can't really answer like Bigtoddy said:

Work your style to fit your technical capabilities

It's about getting comfortable with the software and find something that works for you.
Everyone is different.

Good luck
Nathan