Complex lighting programs

[handcar]

I recently purchased Showbuddy Active and I am using the demo version of setlist while evaluate. Took me a few hours but got the hang of the software and I feel comfortable with it. I am trying to create a complex show with 100+ lighting cues. However, as the cues grow, editing becomes sluggish and not usable. Perhaps I am trying to do something too complex for what my system can handle. Before I simplify my show I want to make sure there are not some settings that I can change that will allow me to handle the large volume of cues. I am on a Mac, 32 GB RAM, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB, 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

[Dave Brown [admin]]

Can I ask why you need 100+ cues in a song? The usual approach I recommend is to build the complexity of your lighting cues into the Show Buddy Active presets (making good use of oscillators, Effects and pixel mapping for any dynamic lighting requirements) . Then, assembling the final song in Show Buddy Setlist is mostly just a case of dragging those fully-formed presets onto the key cue points in the song. A typical song should only need around 20-50 cues.

[handcar]

My application is a bit different than what most users have. We have a fleet of 14 people powered railroad vehicles that we built and operate that are being outfitted with RGB strip lights controlled by wireless dmx controllers that will receive commands as the cars fleet down the railroad. There will be a 45 minute show that will have minute control over the lighting. I tried the oscillator function and it works okay for some of the channels, but we are looking for more direct lighting control than what it can do. Maybe it can do what I want, but perhaps I don't have the skillset to accomplish it.

Ever see the elaborate Christmas light setups on a house set to music with detailed light control? That is what we are trying to do, but that equipment is too large for our rail machines, is designed for high voltage AC, and there isn't the flexible wireless technology available like there is for dmx. Right now I have a test rig we are running, with fabrication of the individual systems slated for spring and launch next fall. Before we get too far into the project we need to make sure we can find a show program that can accomplish the goals of creating a spectacular show.

[Dave Brown [admin]]

That's a really exciting project!

For this type of automated show, I would chop the audio track into manageable 3-4 minute chunks, and import the chunks into the Track Library.

Then, program the lighting separately for each chunk. 100+ cues should not present any performance issues with shorter audio files.

Finally, drag the finished chunks into a new show (via the Show Library tab) and you have your final 45 minute automated show...

For smooth audio transitions between the chunks, I highly recommend using uncompressed wav or aiff files.

If you are already using short audio chunks and are hitting performance issues, let me know. That certainly shouldn't happen on a fully loaded i9 Mac.

[handcar]

This is a short clip for my test:



My Mac has been giving me trouble with overheating and shutting down so perhaps the problem is related to it not performing as well as it should. I am about to replace it in the coming weeks. Is sluggishness during editing more of a problem of memory rather than processor power?

My idea was to break up each song independently. First half will be 7 songs, break, then 7 more songs. The first 3 miles of track is straight, followed by one mile of track of curves that the program will be paused because the radio signals will have a difficult task of being stable. In summary 20 minutes of program, 10 minute break, then 20 minutes of program.