Bradfo69
Lousy show programming rant...
Time for a bit of spewing out thoughts and observations on a page.
As we're approaching SELEM, as I have done each year, I try to get a bunch of shows together so I have something to run if necessary. They're not "my" shows but, ones I have acquired over the past few years. I think I played one song two years ago and maybe 45 minutes worth of content last year. Often, when asked who has content they want to play, I haven't always felt comfortable saying... "Here, I've got some things."
Not being an artist and, in general, not being overly savvy with software, I've tended to collect show content where ever I can. I have bought
laser software and hardware packages just to be able to physically play whatever content I have been able to get my hands on. Whether that's
from ftp sites, other forums, the Pangolin show space, members e-mailing me things, etc. Tracking down the correct music is often a chore. You
always want to list the source so someone else can get the correct song.
But, in this process there are a couple of glaring things I'm discovering. One of which I know will have some opposition but, I'll save that
for later.
Some background.... my first software was Moncha from a company called Showtacle. There is a good sized user base out there that owns
and uses it and, often makes their shows available. Some comes straight from Showtacle and, some has been acquired directly from individuals.
They have another more robust program called Fiesta that also has it's own DAC. I'll liken the two by saying Moncha is to Quickshow what Fiesta
is to LD2000.
I have a ton of shows for another program called Showeditor, formerly of Laserworld and now owned by HB Laserscan. Although the program is
essentially the same, HB shows won't play on a Showeditor DAC and Showeditor shows won't play on a HB Laserscan DAC even though the DAC's are essentially identical and made by Lumax.
I have LSX and a ton of shows for LSX. Many of those shows also work with software from Phoenix and I have Pro4+. I have a bunch for
Spaghetti. And so forth. I have a bunch for software created by LaserNet that I haven't even watched yet. I have Alphalite and I have X-29
Anyway, what has really struck me this evening is the sheer amount of really bad laser shows out there. Another thing I've also noticed over time is how the actual shows created with each different software tend to "look". Maybe that's a result of what's available in the software, or maybe that's the simply the programming style and ethnic culture of their user base.
For example, once you've watched enough shows, you can almost say... that was created in Moncha. That was created in Showeditor. That was
created with Pangolin. Even if you have shows created by 20 different people and even in different genres of music, the shows tend to have very
similar characteristics.
Showeditor seems to have a lot of its owners in areas like Germany, Austria and like Romania, Bulgaria - I guess what I would call that sort of
"Slavic" section of Europe. They tend to be very heavy with single beams, fans, and not have a lot of rolling, undulating waves or cones and
such.
Moncha shows on the other hand, tend to have a lot of triangles, squares and cones. Their abstracts also tend to be "static" and not the moving
lissajous, spirograph type patterns like you see more with Pangolin shows.
But the point is, much of what I'm now reviewing just doesn't seem to be very "good". Not that it "can't" be, because as you watch them,
there are some gems and some really good programming. Sometimes it's just a cue in an individual show and, you also find there are also some
people that are just good working within the software platform. But, I think there are a lot of limitations to what people can do with the
software that helps contribute to so much of these shows being "bad" as well.
I'm going through in excess of 100 of my Moncha shows right now because I just finished a small project with masterpj and a guy from Canada and
doing some conversion work for them since he (the guy in Canada) programs in Moncha. (They're very good shows.) But as I go through the 125 or so others that I have, the sheer number that just aren't that great and would be useless for SELEM is really bothering me. Lousy song choices,
boring shows, lack of color, and yet, I have a few others that are really good and I'm looking forward to showing them.
Some might say well.... thats also an American versus European opinion or, American versus Australian opinion. There could be a little truth
to that since there ARE cultural differences in terms of what cultures think of and prefer as laser shows. But, I've watched a broad range of
shows and have even sat and critiqued them with others utilizing a rating system and think I'm open minded enough to look at each style and say,
"yes, that's a great show."
I've learned a bit since this started and I'm also in the process of creating a number of shows myself for the Pangolin contest. I keep going
over them and making small tweaks here and small tweaks there. I'm having them reviewed by people privately for critiqing before submitting
them and, I wish, as I go back now and look through all these shows I've collected, that others would have put in that same amount of tine and
effort before releasing their efforts. I'm watching so much where there is no regard to color, staying on beat, blank spaces, even music choice
and so forth. There is still very much an agonizing need for quality content... even though there are a lot of shows out there.
I'm going to side track for a second....
The other observation - and the one that I said will be met with opposition - is that, taken as a whole, some of the best shows ever created
have been done with LD2000. I know I'll probably get labeled as a Pangolin fan boy or be accused of writing a sales pitch but, the truth is,
generally speaking, the best shows I've seen out there have been created with Pangolin software (LD, QS and Beyond). There is simply so much
more you can DO with it versus the alternatives from Medialas, HB Laserscan, Showtacle, etc. This is really something to take note of for a new
person.
Often we see new people arrive at the forum having just gotten into the hobby and perhaps have just gotten their first projector and they start
asking about how to control it. They may have discovered that iShow is crap and that $80 was a lot of money to blow on a DAC and software. Or
they blew all their savings on the projector without regard to needing something to control it and are now in a panic wanting the cheapest
solution possible since they didn't take that into consideration. They're willing to spend oh, maybe $50 or want whatever open source free
solution we can provide. The mere mention of spending $595 on Quickshow has them searching for ANY cheaper alternative.
The fact is, Quickshow quite simply is the all around, most capable, safest, easiest to use, feature rich, stable, entry to mid level software
going and is a steal at $595 retail. The FB3 is the most rock solid, reliable, best spec'd, easiest to use DAC going. I don't remember all the
technical low level differences but, there is, in fact, a performance difference when watching shows on different DAC's.
I don't care what aspect of the hobby or what type of laser shows have interest for you but, Quickshow can cover it. Playing live. Creating
timeline based shows. Making graphic shows. Making beam shows. Creating abstracts. Adding basic support for your DMX lighting. Converting
things like logos or other graphics to laser. Displaying text AND being able to have all sorts of control over the text in the first place.
And it's all SIMPLE to use compared with a lot of the other software I've seen.
That's not to say other software doesn't have areas that it excels. LSX I know is extremely powerful and can do things Pangolin's offering's
can't.
But taken as a whole, the list of advantages to Quickshow for example, just goes on and on AND... it gives you the best chance of
quickly learning how to create quality shows. Or, if it's your thing, getting in front of an audience and playing live. The set up and safety
features blow other software away. Whether that's the concept of projection zones, or the Beam Attenuation Map. Hell... Moncha doesn't even
include a test frame to display so you can be sure your show doesn't hit an audience. It's always a surprise when I'm 2.5 monutes into a 3
minute show that so far looks safe and suddenly, there is a cue firing way outside where it should be... like on the floor in front of you.
It's nowhere as easy to create shows in Showeditor, Moncha, Fiesta, LSX, or a host of other software AND you have a much better chance of your
first attempts looking GOOD. So... here's the deal. You've entered into an expensive hobby. It is, what it is. Get used to it. Bite the
bullet and buy decent software.
That's the end of the Pangolin "fanboy" rant for newbies.
Don't get me wrong.... there is a lot of crap out there that's been created by people using Pangolin software. It's the user not the tool.
Just yesterday for example, I was pulling a number of shows off the Pangolin Show website and getting the music just because I figured it would
be some new stuff for SELEM that people probably haven't seen and, the first one I downloaded, which started off looking decent, I discovered
about 3.5 minutes in that the guy didn't even finish the damn show. Even the preview on the site shuts off.
A lot of people who are uploading are from users in Europe so, it's often foreign music that rarely is anyone at SELEM going to want to sit and
watch. That's a cultural thing so, I'm not going to be critical of that.
Another issue is in many cases, you'll think it's a beam show and then midway through there is one graphic cue that pops up or an abstract, or
something in text. I understand outputting to different zones and maybe your using scrim or something but, ONE cue in a whole song goes to that
zone for a second? I doubt it.
Some have uploaded a show but, don't upload music and don't even tell you what it is. And it will be something titled like, "Ein dar machter" so
it's hard to find, and when you do there is the 3.5 min version, the 4:20 version and the 7:02 minute version. Or, in the notes it will say the
music is their own special mix. WTF!!
The other issue I find is that - and I don't fault them for this - is that someone who is new will create their first show, made completely with
stock frames that we've all seen and all know and, they must have no sense of rhythm or anything since they don't change on beat.
I get it. They're new and excited and want to show off their first efforts and, it's like watching an elementary school program or, middle
school band concert. I did it too and I've since gone back and fixed things later to improve them. But, get someone's opinion on your show
before posting it. Make sure you've actually FINISHED the whole song, How about having your cues change on some sort of beat!!!
Anyway, long story short is, while I have a TON of shows, I'm really getting discouraged at just how much of what is out there is really lousy
and almost unwatchable. It's no wonder at LEM's we always seem to go back to the same old LD2000 shows. It's historically some of the best
stuff out there. And if you're going to create shows, you really owe it to yourself to put the effort in to make them the best you can before
putting it out in the domain. Learn your craft. Push yourself to try new things. I'm only on my 8th show I've ever done but, I'm already
trying to change styles and not have a lot of repetition in the use of the same "go to" cues. It's an easy trap to fall into. I'm trying
differnt generes. And, my next goal is to create a show totally with cues created from scratch.
Buffo recently wrote a really good tutorial on how he approaches creating a show and it's also worth the read.
That's my rant.... musing... whatever you call it.
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I thought perhaps you, of all people, would be able to relate... 
