music laser show

[oliverst14@hotmail.com]

hi im looking for a piece of software that will be able to do laser shows syncronised to music. i was looking for a system similar to the one pictured below and was wondering which ones did this. eg does fb3 do this?

Shows panel

i like the way the soundwave is there

thanks alot oli

[stanwax]

Mamba will do shows sync'd MP3 or .wav and can have a graphical display of the audio waveform displayed beneath the timeline. I think to achieve this you need to use winamp for audio player - but Im not certain as I dont use winamp tied to Mamba.
What I do is play the show and within the section I'm editing and press the space bar at key moments to mark a cue. This places inverted V markers against the timeline which allow you to precisely cue the scene or effect. I use this method with all my music sync'd shows and was good effect on the Black Sabbath instrumental Rat Salad to create this show...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWpJsPwb3ck
Unfortunately the YT conversion time shifts the audio so the playback here is out of sync - but you can get the idea. Playing the original edited video or watching the show live the cues are good

Rob

[Anthony]

The LA studio package for the FB3 Sadfully doesn't do it like you show in the picture.

Yes it can sync to music but is does it externally true the PC timer or using Winmedia.

The LD2000 (not really afordable for the hobbyist) does sync/show the music wave in the program so you can see what you are doing.


It is one of the thing that make the FB3 package less intuitive.

[White-Light]

I'd hang on though and see what Pangolin Beyond brings before writing off Pangolin software as too expensive, we might just get lucky.

[soforene]

The LD2000 (not really afordable for the hobbyist)....

Really?
I think 95% of folks on here are "hobbyists" and a good percentage of those have LD2000.
I have one myself and would class myself as a "tinkerist" with aspirations to become a hobbyist.

We all know that Lasers are not a cheap hobby and at some point you have to bite the bullet and wave your flexible friend for all sorts of toys be they hardware or software.
When I joined this forum I had spent approx. £800 on lasers.
Quite a lot I thought at the time.
However, I have spent more than that on software alone since then so your perceptions of "expensive" do change over time.

[Anthony]

I was wondering who would be the first person tripping over my "expensive" comment.

A 1500 dollar package is alot for a hobbyist with no intentions to do commercial work and getting some of the investment back.
Yes i know this hobby is expensive.

You cant expect a hobbyist with a 1500/2500 dollar projector to cash out 1500/2500/5000 dollar just to be able to expres his/her's creativity or just to proper run the projector.

I think its a PRO package, made for pro's.
Yes there is a Intro package that is in reach of some more advanced hobbyist with higher budgets.
But i still think the Intro package is more for the pro's who use more projectors and need the extra QM2k cards without the full option Ld2K package.

Thats just my opinion, I love the capability's of the LD2k software but can justify the price for myself and for what i use it.
My best bet is the Beyond software i'm waiting for.... maybe it brings better things to the hobbyist community because everyone is working on the same platform so data and knowlage is more easely shared.

The Fb3 card i love..... the now FREE LA software i don't like. (i think this is the feeling of alot of hobbyist. The lak of sharing new shows and information is the proof for me. There are no usershows because the software isn't intuitive enough for some people)

I hope you can understand me.... and i do hope this doenst start a Pango LAFB3/LD2K QM war directed to me.

[carmangary]

hi im looking for a piece of software that will be able to do laser shows syncronised to music. i was looking for a system similar to the one pictured below and was wondering which ones did this. eg does fb3 do this?

Shows panel

i like the way the soundwave is there

thanks alot oli

Spaghetti does exactly that. Have you checked it out?

[buffo]

Anthony;

I'm not trying to start a war, but I do believe you are mistaken when you say that the LD-2000 intro system is beyond the reach of hobbyists. And believe me, I used to think the same way. I have since learned that I was wrong.

Hobbyists already spend thousands of dollars for lasers and scanners. In the big picture, it's not that much more money to step up to a Pangolin LD-2000 intro package from one of the other competing systems.

Also, Pangolin comes with a *huge* library of shows *and* ILDA files. No other controller comes with all this extra material. You complain that there aren't many shows for LA Studio... That's not a problem with the LD-2000, and this is one reason why it's worth the extra cost.

The software that comes with LD-2000 is top-notch. It's very powerful, and has lots of advanced features that other packages don't. Again, these extra features are worth spending the money to have. (For example, beam-attenuation maps are just as useful in my living room as they would be in a professional audience-scanning show.)

Finally, the output of the QM-2000 board is rock solid. I've used 3 other controllers in the past before I switched to Pangolin, and none of the others even come close to the quality of the output I have now.

Oh, and then there's all the "goodies" that I forgot about, like Laser Asteroids, SMS text-to-laser, the Winamp Laser Visualizer plug-in , and so on...

Trust me - go visit someone that has a Pangolin LD-2000 system. Spend a few hours with them. Ask them to show you their favorite shows. Ask them if you can play around with the software. Have them show you the Winamp Laser Visualizer Plug-in.

After you do that, you'll see that Pangolin is worth the money.

On a closing note - think about how much happier you were when you got your first blue laser. Sure, solid state blue lasers are expensive, but it's so much better once you have the full color palette. Once you go RGB, you'll never go back to RYG, right?

Now, what if I argued that blue lasers were too expensive, and only good for professional laserists that had a chance to make some money to pay for such an expensive toy? What if I told you that blue lasers are out of reach for the average hobbyist, and they should stick to RYG only? You'd tell me I was wrong, surely.

Pangolin is like that. Once you see how incredible it is, you understand why people love it so much, and why people are willing to pay a good bit of money for it.

Again, I'm not calling you out or anything. I just see that you are talking *exactly* like I was back in 2006. And making the same mistake that I did. I'm just trying to save you a lot of disappointment. Once you get your hands on a Pangolin system, you'll see what I'm talking about.

I realize that it's pretty far for you to travel to the UK for the next Laser Enthusiast's Meeting that they're having, but I think you'll have a great time if you are able to attend. It will give you a chance to see a number of systems running side by side (including the Pangolin LD-2000 system). You might want to give it some serious thought...

Adam

[Anthony]

Adam,

I have read all the arguments in favour for the LD2k system in the past.
There are alot of topics were Ld2k users (an even Bill) point out the featureset and options/stability of the Qm2k LD2K system.

I know them, i love them but as i stated in my previous post.... i can't justify the price for myself just to make shows and project them in my livingroom.

I know Pango has spend alot of money for al the shows and creative rights of them.
The software is powerfull and top notch but made for pro's by pro's and priced acordingly.

There is just no Win win situation at this moment.
Maybee i wil see things different2 years from now....or maybe i have gotten so frustrated that i dropped the hobby.

Who knows?

[oliverst14@hotmail.com]

thanks alot for letting me know about the time code thing i have used winamp timecode before and itys quite good so ill probably go for the fb3 when choosing my next dac. also i know what you mean when you said your perception of expensive changes.
when i started purchasing lighting and lasers i bought a sik s69 and thought that was expensive at £200. now im building a 1watt rgb system that all in all will cost me around £2000. i realise now that even that isnt expensive when it comes to this hobby.
to be honest its a sort of hobby/job as i work with a mobile dj doing the lighting for him.