Need to get some reliable software

[ltaudi1]

Does any one have an alpha lite dac i think it goes by laser illusions as well. I am looking to see if any one else has one with any success with different software. I really don't want to take two steps back and but another dac and software, I would love to get a good software package up and running with her, just too much crashing, and not reading 90% of the ild files I try to stick in. I need ease and functionality, typically I run the whole show myself and would like something along the original software lines in terms of convince.

[buffo]

I've had my Alphalite for over 3 years now, and though I also own Mamba Black and Pangolin's LD-2000 system, I still have the Alphalite sitting on the shelf for nostalgia's sake.

I can tell you that no matter what software you try to use with it, you're going to have issues. (I *never* got it to work with Mamba, though I do believe it's possible...) The real problem is that the PC does not allow uninterrupted flow of data to the parallel port, which is why the laser output "freezes" whenever you do something else with the PC. Disc access, mouse clicks, and other system events will cause interruptions in the data stream. No software is going to fix that.

And yeah, the Alphalite software does crash now and then. Rick spend a good amount of time cleaning up the code a few years ago, and it's better now than it used to be, but it still crashes far too often. Also, the software doesn't have any way to construct a choreographed show (no timeline), and you can forget about trying to syncronize a show to music...

I understand that Rick is working on a new controller that will be USB-based, and that should get rid of at least some of the problems with regard to the beam freezing in the middle of a pattern. Also, he's talking about a new software interface, so that might be something to look into.

But to be honest, if you want stability and reliability, you're going to have to purchase another controller and some new software. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.

Adam

[ltaudi1]

Thanks, guess it took someone telling me that to realize it, it workd great as a hobby dac but isn't quite suited for anything more, especially playing in the many watt region I just cant afford the constant mistakes and would love to be able to support the latest shows, Anyone looking for a cheap dac?

[soforene]

Dude, if you can afford multi watt lasers you can afford some pro software (like Pangolin) to run it.
Take that leap of faith !!