Greetings from San Diego California

Jacob954

Jacob954

New elf
Joined
Apr 5, 2018
Messages
2
Location
Yorktown, VA
Hello everyone. This is my first year using pixels (have used LOR for a couple years previously). Unfortunately I tend to move about every 2 years or so (US Navy) which makes it difficult. Starting to get the hang of xlights and it is an outstanding program. I do have a question for people... how many tracks and how long is your show? In the past I had about 30 mins but this year I hope to get about 45mins to an hour (and then repeat). The wife worries about it being too long as kids will make parents sit around. What do you usually do?
 
Welcome to ACL Jacob from a fellow Californian. I generally keep show 15-20 minutes. Traffic can become a bit much at times and a short show keeps people moving on. Can always mix up the playlist and not play the same songs every night.
 
uncledan said:
Welcome to ACL Jacob from a fellow Californian. I generally keep show 15-20 minutes. Traffic can become a bit much at times and a short show keeps people moving on. Can always mix up the playlist and not play the same songs every night.
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I agree. I have around 6-8 songs, I live in a small country town and have repeat visitors, but there are very few that hang around for the entire show, most stay for a couple of songs and then when they come back, as they often do, they hear a different song. But if I were worried I would just change the song list for different nights, that way they are sure to get a different song and I won't have long term visitors. The down side is that I play the music over a stereo in the yard and I can hear it from inside, so I would get bored very quickly. :eek:
 
I have about 14 or 15 songs in use that run about 45 minutes I think. The lights are on from about 8 until 11 or 12 so they all get cycled through a bit. As Xmas eve approaches and traffic numbers ramp up I drop down to whichever I consider are the most popular or what I reckon I've sequenced best. After Xmas day I go back to the full list again.
 
Welcome to ACL. My show varied each night, but probably looped every 35-40 minutes. Mix up the playlist would be the best option.

But dont forget - passes by see the show maybe once, you have to listen to it evverrry night.

Brad
 
Welcome to ACL Jacob!
My show was around 5-6 songs and 25(ish) mins long last couple of years. I'm looking to add more songs this year and change the playlist each night so it's a bit different. As others have said above if the show is too long some may stay too long to watch and block traffic (worst case) but if visitors come back on different nights they may get to see other songs, which would encourage others to come back and visit again.
 
Hi Jacob

Retired USAF here, As the other said you can make your show as long or as short as you want, Mines is around 30+ minutes long and you will often find people will only stay for a few songs and leave. In my city there are only one or two others shows so I do have a of people coming back.

One other thing remember to have a look at the 101 maunal it has some great information.

Again welcome to ACL

Cheers
Richard
 
Welcome to ACL, lots of great help and advice here

The number and length of your sequences and show will be highly dependant on your location and traffic issues. Some can have a 1 hour long show and others struggle to have a 5 minute show without having major traffic issues
For example my show ended being just a single 3 minute &15 seconds long music mix show because of the traffic I was getting and this still created a 50 car line up as only 6 cars could watch the show at any one time. The year before that was 5 minutes long and the year before that was a 15 minute show. So as I got more traffic due to the light display becoming more known then I would reduce the show length in the hope of reducing the amount of built up traffic
 
fasteddy said:
Welcome to ACL, lots of great help and advice here

The number and length of your sequences and show will be highly dependant on your location and traffic issues. Some can have a 1 hour long show and others struggle to have a 5 minute show without having major traffic issues
For example my show ended being just a single 3 minute &15 seconds long music mix show because of the traffic I was getting and this still created a 50 car line up as only 6 cars could watch the show at any one time. The year before that was 5 minutes long and the year before that was a 15 minute show. So as I got more traffic due to the light display becoming more known then I would reduce the show length in the hope of reducing the amount of built up traffic
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That is nuts. I wouldn't know what to do if that was an issue. In the 5 years or so I've done a show I was lucky to get a dozen in a night. More this year is likely but we'll see.
 
Welcome to ACL.. I tend to run my shows for about 15mins. This keeps the rotation of traffic moving, otherwise so people just wouldn't move on. I also found having a 30sec to 1 min it break between shows also helps with traffic movement.
 
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