New, excited and planning.

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AussieChris

New elf
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
12
Location
Dandenong
Hi there everyone,
Firstly, Thank you for such a forum...it's really appreciated.
So, VERY new here. I live east of Melbourne and keen to get started.
What are your thoughts to get started to make a simple Christmas light/music show?
I have downloaded the fantastic manual from this forum and its great!
Regards,
Chris
 
Hey Davdi, Oh no....2015. Really want to do it right, a fairly decent size but no idea where to start. I was in the chat earlier and some kind people gave me some Aussie links to look at for purchase but yeah 'in the dark'
 
Firstly welcome to ACL. My thoughts on setting up a musical christmas light display. Is to take baby steps, ask questions and never think there is a silly question. If having problems im sure there is someone here that can help.
 
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Welcome aboard Chris. With a bit of luck you'll be able to make it to the Melbourne mini in 2015 which I head Beacy was going to organise :)

My only piece of advice is to use a Raspberry Pi to run your show once you get up and going. That little bit of kit is becoming the must have for Xmas lights. It's capable of driving 10's of 1000's of pixels (via pixel controllers) better than any of the sequencer/scheduler combos and for $35 it frees up your pc.
 
G'day Chris, welcome to ACL. You've found the right place for some inspiration. I have found the people on ACL to be unbelievably helpful. I agree with Alan, the PI is an awesome piece of kit. I tried it for my first foray into lighting last year and it hasn't let me down.
 
Thank you! What's the mini?

Ok you've thrown me do mentioning the Pi. I have no idea sorry... I am aware of it but yeah. Thought controller was the way to go.
 
Hi There, Welcome to ACL, Next Year I will be Running my show of a PI but to stop your confusion a PI will replace the need for your PC to run the show. You will still need controllers but instead of it being hooked up to your pc it will go through the Raspberry PI. I hope this helps you. Also jump into chat as there is always plenty of us in there to help out where we can
 
Thank you! Wow it's a massive world of products. Need to find a '1st timer' setup video or something along with the awesome manual on this site
 
Sorry to take over chris, just saw about the raspberry pi and was wondering wouldnt you still need a pc to do the sequencing?
 
There's a page or 2 in the latest ACL 101 about the Pi. There's links there to tutorials and to the FPP forum etc.
The Pi is a playback device so you do your sequencing with whatever software you choose and then use xlights to convert to the format required by the Pi and either store it on the USB stick that your sequences play back from or ftp it across via wifi to a WiPi.

The mini is kinda explained on http://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/Category:Mini

There's video from a few of the Aussie minis at the ACL youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/AusChristmasLighting
 
Welcome to ACL Chris. !
I was in the same situation this time last year.

Watch the diff videos that people are posting of their shows and older ones too (there is a whole page tab devoted to past videos) and than pick a couple of items that you wish to have set up first (plus a couple of others for later ) - depending on your house setup. Then if u ask questions about these first two, you could order then early in the year , do some sequencing (you'll have to decide which software u want to use) , and then order more stuff after that mid year - that was the path I went down.
 
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