More newbie questions (sorry)

Originally posted by LightsOnLogan Originally posted by Buckeyelights   I'm trying to sequence Rock Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee.  I'm learning a lot just my jumping in and doing it.   Which version of the song (she did two versions)?  I have had what I've been told is the "original version" it in my show since 2006.    Brenda's Rockin' is a fun song to sequence.  The "rougher" 2-track style recording from the '50s has spots where the vocals or an instrument or something is slightly out of time with the rest of the band... gives a challange to get perfect light timing compared to the perfect timing edits of modern music.   Interesting story... my neighbor across the street was a school teacher of one of her daughters.  Referring to the 2006 display, she said "I should call Brenda up and have her come look at this!"  I don't know if she ever did or not (or if they even stayed in touch to begin with), but she seemed perfectly serious when she said it, so maybe.

Compared to someone who plugs their lights into a timer that goes on for five hours a night, YOU are an expert.  "Expert" is a relative term.  Anyway...

1.  Luck.  Just kidding (kind of).  There are two ways to have even timing.  First, be able to place event markers really accurately.  Some people use the grid lines to do this.  Tedious and difficult, it takes patience to do this.  Others imported sequences form other programs that automatically place time lines at every 1/10 of a second (etc.).  Frankly, that's a lazy way to program, and while placing time lines by hand is not always the most enjoyabe task, doing so will ensure that your sequences are always spot on, not 'close enough'.

Fortunately, you have some powerful, yet easy to use tools at your disposal.  With the "Y" tool, you can right click in a cell (or more) and select 'split cells'.  There are several options- Divide the entire selection, Divide each existing cell, and Divide logarithmically.   The most common ones you'll find yourself using are the first two options, in which you have two choices- new equally spaced events, and fixed time (mS).  The first choice will place however many cells you choose within the space selected.  The second choice will place a new cell for however many milliseconds (mS) you choose within the space selected.  If you want each cell selected to be individually split, then choose the divide each cell option.  The last choice (divide logaritmithically) uses a mathematical formula to determine where the event marker goes.  It's more fun to play with that on your own than to listen to someone drone on and on, so I'll let you get to it. 

2.  I'd like to mke sure I understand you correctly before attempting to answer this one.  Are you saying that whenever you place a ramp from 100% to 0%, there is a 30% intensity (on) command that is placed in the preceding cell? 

3.  You said two questions and this is the third so I won't tell you that to program portions of your sequence that are harder to see that all you have to do is zoom in/out using the zoom tool (keyboard shortcut 'Z') or the Page Up/Down keys. 

As a general rule of thumb for beginner sequence authors: