Aurora Support Forum: Lights and music after the show

You can easily do both.

1. Download Audacity (or other free audio creating software) and create a silent sound file of any length (I suggest just couple of minutes or so).

2. Create a new sequence using this "blank" sound file. Save this blank sequence before you add any effects, you'll need it later. Program in your effects like normal.

3. If you do not want the lights to have a brief outage at the end of the sequence, hit the End key to go to the end of the sequence, then press Page Down a few times, which will zoom you out PAST the end of the sequence. Using the Info tool, select the cells past the end of the sequence, and move the slider up to 100%. Save the file. When the sequence plays, those channels will remain on after the sequence has finished playing. Note that this is an undocumented feature of Aurora, and as such has no official support.

4. Set up a new show in Borealis (scheduler), using just this sequence. (It will continue to loop.) To turn the lights off at the end of the night, place the blank sequence I mentioned earlier in the "play once at the end of the show" box. It's ok if your show times lapse a bit. Borealis will continue playing the first (main) show until the next one starts.

In theory, you could take the "looping" sequence and use it as the "end of show" sequence on your main show. The benefit of this is that your non-show standby playlist should then be playing because technically your show is over. Then you could create a new show later on in the night just to turn the lights off with the blank sequence. The downside is that instead of a twinkle, you'll have just an ON command. (This has never been tested, so it may or may not work.)

Creating a non-show standby playlist is done via Settings, Playback. There you can choose a URL stream (such as Planet Christmas), an .asx or .wpl (I use Windows media player to create a .wpl for my show), or you coud point Aurora to a directory with the music in it which it will then randomize. Whevever a show is not running, it will continue to play the playlist.

Edited by Jonathan - 30 Nov 2010 at 8:48am

~Jonathan

Yeah, I think that one is permanently filed under a "work in progress". The sheer amount of work the sole programmer does on Aurora is astounding; he just never got around to it. It's too bad that people don't know what goes on behind the scenes.

Anyway, if it helps, there is an "Unofficial Beginner's Guide", and I've got a few tutorials on Vimeo (found within that thread) that may be useful to you.

Happy sequencing!

~Jonathan

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bbeismann Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Location: Dayton, OH Online Status: Offline Posts: 14	Quote Reply Topic: Lights and music after the show Posted: 29 Nov 2010 at 3:11pm
	Hello, Looking for some help. I was wanting to have some activity after the show, and need some help. When my show ends at 11:00PM, I would like the mega tree to twinkle a couple hours. I would also like christmas music files from my hardrive to play until the start of the next show. Any ideas? Thanks Bryan

Jonathan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Location: SoCal Online Status: Offline Posts: 1237	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Nov 2010 at 8:44am
	You can easily do both. 1. Download Audacity (or other free audio creating software) and create a silent sound file of any length (I suggest just couple of minutes or so). 2. Create a new sequence using this "blank" sound file. Save this blank sequence before you add any effects, you'll need it later. Program in your effects like normal. 3. If you do not want the lights to have a brief outage at the end of the sequence, hit the End key to go to the end of the sequence, then press Page Down a few times, which will zoom you out PAST the end of the sequence. Using the Info tool, select the cells past the end of the sequence, and move the slider up to 100%. Save the file. When the sequence plays, those channels will remain on after the sequence has finished playing. Note that this is an undocumented feature of Aurora, and as such has no official support. 4. Set up a new show in Borealis (scheduler), using just this sequence. (It will continue to loop.) To turn the lights off at the end of the night, place the blank sequence I mentioned earlier in the "play once at the end of the show" box. It's ok if your show times lapse a bit. Borealis will continue playing the first (main) show until the next one starts. In theory, you could take the "looping" sequence and use it as the "end of show" sequence on your main show. The benefit of this is that your non-show standby playlist should then be playing because technically your show is over. Then you could create a new show later on in the night just to turn the lights off with the blank sequence. The downside is that instead of a twinkle, you'll have just an ON command. (This has never been tested, so it may or may not work.) Creating a non-show standby playlist is done via Settings, Playback. There you can choose a URL stream (such as Planet Christmas), an .asx or .wpl (I use Windows media player to create a .wpl for my show), or you coud point Aurora to a directory with the music in it which it will then randomize. Whevever a show is not running, it will continue to play the playlist. Edited by Jonathan - 30 Nov 2010 at 8:48am
	~Jonathan

bbeismann Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Location: Dayton, OH Online Status: Offline Posts: 14	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Nov 2010 at 9:27am
	Thanks so much for your help! The one thing I don't like about Aurora is the lack of a help file with the program. At least there is a forum such as this one to get help. Thanks again, Bryan

Jonathan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Location: SoCal Online Status: Offline Posts: 1237	Quote Reply Posted: 30 Nov 2010 at 12:32pm
	Yeah, I think that one is permanently filed under a "work in progress". The sheer amount of work the sole programmer does on Aurora is astounding; he just never got around to it. It's too bad that people don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Anyway, if it helps, there is an "Unofficial Beginner's Guide", and I've got a few tutorials on Vimeo (found within that thread) that may be useful to you. Happy sequencing!
	~Jonathan