Looking for some advise please

[sebshep18]

My first post on this forum so hello,

i have been looking for software that can control a laser with a timeline based approach so i can try and sync a music track to the laser output, i am also looking for a dmx output also i have found Quick show and also Phoniex4 its just to have a play with but maybe a little more later on so my budget is a little tight, but these are a reasonable price for what i am looking for. Both software descriptions state dmx output as well as a time line, but i got the demo for the phoniex4 and its limited to 60s is this in the demo only and is it longer in the genuine version of it or not ? also does anybody know how long the timeline can be used for within the Quick show software ? and finally how do i set up DMX within either software ?

any help is greatly appreciated

thanks again

[Bradfo69]

Hi Welcome to PL. While I have both packages, I'm more familiar with Quickshow. I don't know about any time restrictions in the full version of either software. If there is one, I suspect it would be hours. As far as setting up DMX, you obviously need a way to get from the computer to the DMX fixture and the most recommended way of doing that is with the Entec DMX Pro device. http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main...ow=description

There are some very well done tutorial videos on Youtube for using Quickshow including one specifically covering using DMX. A link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbZEhoewUi4

[sebshep18]

Thank you very much for your reply it is a great help so do you use the time line to pre program shows and then sync them to a music file at all ? can this be done in either software

thanks again

[Bradfo69]

It probably can be done in both but, as I said, I'm more familiar with Quickshow. You have the process slightly backwards... you put your music file in the timeline first... and then create your shows, sync'd to the music. It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to create a show without music and try to add the music afterwards. You want to be able to listen to the music and arrange your cues in such as way as to match up with the music.

Basically, start my opening the particular music file in the timeline. It will give you a visual representation of the song, along with audio peaks and so forth. Then you can begin dragging and dropping cues into the timeline and make various adjustments to them to get everything to fit the music.