Wanna make my own cheap show, dont have any equipment

borgqueenx said:

Im having a hard time to decide. They have like 10 systems below 150 dollar that im interested in...all step scanner though. Will it really matter for some homebrew party with <50 guys?
I just want to have the device change its patterns upon the music, and let me control it with a dmx board.
Talking about dmx? Wich one is cheap and usable witth those chinese laser systems?

Click to expand...

Given your budget and application, just about any small step-scanner laser will do for you. If you're not looking to really amaze the audience, but rather just want something cheap and fun to mess around with amongst friends then just about any cheap Chinese system will work for awhile. It won't be long, though, before you get the bug to get something better.. at which time you might feel that it would have been better to wait awhile more and save up the cash.

@Gary, I'm not going to talk more about software her any more, but I want to say that I never said Spaghetti is bad.. it's not bad at all and it gets better all the time. The support has been good as well. Given what it is, I have no complaints other than my opinion on pricing. And that's just one guy's opinion.

Well, I think it is huge mistake to think about hardware without thinking about software first. If you buy a DMX scanner you will not be able to do anything with it other than display random patterns that are somewhat sound manipulated. To actually control a DMX scanner to make it do something interesting you will need either a live DMX board, or less expensively, a cheap DMX controller and some software to control it. Your friends will not be impressed for long if you just have a scanner running in DEMO mode and looping the same effects over and over and over.

So, you have to think about what you want to do with it first. And to do something with it you will need some kind of control device, and that always ends up being some sort of software. What software you want to use will dictate what controller hardware choices you have. If you want Pangolin software, you are stuck with Pangolin hardware. Other packages, including Spaghetti, Mamba, etc, allow more choices and are less expensive but you might have to spend a little more time to make shows. There are no effects in ANY software that are not achievable by any software that I know of. Even Ishow, with enough patience, can be used to create a show as good as the most complicated/expensive software (for the most part).

But, if you buy a 10/15K pps scanner, you won't have the speed to do much except for some simple patterns and limited animations. Most of the free shows you will find and being developed will most likely not look so great on those scanners. Think of it this way. Would you spend money on an old 386 computer today? You can run some old version of Windows and do some word processing but you will NEVER be able to play any of the modern games, or even not so modern games. 20K scanners are like a Pentium III. 30K scanners are like a P4 and higher. That's the way I see it, anyway.

Keep in mind that the difference between a low end ebay system and a system that will be good enough to do the majority of the new stuff doesn't amount to a large amount of money. Nothing that you can't save up in a few months by skipping some lunches now and then or skipping going to a movie a few times. Put things into perspective and then make your decision. Otherwise, you will be like many (including me) that plonk down a decent chuck of change and then end up moving on to something else within a few months or so.

i'm still very new to scanners but i have a hard time seeing how you can compare 20k to a 30k galvos to new and old techknowlogy. if anything its like comparing a ferrari to a prius. EVERY source i have read says 20k's will do awesome beam shows. i have no interest in doing animations or graphics. the most amazing thing i ever saw was a beam show directed at a mosquito net.

You can do some amazing stuff with 20K scanners. You can do even more amazing stuff with 30K scanners. Something like a star field, can be pretty taxing on slow scanners. You'll eventually see what I am talking about. But, I am not knocking your system because you will be able to do a lot with it. But, you'll see the wall before long.

i don't have software yet.... you're gonna have to bust out your best sales call LoL
basically i am looking to import ilda files. at first just to get comfortable. then i want to make my own beam shows... full color mixing, waves, liquid skies etc... can spaghetti give me all this?

michael

chipdouglas said:

i don't have software yet.... you're gonna have to bust out your best sales call LoL
basically i am looking to import ilda files. at first just to get comfortable. then i want to make my own beam shows... full color mixing, waves, liquid skies etc... can spaghetti give me all this?

michael

Click to expand...

That's all basic stuff that just about any laser show package, including Spaghetti, can do. ILDA files are Spaghetti's native animation format so they don't have to be imported; you just use them. It has effects for color changing and waves. Liquid sky is nothing but a line and there are tons of ILDA files that do that. The reason I started Spaghetti was because I had a ton of free ILDA files that I downloaded and had no software to do anything with them and the cheapest software available at the time was hundreds of dollars. Quickshow and even the FB3 weren't even announced at the time I started it.

but can i create my own patterns. and forgive me if i use incorrect terminology... but with spaghetti can i make my own ilda files? and if i am wording it incorrectly please tell me the right way.

thanks
michael

Yes and no.

Spaghetti doesn't have an ILDA drawing tool that is similar to MS Paint. There are a handful of free drawing tools like Anarchy, Monkey Tools, LaserBoy, etc if you want to do that, though. Spaghetti can use the files they produce.

But, you can use the timeline in Spaghetti to take a simple frame or set of frames, and combine them with other frames or apply effects to resize, move, rotate, etc and then export that as an animated ILDA file. So, in essence, Spaghetti lets modify or animate existing ILDA files to make better ones.

I'm going to add a drawing tool to Spaghetti in the future but that will be during a later phase. It won't be an ILDA file drawing tool, though. It will be more abstract so that instead of worrying about points, you just deal with shapes. But for now, since there are already free drawing tools, it isn't something that I consider to be a must have feature.

TBH i have had a set of 12/15 and now 20k galvos.
And i can say yeah the 12s did great beam shows. along with the 15.
The 20k does meh animations but same quality beam shows.
If you can get a pair of 12 or 15k galvos for 70$ do it. but i would say to anyone wanting to get in on this wait another month and buy the 30k
I am looking at a set. and its very tempting to say the least as sales of my lasers are going good i have found i got lots of cash to spare.
Do i get a new dac new software or do i go for better galvos..
maybe soon i will do all.
but the low k galvos are still good but never pay over 70$ shipped,

I wanna create my own shows with some windows software.
Is it possible to use that with a laser projector with dmx? Or what does the projector needs to achieve this?
Thanks

Yes and no. Some projectors have DMX capability but what that means is that you have a set of preprogrammed patterns that you can display, move around, resize, etc. It doesn't allow you to create your own patterns. But, if it has an ILDA interface you can use an ILDA controller to do those things. Most laser software, including Spaghetti, allow you to control devices via DMX. So, with such software, you would be able to create shows using DMX as the controller, but you would be limited to the built in patterns.

I've always recommended these "fireball lasers" from spencer gifts as a cheap way to make a show. For only $15, it can't be beat. You just need fog, music, a screw driver, and a big laser to point into it, and you get a pattern that changes to the beat.

Cyparagon said:

I've always recommended these "fireball lasers" from spencer gifts as a cheap way to make a show. For only $15, it can't be beat. You just need fog, music, a screw driver, and a big laser to point into it, and you get a pattern that changes to the beat.

Click to expand...

wow thats a nice small solution for in the mean time
More info?
how can there be more colors on the pics on that link....since a pointer can only give 1 color???


EDIT: "sorry, this item is currently unavailable"

I used an argon laser and a 445nm laser for those two. Any bright laser will work.

Unfortunately, These are a little hard to come by. The stores themselves might have them, or maybe they'll be back in stock in a few days.

hehe misalign the 445 quad and it becomes a real fireball

is it also possible on those ILDA projectors to accomplish this?
YouTube - Laser Stage Light
see the mic of the projector respond to the beat. i like that pattern and sound mode style...