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Computer Controlled Laser Light Show Kit
- Thread starter Neofree
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Wow, laser show designer 1,000; retro!
That's two versions old now, laser show designer 2,000 has been out forever now and is retired. The newest version is called beyond.
You can buy a full RGB projector for 200-300$ from China now, no need to buy just the kit for 230$
That's two versions old now, laser show designer 2,000 has been out forever now and is retired. The newest version is called beyond.
You can buy a full RGB projector for 200-300$ from China now, no need to buy just the kit for 230$
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True but I've heard mixed reviews about those. This does include a USB DAC and I figure other software (Windows) will work. I'm not going to purchase the new Pangolin software! 
It does mention other "free and opensource" software is included on the CD. and I know Open Source didn't exist in the 80's.. I was figuring that this is may be similar USB DAC and Chinese galvos that people use but shipped from USA.
It does mention other "free and opensource" software is included on the CD. and I know Open Source didn't exist in the 80's.. I was figuring that this is may be similar USB DAC and Chinese galvos that people use but shipped from USA.LSD1000 uses 8 bit images. (256x256 resolution graphics) File length is limited to ~512 points per frame. There is no color control or blanking. On a actual Amiga, it supported shutter on/off using the status LED. It cannot load ILDA files and Patrick Murphy, former president/co-founder of Pangolin, never released the LSD1000 Auto-Trace to the public domain. Neither ILD-SOS or Laserboy supports the file format. To get a ILDA file in, you would need to compress it to 8 bits and convert it to a comma delimited text file. You would then have to hand edit all the blanking and guide points out of the frame or it would look screwy. Shows are done with text files to do scriping, or you have ~ 20 hotkeys.
LSD1000 was WONDERFUL, and Pat released it as a incentive for 99$ a copy. You then needed a Amiga 1000 or Amiga 500, which with care, you could get used for 400$ + 100-200$ for the external hard drive. He then made it freeware a few years later. Once you got done with LSD1000 and the modified sound chip on a Amiga 500, you were well trained to move onto a full blown Pangolin product with a QM32 card on a PC or LD400 on a Amiga before that. It is however, way DIFFERENT then any current Pangolin product.
Your also going to have a possible limit of 512 frames total, depending on the version of LSD1000 included on the disk.
Music sync is done by pressing play on the CD player or MP3 player at the same time you click a mouse to start a show script. Shows are timed using a loop counter that decrements, there is no timeline editor. So the way you time a show is with a stopwatch and a guess the loop number value process.
It comes with a few beam effects, and a few graphics files.
That program is LSD1000 running on a Emulator.
LSD1000 was placed in the public domain long ago. Mid 90s.
I started out with LSD1000 as my show software, when it was still pay to play. Back then it was fairly state of the art, and I did a lot of shows with it. However you will spend hours and hours on effect creation to make it useful.
It has a very good frame editor. Thats about it.
Spag-het-ti would be a better investment. This is 2013. A non-blanked /colorized manual beam show is a waste of your time. You really should have a timeline editor to create shows.
As for the kit,
For some one like me, trained on it, it would be a fun toy. Because when it was released, the cheapest alternative was 2100$ in 1980s dollars + the Mac it ran on, which would be equal to say 3000$ today just for the software. For a beginner, its a lot of work for little benefit, and you will spend much of your time editing in a AmigaDos enviroment, which is daunting unless you have Linux experience at the system (LIBs) level. Back them it was Magic!
Origional cost, 1988, was $995.00 without the Amiga. Later on, you added the the Quadmod 16 card for about 500$, and Amiga 2000 (2000$) which added blanking and single galvo (prism based) color.
BTW, Its 4 generations back on the Pangolin time line.
If you have no soldering skills, it is a way to get a working hacked sound card dac.
Lasermax, which comes with it, is a decent real time effects controller, but again, no color, no safety shutter.
Steve
LSD1000 was WONDERFUL, and Pat released it as a incentive for 99$ a copy. You then needed a Amiga 1000 or Amiga 500, which with care, you could get used for 400$ + 100-200$ for the external hard drive. He then made it freeware a few years later. Once you got done with LSD1000 and the modified sound chip on a Amiga 500, you were well trained to move onto a full blown Pangolin product with a QM32 card on a PC or LD400 on a Amiga before that. It is however, way DIFFERENT then any current Pangolin product.
Your also going to have a possible limit of 512 frames total, depending on the version of LSD1000 included on the disk.
Music sync is done by pressing play on the CD player or MP3 player at the same time you click a mouse to start a show script. Shows are timed using a loop counter that decrements, there is no timeline editor. So the way you time a show is with a stopwatch and a guess the loop number value process.
It comes with a few beam effects, and a few graphics files.
That program is LSD1000 running on a Emulator.
LSD1000 was placed in the public domain long ago. Mid 90s.
I started out with LSD1000 as my show software, when it was still pay to play. Back then it was fairly state of the art, and I did a lot of shows with it. However you will spend hours and hours on effect creation to make it useful.
It has a very good frame editor. Thats about it.
Spag-het-ti would be a better investment. This is 2013. A non-blanked /colorized manual beam show is a waste of your time. You really should have a timeline editor to create shows.
As for the kit,
For some one like me, trained on it, it would be a fun toy. Because when it was released, the cheapest alternative was 2100$ in 1980s dollars + the Mac it ran on, which would be equal to say 3000$ today just for the software. For a beginner, its a lot of work for little benefit, and you will spend much of your time editing in a AmigaDos enviroment, which is daunting unless you have Linux experience at the system (LIBs) level. Back them it was Magic!
Origional cost, 1988, was $995.00 without the Amiga. Later on, you added the the Quadmod 16 card for about 500$, and Amiga 2000 (2000$) which added blanking and single galvo (prism based) color.
BTW, Its 4 generations back on the Pangolin time line.
If you have no soldering skills, it is a way to get a working hacked sound card dac.
Lasermax, which comes with it, is a decent real time effects controller, but again, no color, no safety shutter.
Steve
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Quite a reply, thanks. But, I have no intention of using an Amiga or emulator. If you read into the page, it comes with a CD that includes other freeware and open source software, which makes me assume it includes Windows software. The USB DAC sounds more modern than using an Amiga. This kit has been updated many times, but they never really didn't take the Amiga focus away, even though it seems like it may be hardware that is being sold elsewhere.
I'm just leary of purchasing something from China, when I don't know what the spec really will be. I've done it before, and it worked but the scanners where horrible.
I'm just leary of purchasing something from China, when I don't know what the spec really will be. I've done it before, and it worked but the scanners where horrible.
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It looks like the basic $200 kit relies on your sound card's stereo output to control the galvos, with no blanking controls. There is no USB DAC unless you pay an extra $40-50. So basically you're paying $200 for some slow galvos, cables, and some already free software. At least they don't deceive you into believing otherwise.
At that price point, practically anything from China would be better.
At that price point, practically anything from China would be better.
As for Windows software,
Don't assume it would come with anything other then Laserboy or LFI player, both of which are in the public domain.
Laserboy is a editor with some neat effects, it does not actually do a show.
LFI player runs in a DOS window.
No one has, and probably never will, made a effective freeware laser show package software for Win 7 and up. There are pieces/parts out there, but not the whole enchilda.
Avoid ISHOW! Even LSD1000 will run circles around ISHOW!, simply because it has fine grained timing, around a 30th of a second. ISHOW was running on a 1 second basis the last time I monkeyed with a copy. An Amiga Emulator, running on a 2 Ghz laptop, is not that bad for a few live beam effects, under manual control. Other then that, start saving up for a FB3 or a SD card based player, or a Riya.
Steve
Don't assume it would come with anything other then Laserboy or LFI player, both of which are in the public domain.
Laserboy is a editor with some neat effects, it does not actually do a show.
LFI player runs in a DOS window.
No one has, and probably never will, made a effective freeware laser show package software for Win 7 and up. There are pieces/parts out there, but not the whole enchilda.
Avoid ISHOW! Even LSD1000 will run circles around ISHOW!, simply because it has fine grained timing, around a 30th of a second. ISHOW was running on a 1 second basis the last time I monkeyed with a copy. An Amiga Emulator, running on a 2 Ghz laptop, is not that bad for a few live beam effects, under manual control. Other then that, start saving up for a FB3 or a SD card based player, or a Riya.
Steve
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I've been trying to put together a mental list of what's needed for a DIY programmable projector, and still haven't figured it out. The Chinese have no problem selling inexpensive projectors with fairly sophisticated animations built in, so the question is what is required to program and load those animations and what device controls the galvos.
Kits are pretty cheap on goldenstarlaser, but I still don't know what I need. All I really want to do is control a single galvo per color because all I do is single plane.
Kits are pretty cheap on goldenstarlaser, but I still don't know what I need. All I really want to do is control a single galvo per color because all I do is single plane.
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Did you read other posts in this forum?
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Buy a cheapo projector from China that has an ILDA port (such as a Reke 500) and build your own sound card DAC if you need it computer controlled.
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You can use LFI or even LSX, but you have to pay for the latter. If you want to use an SD card you better first find a DAC/projector that supports an SD card.
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No idea, probably check the manual when you get it.
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Actually, that's a great idea. I see bunches of SD driven projectors for < $200. Not sure if they're servo or galvo driven (I suspect the former), but that's a start. At least for what I'm doing.