Lightshows - How do they work?

Musical Lights shows are fantastic to watch, but how do they work?

Controller
Fig.1.Controller with lights

Lights in these kind of displays are connected to special controllers to allow them to be remotely controlled.

Figure 1 contains one of our 8 Channel Plug and Play controllers connected to some lights.

The controllers communicate with a central unit, usually a computer, which coordinates the entire display.

The computer uses special software to run the display. This software plays a pre-programmed sequence to turn the lights on and off at set times. The computer also plays the audio track accompanying the show. Creating sequences for the display is done with software, it’s easy to do, but can be quite time consuming.

Screenshot
Figure 2. Software Screenshot

Figure 2 shows a screenshot of the software used to design the show.



In the software blocks are added to a grid to define:

  • What lights are illuminated
  • When the lights are to be illuminated
  • How bright the lights should be


When the software runs the show, it plays the music and send commands to the controllers to illuminate the lights at the designated time.
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