The Allison Christmas Spectacular
  • Home
  • About
    • Schedule
    • Debut
    • Expansions 2009-Present
    • LED Overhaul 2019
    • News and Radio
    • Our Ministry
    • Who We Are
  • Media
  • Backstage
    • Social Media
    • Electricity
    • Preparation Time
    • Tops of Trees
    • Mega Trees
    • Sound System and Radio
    • How the Lights Dance
  • Contact
  • Donate
How the Lights Dance: Light-O-Rama
Light-O-Rama software and products are used to make the lights dance each year. Our laptop runs the
Light-O-Rama program, which connects to the controllers, each linked together in series via Cat5 signal cable. In addition, the laptop is connected to the amps and outdoor sound system, as well as the FM transmitter powering 102.5 FM WACS Radio.
To get the lights to dance, much time and patience is required. Each Light-O-Rama controller has 16 channels (essentially outlets) that power and organize the lights. In total, we have over 550 Light-O-Rama channels! On the laptop, these channels are organized by object type (tree, bush, house, fence, arch, mega tree, etc.), color, and location on the property. For ease of use, we label each channel on screen to match the color of the lights for that particular channel.

The next step is to load the songs into Light-O-Rama, and to split the songs up by beat, essentially into milliseconds of the song. From there, it's up to us how to program everything. Light-O-Rama comes with multiple functions built into the system (fade, twinkle, on/off, etc.). We tell each channel what we want it to do based on these functions, which takes on average 8 hours per minute of a song! Recently, we've been able to get it down to 5-6 hours per minute of a song. This means that one single song can be completely programmed within 15-30 hours! Thankfully, we are able to keep all of our dancing sequences and use them year after year. Our goal is to continue adding at least one new song every year.
Picture
Example of a Light-O-Rama dancing sequence, with the different channels (rows) color-coordinated on screen. Note the sound track (blue wave file at the top), as well as the detail in splitting up the song by multiple parts per second (extremely tiny vertical columns). The song time in seconds is labeled above the sound file at the top.
Image courtesy of ​Light-O-Rama.

Feel free to send us any questions or comments about The Allison Christmas Spectacular!
We would love to hear from you, and Merry Christmas from our family to yours!


Dates

Thanksgiving - New Year's

Hours

6-10 pm nightly

Cost

Free, drive-by display

Phone

850-509-0400

E-mail

allisonchristmasspectacular@gmail.com

Location

240 Sandy Creek Road, Havana, FL

Our Christmas suppliers
Our Christmas services providers

A big thank you to all of these companies for all they do!
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​© 2020 The Allison Christmas Spectacular!
  • Home
  • About
    • Schedule
    • Debut
    • Expansions 2009-Present
    • LED Overhaul 2019
    • News and Radio
    • Our Ministry
    • Who We Are
  • Media
  • Backstage
    • Social Media
    • Electricity
    • Preparation Time
    • Tops of Trees
    • Mega Trees
    • Sound System and Radio
    • How the Lights Dance
  • Contact
  • Donate