I have been using LSP for 3 years now and it has come a long way. I found that I really had to change my thinking how to sequence a show. Last year a created a show using almost 100% layers and transitions. Once I moved away from relying on a grid, it really simplified sequencing. The following is a quick video on the technique I use.
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LoginAnd here is the output of the visualizer for my show. The only place where I relied on the grid was for the snowflakes above the garage.
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LoginIf you use transitions, adding elements to a show can be trivial. For example, if I were to add RGB lights to my bushes, all I would need to do is open the sequences, add a new controller for the RGB lights on the bushes, map the controller to an existing layer and then regenerate the transitions.
Transitions also make sharing sequences more feasible. If you were to take my sugar plum sequence, you could easily map to your shows layout in minutes by performing the following steps.
1. Delete all of my controllers.
2. Add controllers (Add one controller per element in your show i.e., house lights, tree, wreath, etc.)
3. Draw all of your elements in the visualizer
4. Map controllers (elements) to layers
5. Regenerate all transitions
6. Done
No mapping channels, copy/paste, adding/deleting channels, etc. You can also easily adjust between shows from 64 channels to several thousand by just mapping controllers to layers.
Since I am using PixelNet/DMX, I also add a controller to LSP per element in my show. An element would be a mega tree, wreath, bush, house lights etc. This allows you to map a controller (element) directly to a layer. I Avoid thinking about a controller as the physical box since you never actually need to address a controller directly and instead just use channel numbers which can span multiple controllers.
When I find sometime , I will put together a tutorial on this.
As for performance, I upgraded to using a SSD last year and that made a huge difference. My only regret is I didn't upgrade to SSD sooner. LSP outputs very large files so having an SSD improves time to load, save and playback sequences. Also, Windows 8 boots in seconds with the SSD. I performed all of my sequencing using Win8 without any issues. I have 8.1 installed now, but haven't played with LSP yet.