Vixen vs Light show pro

[richardb]

I have just spent several thousand dollars on lights, controllers, wire, and an attorney for the pending divorce,
why would I not spend a few hundred on light show pro?
My question is to those who have used both...  You know they say get the right tool for the job.
Is lsp or vixen the right tool? My time is worth a lot of money (as is most persons). Would spending $$$ on lsp pay for itself in reduced time sequencing?  Does it have an easier leaning curve?
Let's talk about it.
(I don't know what lsp costs) but how many of us wouldn't think twice about pay $150 for an aether and solder kit, but fret over $200 for a program to make it all possible.
This is my first show, sequence, et al. I would rather have the right tools...

As for the divorce atty, that was for dramatics. My wife is behind me as long as I do a Halloween show as well as Christmas show...

[castortiu]

Don't worry, there are many in here with pending divorce.

Now my wife after the first show is more supportive, but I already have a warning and incoming yellow card, if I keep spending money like there is no tomorrow definitely she will show me the red card and probably you know what that means. 

[Rainlover]

richardb,
I am also working on my first light show. I started out with Vixen and have spent probably a hundred hours sequencing songs with it this year. I feel very comfortable using it. I tried using the LSP demo and I could not get the hang of it. My old brain was so used to the way that Vixen worked that I could not alter my thinking to use LSP. If I would have started out with LSP, I probably would still be using it. I think that LSP is the future of sequencing with the explosion of RGB technology, but for now, I will stick with Vixen because I am so used to it.
With any software, there is a learning curve with either one. I think LSP has a lot to offer and will continue to grow in popularity as the software is upgraded and improved. I really think that LSP is more powerful and has more bells and whistles.
Download the free demo version of LSP and watch the tutorials
 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
 Give yourself a chance to learn it and understand it.
You can also download Vixen and watch the tutorials  at
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
Vixen is free. LSP costs $89, but LSP can do a lot of things that Vixen can't do.
I am definitely not an expert on this subject. This is only my opinion.
My wife of 38 years tells me that I am obsessed, but I tell her that I am driven.

I hope this helps.

John

[richardb]

All of this mention of RGB has got me interested...
Besides the Aether, what else is commonly used???

[jnealand]

I think that the future of lighting animation will be in RGB lighting.  That being so, I purchased LSP since I think long term there will be more to offer going down the LSP path.  I started year 1 with all LOR hardware and LOR software.  Year 2 was a mix of LOR and LYNX hardware and Vixen 2.1 software.  This will be year 3 and I plan to continue with LOR and LYNX hardware, but with LSP software.  All development work on Vixen seems to have come to a complete stop and as of now I am not confident that we will see another version of Vixen even though I know a version 3 is rumored.  Software development takes a long time and being free, as in Vixen, would mean (to me) that the priority on the developers time personal time will not be the highest.  My fallback plan is to go back to LOR and buy an IDMX adapter so that I can stay with DMX if I have to.  Especially since I already own the LOR software.

Any software you get has a learning curve.  Based on everything I have read, using LSP is totally different than using Vixen and requires a new mindset about how to program, but it seems to pay dividends once you pass the initial learning curve.  I'm not there yet.