Newbie Needs Your Help w 2 minute Happy Birthday Pyromusical

[Bitzan]

Pyro Friends,

My mom?s 90th birthday is this coming Friday (8/7). I got bit by the Pyro bug early this summer. My goal is to put on a very small Happy Birthday fireworks display. I am using a combination of Dominator 1.4 comets, Dominator 1.4 Cake slices, Sexy Rider consumer cake, High Flautin? consumer cake and a mix of Dominator 1.4 62mm shells. My newness to the hobby is my single greatest limitation; the others are ? only have (1) Cobra 18M (therefore only 18 cues), no Audio Box (will have to start the show at the right moment in sync with iPod). I am the father of budding musicians, so I have a full powered PA system (and the bad back from carrying it everywhere for them but that is another post).

In an effort to plan this out I downloaded video clips of the various fireworks and used video editing software to put them on top of the audio track (crude, but no money left for real pyromusical software). Here it is how it looks:

https://youtu.be/tQZDjCXE7Qc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQZDjCXE7Qc&feature=youtu.be


How I intend to shoot:
The first 12 comets I intend to have in two racks of 6. Since I am out of cues, I will need to fuse each rack so that they ignite four seconds apart. Found a video on you tube where the rack has a routered slot down the middle for visco. If I use 18 second per foot visco and space the comets 2.67 inches apart with a little luck they will fire four seconds apart. By cueing rack ?A? at ?0 seconds? and rack ?B? at ?2 seconds? I will have a comet every 2 seconds (plus or minus).

The balance should be able to be fired from the remaining 16 cues on the Cobra.

My questions for everyone here:

Any suggestions for improvement on the show?
I am located in Avon, OH just outside of Cleveland and willing to drive. Is there anyone who rents a Cobra Audio Box or 18M?


My Intended Rack Builds - ANY GUIDANCE?

Comets ? 1x6x6 with corner braces every 2.67 inches and comet zip tied
Cake Slices ? Not sure yet. Thoughts?
62 mm Shells ? Not sure yet ? 1x3 or ?? plywood ? any guidance?


Thank you to all that have read this far and to those who reply with advice. My goal is to be able to contribute back to the community in the very near future.

Thanks again,
John

[esgrillo]

John, I see those comets are dominator. They only have a port on the bottom for an ematch (new model anyway). They are either 35mm or 40mm(they switched to 40mm this year) so from center to center you are are at ~2.7 in.... not sure how you could fit that in a rack and then still have your distance you need for timing... plus I assume that you are going to daisy chain visco to the ematch ports on the bottom???

Ive done a lot of crazy fusing over the years but never tried daisy chaining to the ematch port. I guess you could do it but no experience with that.

For a few cake slices... I used to just tape them like crazy to a side of a cake. Never had an issue. I have slice racks now since I shoot hundreds of them in my show.

For the 62mm shells, make a wood rack. You need to rip a 2x4 a little to get the right width. 2x3 is to narrow. I have some pics in the beginning of my 2020 video showing me making 3 unit racks for 62mm. The link for that is below. I made a 7 shot fan for them last year and the both worked well. Show looks good. The PFX13FR3 is a great slice... I probably had 50 of them in my show lol

If you can get another 18m to do all your single shots with MJG you would make your show a lot more precise and easier to set up.

[Robbro097]

When are u planning the show for? For the 62mm rack builds your gonna need to rip some 2x4s to the right size 2x3 aren't wide enough (but work perfect for 1.9 hdpe tubes). Lookks like ed beat me

[Robbro097]

Check your pm

[WithReport]

What you did with that video is pretty impressive, and probably a lot of work.

It looks like you probably have you script pinned down pretty well. I hope you have a great show.

One suggestion on scripting software if your looking for something on a budget. Use PyroIgnitionControl (PIC) for scripting. It is free. I have a version with a fireTEK plugin and I have used it for most of my shows and it works great for both pyro and DMX. Unfortunately I don't think there is a Cobra plug in (I think that is strange because it would be quite popular). However, any script format can be converted into another systems format - just may require some thinking ahead with different numbers of cues per system or rail. I have created scripts in the fireTEK format with PIC and then created a spreadsheet file that converts it to Cobra script for my 18R2 - for small numbers of cues and modules, it would be pretty hassle free.

http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=5226&stc=1

[WithReport]

Another thought for manually syncing the script and audio.

Compile your soundtrack in Audacity or similar application and give you self a 20 second silent lead in. At 7s, 8s, 9s, & 10s, create a short subtle tone - just like the starting tone for the old mario cart races. Then the music starts at 20s.

Provide a 10s lead in on your firing script.

You start the music, at the 10s tone - you start the firing script. If for some reason you think you hosed up, you have 10 seconds to stop the audio and the firing script and try again.

And you can dry run it a few times to see how it works out.

it should provide for a hassle free - clean start. (and much better than just trying start both devices at the same time)

[Bitzan]

Esgrillo, Thanks for the input. Here is the video I intend to emulate for the fused comets. About the 1:50 minute mark is where it gets interesting. Agree on the additional 18M but one more firework item this year will cost me just over 1/2 of everything I own :)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v0GfYaDJjw

[Bitzan]

LOVE this idea - thank you!!

[Bitzan]

Another thought for manually syncing the script and audio.

Compile your soundtrack in Audacity or similar application and give you self a 20 second silent lead in. At 7s, 8s, 9s, & 10s, create a short subtle tone - just like the starting tone for the old mario cart races. Then the music starts at 20s.

Provide a 10s lead in on your firing script.

You start the music, at the 10s tone - you start the firing script. If for some reason you think you hosed up, you have 10 seconds to stop the audio and the firing script and try again.

And you can dry run it a few times to see how it works out.

it should provide for a hassle free - clean start. (and much better than just trying start both devices at the same time)

LOVE THIS IDEA (I am new at Forums as well so probable hosed up my reply!)

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I'm the low tech pyro on the boards. Also from Cleveland. (Explains a lot, right?)

I don't shoot anywhere near as much stuff as Ed, and I don't have the skills or time to build fancy racks for all varieties of AP products out there.

So what I do is use a lot of dowel rods and stakes and speed tape. If you have the skills and time to build nice racks, by all means. Do that! However, if time and skill and money is an issue, head over to Wal Mart and grab a bunch of dowel rods from the hobby section for $0.20 each. Stick them in the ground, tape your effects to them, and you're done! If you're shooting slices, stake them front and back and you're done. Quick. Easy. Cheap. Effective.

[Bitzan]

I'm the low tech pyro on the boards. Also from Cleveland. (Explains a lot, right?)

I don't shoot anywhere near as much stuff as Ed, and I don't have the skills or time to build fancy racks for all varieties of AP products out there.

So what I do is use a lot of dowel rods and stakes and speed tape. If you have the skills and time to build nice racks, by all means. Do that! However, if time and skill and money is an issue, head over to Wal Mart and grab a bunch of dowel rods from the hobby section for $0.20 each. Stick them in the ground, tape your effects to them, and you're done! If you're shooting slices, stake them front and back and you're done. Quick. Easy. Cheap. Effective.

Rick, I appreciate the input. The initial jump into pyro and Cobra has my CFO imposing a near-term budget hold (i.e quit spending for a bit or sleep on the couch) so low-tech / quick, easy, cheap, is a welcome and necessary option! My concern of course is safety and it is always good to know some of these low cost solutions work safely.

[Birdman]

I don't have an audio box either so I put a countdown in the beginning of the audio track that I play at the show (I script without the countdown). When the countdown gets to 1 I start my script on the remote. This has worked well for me so far. I was hoping to get an audio box for next year but I'm going to opt for more cues out of my budget instead (because the countdown has worked out well so far).

I understand that with few cues long duration cakes are necessary. I have 3 18M's but have done several small (happy birthday type) shows that utilized a fraction of the cues I have. Be aware that you will get really mixed timing out of consumer cakes and the more shots in the cake the more the timing can/will differ from cake to cake. Anticipate the shortest time you see the cake fire in videos but don't be surprised if it runs a bit longer than the longest time you've seen. Overlapping things will help avoid dark sky when cakes fire faster than expected. Try to use the consumer cakes or anything fused together when timing is less important and the 1.4 pro (wired) where you really want/need to sync with the soundtrack wherever possible. Also, the first shot fired in a consumer cake should fire when expected (if you poke cakes), so these can be synced to the audio with good confidence but all bets are off for all other shots in the cake.

Another option is adding some some fountains into the show as filler, if you can (relatively cheap and long lasting) . They will give the audience something to look at if you encounter unexpected dark sky. For example, should something not work as expected when you fire the series of fused pro tubes. When doing a very small budget show I've already chose a song because it had a long intro or other part(s) that I can fill with fountains. I've already placed them closer to the audience and hand lit them which a) saves cues and b) makes them more impressive then putting them way back with your bigger stuff that needs more distance.

I'm just throwing a bunch of stuff out there. Take from it what you will. Looks like you have it all conceptualized and planned out well. I'll be interested to see how the fused Dominator tubes work out.

This 4th I had very mixed results with trying to time consumer cakes. Some fired way faster and some fired a bit longer. A couple fired as expected. Don't expect perfection when working with anything fused. If you get it close to how you imagined it, consider that a success. I have the link to my 4th video below and you can see/hear how I start the script on the remote after the countdown. If you want more information on adding a countdown just let me know.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/435815697

There was no 1.4 pro in my show. Below is the link to the thread where I posted my script. The Unleashed cakes fired WAY faster than I anticipated and only saw one old video where they fired as fast as mine did. I should have tested one to have a better idea. The High Falutin cake actually fired a bit slower than I expected. You can also see where firing 2+ of the same cake at the same time still resulted in slight timing differences between them. I also used STEP scripting to fire my finale. You might want to consider STEP scripting to give you a little more control and flexibility when sequences fire.

http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?8137-My-4th-show

[Engineer Cat]

Another thought for manually syncing the script and audio.

Compile your soundtrack in Audacity or similar application and give you self a 20 second silent lead in. At 7s, 8s, 9s, & 10s, create a short subtle tone - just like the starting tone for the old mario cart races. Then the music starts at 20s.

Provide a 10s lead in on your firing script.

You start the music, at the 10s tone - you start the firing script. If for some reason you think you hosed up, you have 10 seconds to stop the audio and the firing script and try again.

And you can dry run it a few times to see how it works out.

it should provide for a hassle free - clean start. (and much better than just trying start both devices at the same time)

Great idea, This makes so much sense.