Who has the best lightning and thunder machine?

[N2SPOOKINU]

I just got my new firefly delivered 5 minutes ago. If the packaging is any indication of how this thing works it's going to be an impressive light show at fearfest! This is a very impressive machine! I cant wait until Transworld to see what else they have in store for us. Thanks LIGHTS ALIVE!
Greg

[damon carson]

Let us know how it works Greg. Im considering one. It looks like a nice lighting system.
Damon

[Mike Honcho]

yes greg do tell all

[N2SPOOKINU]

Ok heres the 411 on my firefly 501.......ITS AWSOME!!!! When you buy one make sure it is the 501. it has 5 channels. 4 lightning and one channel to put house, street, or porch lights on. When the thunder claps the street light dims and flickers like there's going to be a power outage. I LOVE this feature.

The four channels allow you to put seprate lights on all four and they go off at diffrent times to make it look like the lightning is rolling all over the sky following the stereo sound track.

I installed it tonite and I think it is GREAT!!! I give them 5 stars for this product.

There is ONE little thing I wish they could change. While playing the sound track I noticed the loud claps of thunder come about a minute apart. If you keep customers moving they may miss the spectacular thunder clap light show and just see the rolling lighting light display instead.

I wish the loud claps would be timed more frequently but I am not complaining. It is a great system and i am glad Damon said something about it which is why I checked out their website.

It's installed and working great. The instructions were very clear and easy to understand. I highly recommend one for EVERY haunt out there!!!!

[damon carson]

Hey Greg thanks for telling us how it works. I thought it would be good. Wow the feature for street lights ect sounds awesome. So it really looks like its messing with the power or electricity that is really a neat feature! Why cant you take your cd or thunder cd and remix it or burn the parts where thunder claps or louder and more frequent? At least thats what I would do or is this a track thats built in? If it isnt I dont see why you couldnt put something together. If you need any help let me know. Ive d.jayed long enough I could do it for you if you need me to. Have fun with it! How much does that model you have go for? If its not too high I may just have to get one it sounds awesome!
Damon

[N2SPOOKINU]

Damon, they axplain in the instruction manual that it has more than just the thunder laid on the track and thats why it looks so awsome I guess.
It picks up things on the track to activate the lights seconds before the clap of thunder and allows it to "flutter" like a real lightning storm does when it is just rolling instead of loud claps if that makes any sense to anyone. LOL.
Anyway, i dont know if it would work or not to burn another copy and modify it. It comes with 2 cds and 4 diffrent tracks on each cd. 1 with thunder only for incandescent bulbs and 1 thunder only for LED bulbs. it also has 1 for thunder/wind/rain for incandescent bulbs and the same for LED bulbs. These 4 are in stereo. They also have the mono 4 tracks on a seperate cd.
I think you have to get the 501 toget the stereo 5 channel system.
I probably confused you guys more than helped clear it up for you. You guys at Lights alive. If I am incorrect on any of this please correct me. This is a great product and i am glad to have it at Fearfest!
Greg

[damon carson]

Hmm sounds like you could probably look at a timer on the cd player and time where the most effective parts are on the tracks and just time them closer or mix them so they are more frequent. But it is kinda confusing what your saying.? Im not sure maybe we can figure out something if you want just let me know.
Damon

[beardedbil]

Here is a suggestion and something I have implemented in the past at different attractions... Copy whatever track you like to a Gilderfluke SD-10, then trigger that with a step mat, or sensor and there you go... Thunder and Lighting ON CUE.

[LightsAlive]

Thanks for the good words, Greg. Glad you like the unit. Here's the lowdown on the audio.

There are two audio thunder CD's included with the unit, a stereo CD and mono CD. (Only the mono CD ships with the mono FF-101.) Virgil (Master of the Ethermuse) created the tracks for us. Some tracks have the dynamic range compressed to match the dynamic response of LED lights. On the mono CD, there's an audio channel, and a control channel that triggers the lights. The control signal leads the audio signal based on the "distance" of the thunder. As in nature, the flash comes before the sound. Distant lightning is seen before the thunder. Close strikes are virtually simultaneous.

As far as re-recording, or using other audio goes... it will work. It won't be optimized for various lights, so it won't work as well as our CD's, but it will work. In fact, there's a sound-to-light mode that responds to the full range of audio, rather than just to thunder. it can be used to control props with music. We're still tweaking this, so it hasn't made it to YouTube yet, but here's a demo video of FireFly controlling lights in a prop. http://www.lights-alive.com/video/FireFly-Welcome.mp4

Steve Peterka
Lights Alive
www.lights-alive.com
www.myspace.com/lights_alive

Booth 815, 14th annual Haunt and Attractions Show
March 27-29, St. Louis

[Loud &twisted]

Thanks for the good words, Greg. Glad you like the unit. Here's the lowdown on the audio.

There are two audio thunder CD's included with the unit, a stereo CD and mono CD. (Only the mono CD ships with the mono FF-101.) Virgil (Master of the Ethermuse) created the tracks for us. Some tracks have the dynamic range compressed to match the dynamic response of LED lights. On the mono CD, there's an audio channel, and a control channel that triggers the lights. The control signal leads the audio signal based on the "distance" of the thunder. As in nature, the flash comes before the sound. Distant lightning is seen before the thunder. Close strikes are virtually simultaneous.

As far as re-recording, or using other audio goes... it will work. It won't be optimized for various lights, so it won't work as well as our CD's, but it will work. In fact, there's a sound-to-light mode that responds to the full range of audio, rather than just to thunder. it can be used to control props with music. We're still tweaking this, so it hasn't made it to YouTube yet, but here's a demo video of FireFly controlling lights in a prop. http://www.lights-alive.com/video/FireFly-Welcome.mp4

Steve Peterka
Lights Alive
www.lights-alive.com
www.myspace.com/lights_alive

Booth 815, 14th annual Haunt and Attractions Show
March 27-29, St. Louis

I look foward to checking your creations out in St. Louis.

[LightsAlive]

Ok heres the 411 on my firefly 501.......ITS AWSOME!!!! When you buy one make sure it is the 501. it has 5 channels. 4 lightning and one channel to put house, street, or porch lights on. When the thunder claps the street light dims and flickers like there's going to be a power outage. I LOVE this feature.

The four channels allow you to put seprate lights on all four and they go off at diffrent times to make it look like the lightning is rolling all over the sky following the stereo sound track.

I installed it tonite and I think it is GREAT!!! I give them 5 stars for this product.

There is ONE little thing I wish they could change. While playing the sound track I noticed the loud claps of thunder come about a minute apart. If you keep customers moving they may miss the spectacular thunder clap light show and just see the rolling lighting light display instead.

I wish the loud claps would be timed more frequently but I am not complaining. It is a great system and i am glad Damon said something about it which is why I checked out their website.

It's installed and working great. The instructions were very clear and easy to understand. I highly recommend one for EVERY haunt out there!!!!

We took note of your suggestion. In the interest of delivering the best products to our customers, we asked Virgil to update our thunder CD's. FireFlys shipped since mid-August have included our revised CD's, with more thunder.

Enjoy!

Steve
Lights Alive
www.lights-alive.com

[N2SPOOKINU]

Hey Steve, in the intrest of being a fan and a customer of the firefly and since I was the one to suggest the modification. How about sending me a copy of the updated CD for my customers to enjoy this season????? Just thought I would ask.......
Thanks,
Greg
Fearfest

[LightsAlive]

Greg,

Check your e-mail.

Steve
Lights Alive

[N2SPOOKINU]

Thanks Steve for the info.
Greg
Fearfest

[Spookyfinder]

I do know this... we've went through 2 of the Frightprops machines because the lightning/lighting triggers keep shorting out and now, I'm left without any lightning!

Sad. -Tyler