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Things have been progressing nicely. Song #2, Wonderful Christmas Time is complete and I’m well on the way through song #3, Jingle Bells. Some may ask, “Why the heck are you messing around with Jingle Bells when you included it in last years show?” The answer is that last year’s Jingle Bells was sequenced for 64 channels and this year it needs to be enhanced for 176 channels. Any repeats from previous years have to be re-sequenced to account for the added channels.

One really big accomplishments was capturing the voices of our three elves, Jingle, Jangle and Elf Judy. They completed nine voice overs that will lead us through the show. And not only will you hear them, we’ve captured a representation of them for all to see. Here is a picture of our elves at their recording session (from L-R Jangle, Elf Judy and Jingle) followed by the way you will be able to see Jangle.

Now comes the task of sequencing the elves’ voices so the Jangle above, and the other two elves, along with a surprise guest, will actually move their “mouths” to coincide with the words you hear. Should be interesting.

With only

116 days

until the lights go on, I’m feeling some pressure to get things in a higher gear, since we were out of town for 20 days in July.

All that aside, I’ve tested all of the LOR controllers, including a new one that wasn’t anticipated, but necessary if I plan on getting the elves to “talk” correctly, and they work perfectly. So now I’m up to 176 usable channels. I don’t think I’ll use all of them this year, but I’m ready if need be. I’ve tested the new DC board and the MR16 LEDs that will be run off them, and I’m pleased with the brightness of the lights. I’ve got red, green, and blue lights that will be used to wash the house with color. And in conjunction with the MR16s, I’ve soldered a 22 ohm resistor to one leg of each of the connectors which allows the MR16s to dim. They do dim differently then the mini-lights, so that will have to be considered during the sequencing phase.

And the good news is that I’ve finished sequencing my first song, The Holidays Are Coming, sung by Melanie Thorton. This song is the basis for the Coke commercial which I’m sure everyone has seen over the years. This will be the first song of the show after the introduction by the three elves. The bad news is that I’ve got 8 more songs to sequence, as well as sequencing the elves. But I’ve still got 116 days to get it accomplished, plus a lot of other odds and ends.

Back to it.