The image shown is the editor software.  It is the heart of the system.  The software program layout is similar to a spreadsheet.  Each row is a different channel of lights (only about 50 channels are in the view below).  Each vertical column defines one beat of music.  Differing patterns and colors determine when lights turn on or off for each channel.  Some patterns ramp the lights on or ramp off while other patterns may blink or twinkle.  The process of designing and sequencing a song is slow and tedious.  Timing needs to be perfect because the human eye and ear can detect a light action that is out of beat with the music by only a few thousands of a second. 

I first plan the design by mentally thinking about what I want the audience to see, the lighting pace, and patterns.  I start by listening to a song 4 or 5 times as I visualize how I want the lights to respond to the music, then I start with the layout and programming phase.  Often I assign specific lights to a particular instrument.  On average, it takes about 5 hours of development time per minute of a song to design and program all 144 channels of lights.  Therefore, a typical 4 minute song takes at least 20 hours to "sequence."  However, once it is done, I can use that song every year.

When sequencing is done for all songs, I use "show editor" software (not shown) to determine which order the songs are played, how often they play, and to announce narrations between shows.  Once set up, there is nothing else to do.  The lights and music automatically start each night and play in a predefined program sequence at the times I programmed.  The software runs on a computer that is normally dedicated to controlling and recording security cameras around the home, but the computer has extra capacity to run this software at the same time.

So now you have the big picture about what is involved.  There are many details that are not mentioned here.

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