JLTSoft

JLTSoft develops innovative software solutions for expanding and controlling the capabilities of home automation hardware. Our flagship product, LightShowMaster, allows you to design an animated light show synchronized to music using existing Insteon hardware products.

Design your very own animated light shows using LightShowMaster and Insteon technology!

November 16, 2008

Light Show Master appears in Smarthome's new 2008 Holiday Gift Guide print catalog!

Our Light Show Master 2.0 product appears in Smarthome's new 2008 Holiday Gift Guide Domestic Retail Catalog on page 54. Click on the image above to download the PDF soft-copy of the catalog.

October 8, 2008

LIGHT SHOW MASTER 2.0 Manual RELEASED!
We just released the full software manual for Light Show Master 2.0.x. Get it now in the downloads section.

September 30, 2008

LIGHT SHOW MASTER 2.0.1 BETA RELEASED!
We just released a quick update to Light Show Master. Here's what's new:

New Features:

Completely reworked the show schedule logic. The 7-day schedule has been replaced with show events that allow you to create an unlimited number of events that have their own start/stop date and times. You are no longer limited to starting/stopping your shows on the hour or half-hour. You can now have events that span minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or even years! You now can even create multiple events for a single day.
Added new show trigger feature. With this option enabled, now your show will only start playing if it is currently during one of the scheduled events and if a specific Insteon device (such as a motion detector) has triggered Light Show Master to start playing. You just link the trigger device as a controller with the PLM as the responder, and enter the device id of the trigger device in the Show Properties window. When Light Show Master is triggered, it will play the show through once and then go back to waiting for a trigger.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed bug when trying to add sequences to the show that were created with 2.0.x that resulted in the file validation to fail.

September 11, 2008

LIGHT SHOW MASTER 2.0.0 BETA RELEASED!
Just in time for folks who want to start working on Halloween displays! After much work and great amounts of anticipation, we are pleased to publically release our all-new version of Light Show Master that now features PLM support! Unfortunately, this new version will only work with the PLM. But trust us, this is a good thing. Take a look at what's new:

New Features:

Replaced PLC support with faster, more capable PLM Support.
Supports sending up to 20 commands per second sustained!
Removed sluggish SDM library from software. No longer needed!
Added user-adjustable tempo control. Sequence tempo can now be set anywhere from 16 bpm to 220 bpm.
Sequences are now divided into 64-cell blocks representing a measure of 4 beats. Column markers now denote 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 4/4 beats.
Complete overhaul of sequence graphics display.
Fade representations greatly improved. Now fades will dynamically "stretch" and "shrink" in real-time as you adjust the tempo of the sequence.
Complete overhaul of the channel properties screen. Now setting up your Insteon devices is a piece of cake! Just type in the device id for each device you want to add to a channel, and let Light Show Master manage all the link programming for you!
Channel properties screen now allows you edit all channels without having to bring up the channel properties separately for each channel.
Added automated support for deleting/removing links from your Insteon devices.
As you add/remove devices and select/unselect fade intervals, Light Show Master now queues up all the changes that need to be written to your Insteon devices. When you're ready, you can just sit back and relax while Light Show Master programs all of the link changes for you. You don't even have to think about it! No more hand-written group tables or tedious manual programming of links one at a time!
Now supports 20 different fade intervals (versus the 7 intervals supported in version 1.x).
Automatically sends a command to shut off all Insteon devices simultaneously when stopping playback.
New feature automatically shows you errors in your sequence where you have overlapping commands that can't be sent.
Fade-up optimization eliminates the need for a useless "ON" command that you used to have to add at the end of a fade-up sequence.
New command: Force Off. Can be used to force a channel off wherever it is needed. Useful for turning off a channel in the middle of a fade, or after a channel was turned on with a fade up.
Added "Chan" and "Seq" buttons to sequence window for additional ways to get to the channel and sequence property windows.
Auto-scans for PLM on all serial ports.
Added button on Sequence Properties screen that will erase everything in a sequence but keep all of the channel programming.
Added audio file "preview" functionality to the sequence properties screen. Now you don't have to play the sequence in order to see if you selected the right file.
Demo-mode now allows you to work on a full-length sequence, but you'll only be able to play the first minute of the sequence.
Added volume control to toolbar.
Media files can now be saved as relative paths if the media file is in the same directory as the sequence file. This makes it much easier to share sequences with others!
Optimized real-time channel display so only the channel "flashers" are rendered during playback, and not the entire channel box.
Added the ability to load the link programming from another existing sequence. You can choose whether you want to load just the links or load the links + channel names and channel colors.
Added button in channel properties that allows you to clear and reset all link programming from the sequence. This allows you to replace the link programming from somebody else's sequences.
Added button in channel properties to wipe a single channel clean of all sequence commands.
Added automatic check for newer versions of Light Show Master.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed bug in status bar that would flash "SHOW PLAYING" while using the horizontal scroll bar in a sequence.
Fixed bug that sent all commands prior to starting position of frame when using the "Play Frame" feature, instead of just sending the visible commands.
Fixed bug that left "Stop" and "Pause" buttons enabled on startup.
Fixed bug that would display incorrect sequence length when you loaded another sequence window.
Fixed bug where the horizontal scroll bar wasn't being readjusted when loading a sequence.
Fixed bug where last column was not being displayed.
Fixed crash bug if you tried to play a sequence with a non-existent media file.
Fixed bug that would still display sequence position, length, and # of channels in the status bar when no sequences were open.
Fixed bugs that wouldn't mark a sequence as unsaved if certain settings were changes.
Fixed bug when trying to play a sequence when the media file doesn't exist.
Fixed bug where media would continue to play if you closed the sequence during playback.

Recommended Requirements:

1.7 Ghz or faster CPU
Windows XP, 2000, 2003, Vista 32/64
Insteon PowerLincModem (PLM)
1 or more Insteon LampLinc V2 modules or other Insteon responder devices
2 AccessPoints or 2 SignalLincs recommended

Head over to the Light Show Master downloads now to give it a try!

August 19, 2008

All new version of Light Show Master coming soon!
We are hard at work on the all new version of Light Show Master 2.0! Here's just a few teasers on what's coming in the new version:

PLM support.
User-adjustable sequence tempo from 16 beats-per-minute all the way up to 480 beats-per-minute.
Improved sequence display.
Support for 20 different fade intervals (versus the 7 intervals currently supported).
Improved and automated link management.

We are shooting for a public beta release sometime in early September, which should give users enough time to put together shows for Halloween! Oh, did I mention that Light Show Master 2.0 will be a FREE upgrade to all current users? ;)

March 27, 2008

We are moving! J-LTFX to be delayed...
Just a quick status update on J-LTFX, our home automation web server for Insteon that we will be releasing later in the year. We are moving to a new house in the near future, and because of all the moving activites, we won't be able to focus on J-LTFX as much over the next month or two. As a matter of fact, we'll have to buy all new Insteon equipment! At this point, I think J-LTFX will be released closer to the end of Q2 2008 or possibly even early Q3 2008.

January 25, 2008

Manual for Light Show Master 1.2 now available!
The complete manual for Light Show Master 1.2 is now finally available! Download it here!

January 24, 2008

Manual for Light Show Master 1.2
The complete manual for the current version of Light Show Master will finally be available in the next 48 hours. The manual includes detailed explanations, screenshots, tips, and tutorials on how to use the software. Most importantly, we do a thorough walkthrough on how to program the links for several devices, which is probably the most complicated piece of the software.

As a reminder, we are coming out with a new version of Light Show Master sometime later in the year (around Q2) that will be PLM-only. This new version will be more powerful and far easier to use, and we'll create a new manual for it that will be released at the same time. The new version will be a free upgrade for all existing users.

January 9, 2008

New version of Light Show Master coming in 2008!
We are working on an all-new version of Light Show Master that will have some pretty significant changes over previous versions. First and foremost, Light Show Master will be entirely ditching support of the PLC in favor of the PLM. With the PLM, we will finally be able to support an amazing 20 commands per second! You will now be able to flash lights on & off at a maximum of 10 times per second (10 on commands + 10 off commands = 20 commands). The PLM requires a lot less resources on the host computer and does not use the inefficient SDM library. As a result, Light Show Master should perform even better on slower, less powerful computers! We are also redesigning the way the channels are configured for Insteon devices. In previous versions, the user had to tediously configure all of the links between the PLC and their Insteon devices, creating a mess of group numbers that the user had to keep track of. Light Show Master is going to improve this process tremendously by managing and programming the links and groups for you. It will also be able to clear out the link databases on your devices so you won't have to go around doing factory resets on all of your Insteon hardware. We'll have more details about the new version of Light Show Master later in the year. Look for a new beta sometime in Q2 2008!

January 2, 2008

Announcing J-LTFX!
We have some big news today. JLTSoft has just formally announced our next software product, J-LTFX. J-LTFX, which will be available Q1 2008, is a dedicated lightweight, software-based home automation web server that you can run on a computer with minimal hardware requirements. It uses a PLM to control and manage your Insteon network. The best part of J-LTFX is that it will be available for the low introductory price of $39.95! See the official announcement on Smarthome's forums here.

October 18, 2007

Light Show Master BETA 1.2.0 RELEASED!
Due to popular demand, we've just released our first BETA version of 1.2.0! Please note that this release has not yet undergone extensive testing. Please kindly report any and all bugs to support@jltsoft.com. Proceed to the downloads section to download and try the new version!

BETA 1.2.0 feature list:

Recompiled code under .NET 2.0 Libraries
Support for Windows Vista added
Enabled fades for Insteon Group in Channel Properties
Replaced Windows Media Player code with DirectX 9 code.
Enhanced fade depiction in sequence display.
Added enhacement to fade tools that hightlights the cells that will be affected if the user were to click the left mouse button while hovering over a cell in the sequence.
Fixed bug that caused some tools not to become selected on the first click. This bug sometimes required a second click to activate the tool.
Selection tool, fill tool, and erase tools now all have an animated dashed-outline for easier identification.
Changed the first 16 default channel colors from red to a rainbow spectrum.
Fixed bug where last few seconds of sequence display wouldn't update during playback.
Added "Tap" feature that allows you to "tap-out" the beat of the music by tapping the space bar while playing the music. A tap-symbol will appear in the selected channel.
Added keyboard shortcuts for tools: (1=select, 2=draw, 3=fill, 4=fade up, 5=fade down, 6=erase, +=zoom in, -=zoom out)
Pressing the delete key while an area is selected will delete the selection.
Right-clicking with the draw tool will now erase cells (turn off)
Added filters to media selection dialog.

October 11, 2007

Thanks to our users who contacted us to let us know that we weren't getting their emails! Our apologies! We didn't have mail forwarding set up correctly and only just now discovered that some folks were trying to get in touch with us. We also understand that our support forum on AccessHA is going away when AccessHA goes offline permanently on October 12, 2007. We'll have to look for a new place to move our support forum to. In the meantime, please feel free to send us an email if you have support questions. I promise we'll get it this time!

For those of you who have inquired about the status of the next version of Light Show Master, we're tentatively planning to release a beta in about 2 weeks or so. We have run into some technical difficulties with the Insteon protocol that prevents us from implementing certain features the way we wanted.

August 8, 2007

We've just completed the redesign of our company web site and it is now live. We hope you like the changes! With that out of the way, we're now focusing on the new version of LightShowMaster, slated for release late summer/early fall. The new version will make use of DirectX for audio playback instead of Windows Media Player, and is also compiled using the newer .Net 2.0 libraries. Stay tuned for more details!

August 6, 2007

A new version of LightShowMaster is under development! We're working on a new version of our software that will introduce some new features and enhancements. If you would like to suggest enhancements to LightShowMaster, please send us an email at support@jltsoft.com.

Proud member of the Insteon Alliance since 2006.

Introducing J-LTFX!
New software-based home automation web server solution coming soon from JLTSoft! Control your Insteon network, manage links, and create timers and events all remotely via any Internet-enabled web browser or device!

Looking to try something new with your Insteon home automation equipment? Take a look at LightShowMaster and open up a new world of animated light shows! [Read More]