# Building Light Show Creator: Part 2

Replacing a difficult timeline editor with piano-style manual controls designed for a phone’s touchscreen.

> Light Show Creator had been available for a while when users told me that, although automatic mode was convenient, manual mode could suit a phone particularly well. I began planning a new manual mode.

![Manual-mode preview](/media/9ccdb535/preview.gif)

The earliest prototype actually had manual editing. Like xLights, it used a timeline. The result was not satisfactory: fine timeline controls worked better with a mouse than a touchscreen. I removed manual mode from the first public release and kept only automatic generation.

> ![The old timeline-based editor](/media/9ccdb535/old.jpeg)
> The old version was difficult to use.

A piano app recently gave me another idea. What if controlling the lights worked like playing a keyboard? Press a key to turn a light on; release it to turn it off. A white key could control one side of the vehicle, while a black key could activate both sides together.

![The piano-style light controls](/media/9ccdb535/manual.png)

Automatic mode can also run during a manual recording, so you only need to play the few lights you want to emphasize yourself.

![Manual and automatic mode settings](/media/9ccdb535/settings.png)