Convert absence of light / sound into IR signal to control grounded remote pwr strip?

In my continuing quest to deploy my artificial snow machine(s) during song intermissions (moments of no sound or light) without using a cheater plug, I'm now wondering about those remote controlled power strips you see for sale during the holidays. Some are just pure on / off. And some are also timers.

How would I:

1) Capture the on and off IR control signals emitted by one of these remotes
2) Use the absence and presence of light or sound to send Power On IR and Power Off signals remotely to my snow machine(s)?

I'm using the Gemmy six channel light and sound show. For absence of sound, I can split the signal to the speaker to run to an FM transmitter. Or, to capture the absence of light, I could add a three prong adapter socket to each of the six outlets on the gemmy, run a single bulb light off each, run them into a shoe box, and use the Instantly Responsive non-grounded dusk-to-dawn sensors you buy at Walmart to provide Power On and Power Off to a two pronged, non-grounded extension cord--since the instantly responsive dusk to dawn sensor is ungrounded. The missing link would be getting *that* power on / off to trigger to correct IR on / off signal to the snow machine(s) on the second story of my house.

Hoping to do this without relays / soldering / etc. Not ready for that this Christmas season. Brainstorming to see if there's any Common Off the Shelf (COTS) product stone I've left unturned to get the power on / off to my grounded plug snow machines during the song intermissions.

Every single three pronged dusk-to-dawn timer I've ever bought and experimented with has delays for turning power on and off. So long that the intermission is long over--it's only a few seconds between each song on the Gemmy. Really frustrated with the delay feature of the grounded dusk-to-dawn sensors.