Migrate from EventMusicMachine

ArenaDirector can import an EventMusicMachine 2 configuration. The import copies your slot layers, the slots on them, and the files in your slot store. It leaves EventMusicMachine's own files unchanged.

You can import on the computer where EventMusicMachine is installed, or on a new computer after you copy the EventMusicMachine configuration folder and your media to it.

Import during setup

The first time you start ArenaDirector, setup has an Import from EMM step. When ArenaDirector finds EventMusicMachine 2 data, the step shows a preview of the import.

1. Check the preview. See Examine the preview.
2. Select Import and continue.

To import later, select Skip import and follow Start the import when you are ready.

The Audio plan is made for EventMusicMachine 2 users. It includes three buses, unlimited pages, hot buttons and sequences, and hardware controllers. See Plans and limits.

Start the import

1. Open Configuration.
2. Under Show, select Hot buttons.
3. In the Pages card, select Import from EMM….

If no hot buttons are set up yet, you can also select Import from EventMusicMachine… on the empty Hot buttons page.

Import from EventMusicMachine opens. ArenaDirector usually finds the EventMusicMachine configuration folder by itself. If it does not, the dialog shows No EventMusicMachine 2 data on this computer:

1. Select Choose EMM folder….
2. Choose the folder that has config.ini and slots.ini in it.

To use a different configuration folder, select Choose folder….

Examine the preview

The dialog shows what the import adds:

• The number of hot button pages, hot buttons, library folders and audio buses.
• Each page as the grid it becomes in ArenaDirector, with each hot button's label and colours. To see a different page, select its tab. A hot button marked ⚠ has a file the import did not find, so it keeps its label but has nothing to play.
• Main output and PFL output: the buses that the hot buttons use.
• Folders: the library folders that the import adds.
• Not imported: the settings ArenaDirector does not copy. See What is not imported.

Import

1. Select Import….
2. If you already have hot buttons, Replace hot buttons? opens. Select Replace hot buttons.

The import replaces only your hot buttons: their pages, grid and settings. Canvases, outputs, buses, venues, overlays, sequences, rotations, your media library and your proof-of-play log stay as they are, and ArenaDirector does not need a restart.

You cannot import while hot buttons are playing. The dialog shows how many are playing. Stop them, then select Import….

Importing a second time replaces the hot buttons from the first import and reuses its buses and library folders.

The backup

Before importing, ArenaDirector backs up its databases to backups/emm-import-<date>-<time> in the ArenaDirector data folder. If the import fails, your hot buttons stay as they were.

Library folders

The import puts your EventMusicMachine files into the media library:

• A file inside a library folder you already configured goes into that folder. If the file is already in the library, the import uses the existing entry.
• For the remaining files, the import adds library folders, grouping files from neighbouring folders under their common parent folder. For example, C:\Music\Intro and C:\Music\Goals become C:\Music.

ArenaDirector then scans each new library folder, so it also picks up files that EventMusicMachine did not use. A folder on a drive that is not connected shows as offline in the library until you connect the drive.

What is imported

EventMusicMachine	ArenaDirector
Layers, in their tab order	Hot button pages, with the same names and visibility
Grid size, fade time, time size, pause button setting	Hot button settings
Slots	Hot buttons in the same position, with their text, colours and font size
Fade out, fade others, let fade	The same hot button settings
Start and stop positions	Cue in and cue out points. See Set cue points
Loop	Loop. If a slot has start and stop positions, the loop is between them
Pitch	Tempo
Slot store	Media library entries. For a new entry, the start and stop positions become the default cue set
Default and PFL output	Your current main bus and PFL bus, or a new Main and PFL bus

After the import

Check the buses first. Imported hot buttons play on your current main bus, which is the first bus that is not a PFL bus. If ArenaDirector has no bus, the import makes a Main bus and a PFL bus with no device, named after the output EventMusicMachine used, for example Main (was: ASIO device 0, outputs 1/2).

1. For each bus, select the correct device.
2. Rename each bus.

See Set up a bus.

Then check the hot buttons marked ⚠. You can add their files to the library and assign them to the hot buttons.

What is not imported

• Each slot's output devices. All hot buttons play on the same bus.
• Each slot's volume (dB). ArenaDirector sets loudness levels automatically.
• Each slot's equalizer.
• Playlists and playlist players. EventMusicMachine did not save its playlists, so import them again in ArenaDirector.
• Keyboard bindings. See Connect a controller.