Build a hot button

The hot buttons are already in the grid, so you configure one instead of creating it.

To fire a hot button during an event, see Fire hot buttons live.

Name and color it

1. Right-click a hot button in the grid. Edit hot button opens.
2. Type a short name in Label.
3. For Color, select one of the swatches. The label color changes with it so that the text stays easy to read.
4. For other colors, select Custom. Then set Background and Text.
5. For Label size, select Auto, S, M or L. Auto fits the label to the button.
6. Select Save.

The label shows on the button. Keep it short so that the operator can read it quickly during a show.

You can name and color a hot button before it has media, which lets you plan the grid layout before the event.

The Plays on row below the label shows the canvases and buses that the hot button uses, canvases first and then buses. The sections of one board show as one item, for example LED Perimeter · 4 sections. A single section shows with its name.

The row is one line. If the items do not fit, the last item is a number, for example +3. Click it to see the full list, and press Esc or click outside the list to close it.

Edit hot button has three tabs: Sources & triggers, Playback and OSC. Sources & triggers holds the sources, the actions, the audio routing and the level. Playback holds the start and stop behavior, the trigger key and the interactions with other items. OSC shows the OSC messages of the hot button. The OSC tab needs the Pro plan; see Plans and limits.

To copy a hot button to another place, use Select mode. See Edit many hot buttons.

Number a hot button

Screenshot pending

hot-button-osc-01-numbers: the grid with Numbers on, and the OSC tab of Edit hot button.

Each hot button has a Number in Edit hot button. You cannot change the number. The OSC tab shows these items:

• Receive: the Fire address, for example /adr/hotbutton/22/trigger, with Copy. It also shows if the app listens, and the addresses of this computer to send to.
• Send: the Send OSC actions of the hot button, with the point at which each one fires. Change them on the Sources & triggers tab.

Select OSC settings… to keep your changes and open the OSC pane.

The number counts all hot buttons on the grid, not the hot buttons of one page. On a grid with 32 hot buttons on each page, page 2 starts at 33. If you change the order of the pages, the numbers stay with the hot buttons. If you delete a page, the later hot buttons get lower numbers. Select Numbers in the bar above the grid to show the number on each hot button. See OSC control.

Lock while playing

You cannot change the sources, the actions or the playback settings of a hot button that plays. The tab shows Stop it to change sources, triggers and playback. Stop the button, and then change it. The label and the color can still be changed.

Clear a hot button

Select Clear button… in Edit hot button, and confirm when the app asks. The position becomes an empty hot button: the label, color, sources and playback settings are removed, and you cannot undo it. You cannot clear a hot button while it plays.

Fire actions from a hot button

A hot button can fire the same actions as a controller key, for example Stop all, Mute bus or Show or hide overlay. These actions are called triggers. A hot button cannot fire another hot button.

On a Pro plan, a trigger can also be Send OSC. It sends one message to an OSC target, for example a lighting desk. A trigger sends no release message. See OSC control. Targets… next to Target saves the open edit and then opens the OSC pane.

1. Open Edit hot button and select the Sources & triggers tab.
2. Select + Add action. A new action row shows in the list.
3. Select the row. In its settings, select an Action. Then set its parameters, for example the sequence, the bus, the stream or the overlay.
4. For Fires, select when the action runs.
5. Select Save.

Fires	The action runs
On press	When you press the button, before its media starts.
When media ends	When the media of the button ends by itself.
On stop	When you stop this button yourself. It does not run for Stop all, Fade out all or when another item takes over.

The list shows the groups On press, Media, When media ends and On stop. Actions with the same firing point run in the order of the list. To change the order, drag an action by its grip (⋮⋮). You can drag only inside its group.

On press runs first. So Fade out all on press never fades the media of its own button. A press that only resumes a paused button does not fire On press again.

Buttons with only actions

A hot button does not need media. A button with only actions shows a bolt and the name of the action on its tile, in place of a time. Each press fires the actions again. Plays on and the settings on the Playback tab that are for media are hidden. A Fade out all action shows a ring and a bar for the fade time. A press during that fade ends it and fires nothing.

A button with only actions fires them only on press. If you remove the media of a button, its When media ends and On stop actions move to On press when you save.

Toggles

Mute bus and Take stream switch on every press. Show or hide overlay and Overlay timer switch on every press only when their operation is toggle. The tile does not keep an on or off state. To see the state, look at the bus, the overlay or the stream.

Missing targets

If an action has no target, its row and its tile show a chip: No sequence, No stream or No overlay. If the target was deleted, the chip says Sequence missing, Rotation missing, Bus missing, Stream missing or Overlay missing. The app skips that action, and the rest of the hot button runs. The header of the list shows how many actions have no target. A row without an action shows No action and never runs. A hot button with a missing media file does nothing, and no action runs.

Second press

A second press stops the button, as for any hot button. Actions that already ran are not undone.

The Learn… trigger key on the Playback tab works the same for a button with actions.

Add sources

A source is the media in the hot button. One hot button can hold several sources, so one press can fire a sound and a video together.

1. Open Edit hot button.
2. Select the Sources & triggers tab.
3. Select + Add source to open the media picker. You can also drop files directly onto the source list.
4. The picker shows the chip Audio and video and lists only audio and video files. To add an image, drop it onto the source list. Find the file with the search field, the folder list or Tags ▾. All, Audio and Video narrow the list to one type. To hear a file first, select it and then select ▶ in the preview. It plays on PFL.
5. Select the file, and then select Choose.
6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for each source that you want.
7. To change the order, drag a source by its grip (⋮⋮).
8. Select Save.

The order of the sources has no effect on playback. If a file is not in your library, ArenaDirector adds it automatically.

To remove a source, select it, select Remove in its settings, and then select Save.

Per-source settings

Select a source row to show its settings on the right. The first source is selected when the tab opens, and a source that you add is selected automatically.

Source	Settings
Audio	Tempo in percent, from 50 to 200. The value 100 is the original speed, and the pitch does not change. A change applies the next time the clip starts. Loop at end plays the clip again from the start when it ends.
Video	Targets, a Fit mode (Center, Repeat, Stretch), and Loop at end.
Image	Targets, Fit, and Image. Timed shows the image for its Duration in milliseconds. Manual hold shows the image until you stop the hot button. A timed image with a duration of 0 behaves like Manual hold.

A video or a timed image can end before the other sources of the hot button. It then gives its canvas back immediately, and its proof-of-play record ends at the same time. A Force show or Force hide on an overlay of that canvas also stops. The audio continues.

Each source can also have a cue set, which controls where playback starts, ends and loops. Select a cue set from Cue set, or select Edit cues… to make a new one. See Set cue points.

Edit cues from a hot button

Edit cues opens a small cue dialog for the file of the source. It has the cue editor of the Clip editor, with the waveform, the transport and the cue sets. If the file has no cue set, select + Add cue set to make the first one. The dialog has no OK button and saves each change as you make it.

For the full Clip editor, select Open in Library in the dialog. It closes the hot button editor and opens the Clip editor on that file. While the hot button has unsaved changes, the link is disabled and shows Save the hot button first. Select Save, open the hot button again, and then select the link.

Add a stream

+ Add stream is available on the Sources & triggers tab, next to + Add source. It is available only with a Pro license and a minimum of one input stream.

1. Select + Add stream to open the list of your input streams. A disabled stream shows (disabled).
2. Select a stream to add it.

A stream row shows the name of the stream and its targets. When you select the row, its settings have only Targets and Fit.

A stream hot button is toggle-only. When you press it, the stream goes on air and stays there until you press the button again or another item takes the canvas. A live stream has no end, so the button does not stop by itself. If the same button also holds clips, the clips end on their own, but the stream keeps the button active.

If the stream of a button is disabled or not running, the button does nothing when you press it, and ArenaDirector does not count a play. If you disable a stream that is on air, the button stops. While the button runs a stream, the tile shows a red LIVE mark.

A stream can be the Audio source of the button, and Fade it out when this starts works for a stream the same way as for other audio sources. A pause has no meaning for a live stream: if you pause a stream button, its audio stays open.

Route the audio

Two controls at the bottom of the Sources & triggers tab apply to the full hot button.

Audio source selects the source that supplies the sound, or Silent (no audio) for no sound. When a hot button holds both an audio file and a video, use it to select the one that you want to hear. A speaker icon in the list marks the selected source.

Output buses selects one or more buses, so a sound can go to several buses at the same time. For example, a goal horn can play in the bowl and in the concourse together. See Set up a bus.

Route the video

Each video source and image source has its own Targets control, which shows the current selection, for example No picture or Scoreboard · Whole board.

1. Select the source.
2. Select Targets.
3. On an ordinary canvas, select Show here.
4. On a canvas with a surface that has sections, select Whole board for the full surface.
5. As an alternative to step 4, select one or more individual sections.
6. To close the picker, click outside it.
7. Select Save.

Whole board and individual sections are alternatives, so selecting one clears the other. Each selection applies immediately.

You can select as many canvases and sections as you want. One source can show on several screens at the same time, or on several sections of one board.

Each section that you select shows its own full copy of the source, fitted to the shape of that section. This holds even when the sections are next to each other, and when you select all of them. Only Whole board fits the source across the full surface as one continuous picture, so a wrap-around clip must use Whole board.

You can leave all targets clear, and Targets then shows No picture. Use this when a video file supplies the sound of a hot button and shows nothing on screen.

A section target leaves the other sections alone

A hot button that targets one section interrupts only that section. Items on the other sections continue, and the interrupted section rejoins automatically. See Takeover and resume.

Set interactions

The Playback tab controls how this hot button works alongside other hot buttons and sequences. Audio and video follow different rules: two items can play on a bus at the same time, but a canvas shows only one picture.

Audio

Setting	Effect
Fade it out when this starts (under Other audio on the same buses)	When this hot button starts, it fades out each hot button or sequence that plays on one of its buses and allows a fade-out.
Others can fade this out	This hot button stops when a different hot button or sequence on one of its buses starts with Fade it out when this starts. If this setting is clear, the two play together.
Fade out on stop (under Start and stop)	When you stop this hot button, it fades out instead of stopping abruptly.

The fade length comes from Fade-out in Configuration → Show → Hot buttons → Playback.

Video

When something takes one of its canvases sets what happens when a hot button or a sequence starts on a canvas that this hot button shows on:

• Give up only that canvas (default): The other canvases continue to play. The audio follows the Audio settings above.
• Stop entirely: The whole hot button stops.

Set a trigger key

On the Playback tab, Trigger shows the key or pad that fires this hot button, or None. Select Learn…, and then press the key or the pad on your controller. Select Cancel to stop learning. A key that already has a different function is not taken over, and the app tells you what that key does.

The trigger belongs to the position in the grid, not to the content. See Edit many hot buttons.

Set the level

Level is on the Sources & triggers tab, below Audio source. It increases or decreases the level of this hot button from -12 to +12 dB, in steps of 0.5 dB. This change adds to the automatic levelling to -16 LUFS.

The ≈ X LUFS value next to it shows the level on a bus at 0 dB. A change applies the next time ArenaDirector loads or plays the audio of the button. See Loudness levelling.

Force an overlay while it plays

A hot button can have directives that show or hide a specific overlay while the hot button plays. When the hot button stops, the overlay goes back to its usual state.

1. On the Playback tab, go to Overlays while it plays.
2. Select an overlay.
3. Select Force show or Force hide.
4. Select + Add to add the directive.
5. To add more directives, repeat steps 2 to 4.
6. Select Save.

To remove a directive, select Remove directive (×). For how a directive affects the visibility policy of an overlay, see Overlays and the live-value store.

Grid-wide settings

Configuration → Show → Hot buttons holds settings that apply to all hot buttons:

Setting	Effect
Columns (under Grid)	The number of columns on each page, a maximum of 20.
Rows (under Grid)	The number of rows on each page, a maximum of 20.
Fade-out (under Playback)	The default fade length in milliseconds.
Time size (under Tiles)	The size of the countdown timer on each hot button.
Pause button on tiles (under Tiles)	Adds a pause control to each hot button that plays.

The Free plan is limited to one page and 64 hot buttons in total. See Plans and limits.

See also

• Organize pages
• Edit many hot buttons
• Fire hot buttons live