Desert Crystal

Some of these items are also available as large buttons on the main screen. The keyboard shortcuts to most of these functions may be customized using the Keyboard Controls Options.

Play: If one or more tracks is checked in live assistance mode, the first checked track will start playing. Otherwise, the highlighted/selected track will start playing. Any track currently playing will be faded out over a short period based on the Truncation Fade Time.

Stop: The current track playing in the main player will be faded out over approximately 2 seconds. Automate will also be turned off if it is on. A cart playing from the cart system is not affected.

Automate: Toggles between Automation & Live Assistance modes. When a track is not currently playing, turning Automate on will also start play with the selected track, or if no track is selected, play will start at a calculated position in the playlist based on the current time.

Turning Automate off while a track is playing will stop play after the current track has finished, providing no tracks have been pre-loaded or checked (ticked).

Pause: Pause playback of the Main Player. Select Pause again to continue playback. The Voice Track and Cart players are not affected.

With the Use Mixer checkbox unchecked, the pause occurs instantly. With the Use Mixer option checked, the pause will be delayed by the length of the output Buffer Size (500ms default).

Instant Stop: Stops all audio instantly with no fade. This affects all players including Mic Input and Line Input. Automate will also be turned off if it is on.

Overlap Play: The checked or selected track will start playing without fading the current track playing. This may be used to start the next song while the end of the current song is fading naturally, and no additional fading is required. This option is only available when the remaining time of the current track playing is less than the duration of the selected track.

This function is also available by right-clicking the Play button on the main window.

Overlap Next: Similar to Overlap Play above, this function will start the next track without fading the current track playing. This option is only available when the remaining time of the current track playing is less than the duration of the next track.

Skip Next: If Studio is playing, the current track will be faded and the next track will start playing. If Studio is not playing, this function will act the same as the down arrow key.

Skip to Next Hour: If Studio is playing, the current track will be faded and the track after the next Hour Marker will start playing. If Studio is not playing, the next Hour Marker will be highlighted ready to start play manually.

Mic Input: Toggles open and closed the Mic Input as configured on the Input options tab. It also reduces the volume of the current song playing, based on the options specified on the Output options tab > Mic Output tab.

Mic (No Fade): This functions the same as Mic Input above except it does not reduce the current song volume. This may be useful where the start or end of a song is quiet enough to talk over without reducing the volume.

Right-clicking the Mic button on the Studio window will also execute this function. The Mic button will display an orange light rather than yellow. Clicking the Mic button again with the left or right mouse button will turn off the microphone regardless of which option turned it on.

Line Input: Toggles open and closed the Line Input as configured on the Input options tab.

Record to File: Toggles recording audio from Studio's mixer to an audio file on the hard drive. This may be used to record a live show for playing at a later time, or for writing to CD. Before this item is available, the recording parameters need to be configured on the Output tab > Record tab.

Mute: Toggles audio output on and off. This will mute the audio output to the soundcard only. DSP's, stream encoders, and the Recording facility will not be affected.

Disable/Enable Control Keys: Enable or disable the single key shortcuts used on the Controls Menu. This may be useful to prevent accidental key presses while in automation mode. This setting is not permanently saved and will revert to enabled when Studio is restarted.

Lock Studio (Studio Pro): This option is available when a Master Password has been set in the Advanced Options. This will lock Studio from all access until the Master Password is entered.