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Slots

A slot is a button you press to play media during an event — a goal horn, a sponsor sting, a team intro video. Each slot remembers what to play and where to send it, so you set it up once and reuse it all event long. For a plain- language overview see Core concepts.

This page covers building a slot before an event. To fire one live, see The slot grid.

Create a slot​

Slots already exist in the grid when you open ArenaDirector — there is no "create" button. You configure each slot by right-clicking it in the slot grid to open the edit dialog.

The dialog opens on the General tab, which controls how the slot looks on the grid:

  1. Right-click a slot in the slot grid to open Edit Slot.
  2. Type a name in the Description field. This label appears on the slot button, so make it short and obvious ("Goal Horn", "Player Intro", etc.).
  3. Adjust Font Size (in pixels) to fit the label on the button.
  4. Select Change Color next to the Color swatch to pick a background color for the button.
  5. Select Change Color next to the Font Color swatch to change the label color.
  6. Select Save to confirm.
Name first, content later

You can give a slot a name and color before adding any media. This is handy when planning your slot grid layout ahead of time.

Add sources to a slot​

A source is the media inside the slot — an audio file, a video file, or an image. One slot can hold more than one source, so a single button can fire a sound and a video at the same time.

  1. Right-click the slot and choose Edit Slot.
  2. Select the Media tab.
  3. Select Add source to open the media picker, or drag files directly from your computer onto the source list area.
  4. The file is added to your Media library automatically if it is not already there.
  5. Repeat to add more sources — for example, one audio file and one video file.
  6. Use the up and down arrows next to each source to reorder them. The order does not affect playback, but it keeps your list tidy.
  7. Select Save.

Each source type shows its own options in the row below its name:

  • Audio — a Pitch control (in cents; 0 = original pitch) and a Loop checkbox to repeat the clip continuously at end of playback.
  • Video — a canvas selector (see Route a slot below) and a tile-mode dropdown (Inherit, None, Tile X, Tile X+Y). A Loop checkbox is also available.
  • Image — a canvas selector, a tile-mode dropdown, and a display-mode dropdown (Timed or Manual hold). When Timed is selected, set the duration in milliseconds.

To delete a source from the slot, select the Remove (×) button at the right of that source row, then Save.

Route a slot​

Routing tells ArenaDirector where to send the slot's audio and video.

Audio routing​

At the bottom of the Media tab there are two rows that apply to the whole slot:

  1. Audio source — choose which source in the list provides the audio (or select Silent (no audio) to play no sound at all). This matters when the slot holds both an audio file and a video file; pick which one you want to hear.
  2. Output mixers — choose one or more mixers from the dropdown. A mixer is a named set of speakers (the main bowl, a concourse zone, etc.). Learn about mixers on the Audio and mixers page.

Video routing​

Each video or image source has its own canvas selector in the source row:

  1. In the Media tab, locate the video or image source.
  2. Select the canvas dropdown for that source and tick one or more canvases. A canvas is a video destination — the scoreboard display, a concourse screen, etc. Learn about canvases on the Canvases page.

Slot options​

Interactions with other slots​

The Interactions tab controls how a slot behaves alongside other playing slots:

  • Fade out on stop signal — when the slot is stopped (e.g. by pressing it again), it fades out over the duration set in the Configuration window's Slots pane (Audio Setup → Fade Out Duration) rather than cutting abruptly.
  • Fade other slot/playlist on start — when this slot starts, it fades out any other slot or show that is currently playing.
  • Fade out on start of other slot/playlist — when another slot starts or a show begins, this slot fades out automatically.

Global display settings​

The Configuration window's Slots pane has settings that apply across all slots:

  • Layer Count — how many layers the slot grid shows.
  • Horizontal Slots — the number of slot columns per layer.
  • Vertical Slots — the number of slot rows per layer.
  • Show Pause Button on Slots — when on, a pause button appears on each slot while it is playing.
  • Time Font Size — size of the countdown timer shown on each slot button (in pixels).
  • Fade Out Duration (under Audio Setup) — the default fade length in milliseconds used when a slot stops with fade enabled.

See also​