ESC fade-out

By default, pressing Esc cuts the music immediately. ESC fade-out replaces that instant cut with a smooth fade over a configurable duration, giving the audience a cleaner end to a song. Only Esc fades — the Stop button is always an immediate hard stop.

Enabling ESC fade-out

Open Settings → Outputs
Enable the Esc fade-out toggle (it is off by default)
Set the Fade time in seconds — from 0.2 to 10, with 1.2 as the default; for example, 2.0 for a two-second fade to silence

Once enabled, pressing Esc begins the fade rather than cutting immediately. The Stop button in the transport, and Panic, never fade: they stop at once whether or not Esc fade-out is on.

A song's own Fade out time (see Per-song settings) takes priority: when the playing song has one, Esc fades over that time even if the Esc fade-out toggle is off.

Behavior during the fade

The music audio fades from its current level to silence over the configured duration
LTC continues broadcasting at the advancing timecode position, at full level, throughout the fade
All other protocol outputs (MTC, Art-Net, OSC) also continue advancing during the fade
When the fade ends, the transport stops and returns to the start of the song: LTC goes silent, MTC, Art-Net and OSC stop sending, and the timecode display clears

Emergency cut during a fade

If you need to cut the audio immediately while a fade is in progress — for example, if you triggered the fade too early or the wrong song is playing — press Esc a second time. This cuts the audio to silence immediately, regardless of how far through the fade the transport is.

The double-tap escape technique is worth practicing before a show. First press starts the fade; second press is the hard cut. Muscle memory on this avoids panic moments when something goes wrong during a live performance.

LTC output during the fade

The fade only changes the music. LTC is generated on its own audio path, so its level does not drop during the fade — receiving devices keep a clean timecode signal right up to the moment the transport stops, and then LTC goes silent.

Use cases

Smooth close to a dance floor set — fade rather than hard cut
Audience transitions where an abrupt stop would feel jarring
Show segments that need a few seconds of silence before the next element begins

ESC fade-out applies only to the music audio output. It does not affect LTC level, MTC messages, Art-Net packets, or OSC messages — those continue at full level until the transport stops.

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