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/ ESC fade-out
Manual β€Ί ESC fade-out

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.

Enabling ESC fade-out

  • Open Settings β†’ Outputs
  • Enable the ESC Fade-out toggle
  • Set the Fade time in seconds β€” for example, 2.0 seconds for a two-second fade to silence

Once enabled, pressing Esc begins the fade rather than cutting immediately. The Stop button in the transport also triggers the fade when this setting is on.

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 throughout the fade
  • All other protocol outputs (MTC, Art-Net, OSC) also continue advancing during the fade
  • When the audio reaches silence, the transport stops and LTC broadcasts the final position as a static frame

Emergency cut during a fade

If you need to cut the audio immediately while a fade is in progress β€” for example, if you triggered the fade too early or the wrong song is playing β€” 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

LTC audio follows the music fade envelope β€” the LTC signal level drops along with the music. Some receiving devices may lose lock as the LTC level drops toward silence. If your receiving devices need LTC to remain locked until the very end of the fade, consider using a dedicated LTC output at full level rather than mixing LTC and music on the same output.

Use cases

  • Smooth close to a dance floor set β€” 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 on a dedicated LTC output device, MTC messages, Art-Net packets, or OSC messages β€” those continue at full level until the transport stops.