prism docs · Music, control and shows · Show mode

Show mode

Show mode is the screen for running a show. It has a big GO, your scenes as large tiles, the trigger pads, the sound and tempo, Blackout and the brightness, and nothing you can change by accident: tiles only fire, and the GO key always means GO.

WhereTop bar ▸ Show · Esc back to Design

RunGO or Space · → ← next and previous · S stop

SafetyBlackout or B · Brightness

ModeSimple scenes, GO, pads, Sound
Advanced cues, MIDI and OSC status, tempo

Playing a song inside prism? Its timeline can feed the analyser and drive show timing. See A show to one song and the song lane.

1 · Open Show mode 2 · The screen 3 · Run the show 4 · GO and what's next 5 · Scenes and cues 6 · Trigger pads 7 · Sound and tempo 8 · Blackout and brightness 9 · Tips for live use 10 · When something looks wrong 11 · Mouse and keyboard

1Open Show mode

Build your scenes in Design (Scenes and cues).
Click Show in the top bar (Setup · Design · Show).
Press Esc or click Design to go back. The projectors keep running the whole time.

Show only runs things. Edit cues is off, tiles have no menus or options, and nothing you do here is an undo step. To change the show, go back to Design: Edit in Design opens it with the scenes, Change in Design with the triggers.

2The screen

Show mode in Advanced: GO, scenes and cues, trigger pads, preview, sound and tempo — Advanced: **Scenes & cues** with the big GO and the Now card (Scene 1 moves on by itself after 30 s), the scene and cue tiles, the **Triggers** pads, and on the right the **Preview**, **Sound and tempo** and the output box. The chips top right: the sound source, MIDI and OSC.

Show mode in Simple: Scenes, GO, the pads, the preview and the Sound panel — Simple: the same screen with **Scenes** only, and the **Sound** panel on the right instead of Sound and tempo.

3Run the show

Start listening if the show reacts to music: the Sound panel (Simple) or Sound and tempo's Set up (Advanced). Check the waveform moves and the tempo is right.
Press GO (or Space). The first scene crossfades in and the show starts following: scenes set to move on after a time or a number of beats do so by themselves.
Press GO for each next scene, or let the follows run. Use the pads for flashes and extras.
To hold the current look, press Stop (or S); Play resumes.
In an emergency, Blackout (or B).

4GO and what's next

The big GO with Next 2 · Scene 2 and Space, Previous, Stop, Next, and the Now card: 1 · Scene 1, Auto after 30 s, a countdown — GO shows what it will fire (**Next: 2 · Scene 2**) and its key. The Now card: what shows, what follows it (**Auto after 30 s**) and the countdown.

The output box: Blackout and Brightness 100% — The output box: Blackout and Brightness for every projector.

GO fires the next tile of the GO order. When the list is empty it is greyed out.
Previous and Next fire the neighbours of the tile that shows.
Stop holds the look and stops the countdown; it becomes Play, which starts following again.
Now shows the tile that shows (“Crossfading…” while it fades), what follows it (Wait for GO, Auto after 30 s, After 8 beats…) and the time or beats left.
The status beside the heading says Following or Holding, and how many tiles the GO order has.

5Scenes and cues

The tiles are larger here (96 px) and only fire: a click fires a scene, or a cue on top of what shows. There are no menus. Each tile of the GO order has a small button, Fire step N next on GO, which makes it the next one GO fires.

Scenes 1 to 6 with Scene 1 showing and Scene 2 next, and two cues — The Scenes row (the GO order: Scene 1 **showing**, Scene 2 **next**) and, in Advanced, the Cues row.

In Simple, the Cues row is a chip (“Advanced · 2 cues”); the cues still fire from their triggers.

6Trigger pads

Triggers has a big Tap pad and pads 1–9. Each shows what it does, or Not set; a pad flashes when it fires. Click a pad, or press T and 1–9.

The Tap pad (Flash white) and pads 1 Next scene, 2 Flash white, 3 Randomize, 4 to 9 Not set — A new project's pads: Tap and 2 flash white, 1 goes to the next scene of the GO order, 3 re-rolls random values (its pad says “nothing random yet” until something is random).

What each pad does is set in Design ▸ Live control ▸ Triggers (Change in Design); see Triggers. MIDI pads and OSC buttons fire their triggers here too.

7Sound and tempo

Sound and tempo: waveform, spectrum, beat lamp, 123.9 BPM from the music, Tap tempo, half, double, Lock, tempo source — Advanced: **Sound and tempo** with the waveform, spectrum, beat lamp and tempo, Tap tempo, ½, ×2, Lock and the tempo source. Set up opens Design's Audio tab.

In Simple, this corner is the Sound panel: pick the source, Listen, watch the meter and beat lamp, and tap the tempo. See Sound and tempo.

Tap and Tap tempo. The big Tap pad (and T) is a trigger: by default it flashes white. Tap tempo, under the tempo, taps the tempo.

8Blackout and brightness

Blackout turns every projector black at once. It is in the top bar in every mode (it reads Blacked out, in red, while on), as a big button in Show, and on B in Show and in a projector window. Press it again to bring the picture back.
Brightness dims every projector together, from 0 to 100%, without touching the looks.
Neither is an undo step. The preview shows Projector blacked out while it's on.

The top bar's Blacked out button in red and the preview with Projector blacked out — Blackout on: **Blacked out** in the top bar, and the preview says **Projector blacked out**.

9Tips for live use

Before the doors open

Projector window fullscreen on the projector, and the status light green (Projectors and outputs).
Sound in and tempo right: the waveform moves, the beat lamp flashes on the kick, This is 1 on the downbeat.
Loop on or off as the show needs, and the first scene ready (the dashed “next” tile).
Flash limit on unless your audience has been warned (Flash safety).
The laptop: on mains power, sleep and screen savers off, notifications off, other apps closed.
Rehearse once with the real music, in Show mode.

During the show

Stay in Show. The GO key always means GO here, even when a button has the focus, so a stray press can't click something else. Enter still presses buttons.
Hold, don't panic. Stop (or S) freezes the look while you think; Blackout is one key away.
Keep a safe scene. A calm scene you can fire any time (a tile, a pad, or Next on GO) gets you out of any moment.
Use a controller. A MIDI pad for GO and another for Blackout are easier to hit than keys in the dark (MIDI, OSC, keys and triggers).
Tap tempo if the beat drifts: a few taps put it back on the music.

10When something looks wrong

You see	Why	Fix
GO is greyed out	The GO order is empty.	In Design, + Scene (Save scenes).
GO doesn't change the picture	The next scene looks the same, or a blackout is on.	Check the Now card and the top bar's Blackout.
The show moves on by itself	The scenes follow after a time or beats.	Stop (`S`) holds the look.
→ or ← does nothing	A tile row or the mode switch has the focus (they use the arrows).	Click an empty part of the page, or use the Previous and Next buttons.
Pressing `Esc` left Show	`Esc` is Show's key for Design.	Click Show again; close popovers with a click instead.
Nothing reacts to the music	Sound isn't listening in this session.	The Sound panel or Set up: Listen.
A pad says Not set	No trigger uses that key.	Change in Design ▸ Triggers.
The projector is black but Blackout is off	Brightness is at 0%, or the projector window is closed.	Raise Brightness; check the status light.

11Mouse and keyboard

Show lists its keys at the bottom of the screen: Space GO · → next · ← previous · S stop · T tap · B blackout · 1–9 triggers · Esc back to design. You can change them in Design ▸ Live control ▸ Keys.

Action	Key
GO	`Space`: always GO in Show, even with a button focused
Next / previous	`→` / `←`
Stop following	`S`
Tap trigger	`T`
Blackout	`B`
Triggers Key 1–9	`1` … `9`
Back to Design	`Esc`
Tap tempo	No key by default: give it one in Live control ▸ Keys
Move between tiles	`Tab` to a row, then `←` `→`; `Enter` fires

Keys are ignored while you type in a field and with Ctrl, Alt or ⌘ held; a held key doesn't repeat.

prism documentation · Music, control and shows · screenshots taken in prism's simulator, with a synthetic house track as the microphone · 28 Sept 2026

Show mode

1Open Show mode

2The screen

3Run the show

4GO and what's next

5Scenes and cues

6Trigger pads

7Sound and tempo

8Blackout and brightness

9Tips for live use

Before the doors open

During the show

10When something looks wrong

11Mouse and keyboard

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