1Introduction

LiveTraker is the program for playing live: from a single computer, macOS or Windows, it starts the multitrack audio backing tracks, the videos, the lyrics for the singer, the click and the MIDI commands of the whole evening, in the order of the setlist.

The editions

• PRO: all the features of the program, except remote control.
• REMOTE: like PRO, plus remote control from a phone or tablet (chapter "Remote control").
• Free trial: without a license the program works with no time limit, with 5 songs and 15 minutes of audio per bank. You activate the license from the REGISTER tab of the PREFERENCES.

The words of the program

• Bank: the setlist of the evening, saved in a .bank file. A bank contains songs and breaks. You can open several banks, each in its own tab.
• Song: a folder with its .p4 file and all the files it uses (audio, video, images, MIDI). The songs of a bank are in the folders next to the .bank file.
• Track: a lane of the song. A track holds one type of content only: audio, video, lyrics, images, click or MIDI.
• Clip: the strip inside a track, that is a file with its starting point and its length. The clips of one track never overlap.

Compatibility with LiveTraker 5

LiveTraker reads the songs (.p4) and the setlists (.bank) of LiveTraker 5 directly, without conversion, from any folder: you open the bank with OPEN BANK and the program uses the files where they are. The preferences of LiveTraker 5 (the _Settings.xml file) are imported with LOAD OR IMPORT PREFERENCES..., in the PREFERENCES.

Language

The interface is in Italian, English, Spanish, French and German. You choose it in the PREFERENCES, GLOBAL tab; the language changes when the program is restarted.

How this manual is organized

The manual follows the path of an evening: the main window and the setlist, creating a song, lyrics, video and screens, click and MIDI, remote control, preferences, license and support.

2Main window and setlist

The main window shows the setlist of the open bank, the playback controls and the progress bar. At the bottom, a status line shows the name of the bank, how many songs and breaks it contains, the audio device in use with its sample rate, and the messages of the program.

The setlist

Each row is a song, with number, title and length. Breaks are separate rows, with green text and a TOTAL: the time of the songs since the last break.

• The green row is the loaded song; the red row is the one playing.
• The brackets on the left, between the number and the title, join songs into blocks. Inside a block, when a song ends the next one starts by itself, with no gap; at the end of the block the program stops and selects the following song. To change the value of a song, click in the bracket area: the values cycle 0, 1, 2, 3 and then 0 again. The click does not select the row.
• The remaining time of the song and its title are shown large above the setlist.
• To change the order, drag a row to another place: an orange line shows where it will go.

Playback controls

• PLAY / STOP (space bar). STOP followed by PLAY resumes from the point where it stopped.
• Arrow to the left of PLAY: takes the song back to the start and stops playback.
• PREVIOUS and NEXT (the two arrows): move between songs and skip the breaks.
• Progress bar: it can be moved only while playback is stopped. Press STOP, move it, press PLAY.

While a song is playing, STOP, PREVIOUS and NEXT must be held down for one second (an orange bar shows the progress): this prevents accidental touches on stage. The keys can be changed in the PREFERENCES, SHORTCUT KEYS tab: by default the up and down arrows choose the song, right and left are NEXT and PREVIOUS.

Quick search from the keyboard

With playback stopped, type the first letter or digit of the title: the selection jumps to the next song starting that way; the same letter again takes you to the following one. It works on the setlist, not on the SOURCE list, where you use the SEARCH field. It can be turned off in the PREFERENCES, GLOBAL tab.

Editing the setlist

The setlist is edited while playback is stopped. The >> button opens the side bar with the SOURCE list: the songs are the folders next to the bank that contain a .p4 file.

• Adding: drag one or more songs from the list into the setlist. With Shift or Cmd you select several titles.
• REMOVE: takes the selected row out of the setlist, a break too. The song file is not deleted. A break is selected with a click.
• ADD BREAK: opens a window with TITLE: and PROCEED; the break goes after the selected row. Without a title the break is called -BREAK-.

REMOVE and ADD BREAK are active only with the side bar open and playback stopped.

Genres and search in the SOURCE list

Each song can have a genre of your choice, written in the genre.txt file in its folder. One genre per song.

• GENRE: SHOW ALL, SHOW UNASSIGNED, or one genre: the list shows only those songs.
• ASSIGNMENT: select the songs (with Shift or Cmd for several titles) and choose ASSIGN SELECTION TO: with the genre; UNASSIGN SELECTION frees them.
• ADD NEW GENRE creates a genre; REMOVE SELECTED GENRE removes it.
• SEARCH filters the list as you type; the X clears the field.

Several banks

The open banks are tabs at the top ([BANK A], [BANK B], ...). A click chooses the bank, while playback is stopped. The list of open banks and the active one are remembered when the program is reopened.

BANK OPTIONS

• NEW BANK: asks for the name; if it already exists, asks whether to load it.
• INSERT EXISTING BANK: adds a .bank file from any folder.
• REMOVE ACTIVE BANK: removes the tab, the file stays.
• SHOW BANK IN FINDER and SHOW LOADED SONG IN FINDER.
• EXPORT COMPLETE BANK: creates a folder " (export)" with the .bank and the folders of all the songs; progress is shown in the status line.
• EXPORT BANK LIST TO CSV: list of the setlist (columns N, TIPO, TITOLO, DURATA, TOTALE; semicolon separator).
• CHECK BANK FILES: lists the missing audio and video files and those not used by the songs. It no longer opens by itself.

SOURCE OPTIONS

• RENAME SELECTED SONG: renames the folder, the .p4 and the name in all the banks.
• CHANGE SOURCE FOLDER: reads the songs from another folder.
• SHOW SOURCE LOCATION (FINDER) and REFRESH CONTENT.

Opening a bank

OPEN BANK opens a .bank file from any folder. There is no fixed data folder: moving the folder and then opening the bank from the Finder is enough.

Quitting the program

The window's X (on Mac also Cmd+Q) asks "Do you really want to quit LiveTraker?" with OK and CANCEL. Playback does not stop until you press OK.

3Creating and editing a song

A song is a folder with its .p4 file and the files it uses. To create a new one press SOURCE OPTIONS and then NEW SONG: the program asks for the name. The folder and the .p4 file are created only with SAVE AND BACK; with CANCEL the new folder is removed. To edit a song that is already in the setlist, select it and press EDIT SONG.

The tracks

The list shows one row per track, with a colour for each type: audio grey, lyrics brown, video aqua, all the others purple. Each row has S (solo) and M (mute) and the output with one click: SUB for audio, VIDEO SUB for lyrics and video.

• ADD TRACK imports audio, video, images, MIDI and click. The file is copied into the song folder: the original is never touched.
• You can also drag files from the Finder onto the Sequencer view: onto a lane (the clips line up one after the other), onto the empty row at the bottom, or outside the lanes (a new lane is created). Images last 5 seconds.
• DUPLICATE creates a new track right below the original, with the same file and the same settings. COPY and PASTE put the copy after the original or into another song.
• UP and DOWN move the track.

The Sequencer view

It shows the clips on the timeline, with a ruler and the end of the song in red. The clips of one lane never overlap, and a track holds only one type of clip. If a file opens a song that overlaps them, the program separates them onto their own tracks and says so in the message: the file changes only if you save.

• Zoom: slider, or mouse wheel; with Cmd (Ctrl on Windows) the zoom is horizontal around the mouse pointer, with Alt vertical. FIT brings the whole song into the window.
• Moving and trimming: drag a clip to move it, also onto another lane; drag its edges to trim it from the start or from the end. Trimming does not touch the file: RESTORE ORIGINAL undoes it. With smart snap the clip stops at the edges of the other clips and at zero.
• Audio clips show the waveform of the part you hear; lyrics clips show where the words are; MIDI clips show one line per event.
• The >> button and the tab on the edge close and reopen the side panel, to see all the tracks.

The track panel

It shows only the controls of the selected track type: name, LOCK TRACK, volume and pan for audio; volume, screen output and loop for video; the output for lyrics. At the top, SONG.VOL % changes the volume of the whole song.

Each audio track has a sliding panel with a three-band equalizer (low, mid, high), a compressor (threshold, ratio, make-up gain) and a reverb (time and mix). An icon next to each value brings it back to its starting value.

Listening while you work

PLAY / STOP (space bar) starts the preview from the cursor, the red bar, which you move with a click on the ruler or on the progress bar even before PLAY. Below the lanes, two handles position the cursor: the red one step by step, the orange one ten times slower. The preview plays audio and click; lyrics and video do not appear on the outputs.

Mute, solo, volume, pan, output and song volume are heard immediately, without stopping the playback. Moves, trims and new tracks are heard at the next start.

Saving

• SAVE AND BACK writes the song into the .p4 file, in the same format as LiveTraker 5.
• CANCEL leaves without saving.
• Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z) undoes the last operations, up to 60.

4Lyrics

Lyrics are tracks of the song, with lines of text and time markers. They appear on the VIDEO output chosen in the track panel (chapter "Video and screens"). A song can have several lyrics tracks, for example lead and backing singer, each on its own screen.

Editing a lyric

You enter the editor in three ways: EDIT LYRIC in the lyrics track panel, a double click on the lyrics clip, or the red EDIT LYRIC button on the lyrics window (it does not appear during playback). The editor is in the same window where the text is shown: font, colours and alignment are the real ones, and every change is seen at once. CLOSE goes back to the normal window.

SAVE writes the lyric into the .p4 file. There is no automatic saving: it is there so that you never overwrite a lyric by mistake. Inside EDIT SONG, SAVE writes into the draft of the song, and the file is written only with SAVE AND BACK.

Time markers

Write the text, or paste it, then start the song. While it plays, click in the field to the left of the line that must appear at that point: the line stays tied to that time. To correct a marker, change its value by dragging it up or down. During playback the current marker is highlighted.

Styles, size, alignment

• Eight styles, on the coloured N (normal) and B (bold) buttons: select the text and press the button. The four colours are green, white, light blue and red to start with, and you change them in the PREFERENCES, in the lyrics section.
• % SIZE: drag the value up to enlarge, down to reduce, or type it. The size depends on the height of the window, so it follows the screen where the lyrics appear.
• Alignment: left, centre or right, from the editor menu.

The right button opens a menu: select all, copy and paste, undo and redo, "copy all to clipboard" and "read from clipboard" (both with time markers; reading REPLACES the content), ADD PICTURE and "delete all time stamps". A picture in the text takes the whole width, with its original proportions.

The lyrics window

The current block is the brightest; the following and past ones are dimmed. At the bottom left is the remaining time; on the right, an arrow followed by the title of the next song. Two scrolling modes:

• SCROLL VIEW: the text scrolls continuously between the markers.
• FLIP MANUALLY: the text advances by hand, with a finger or the mouse; it is meant for computers with a touch screen.

SWITCH LYRIC FULLSCREEN (Cmd+L) takes the window to full screen and back.

Lyrics preferences

In the PREFERENCES you find the font of all lyrics tracks, the colours, automatic full screen during playback, and whether to show the remaining time and the next song.

5Video and screens

LiveTraker has four video outputs, VIDEO 1-4, and you can send anything to each of them: lyrics, video or images. Each output has its own window, to be moved onto the screen you need (projector, singer's monitor, prompter).

Turning the outputs on

In the PREFERENCES, VIDEO tab, VIDEO OUTPUTS section, turn on the outputs you need and choose the screen of each. An output turns on only if it has a screen of its own, not used by another output: with two monitors, VIDEO 1 and 2 turn on and the others stay off. An orange note tells you why an output is off. The output menu in a track panel lists only the outputs that are on. If you unplug or plug in a monitor while the program is open, the program notices within a second.

All outputs on one screen is for preparing a show at home with few monitors. When it is on, all the outputs allowed by the license turn on and open by themselves on the chosen screen: one full screen, two split in halves, three or four in a 2x2 grid. On stage you turn it off and assign the real screens; the saved assignments are kept.

Opening and seeing the screens

When you select a song, the screens used by its tracks open by themselves, if they are turned on in the PREFERENCES. The program never closes anything by itself; a window closed by hand opens again with the next song that uses it. SET SCREEN 1 FULL (and the same for 2, 3 and 4; by default Cmd+1-4) takes the output to full screen. The I key shows a status strip on the output.

Video

• A video starts at the moment where you place it in the song, and two videos can be on the same song. In the track panel you choose volume, output and loop.
• A muted video (M) also disappears as a picture, not only as sound.
• The audio of videos always comes out of SUB 1.
• LiveTraker has no built-in codecs for video: it uses the ones of the computer. A video larger than Full HD (1080p) is played, but an orange line at the bottom of the main window warns that it exceeds Full HD. The program does not convert it.

Images

Images are imported like videos: each one is a 5-second clip, which you lengthen or shorten by dragging its edges. Several images and videos can follow one another on the same lane. An image replaces the lyrics on the output and has no audio.

In the PREFERENCES, IMAGES AND LOGO section, a slider from 0 to 10 seconds (0.5 by default) sets the fade: images come in from black, go out into black and, if they follow one another, cross-fade. The slider applies to all outputs and only to images.

Background logo

A logo, image or video, appears on all screens when nothing is playing. You choose it in the PREFERENCES and the program copies its file next to the bank, so the setup can be moved to another computer. For each screen you can decide whether to show it when stopped.

6Click and MIDI

The click

The click is a metronome that plays in time with the song, for example in the drummer's headphones. You add it with ADD TRACK, choosing CLICK: a track is created at 120 BPM, with a count-in of 0, which you can adjust in the track panel.

• BPM: the tempo.
• COUNT-IN BEATS: the beats that play before the song. The count-in applies only at the start of the song; then the click goes on at the tempo of the track.
• CLICK ENABLED: turns the click of that track on and off.
• COUNT-IN ONLY (lead-in): the click plays only in the count-in and then stays silent.
• Tempo change: add another click track. Each track has its own BPM and its own length.

The default sound is synthetic, with the accent on the first beat of every four. In the PREFERENCES, CLICK tab, you can choose the click output, which is one for all songs (an audio subgroup), the volume and your own audio sample for the high beat and for the low beat. The sample must be mono and last 2 seconds at most; DEFAULT SOUND goes back to the synthetic sound. The program copies the sample next to the bank, so the setup can be moved to another computer.

The click also plays in the preview of EDIT SONG.

MIDI

In LiveTraker, MIDI is used to send timed commands to external devices, for example the scenes of a lighting controller. It does not generate sounds. There are two types of track.

MIDI Note: a .mid file, imported with ADD TRACK and sent as it is. The original file is never changed. The clip shows one line for each note, program change or controller.

MIDI CTRL: commands that you write yourself at an exact point of the song, such as a program change for a keyboard or an effects processor, a note, a controller with a value from 0 to 127. COPY EVENTS and PASTE EVENTS duplicate them from one track to another.

Editing the notes

For a MIDI Note track, EDIT NOTES opens an editor with a grid: click on an empty cell for a new note, drag to move it in time and on the scale, right edge for the length; wheel for the scale, Shift + wheel for the time, Cmd + wheel for the zoom. Changes take effect at once, even while the song is playing. The original .mid file does not change.

MIDI outputs

In the PREFERENCES, MIDI tab, MIDI OUTPUTS: choose a device for each of the four MIDI SUB outputs. Each MIDI track chooses its output. The choice is kept when you reopen the program.

An option, off by default, sends at the end of a song, at a change and at stop the reset commands that turn off the notes left on and reset the controllers.

MTC

MTC - MIDI TIMECODE sends the time of the song to an external device. You turn it on in the MIDI tab, with the frame rate (24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps) and the MIDI output group.

7Remote control from a phone or tablet

Remote control is included in the REMOTE edition. It lets the person at the front of house or at the mixing desk control LiveTraker from a phone or a tablet, even while a song is playing. There is no app to install: the phone opens a web page in its browser, on the same network as the computer.

Setup

1. Connect the computer running LiveTraker and the phone to the same stage network (a router or an access point, internet is not needed) and disconnect every other network.
2. In LiveTraker open PREFERENCES, REMOTE tab, and turn on "Enable remote control".
3. If the operating system asks to allow incoming connections, answer "Allow". If you refuse, the phone cannot connect.
4. On the phone, scan the QR code shown in the tab, or type in the browser the address shown under "Open this address in the phone browser (same network)". If the computer has more than one address (Wi-Fi and cable), click the QR code to switch to the next one.
5. Enter the six-digit PIN shown in the tab. After five wrong PINs in a row the phone has to wait 30 seconds before trying again.

At every gig, on a different network, the address may change: scan the QR code again. The PIN stays the same until you press NEW PIN.

What you can do from the phone

• PLAY and STOP, PREVIOUS, NEXT and TO START.
• Pick a song from the setlist by tapping it (when no song is playing).
• Mute and unmute the single audio tracks of the current song. This only lasts for the evening: when the song changes the tracks go back to how they are set in the program.
• See the title, the elapsed time, the progress bar and the chaining brackets. When a song continues into the next one by itself, the page says so.

While a song is playing, STOP, PREVIOUS, NEXT and the muting of tracks must be held for one second, as in the program: this prevents accidental touches. The page keeps the phone screen on while it is open (where the browser allows it) and reconnects by itself if the screen has been locked.

Settings of the tab

• Port: normally 8765. Change it only if the tab shows PORT IN USE.
• PIN and NEW PIN: the PIN protects access. Press NEW PIN to change it; phones already connected have to enter the new one.
• Status: RUNNING, OFF or PORT IN USE.

Security

The connection is not encrypted: use only a network you trust, preferably a dedicated stage network. The PIN prevents unintended commands from other devices, but it does not protect against someone listening to the network.

8Preferences

The PREFERENCES have one tab for each subject: GLOBAL, AUDIO, VIDEO, CLICK, MIDI, SHORTCUT KEYS, REMOTE, REGISTER and ABOUT. The settings are saved by themselves; there is no SAVE button.

GLOBAL

• Transport: show the remaining time; select the next song by itself at the end of a song; start it by itself (this needs the automatic selection); make NEXT load and start the song; the quick search from the keyboard.
• Interface: font height of the setlist and row shading.
• Language: Italian, English, Spanish, French or German. It changes when the program is restarted.
• Theme and OPEN THEMES FOLDER: themes change colours and font, and are saved in a file.
• Track colours: RESET STANDARD COLORS brings them back to the starting ones.
• LOAD OR IMPORT PREFERENCES... and SAVE PREFERENCES TO FILE... are for getting your setup back if you lose it, or moving it to another computer to read a bank. The first one also recognises the _Settings.xml file of LiveTraker 5 by itself. After loading, the program must be restarted.

AUDIO

• Audio device: driver, output device, active channels, sample rate and buffer size.
• Audio subgroups: four subgroups on eight physical channels, each mono or stereo, assigned freely. By default SUB 1-4 go to 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. If an output is missing on the audio device, the program warns you.
• Master volume and crossfade: the master volume goes from 0 to 100 % and applies to the whole program. The crossfade moves to the next song without a gap: hold down the CROSSFADE button of the main window for 1 second while a song is playing. The mode is chosen here. Fade out, then next song: the current song fades to silence and the next one starts when the fade ends. Overlap (DJ style): the next one starts at once while the other fades. The length goes from 0.5 to 30 seconds (3 by default). The next song must be ready and must not be a break.

VIDEO

Video outputs, images, logo and lyrics options: see the chapters "Video and screens" and "Lyrics".

CLICK and MIDI

See the chapter "Click and MIDI".

SHORTCUT KEYS

Fifteen commands, all changeable. By default: space bar for PLAY / STOP; up and down arrows to choose the song; right and left for NEXT and PREVIOUS; Cmd+B for ADD BREAK; Cmd+R for REMOVE; Cmd+L for full-screen lyrics; Cmd+1-4 to take a video output to full screen.

REMOTE, REGISTER and ABOUT

REMOTE is the remote control (chapter "Remote control"). REGISTER is the license (chapter "License and support"). ABOUT shows the version.

Portable files

The background logo and the click samples you choose are copied into a folder created by itself next to the bank. To move a show to another computer, just move the bank folder and load the preferences.

9License and support

The editions

LiveTraker is bought once: the license never expires. The PRO edition includes two licenses for the same operating system and all the functions, except the remote control. The REMOTE edition adds the remote control from phone and tablet. A license is valid for one computer. The additional license is for those who already have a PRO or a REMOTE. Prices and offers are on livetraker.com.

The free trial

Without a license the program works with no time limit, but only with the first 5 songs of each bank and 15 minutes of audio in total. The songs beyond the limit are marked DEMO: they do not load and do not play, NEXT and PREVIOUS skip them, and a click selects them only to remove them from the setlist.

Activating the license

1. Open the PREFERENCES and the REGISTER tab.
2. Type the license key you received by email and press ACTIVATE. An internet connection is needed.
3. The tab shows ACTIVATED, the edition, the licensee, the key and the date when the support ends.

The license is tied to the computer. To change computer, see the FAQ on the website.

Updates and support

The first purchase includes 12 months of support; it can be renewed, and one renewal covers all the licenses of the same account. The support decides two things: whether you can install new updates and whether you can open a support request.

• Updates: CHECK FOR UPDATES in the REGISTER tab tells you whether a new version exists; if the support has expired, it shows the expiry date.
• Expired support: the program keeps working. You can download again the version you bought and activate it again; not the later updates.
• Support: the most common answers are in the FAQ and in the assistant on livetraker.com. With active support you can open a request.

If a song uses more than the license allows

The song loads and plays, but an orange line at the bottom of the main window tells you what is excluded. In the PREFERENCES the options that are not available are marked PRO.

Requirements

LiveTraker is tested on macOS 26 and Windows 11. The website lists 8 GB of memory and an SSD as requirements.