Skip to content
Stardust

New Show wizard

📋 Planned · v0.9.0

Setting up a new show from scratch is the most error-prone moment in the workflow. The wizard makes it boring.

What it is

A modal (not a mode) that runs when you click New Show from the splash screen or File → New. Six steps, all skippable except step 1. Each step is one focused decision. The result is a valid .stardustshow you can immediately start authoring patches in.

Step 1 — Show metadata (required)

The only required step. Everything else is skippable.

  • Show name — required
  • Subtitle / production type — optional
  • Venue — optional
  • Dates — start, end, opening, closing (all optional)
  • Music director credit — optional
  • Keys / instrument credit — optional
  • Show notes — markdown, optional

This surfaces the Production / Source / Distribution metadata structure for revivals. Default: leave Source blank (it’s filled in later in Show Settings if at all).

Step 2 — Audio I/O

  • Output device — dropdown, auto-detect, smart default = system default
  • Sample rate — auto / 44.1k / 48k / 96k
  • Buffer size — auto / 64 / 128 / 256 / 512
  • Test tone button — plays 1 kHz @ −18 dBFS to verify routing
  • Configure buses now or later — defer to a sub-wizard; default = single stereo bus “Main Out”

On Windows: WASAPI Exclusive vs ASIO selection with a recommendation. On macOS: just the device list (no API choice needed).

Step 3 — MIDI inputs

  • Auto-detected MIDI inputs listed with a light-up activity indicator
  • Per-input action — Add to rig as keyboard / pads / pedal / leave unassigned
  • Light up which input is which — flash indicator when user plays a key; helps identify devices when you have three keyboards plugged in
  • Skip + add manually in Setup → Rig later

The activity-indicator approach beats “which port is which?” — most MIDI devices report unhelpful names (“MIDI Device 1”, “USB Audio Device”).

Step 4 — Pre-add rig components (optional)

  • Scrollable list of components in the user’s global library
  • Multi-select to drop into the new show’s rig
  • Quick search/filter
  • If the global library is empty: shown but skippable with a “build your first rig component” hint

This is where saved rigs pay off. An MD who has built a compound RD-2000 (88-key + pitch wheel + mod wheel + expression pedal + sustain + footswitch + damper pedal) once can drop it into every show after that.

Step 5 — Songs

  • Add songs one at a time (name + number)
  • Bulk-add via paste — textarea where each line becomes a song: 
    1. Overture
    2. Skid Row
    3. Mushnik & Son
    ...
    Smart parsing handles numbered lists, dashed lists, blank-line-separated.
  • Reorder via drag
  • Skippable — empty show is valid

Step 6 — Preferences

  • Autosave — checkbox, default on, interval (1m / 5m / 15m / on-blur)
  • Tempo default for new songs — default 120 BPM
  • Confirm patch changes during Live — default off (MainStage style instant); opt-in confirm available for safety
  • Theme — Light / Dark / System (default System)

Wizard exit

  • Create Show → opens the empty-but-configured show in Setup → Rig mode
  • Skip and use defaults → creates show with metadata only, jumps to Setup → Rig

What’s not in the wizard

These belong to Setup or Program mode, after the show exists:

  • Bus routing details — uses defaults from step 2 (main mix, IEM mix, click bus, conductor bus)
  • Plugin chains — every patch starts empty; you fill them in
  • Click tracks — added per-song in Program mode (v0.8.0 engine; full editor v0.12.0)
  • Layout details — uses the chosen template; refined in v0.11.0 layout editor

The wizard’s job is to get you from zero to “I can start authoring” in under 5 minutes. Anything more belongs to the dedicated screens.

Saved choices carry forward

Several wizard choices are per-user, not per-show — they pre-fill the next wizard run:

  • Default audio device + buffer + sample rate
  • Default MIDI device list (which devices to enable + how to label them)
  • Default theme
  • Default rig component checklist (your typical starting kit)

The first wizard run is the longest. Subsequent runs are mostly clicking Next.

Edge cases handled

  • No audio device available — wizard surfaces the error and offers to continue with a stub device (configure audio later in Setup)
  • No MIDI devices connected — wizard prompts to plug in and rescan, or continue without and add in Setup
  • Existing show with same title — wizard prompts to rename or open the existing show
  • User closes mid-wizard — partial state discarded; nothing on disk

Visual style

The wizard is one of the few full-modal experiences in Pit. Sidebar of step indicators on the left, focused panel on the right, Back / Next / Cancel at the bottom. Inspired by the better installers, not the bad ones.