Open tools for live events, broadcast & theatre

The software our
industry never got
round to writing.

I'm a working AV tech, and these are the tools I kept wishing someone else would make: frequency coordination that reads every format, switchers you can set up all at once instead of one by one, a cue player that costs nothing. They're free and open source, and most of them got written between gigs.

Browse the software All repos on GitHub

Public projects: 207
Open boards: 4
Licence: MIT
Accounts required: 0

Where to start

Software

50 apps and tools covering audio, video, RF, content and show control, and 118 video and audio plugins on shelves of their own. Filter them, sort them, or go straight to the code.

Browse the software

Hardware

Four open boards for jobs nobody makes a box for: a daisy-chained DMX node, an IP and USB to CAN bus converter for d&b systems, a wireless-mic antenna pair down one Cat cable, and an HDMI box that tells the source it's a display it isn't.

See the boards

Services

Managed event content on Nextcloud, and a DIT offload setup that gets ISO recordings off the switcher and into the edit while the session's still going.

What I run

About

One AV tech, a laptop in a road case and a long list of problems that only ever get solved at two in the morning. Here's the story.

The short version

Keeping them up to date

Stoatworks Burrow v0.5.0

One list for every plugin, tool and module.

Most of the video plugins come in two or three formats (FFGL for Resolume, OpenFX for Resolve, a build for After Effects), and each format lives in a different folder, in a different place on each platform. Installing one by hand means finding the project page, picking the right archive out of six and knowing where it goes. Noticing there's a new version is a job in itself.

Burrow puts the lot in one searchable list instead: what you've got installed, what has an update waiting, and one click to take it, in whichever formats you actually use.

Reads the folders your hosts actually load from, so it knows what's already there, format by format, since a plugin can be up to date in Resolume and missing in Resolve
Release notes before you take an update, and Previous versions… to put one back when something misbehaves halfway through a show week
Audio plugins, applications and Bitfocus Companion modules as well as the video ones, with each module on the same row as the tool it drives
No account or sign-in, and no telemetry. It fetches one list and downloads from GitHub, and that's all it ever does on the network

Downloadv0.5.0

Read the guide

Stoatworks Burrow — One list for every plugin, tool and module — What it does, in 43 seconds.

You never have to use it. Every plugin, tool and module is still a plain download, from its own page here on the site and from its release on GitHub, same as ever. Nothing moves behind Burrow, and nothing ever will. All it does is save you doing it by hand.

It's also new. v0.5.0 is a beta: it hasn't yet installed a plugin into a running Resolume, Resolve or After Effects, and on Windows it does the FFGL plugins but not OpenFX or After Effects yet. Try it first on a machine where a broken plugin folder wouldn't cost you anything, not on a show day.

Up to date, update available, not installed — with per-format state on every row

Release notes for the updates you could take, before you take them

Audio plugins, and a Companion module on the row of the tool it drives

Selected work

LivePremier Plus

Field testing

AV Systems / Application/ JavaScript/ v0.18.6

Adds the panels an Analog Way switcher's own Web RCS doesn't have, for LivePremier and, since 0.6.0, Midra 4K and Alta 4K too. There's an Edit page (the Screens / Aux. layout with one row instead of two), so you can program a look off both buses and save it straight into a real memory. There's a VPU resource map, a lighting-desk command line, a theatre cue stack, a memories list across every bank, and a layer-properties panel built from the device's own catalogue, with names for layers the switcher can't hold. Layer groups move as one, with a send-to menu on every source card. Routing goes through an external Videohub, Lightware or Turtle AV matrix, or a placeholder of one so you can build the show before the rack turns up. A Bitfocus Companion can live on the same address, its buttons pressable from a cue or a memory recall. Then there's Pitch Compensation for mixed-pitch LED walls, OSC input, cues fired from timecode, MIDI control-surface mapping, HyperDecks and Mitti played, cued and recorded with rules that follow the show, a layer lock that holds a layer through a take or takes one on its own, a pixel map from the switcher's own image library laid over the preview as a mask, surfaces that keep a layer inside the LED element it's bound to, thin borders and dark name tabs for an aux laid out as a multiviewer, an EDID builder on the switcher's own EDID page, a Pixelhue console panel with every control remappable (preview), a DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor as a switcher panel, held by a device host that looks after USB panels for the app, the frame's audio channel matrix as a crosspoint grid, remote access over Tailscale or ZeroTier, live multiviewer pictures in the source thumbnails (preview), a thumbnail relay that sends the source previews as JPEG and refreshes the ones being edited fastest (preview), the whole setup in one file, audio routing from the command line, Test Card's patterns beside the switcher's own Pattern tab, a Resolume Arena output preset made from the switcher's own outputs, image library tools, and arithmetic in numeric fields: type 1080-80 into a layer width and get 1000. Every one of them is a plugin you can switch off, and you can write your own to add to them. It runs as a local proxy, so you browse to it instead of to the switcher and the extra panels are just there, drawn in the vendor's own design language.

LivePremier
Aquilon
Analog Way
Pulse 4K
Alta 4K
Midra 4K
AWJ
VPU
Cue stack
Videohub
Lightware
MIDI
Docker
OSC
Timecode
Plugins

openRCS

Released

AV Systems / Application/ Rust/ v0.11.2

A modern control surface for Analog Way Midra and LiveCore series video processors. Its Workspace puts the sources, every screen and the memories on one page that fills the window, so you can build in program, preview or both at once, with a graphical layer editor, memories, takes, a multiviewer and confidence-output designer, an EDID writer and a full variable inspector behind it.

Analog Way
NeXtage
Ascender
Pulse2
Midra 4K
Alta 4K
Web UI

PDF Presenter

Field proven

Content Management / Application/ TypeScript/ v1.7.3

A minimal presenter for PDFs only: a Now/Next view with clickable slide thumbnails and a fullscreen output on the second display, driven by keys, a clicker or OSC. It doesn't do notes, media or deck editing.

PDF
Presenter view
Dual screen
OSC

SimpleCue

Field testing

Audio · Show Control / Application/ C++ / JUCE/ v0.4.1

A cross-platform audio cue player for theatre and live events, with cues, fades, links, loops and vamps, and a per-cue output routing matrix. You can drive it with OSC, MIDI, MSC, MMC, Art-Net or sACN.

Theatre
Cue playback
OSC
MIDI
MSC
sACN

WebLinked

Field proven

AV Systems / Application/ C++/ v1.3.1

Renders any web page offscreen through Chromium at a broadcast raster and rate, then sends it to DeckLink and AJA over SDI, to the network as NDI, OMT and RTMP/SRT, into Resolume or TouchDesigner over Syphon and Spout, and fullscreen to a GPU-attached display, with every output taking the same frame. It can run several of those pipelines at once, each with its own browser, clock and raster, so a page that hangs on one feed can't touch the others. The engine clocks the browser one frame at a time instead of letting it paint on its own timer, so 50 ticks a second means 50 paints. Settings, live diagnostics and an interactive preview all live in the browser, so a rack machine needs nothing but an HTTP port.

NDI
SDI
DeckLink
AJA
OMT
SRT

QuickDaw

In development

Audio / Browser app/ TypeScript

A multitrack recorder that runs entirely in a browser tab. Pick an audio interface and you get one track per input, mapped 1:1, streamed straight to a folder on disk as mono WAVs. A pre-roll buffer is always holding every input as it arrives, so pressing record puts the previous 30 seconds at the head of the take. If a disk stalls, the lost frames are padded with silence and logged in the take's manifest, so a gap costs you content but never time. There's also a generated test signal to check the whole chain without an interface, with a 1 kHz reference at exactly -18 dBFS.

Multitrack
Recording
Pre-roll
WAV
Web Audio

See them running

Short videos, one per tool, recorded from the app itself running its demo data. No mock-ups. The same videos go up on Instagram.

Ferrofluid — Ferrofluid spikes on the beat, for Resolume — **Ferrofluid**Ferrofluid spikes on the beat, for Resolume

Isohypse — Real worlds in contour lines, for Resolume — **Isohypse**Real worlds in contour lines, for Resolume

Pumpkin — The Test Card's pumpkin patch, for Resolume — **Pumpkin**The Test Card's pumpkin patch, for Resolume

Sidereal — The sky as Hubble and Webb see it, for Resolume — **Sidereal**The sky as Hubble and Webb see it, for Resolume

Slipstream — Hyperspace, warp and a black hole, for Resolume — **Slipstream**Hyperspace, warp and a black hole, for Resolume

Graticule — Test patterns and LED tile maps, for Resolume — **Graticule**Test patterns and LED tile maps, for Resolume

Langton — Langton's ant, for Resolume — **Langton**Langton's ant, for Resolume

Handleman — A hand-cranked camera and projector, for Resolume — **Handleman**A hand-cranked camera and projector, for Resolume

Zoetrope — Your clip on a strobed disc, for Resolume — **Zoetrope**Your clip on a strobed disc, for Resolume

Jackpot — A thoroughly rigged casino, for Resolume — **Jackpot**A thoroughly rigged casino, for Resolume

Fiche — Browsing a microfiche reader, for Resolume — **Fiche**Browsing a microfiche reader, for Resolume

Patchwork — An LED wall having a bad night, for Resolume — **Patchwork**An LED wall having a bad night, for Resolume

Honeydew — Oscillating and clock reactions, for Resolume — **Honeydew**Oscillating and clock reactions, for Resolume

Polyhedral — Polyhedral dice that land where you tell them, for Resolume — **Polyhedral**Polyhedral dice that land where you tell them, for Resolume

Valve — Video through a valve amplifier, for Resolume — **Valve**Video through a valve amplifier, for Resolume

Lowband — A Hi8 tape on a Video8 deck, for Resolume — **Lowband**A Hi8 tape on a Video8 deck, for Resolume

Conway — Conway's Game of Life, for Resolume — **Conway**Conway's Game of Life, for Resolume

Colourunder — VHS colour-under, smears and all, for Resolume — **Colourunder**VHS colour-under, smears and all, for Resolume

NESolume — Retro console hardware for Resolume — **NESolume**Retro console hardware for Resolume

Lenticular — The flicker card from the cereal box, for Resolume — **Lenticular**The flicker card from the cereal box, for Resolume

Stencil — Spray paint through a cut stencil, for Resolume — **Stencil**Spray paint through a cut stencil, for Resolume

Flipdot — An electromagnetic flip-dot sign, for Resolume — **Flipdot**An electromagnetic flip-dot sign, for Resolume

Instant — Instant film, developing as you watch, for Resolume — **Instant**Instant film, developing as you watch, for Resolume

Jacquard — The clip woven on a jacquard loom, for Resolume — **Jacquard**The clip woven on a jacquard loom, for Resolume

Receipt — A thermal receipt printer, for Resolume — **Receipt**A thermal receipt printer, for Resolume

Radar — A plan-position radar scope, for Resolume — **Radar**A plan-position radar scope, for Resolume

Gate — A film projector, claw and all, for Resolume — **Gate**A film projector, claw and all, for Resolume

Fax — Your clip, faxed down a dodgy phone line, for Resolume — **Fax**Your clip, faxed down a dodgy phone line, for Resolume

Filament — A wall of incandescent bulbs, for Resolume — **Filament**A wall of incandescent bulbs, for Resolume

gaffer — Depth of field with a rig that rings, for Resolume — **gaffer**Depth of field with a rig that rings, for Resolume

nib — Flow-guided line drawing for Resolume — **nib**Flow-guided line drawing for Resolume

Afterglow — Frame trails that fall apart as they age, for Resolume — **Afterglow**Frame trails that fall apart as they age, for Resolume

animATEM — ATEM control with DVE preview — **animATEM**ATEM control with DVE preview

Stagehand — Run an emulator or game engine inside a video plugin — **Stagehand**Run an emulator or game engine inside a video plugin

Cartridge — A console emulator as a live Resolume source — **Cartridge**A console emulator as a live Resolume source

Relay — A relay's A/B cut, bounce and all, for Resolume — **Relay**A relay's A/B cut, bounce and all, for Resolume

Wetplate — A wet collodion plate, ghosts and all, for Resolume — **Wetplate**A wet collodion plate, ghosts and all, for Resolume

Splitflap — A departures board that's always running late, for Resolume — **Splitflap**A departures board that's always running late, for Resolume

Databend — Your picture, opened in an audio editor, for Resolume — **Databend**Your picture, opened in an audio editor, for Resolume

CCU — A camera chain, every knob out, for Resolume — **CCU**A camera chain, every knob out, for Resolume

Repousse — Chased metal under a swinging lamp, for Resolume — **Repousse**Chased metal under a swinging lamp, for Resolume

Resodoom — Doom as a live Resolume source — **Resodoom**Doom as a live Resolume source

Toner — A photocopier's copy of a copy, for Resolume — **Toner**A photocopier's copy of a copy, for Resolume

Pattern — A tracker's pattern editor the music writes, for Resolume — **Pattern**A tracker's pattern editor the music writes, for Resolume

Atrac — A MiniDisc-style perceptual coder for Resolume — **Atrac**A MiniDisc-style perceptual coder for Resolume

Slope — Video through a one-bit voice codec, for Resolume — **Slope**Video through a one-bit voice codec, for Resolume

Teletext — Level 1 teletext, chunky graphics and all, for Resolume — **Teletext**Level 1 teletext, chunky graphics and all, for Resolume

Flyback — Tesla coils and Jacob's ladders, no ozone, for Resolume — **Flyback**Tesla coils and Jacob's ladders, no ozone, for Resolume

Containment — A plasma ball in a magnetic bottle, for Resolume — **Containment**A plasma ball in a magnetic bottle, for Resolume

Boreal — The northern and southern lights, for Resolume — **Boreal**The northern and southern lights, for Resolume

Copperlist — An Amiga cracktro, chip by chip, for Resolume — **Copperlist**An Amiga cracktro, chip by chip, for Resolume

Downlink — FM satellite TV, sparklies and all, for Resolume — **Downlink**FM satellite TV, sparklies and all, for Resolume

Rebate — Colour negative film, developed and scanned, for Resolume — **Rebate**Colour negative film, developed and scanned, for Resolume

Slowscan — Slow-scan TV over a fading HF path, for Resolume — **Slowscan**Slow-scan TV over a fading HF path, for Resolume

Standards — A PAL/NTSC standards converter for Resolume — **Standards**A PAL/NTSC standards converter for Resolume

Clamp — A video amp whose clamp has given up, for Resolume — **Clamp**A video amp whose clamp has given up, for Resolume

Contour — Luma as a topographic map, for Resolume — **Contour**Luma as a topographic map, for Resolume

Toolpath — CNC pocketing from a distance field, for Resolume — **Toolpath**CNC pocketing from a distance field, for Resolume

Bassalt — A lava lamp, hour-long warm-up included, for Resolume — **Bassalt**A lava lamp, hour-long warm-up included, for Resolume

Wipe — A 1970s vision mixer's wipe generator for Resolume — **Wipe**A 1970s vision mixer's wipe generator for Resolume

Residual — A small video codec, broken on purpose, for Resolume — **Residual**A small video codec, broken on purpose, for Resolume

Pitch — An LED wall seen through a camera, for Resolume — **Pitch**An LED wall seen through a camera, for Resolume

Wheel — The DLP rainbow effect, on purpose, for Resolume — **Wheel**The DLP rainbow effect, on purpose, for Resolume

Intaglio — Your clip as a copper engraving, for Resolume — **Intaglio**Your clip as a copper engraving, for Resolume

Needle — VU, PPM and bargraph meters, by the book, for Resolume — **Needle**VU, PPM and bargraph meters, by the book, for Resolume

Genlock — An Amiga genlock, on the wrong clock, for Resolume — **Genlock**An Amiga genlock, on the wrong clock, for Resolume

Photofinish — A photo-finish strip camera for Resolume — **Photofinish**A photo-finish strip camera for Resolume

Plumbicon — A tube camera for Resolume — **Plumbicon**A tube camera for Resolume

Pilot — A ZX Spectrum tape loader for Resolume — **Pilot**A ZX Spectrum tape loader for Resolume

Millpond — A pond to throw stones in, for Resolume — **Millpond**A pond to throw stones in, for Resolume

Crumple — Your clip, printed and crumpled, for Resolume — **Crumple**Your clip, printed and crumpled, for Resolume

Shunt — Shapes that queue, bank up and are drawn away — **Shunt**Shapes that queue, bank up and are drawn away

Astable — Six 555 timers on a television, for Resolume — **Astable**Six 555 timers on a television, for Resolume

Cadence — Interlace, pulldown and bad deinterlacing for Resolume — **Cadence**Interlace, pulldown and bad deinterlacing for Resolume

Rosette — A litho press that never quite registers, for Resolume — **Rosette**A litho press that never quite registers, for Resolume

galvo — A laser projector without the laser, for Resolume — **galvo**A laser projector without the laser, for Resolume

readout — A CMOS rolling shutter for Resolume — **readout**A CMOS rolling shutter for Resolume

Vocoder — A vocoder with your picture as the carrier, for Resolume — **Vocoder**A vocoder with your picture as the carrier, for Resolume

Showbook — Every show file for your switchers, with its history — **Showbook**Every show file for your switchers, with its history

Occluder — One knob from open ears to earplugs — **Occluder**One knob from open ears to earplugs

Proximate — One knob against the proximity effect — **Proximate**One knob against the proximity effect

VoiceLevel — A fader that only ever turns the mic down — **VoiceLevel**A fader that only ever turns the mic down

Spasis — The shape of the stereo and surround field, for Resolume — **Spasis**The shape of the stereo and surround field, for Resolume

Cogwheel — A Spirograph with teeth, for Resolume and Resolve — **Cogwheel**A Spirograph with teeth, for Resolume and Resolve

Escapement — A video feedback rig and its fractals — **Escapement**A video feedback rig and its fractals

Astronaught — A video signal put through a Space Echo — **Astronaught**A video signal put through a Space Echo

Macroblock — Audio-reactive chroma subsampling, taken too far, for Resolume — **Macroblock**Audio-reactive chroma subsampling, taken too far, for Resolume

Compander — Video through a radio mic's compander — **Compander**Video through a radio mic's compander

Ferric — Your picture on a wobbly cassette deck, for Resolume — **Ferric**Your picture on a wobbly cassette deck, for Resolume

Flenser — A liquid light show, for Resolume — **Flenser**A liquid light show, for Resolume

Gridiron — A sponsor wall that plays no favourites, for Resolume — **Gridiron**A sponsor wall that plays no favourites, for Resolume

5-wire — Far too much VGA cable, for Resolume — **5-wire**Far too much VGA cable, for Resolume

BlackMatrix — An ATEM fleet as one router, with failover — **BlackMatrix**An ATEM fleet as one router, with failover

Amber — That old Flash folder, playable in Resolume — **Amber**That old Flash folder, playable in Resolume

Vectrix — An oscilloscope with a pedalboard, for Resolume — **Vectrix**An oscilloscope with a pedalboard, for Resolume

Abomerration — Chromatic aberration that listens to the music, for Resolume — **Abomerration**Chromatic aberration that listens to the music, for Resolume

Burin — Draw vector artwork in Resolume, at any size — **Burin**Draw vector artwork in Resolume, at any size

Tilter — Makes a city look like a model railway, for Resolume — **Tilter**Makes a city look like a model railway, for Resolume

Vertigo — The dolly zoom, for Resolume — **Vertigo**The dolly zoom, for Resolume

(re)gauss — A magnet by a CRT, plus a degauss button, for Resolume — **(re)gauss**A magnet by a CRT, plus a degauss button, for Resolume

BirdDog PLAY Patcher — Remote access for an NDI decoder that has none — **BirdDog PLAY Patcher**Remote access for an NDI decoder that has none

Rookery — One cue, every WebLinked — **Rookery**One cue, every WebLinked

Frame Ferret — A software virtual capture card — **Frame Ferret**A software virtual capture card

oxbow — FFGL effects for mixers that won't take plugins — **oxbow**FFGL effects for mixers that won't take plugins

obs-ffgl — FFGL plugins natively inside OBS — **obs-ffgl**FFGL plugins natively inside OBS

Coinop — Fourteen arcade games as a Resolume plugin — **Coinop**Fourteen arcade games as a Resolume plugin

Idler — The Windows 95/98 screensavers, for Resolume — **Idler**The Windows 95/98 screensavers, for Resolume

ArrayCAD — A venue drawing in, ArrayCalc, Soundvision or EASE Focus out — **ArrayCAD**A venue drawing in, ArrayCalc, Soundvision or EASE Focus out

Flipbook — Play a sprite sheet in Resolume — **Flipbook**Play a sprite sheet in Resolume

Outrun — Breakaway neon strokes for Resolume — **Outrun**Breakaway neon strokes for Resolume

Resolume OFX Bridge — OpenFX plugins in Resolume, and back again — **Resolume OFX Bridge**OpenFX plugins in Resolume, and back again

Dante BabelBox — Dante kit from different vendors, on speaking terms — **Dante BabelBox**Dante kit from different vendors, on speaking terms

Tinsel — Fairy lights round anything, for Resolume — **Tinsel**Fairy lights round anything, for Resolume

Orrery — Animated shapes for masks and pixel maps — **Orrery**Animated shapes for masks and pixel maps

Scopes — Video scopes for Resolume — **Scopes**Video scopes for Resolume

Downpour — Digital rain for Resolume — **Downpour**Digital rain for Resolume

Asciify — ASCII art with edges that lean the right way, for Resolume — **Asciify**ASCII art with edges that lean the right way, for Resolume

atem-scopes — Scopes around an ATEM multiview — **atem-scopes**Scopes around an ATEM multiview

Zero EQ — Zero-latency EQ & dynamics — **Zero EQ**Zero-latency EQ & dynamics

Porthole — Fisheye and defish for Resolume — **Porthole**Fisheye and defish for Resolume

simpleVIS — See your lighting programming, before the room — **simpleVIS**See your lighting programming, before the room

Old Cathode — The whole analogue TV signal path, for Resolume — **Old Cathode**The whole analogue TV signal path, for Resolume

Contourtonist — Equal-loudness EQ that tracks the room — **Contourtonist**Equal-loudness EQ that tracks the room

LEQtion — Sound level meter and dual-channel analyser — **LEQtion**Sound level meter and dual-channel analyser

ATEM Fleet Admin — Set up every ATEM in the fleet at once — **ATEM Fleet Admin**Set up every ATEM in the fleet at once

Presentation Converter — Slides to PDF, notes intact — **Presentation Converter**Slides to PDF, notes intact

caspar-AV — CasparCG as a live-events media server — **caspar-AV**CasparCG as a live-events media server

Flock — Every BirdDog Play decoder from one page — **Flock**Every BirdDog Play decoder from one page

SRT Router — A broadcast-style crosspoint for SRT — **SRT Router**A broadcast-style crosspoint for SRT

ATEM Overseer — A whole fleet of ATEMs on one screen — **ATEM Overseer**A whole fleet of ATEMs on one screen

RFutils — RF coordination and radio-mic monitoring — **RFutils**RF coordination and radio-mic monitoring

Presentation Commander — Client — A presenter for the stage laptop — **Presentation Commander — Client**A presenter for the stage laptop

Presentation Commander — Server — Master control for a presentation room, over NDI — **Presentation Commander — Server**Master control for a presentation room, over NDI

Plotter — A pen plotter that can't keep up, for Resolume — **Plotter**A pen plotter that can't keep up, for Resolume

Chipping in

The test kit doesn't buy itself.

I use AI a lot, and I say so. It's how one tech gets this much made, but it doesn't make any of it free. There's still the hardware to test against, the subscriptions, and a frankly embarrassing number of unpaid evenings.

How to support the work

The software ourindustry never gotround to writing.