Plan the whole show once. Then one person runs it with one key.
Show Composer sits next to vMix on the same PC. Every row of your running order can hold a camera, a clip, graphics, a prompter script, vMix actions and an ATEM command at once, and one key fires the whole row. Everyone else in the room watches or works from a browser page on the studio's own network.
Four steps, every time.
- Build the running order.
A list of rows: camera 1, the opening clip, a lower third, the interview script for the prompter, a picture, back to camera. Clips and pictures come in by drag and drop from the media library. Cues like a lower third, a vMix command or an ATEM command can be attached to a row, so one TAKE fires them together.
- Put the show on air.
Show Composer adds one playlist input to your vMix for that show and loads the clips into it. Your other inputs, their numbers and your picture-in-picture wiring are left alone. Nothing else in vMix changes.
- Run it with one key.
A show that used to need a director, a switcher operator, a graphics operator and a prompter operator now needs one person and Space. Each press fires the next row with everything attached to it: the camera cut, the lower third, the ATEM key, the prompter script, in the right order, the same way every time. Pause, Resume and Restart do what they say, and two Master Takes cut back to the studio without moving the running order.
- Take the show off air.
The playlist input is removed again. Your vMix is as it was. The running order, its history and your media stay in Show Composer for the next episode.
Switch off "Up next" and the running order becomes a switcher.
Not every show runs in a planned order: a talk show, a live stream with viewer calls, a tournament, a service that follows the room. Set "Up next" to Off and nothing is armed after a take. Every row is now a button you can press in any order, and each button still fires its whole stack: a camera plus a lower third plus an ATEM key plus a sound cue, with one press. Build the most complex action once, give it a key, and it is one button for the rest of the show.
Linear
"Up next" on. The show follows the list, one key moves it forward, the prompter follows along. For a news bulletin, a recorded-as-live episode, a scripted event.
At will
"Up next" off. The list is a panel of prepared actions, taken in any order. For a talk show, a stream, a tournament, a service.
Both, in one show
Change the setting per running order while on air. Run the scripted opening linear, switch to at-will for the interview, back to linear for the close.
Built for the moment when the red light is on.
Runs with the internet down
Everything lives on the vMix PC. The only thing that ever calls out is the optional cloud link, and the show does not depend on it.
Comes back by itself
If vMix or the part that talks to it restarts, your lists come back without cutting the clip that is playing. A screen that crashes restarts itself once and says so.
Says why, in words
Every button press gets an answer on screen. If something cannot happen, the button says why in a sentence, not a code. Every state on a row is a word, never a colour alone.
Nothing happens behind your back
Backups, restores, updates and the cloud mirror wait until you are off air or step around the show that is on. An update installs only when you press Install, never at start-up.
One folder is the program
There is no installer. Your shows live outside the program folder, so a new version never touches them, and the old folder stays as the way back.
Tested the hard way
Every release passes a one-hour automated run against a vMix simulator with the connection deliberately broken every 20 seconds, then a rehearsal install on real data.
A vMix PC and the network you already have.
- The PC
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with vMix on it. Show Composer brings its own runtime; you install nothing else. About 250 MB on disk.
- vMix
- vMix 4K, versions 27 and 29, used daily on both. Older than 27 gets a warning, not a refusal. Two switches must be on in vMix's settings: Web Controller and TCP API. The first-run setup tells you if they are not.
- The other screens
- Any device with a browser on the same network as the vMix PC: an iPad, a laptop, a TV with a browser. Safari on iPad is what we test on. Nothing is installed on them.
- The network
- The studio's own wired or wireless network. The internet is not needed for a show. Windows asks once whether to allow Show Composer on private networks; answer yes or the iPads cannot connect.
- An ATEM
- Optional. One Blackmagic ATEM per install, found with "Find my ATEM". Tried on an ATEM Mini Pro; other models speak the same language and should work.
- Media
- Video as mp4, mov, mkv or webm; pictures as jpg, png or webp; sound as wav or mp3. Up to 4 GB per file. Older formats such as avi or wmv are not played; convert them to mp4 first.
Unzip, double-click, answer four questions.
- Move the folder to a permanent place
Such as C:\ShowComposer. Not Downloads, not inside the zip.
- Start vMix
With Web Controller and TCP API switched on in its settings.
- Double-click "Show Composer"
The first time it asks four yes-or-no questions, then starts and opens the Director in your browser. Answer the Windows firewall question with Private and Allow.
- Look for the green icon near the clock
Green means running. Amber means it needs a look. That is it; you are installed.
Updates: a studio linked to the cloud sees "a new version is ready" at the foot of the Director and installs it with one click, only when nothing is on air. A studio without a cloud link puts the new folder next to the old one and double-clicks; the old folder stays as the way back.
Want to see it on your own vMix?
Write to us with what you produce and which vMix version you run.
Ask for early access