Slot length

Tell Downstage how long the venue has given you, and it tells you whether the set fits.

Set the slot

In Backstage › Setlists, type the number of minutes you have into Slot, minutes. Leave it empty if nobody is counting.

The summary line then compares the set with the slot:

6 songs · 27:23   of 30:00                    2:37 spare

A bar underneath fills as the set approaches the slot. When the set is longer than the slot, the bar and the figure turn red and read over instead of spare.

Each setlist has its own slot, because each gig does.

On stage

When the setlist on stage is over its slot, the show screen's warning chip says so, and Backstage › Diagnostics gives the figure. Otherwise the slot stays out of the way: on stage it is only worth knowing about when it is a reason to drop a song.

The set clock in the header is always there when a setlist is on stage: Set 5:28 · 21:54 left — how far into the set you are, and how long is left to play.

How the times are worked out

A song's length comes from its number of bars and the tempo Live plays it at, and the set's length is the sum of its songs. Two things to know:

• Downstage learns each song's tempo as the playhead passes through it, and remembers it. A song that has never been played or selected is estimated until it has been. After one run through the set the figures are right, including for songs that change tempo part-way.
• A song with no known end — the last one in the arrangement, if Live has not reported how long the arrangement is — is left out of the total, so the figure can only be an under-estimate.

Time between songs is not counted. If you talk for two minutes after a song that stops, allow for it yourself.