With the Controller you select which music and which sounds (more precisely, which mode elements)
are played. The controller can run on the same computer as the Player or on a different one. It needs
a player in both cases which will play the files.
On the Controller computer you need neither the Ares project file nor the music and sound files. They have to be on
the computer where the Player is; the Controller gets all necessary information from the Player.
In the upper part of the Controller are three sliders to set the volumes. The Controller remembers the settings for the next
start automatically. With the sliders for music and sounds, you can't set the volume higher than defined
by the overall volume; so it makes sense to set the overall volume rather high and then set the volumes for music and sounds
somewhat lower.
Below, the Controller displays the current state:
Below, there's a section for the connection to the Player. You have to establish a connection first, before anything can be played. The Players which are visible in the network are displayed automatically in the selection list. If you don't see anything in the list, there are several possible reasons for that:
You can select the UDP port for the network connection in the Controller under Extras -> Settings (the TCP port is taken
from the Player settings automatically).
The last section of the Controller contains buttons depending on the loaded project. Each mode in the project gets its own
button. With this button, you open (and close) a separate window for the mode.
A special, always available 'mode' is the currently played music list. With it you can directly select one of the songs in
the current list. Another special 'mode' can be used to select music tags.
Firstly, you open the window for the mode you want, either through the button or per keyboard key (which you have selected
in the Editor). Several windows can be open at the same time; if you minimize or restore the main window, all other windows
will also be minimized or restored.
Then, you can select elements in the window for the mode. Again, you can do that either by pressing the button or by pressing
the defined keyboard key. For elements which remain active (like background music), the button remains pressed, and you can
stop playing the element by pressing the button or the keyboard key again.
The messages window is opened either through the menu or automatically if a warning or error message occurs. The Controller outputs such messages if something doesn't fit or has gone wrong. With the filter, you can switch between different categories of messages.
Apart from the network settings, you can also change the appearance of the Controller through Settings -> Display. You can
select a different look & feel instead of the default Walnut one. To select a skin, you have to choose "Skin ..." as look &
feel.
Or you can change the font. If you change the font size, the buttons get bigger or smaller; that's good e.g. for touch screens.
Finally, there are some options regarding music playing, which hopefully explain themselves.