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    These docs are a work in progress. The software can already be used — download WavePhase.

    Documentation

    Docs for WavePhase v0.9.3 · reviewed 2026-08-10

    A newer app release may have shipped since this review. These pages describe the latest public WavePhase release. If something looks different in your build, check for an app update.

    Performing

    Show Lock & Unattended Installs

    Leave WavePhase running a fixed show in a venue: it boots, reopens the show, and runs — with the patch and fixture library locked behind a PIN so nobody can change them.

    What locking does

    A locked show is pinned to the Live workspace. The Fixtures and Mapping workspaces disappear from the tab strip, and with them the node graph, the fixture library and the stage editor.

    • The File menu is disabled — no New, Open, Save or Save As. Otherwise "you cannot edit the patch" would be one Open away from being untrue.
    • Undo, redo and delete are disabled, along with their keyboard shortcuts. Gating only the menus would leave the keyboard as a way in.
    • The lock is saved with your preferences, so a locked machine comes back locked after a power cut.

    Choosing what stays usable

    • Live controls allowed (the default) — staff can drive the show from your control surfaces but cannot change what the show is.
    • View only — control surfaces ignore input too. A pure playback kiosk.

    The usual venue setup

    Locked, with live controls allowed, and a Live Control panel holding just the handful of things the venue actually needs — a master level, a colour, a look selector.

    Setting it up

    1. 1

      Build and save the show

      Get the patch finished and saved to a file first. The last saved show is what reopens on launch.
    2. 2

      Set a PIN

      Preferences → Show lock → set a PIN of at least four characters. The show cannot be locked without one.
    3. 3

      Choose the access level

      Live controls allowed, or view only.
    4. 4

      Lock it

      Press Lock the show now. You are moved to the Live workspace immediately.
    5. 5

      Turn on Run on startup

      Preferences → Startup → Run on startup, so the machine boots straight into the running show.

    Unlocking

    Preferences stays reachable while locked — that is how you get back in. Open Preferences → Show lock and enter the PIN.

    Forgotten the PIN

    The lock can be cleared using the licence the machine is activated with. Anyone who can activate the licence is treated as the owner, so there is no separate master code to lose or leak. Clearing removes the PIN and unlocks the show.

    What the lock is, and isn't

    Show lock stops the show being changed by whoever is standing at the machine — curious staff, a guest DJ, someone tidying up. That is what it is designed for and what it does well.

    Not a security boundary

    A short PIN stored on the machine is not a strong secret. Anyone who can copy files off the computer can recover it, whatever the storage format — the PIN is hashed and salted, never written in the clear, but a four-digit secret has very little to hide behind. Physical access to the booth is still the real control.

    Keeping the show safe

    • WavePhase autosaves a recovery snapshot while you work, so a crash or a power cut doesn't cost you the session.
    • Saving writes atomically and keeps a .bak beside the document, so an interrupted write can never leave a half-written show.
    • Opening a show saved by a different version asks first, and explains that it will be upgraded — your file on disk is untouched until you save.

    Building an unattended venue workflow? See WavePhase for clubs.

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