Start and stop from a Stream Deck

If the computer running the control panel sits in a rack or an AV cupboard, you do not have to walk over to press Start and Stop. Breeze can give you two private links: one starts the broadcast and one stops it. Put them on a Stream Deck key, a Bitfocus Companion button, or anything else that can open a web address.

The control panel still does the work. It must be open and signed in on the audio computer, with the microphone chosen as usual. The links press Start and Stop for you.

1. Create the links

Only admins can see and change the links.

1. Open the control panel and go to Settings.
2. In Remote start and stop, select Turn on remote links.
3. Copy the Start link and the Stop link with the copy buttons next to them.

Anyone who has these links can start or stop your broadcast, so keep them as private as a password. Avoid pasting them into chats that preview links, because the preview can open the link.

If a link gets out, select Create new links. The old links stop working straight away, and you will need to update your buttons. Turn off removes the links completely.

2. Prepare the audio computer

Do this on the computer that captures your audio:

1. Open the control panel and sign in with an account that can broadcast (not an Observer account). Choose the microphone on the Broadcast page as usual.
2. Go to Settings. In Remote start and stop, turn on Respond to remote start and stop on this device.
3. Click anywhere on the control panel page once.

Browsers only let a page use the microphone after someone has clicked it. After the browser restarts or the page reloads, someone needs to click the page once. Until then, a warning shows at the bottom of the screen and remote start is ignored. Remote stop still works.

Turn the switch on only on this computer. A laptop or phone with the control panel open ignores the links, so the wrong microphone cannot go live by mistake. If two computers have the switch on, both try to start and only one goes on air. The switch belongs to this browser on this computer. Turn it on again if you change browser or sign out.

While the switch is on, this computer stays signed in. It is not logged out after four hours without use. It still needs to stay awake: if the screen locks or the computer sleeps, the control panel loses its connection and the buttons do nothing. See Keep the control iPad awake for tablets.

3. Set up a button

Stream Deck

1. In the Stream Deck app, drag the Website action (under System) onto a key.
2. Paste the Start link into URL.
3. Tick GET request in background (called Access in background in older versions) so pressing the key does not open a browser window.
4. Do the same on a second key with the Stop link.

Bitfocus Companion

Add the Generic: HTTP Requests connection. Give a button a GET or POST request action and paste the Start link as the URL. Do the same on a second button with the Stop link.

Anything else

Any device or app that can send a web request works. Send a GET or POST request to the link. Opening the link in a web browser works too, so take care where you paste it. For example:

curl -X POST "<your start link>"

The reply is 202 when Breeze has passed the request on to your open control panels. It does not mean a control panel received it. The reply is 404 when the link is wrong, has been replaced, or remote links are turned off.

What to expect

• The control panel usually starts or stops almost straight away, the same as pressing the button on screen.
• The button cannot tell whether the broadcast actually started. Check that the audio computer shows On Air, or open the listener app.
• If the audio computer has no microphone selected or has lost its connection, remote start is ignored and an error shows on that screen.
• Pressing start while already on air, or stop while off air, does nothing. Remote start also does nothing while another device is broadcasting.
• The usual limit on how long one broadcast can run still applies. When it is reached, the broadcast stops and needs starting again.

If it does not start

1. Check that Respond to remote start and stop on this device is on, on the audio computer itself.
2. Look for the warning at the bottom of the screen and click the page once.
3. Check that a microphone is selected and the control panel is connected.
4. Check that the computer has not gone to sleep or locked its screen.
5. Check that your button uses the latest links. Create new links replaces them.

If it still does not work, ask in Support chat.

Go deeper

• The control panel
• Users and roles
• Keep the control iPad awake