What's New in Ghost Arcade Pro v0.5.0 — Dual-Deck VJ, X-Fader Matrix, Macros, Snapshots, Mobile Companion

Pro v0.5.0 — the biggest VJ release since the launcher shipped

Today we shipped Pro v0.5.0 — the largest live-performance update

since the original VJ launcher landed in 0.3.x. Five major surfaces

plus a long tail of fixes:

combine spatially

effects with a per-effect param editor and beat-grid auto-pulse

AND portrait, with WebSocket bridge to desktop

All of it ships alongside the [open-source Community edition v1.0

launch](/blog/ghost-arcade-community-open-source-launch). Different

products, same week, intentional.

→ Download Pro v0.5.0 · Pricing · Full changelog

Dual-deck VJ — Bank A / Bank B

Click the A/B toggle in the VJ header and the launcher splits into two

complete, independent banks. Each bank has:

together to a saved scene)

Stage mode + crossfader works per-screen — different physical

projection outputs can crossfade independently. That's a feature most

software-VJ tools don't have, and it matters when you're running a

multi-screen install where the front-of-house projector should mix

slowly while the LED wall punches between two looks on every drop.

Right-click any block tab → Save Project (Ctrl+S equivalent) +

Rename / Duplicate / Delete. Same right-click resave pattern lives on

stage presets and SynthVision keyboard presets so you never have to

delete-and-recreate to update a saved snapshot.

X-Fader — 10 transitions × 9 output blend modes that COMBINE

This is the headline. The X-fader column between Bank A and Bank B has

two dropdowns:

Transition — picks the spatial journey from A → B:

glitch · liquid · strobe · slide

Each transition is a custom GLSL fragment shader designed so the

midpoint is the peak visual moment. Park the fader at 0.5 and you

get a deliberate aesthetic — not a muddy 50/50 blend.

Output blend mode — picks the per-pixel math at the mix point:

overlay · exclusion

Critically, the two combine. The transition determines WHERE A and

B are mixing. The blend mode determines HOW. So:

At fader extremes (uMix=0 or uMix=1), an "overlap envelope" falls to

zero and the transition output passes through unchanged — combined

with the dead-zone tail at each end, you always get pure A at the top

and pure B at the bottom regardless of which blend mode is selected.

Macros — 8 effect-bank wet/dry knobs

The v1 macro system was a destination router with per-param min/max

configurable curves. Powerful but confusing to set up and easy to

break. We rewrote it from the ground up.

The new design: each macro is a wet/dry mix for a stack of effects.

composition effects panels use

and blend mode

(sliders + selects for every numeric / enum param the effect type

exposes)

via `mix(dry, wet, knob)` — every effect runs at its authored

opacity (preserving what you tuned), so the bundle never produces

unexpected darkening at midrange knob values

macro's dry input, so all 8 macros can be partially open at once

4bar) + waveform (sine, tri, saw-up, saw-down, square, pulse) to

cycle the knob value automatically on the master BPM. Hands-free

build-ups + breakdowns.

mapping

Mental model: each macro is like a guitar pedal chain you can

crossfade in and out with one knob. Build the chain to taste, then

perform with the wet/dry.

Snapshots — 16-slot scene bank

Bottom-right corner of the VJ overlay there's a "SNAPS" launcher with

16 slots. Each slot captures a complete freeze of:

Shift-click to save current state. Click to recall. Right-click

for rename / overwrite / clear.

Different from blocks (clip-grid scenes) and macros (continuous

knobs) — snapshots are live-state freezes. Use them for instant

scene jumps during a set. Bind hardware buttons to

`vj:snapshot:N` (1-16) for instant scene recall on a Launchpad

or similar.

Mobile companion — full iPad / phone touch surface

The mobile companion got a major rework. Open

`http://<your-lan-ip>:9002` on an iPad or phone and you get:

Two layouts:

controls along the bottom

master split 50/50 underneath

WebSocket protocol bridges desktop ↔ tablet at 30Hz throttled (the

state-sync), with a separate dedicated channel for beat pulses that

bypasses the throttle so the TAP button flashes in tempo without lag.

Use case: drop the iPad on the FOH desk, control the visual mix

hands-on while the desktop machine handles the actual rendering.

Or — for solo VJs — keep the iPad for fast clip triggering while

the laptop screen shows preview / output. Phone hotspot works fine.

And — quietly — 25 new ISF geometric primitives

The bundled shader catalog grew from 291 to 316 with a new

`geometric-shader-pack/` of 25 ISF primitives (squares, circles,

lines, triangles, polygons in various distortion + kaleidoscope +

strobe variants).

Removed: Setlist (.gset) feature

We removed the multi-song .gset setlist feature. Loading a song

.gha mid-set blacks the output for 500ms-2s while project state

tears down and rebuilds — unacceptable mid-show. Snapshots cover

same-show scene recall without that interruption. For multi-song

shows, save each song as its own .gha and use File → Open between

sets. Previously-saved .gset files are no longer loadable; .gha

projects are unaffected.

How to upgrade

If you're on any v0.3.x or v0.4.x build, the in-app updater will

prompt you on next launch. Or grab the installer manually from

/download.

Pricing didn't change for existing customers. New customers see the

new Pro Path tier ($25/mo × 18 → owns the perpetual)

alongside the existing Monthly + Lifetime options.

What's next

Next quarter we're focused on:

macro packs

If you've got requests, [file an issue on the public Community

repo](https://github.com/riskcapital/ghost-arcade-community/issues) —

we triage Pro and Community feature requests together.

→ Download Pro v0.5.0 ·

See pricing ·

Full changelog