Media Players

Arkestra has three media layer types that let you feed video, still images, and GIFs into your track chain: Video Player, Image Player, and GIF Player. Each type supports a playlist — a queue of sources you can switch between manually or automate.

---

Video Player

The Video Player renders video frames as a texture into the track chain. It supports two source types: local files and Pexels stock videos.

Sources

Source	How to add
Local file	Click the + slot in the playlist bar, then choose “Browse Files” or drag a file from the Local Media browser
Pexels	Open the Pexels tab in the browser, search or browse, then click a result to add it

Supported formats include standard video formats (.mp4, .mov, .avi, etc.) as well as HAP-encoded files for GPU-accelerated playback.

Playback controls

Parameter	Description
Play/Stop	Toggleable trigger — true = playing, false = paused. Mappable to MIDI or keyboard.
Muted	When on, video audio is silenced. On by default.
Reversed	Plays the video backwards.
Play Mode	Loop — restarts when the clip ends. One Shot + Hold — pauses on the last frame when done. One Shot + Black — outputs black when the clip ends.

Sync mode

When Sync is enabled, the video position is driven by a mappable Progress parameter (0–1) instead of free-running playback. This lets you scrub video with an LFO, sequencer, MIDI CC, or audio input.

• Progress Offset shifts the start point of synced playback.
• Clip Start and Clip Length trim the active region of the clip to a sub-range (0–1). For example, Clip Start = 0.25 + Clip Length = 0.5 plays the middle half of the video.

Timeline Sync is a sub-mode of Sync that drives the video position directly from the project timeline playhead, so the video locks to bar position.

---

Image Player

The Image Player renders a still image as a texture into the track chain.

Sources

Source	How to add
Local file	Click Add Image in the inspector, or drag files from the Local Media browser
Unsplash	Open the Unsplash tab in the browser, search or browse editorial photos, then click a result

Supported image formats: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, HEIC.

Unsplash images are loaded directly from URL and conform to Unsplash attribution guidelines — the photographer’s name and a link to their profile are preserved in the item metadata.

---

GIF Player

The GIF Player decodes and plays back animated GIFs frame by frame using CPU-decoded frames uploaded to the GPU each frame.

Sources

Source	How to add
Local GIF file	Click Add GIF in the inspector, or use the Local Media browser
Giphy	Open the Giphy tab in the browser, search or browse trending GIFs, then click a result

Playback parameters

Parameter	Description
Speed	Frame advance rate per render tick. Default 0.25. Mappable.
Time	When Time Mode is on, the GIF frame is driven by a 0–1 value instead of the speed counter — great for scrubbing with an LFO or audio input.

Decoded frames are cached in memory so switching between playlist items that have already been loaded does not re-download or re-decode them.

---

The Playlist

Every media player — video, image, and GIF — has a playlist: an ordered list of sources. Only one item is active at a time; the rest are queued and ready to switch to instantly.

Adding items

• Tap the + slot at the end of the thumbnail bar in the inspector.
• Use the Pexels, Giphy, Unsplash, or Local Media browsers to add items to the active playlist directly without creating a new track.
• Select multiple files in the Local Media browser and tap Add N to Playlist to batch-add them.

Activating an item

• Click a thumbnail in the bar to inspect it (blue border).
• Double-click a thumbnail, or click the play button that appears on hover, to activate it (it becomes the live source).
• The active item is marked with a ▶ icon in the top-right corner of its thumbnail.

Reordering

Drag thumbnails left or right to reorder the playlist. The active item selection is preserved after a reorder.

Replacing an item

Right-click a thumbnail and choose Replace… to swap the source at that position while keeping its playlist slot, MIDI mappings, and per-item trigger intact. For Pexels videos you can also choose Show in Pexels to open the original clip in a browser.

Deleting an item

Right-click a thumbnail and choose Delete, or select the item in the inspector list and press Delete or Backspace.

---

Playlist navigation

Three navigation controls appear below the thumbnail bar, each independently mappable to MIDI, keyboard, LFO, or any other source:

Control	Behavior
← Prev	Moves to the previous item (wraps around).
Shuffle	Jumps to a random item (never repeats the current one).
Next →	Moves to the next item (wraps around).

Per-item triggers

Each playlist item has its own trigger — a BoolValue that activates that specific item on a rising edge. Right-click a thumbnail and choose Map To…, MIDI Learn, or Keyboard from the context menu to assign a trigger to that slot. This lets you map individual keys or MIDI pads to specific clips.

Autoplay

The Autoplay dropdown advances the playlist automatically. Options:

Setting	Behavior
No autoplay	Manual only — no automatic advancement.
Fader	Advances to the next item when the track fader reaches zero.
32 Bars … 1/16	Advances on a musical time division synced to tempo via Ableton Link or the project clock.

Time-based autoplay uses the same bar/beat clock as LFOs and sequencers, so the playlist stays locked to the groove.

---

Online media sources

Pexels (videos)

Pexels provides royalty-free stock video. Open the Pexels tab in the browser to browse or search.

• Orientation filter — Auto-selected based on your project’s aspect ratio. Override with Any / Landscape / Portrait / Square.
• Favorites — Star a clip to save it for quick access in the Favorites section.
• Results paginate; scroll to the bottom to load more.
• Selecting a clip adds it to the active track’s video playlist (or creates a new Video Player track if nothing is selected).

Giphy (GIFs)

Giphy provides animated GIFs. Open the Giphy tab in the browser to search or browse trending GIFs.

• Without a search query, trending GIFs are shown.
• Scroll to the bottom to load more results.
• GIFs are added to the active track’s GIF playlist, or create a new GIF Player track.

Unsplash (images)

Unsplash provides high-resolution royalty-free photography. Open the Unsplash tab in the browser.

• Without a search query, popular/editorial photos are shown.
• Search returns landscape-oriented results by default.
• Results paginate; scroll to load more.
• Adding a photo triggers the Unsplash download endpoint as required by their API guidelines.

---

Local file handling

The Local Media browser (blue folder icon in the sidebar) manages your local video, image, and GIF library.

Adding media

Action	How
Add Folder	Click “Folder” in the browser header. Arkestra watches the folder and lists all compatible media files inside it.
Add Files	Click “File” to pick one or more individual files. They appear in the Single Files section.

Folders are listed alphabetically, with favorited folders pinned to the top. Single files appear in their own collapsible section.

Browsing and searching

Use the search bar to filter files across all folders and single files by name.

Adding to a track

• Single click a file to select it.
• Double-click (or use the play button on hover) to add it to the selected track — it creates a new Video Player, Image Player, or GIF Player layer depending on the file type.
• When the selected track’s effect has a video, image, or GIF playlist, the browser switches to playlist mode: you can ⇧-click or ⌘-click to multi-select files, then tap Add N to Playlist in the footer to batch-add them all at once.

File access

For local files, Arkestra stores a security-scoped bookmark so the file can be accessed across app restarts without re-prompting. If the file is moved or deleted, the item in the playlist will show a broken-file state until you replace it.