Buzz Out Check

This is where you physically verify audio before recording. Paper routing plans are great, but cables don’t always cooperate.

Purpose

Buzz Out lets you systematically listen to each audio assignment and mark it off.

The typical workflow:

Complete your routing configuration in Nipper
Start the Buzz Out check
Choose your verification mode (Audio-Centric or Video-Centric)
Your engineer physically listens to each source or destination
Click individual blocks or use bulk actions to mark verification status
Navigate through all items using Previous/Next or Jump to Next Unverified
Record who completed the check for documentation

This catches the problems that paper checks miss - wrong cable connected, incorrect patch panel routing, equipment failure, phantom power issues. The usual suspects.

Starting Buzz Out Check

Menu → Tools → Buzz Out Check
(Or keyboard shortcut: Cmd+Shift+B / Ctrl+Shift+B)

A mode selection dialog appears. Choose your verification workflow:

Audio-Centric Mode:

Go through each audio source and verify all video destinations
Best for verifying a specific audio signal reaches all intended outputs
Example: MADI 1.01 assigned to SDI 1, SDI 2, SDI 3 — verify each destination

Video-Centric Mode:

Go through each video source and verify all embedded audio assignments
Best for checking all audio channels on a specific video feed
Example: SDI 1 with audio on CH1, CH2, CH3 — verify each audio assignment

Select your preferred mode and click “Start Buzz Out” to begin.

Your mode selection is saved and remembered for future sessions.

Configuration Change Detection

If you’ve previously run a Buzz Out check and then modified your routing configuration, Nipper detects this when you start a new check.

A warning dialog appears offering two options:

Clear Results and Start Fresh:

Resets all verification statuses to pending
Clears the completion record
Recommended when assignments have changed significantly

Continue with Existing Results:

Keeps previous verification data
Useful when changes are minor or unrelated to already-verified sources
Lets you resume where you left off

Nipper tracks changes by monitoring:

Audio source assignments to video destinations
Muted/unmuted status changes
Addition or removal of sources or destinations

This prevents confusion from outdated verification results after routing changes.

Verification Process

The Buzz Out window displays differently based on your selected mode:

Audio-Centric Mode

In this mode, Nipper presents each audio source sequentially. Only assigned, non-muted audio sources appear in the list.

For each audio source, the display shows:

Audio source label (like “MADI 1.05 L”)
Audio source type and description
A grid of visual blocks representing all video destinations where this audio is assigned

Each video destination block shows:

Video source name (e.g., “CAM1”)
Audio channel assignment (e.g., “CH1”)
Video group name (if applicable)
Location information (for NDI/IP sources)
Verification status indicated by color and icon

Click any destination block to cycle through verification states: Pending (?) → Verified (✓) → Failed (✗) → back to Pending.

Action buttons let you verify all destinations at once, fail all, skip all, or navigate between audio sources.

Video-Centric Mode

In this mode, Nipper presents each video source (SDI channel) sequentially. All video sources appear in the list, even if they have no audio assignments.

For each video source, the display shows:

Video source name and type
Group name (if applicable)
Location information (for NDI/IP sources)
Count of assigned channels (e.g., “4 of 8 channels assigned”)
A grid of visual blocks representing all audio channel assignments

Each audio assignment block shows:

Audio source label (e.g., “MADI 1.01 L”) or “MUTED” or “Unassigned”
Audio channel slot (e.g., “CH1”)
Audio source type
Verification status indicated by color and icon

Note: Muted and unassigned channels are displayed but automatically marked as verified since they don’t require physical verification.

Click any assignment block (except muted/unassigned ones) to cycle through verification states: Pending (?) → Verified (✓) → Failed (✗) → back to Pending.

Action buttons let you verify all assignments at once, fail all, skip all, or navigate between video sources.

Status icons:

Icon	Status	Description
	Verifying	Currently verifying this source
	Complete	All verifications complete, no failures
	Errors	Errors or failures detected
	Pending	Check not started or incomplete

Block colors indicate verification status:

Gray (Pending) — Not yet checked
Green (Verified) — Confirmed working correctly
Red (Failed) — Problem detected
Orange (Skipped) — Omitted from current check run

A timestamp is recorded automatically when each item’s status changes.

Verification States and Actions

Each item (destination in Audio-Centric mode, or assignment in Video-Centric mode) can be individually verified by clicking its visual block.

Per-item verification:

Click a block to cycle: Pending → Verified → Failed → Pending
Each block maintains its own state
Hover over any block to see detailed information

Bulk actions: The action buttons affect all verifiable items in the current assignment:

Verify — Mark all items as Verified and advance to next
Fail — Mark all items as Failed and advance to next
Skip — Mark all items as Skipped and advance to next

In Video-Centric mode, muted and unassigned channels are excluded from bulk actions as they don’t require verification.

Notes field:

Document observations about the current source:

“Missing on SDI 3, channel 5”
“No ready”
“Verified correct content”

Notes are saved per source and appear in exports.

Persistence

Verification results are automatically saved to your configuration file as you mark items (requires an active license and existing file path).

Each individual item’s verification status is persisted:

Audio-Centric mode: Each destination’s status for each audio source
Video-Centric mode: Each audio assignment’s status for each video source

Opening a saved configuration resumes Buzz Out state:

Previously verified items remain verified
Failed items still marked failed
Skipped items preserved
Notes retained

This allows verification over multiple sessions and supports collaborative workflows where different engineers verify different sections.

Sequential:

Next button advances through list (moves to next source regardless of verification state)
Previous button goes back

Jump to Next Unverified:

Skips sources where all items are verified, failed, or skipped
Goes directly to next source with pending items
Efficient for resuming interrupted checks

Progress indicator:

Top of window shows:

✓ Verified count (number of fully verified sources)
✗ Failed count (sources with any failed items)
→ Skipped count (sources where all items are skipped)
Remaining count (sources not fully verified)

The Nipper mascot icon changes based on overall progress:

Listening (verifying): Check in progress
Happy: All complete, no failures
Worried: Errors or failures detected
Normal: Check not started or incomplete

Completing the Check

The check is considered complete when all verifiable items are verified or explicitly handled:

Audio-Centric mode: All audio sources have all their destinations verified, failed, or skipped
Video-Centric mode: All video sources have all their assigned audio channels verified, failed, or skipped (muted/unassigned channels don’t block completion)

When you click Next on the last source with all items complete, Nipper prompts: “Enter name of technician who completed verification.”

Enter the name, click OK, and the completion timestamp and name get recorded in the configuration.

If items remain pending when you reach the end, you’re shown a summary instead of the completion prompt.

Export Status Badge

The Buzz Out status badge appears in HTML/PDF exports showing:

Completed (green) — All verifiable items checked, technician name shown
Incomplete (yellow) — Some items still pending
Errors (red) — Failed verifications exist

The badge provides at-a-glance verification status for production documentation.

Resetting Buzz Out Results

Within the Buzz Out Check dialog, the “Reset Buzz Out” button clears:

All verification statuses back to pending (for all items across all sources)
Completion technician name and timestamp
Notes are preserved unless you explicitly clear them

Use this when:

Re-checking after equipment changes
A different technician needs to verify the same routing
Performing a pre-event final verification before going live
Switching between verification modes to start fresh

After resetting, the check automatically restarts with all items marked as pending.

Choosing the Right Mode

Use Audio-Centric Mode when:

You want to trace a specific audio signal through the system
You’re troubleshooting where a particular microphone or source goes
Your workflow involves testing one audio source at a time with tone
You need to verify that one audio source reaches multiple destinations

Use Video-Centric Mode when:

You’re checking all embedded audio for a specific video feed
Your workflow involves monitoring one video output at a time
You need to verify all audio channels on specific cameras or sources
You’re confirming complete audio embedment for each SDI/NDI output

Both modes save to the same underlying verification data, so you can switch modes between sessions without losing progress. The mode you select is remembered for your next Buzz Out session.