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Last updated 8 August 2026

A Brainsalt installation is two pieces of software, used in this order: Brainsalt Hub gets the server running and configured, then Backstage builds and runs the show on it. Work through them in that order and nothing later fights you.

1. Brainsalt Hub — set up the server

Start here with a new server, or with any server you cannot reach. The Brainsalt Hub Desktop App finds every Brainsalt server on the network — even one whose address is wrong — signs you in, and opens each server's own System Management interface, where displays, networking, users, storage and power live.

What is Brainsalt Hub? — the desktop app, the on-server services, and how they fit together
Use the Brainsalt Hub Desktop App — the server list, actions, health, groups and power
Discover Servers on the Network — bring a fresh or misconfigured server onto the network
Sign In to a Server for the First Time — the factory account, and changing its password

Then, in order: Server Configuration for the network, users and the display and GPU setup · Operation & Monitoring once it is running · Remote Access to a Server when you are not in the building. All of it sits under Brainsalt Hub - Set Up and Manage the Server.

The display and GPU work has an order, and it only runs one way. EDID first, then Mosaic, then output format and genlock, and only then hand the outputs to Backstage by removing them from the Windows desktop. An output already inside a Mosaic grid, or already removed from the desktop, will not accept a new EDID — so getting this backwards means undoing it.

2. Backstage — build and run the show

With the server up, move to Backstage: the media application that holds your scene, your media, your outputs and your show logic.

What is Backstage? — the core objects: surfaces, outputs, assets, sequences, nodes
How Backstage Thinks — how the scene, the outputs and the Node editor relate to each other
User Interface — how the interface is arranged, and why no screenshot shows where anything is
Your First Project — from an empty project to media on screen
Workflow — the whole build, stage by stage, once you know the basics

The first three of those live in Concepts, the fourth in Getting Started. Whole jobs start to finish are in Examples. The whole application side sits under Backstage - Build and Run the Show.

Prefer to watch?

The Video Library is organised the same way as this documentation — the same two products, the same sections — recorded on a real server.

Three things worth knowing before you go there:

A video page can be read instead of watched. Each one is written out underneath the player as a walkthrough — the click paths, the settings that matter, and the traps — so you are not forced to sit through a recording to get the procedure.
Coverage is uneven, and deliberately visible. The server setup in Brainsalt Hub is recorded end to end. Most Backstage sections have nothing yet. The Video Library lists every section regardless, so you can see which is which rather than guessing.
A recording still does not cover everything its guide does. It shows one way through a task, on one installation. The written page has the field tables, the alternatives and the edge cases — it is always the complete version.

A guide with a recording links to it, and video pages are titled Video: … so you can tell the two apart at a glance.

Which product does my problem belong to?

You cannot tell from what is on your screen. The Brainsalt Hub Desktop App can display Backstage's own interface, streamed from the server — so a scene, a sequencer and a node graph may well be Backstage shown inside the Hub. Which window you are looking at is not the useful question.

This is:

What is wrong	Where it belongs
An output is missing, a display is not detected, the wrong resolution or EDID, genlock, Mosaic	The server — Brainsalt Hub → System Management
Network address, users and passwords, power, hardware health, storage	The server
Backstage will not start, or cannot be reached at all	The server — reach it through the Hub
Content in the wrong place, a projector out of alignment, a seam visible	Backstage
A sequence not playing, show logic not firing, remote control not answering	Backstage

The short version: if it is about the machine, it is the Hub. If it is about what appears on screen, it is Backstage.

Which way round for a new installation

Stage	Where the work happens
Get the server onto the network, set its address	Brainsalt Hub Desktop App
Sign in, create the site's user accounts, check hardware health	Brainsalt Hub → System Management
Configure GPU outputs, displays and EDID	Brainsalt Hub → System Management
Build the scene, map content, warp and blend	Backstage
Lay out the show, automate it, hand it to the operator	Backstage
Day-to-day monitoring, power, remote access	Brainsalt Hub Desktop App