# Clip groups

You'll notice that each clip has a coloured outline, and this colour represents which *group* it's in. The APC40 clip buttons also light up in the relevant group colour.

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="108"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Group 1</td><td>Cyan</td></tr><tr><td>Group 2</td><td>Orange</td></tr><tr><td>Group 3</td><td>Red</td></tr><tr><td>Group 4</td><td>Indigo</td></tr><tr><td>Group 5</td><td>Green</td></tr></tbody></table>

The group system is very flexible and it allows you to :

* Keep clips in one group going, while you toggle groups in another one
* Quickly assign zones and X/Y flips to all clips within a group
* Set *Flash mode* for a clip (Group 3 is set to *Flash mode* by default)
* Set the default transition in/out times that can be inherited by clips, or over-ridden.

It's up to you how you use the *group* system, but if you have a lot of zones/lasers, it can be helpful to use the different groups for different groups of lasers. But it's up to you! As a starting point, this is how I generally use the groups :

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="108"></th><th width="121"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Group 1</td><td>Cyan</td><td>The default group for the most commonly used beam zones.</td></tr><tr><td>Group 2</td><td>Orange</td><td>The secondary group of laser beam zones</td></tr><tr><td>Group 3</td><td>Red</td><td>Assigned to <em>flash</em> mode, live played, usually fast stabs of light</td></tr><tr><td>Group 4</td><td>Indigo</td><td>Slower mellower clips with a slow default fade in and out</td></tr><tr><td>Group 5</td><td>Green</td><td>Graphics / canvas clips</td></tr></tbody></table>

### The *Group* buttons

The *Group* buttons are down the right hand side of the clip deck, and when you activate one, you can :

* assign clips to a group
* change the zone settings and x/y flip for all clips in the group

To activate the *group* button :

* Press and hold the *group* button on the APC40
* Mouse click the on screen *group* button. Click again to toggle off.

You can easily assign clips to the group by pressing them while the *group* button is active. (Another way to assign a group is with the clip's right click menu).

### Change zone settings for all clips within a group

When a *group* button is active, you’ll see the *zone* buttons (BEAM 1 - 8, CANVAS 1, etc) light up as follows :

* OFF : this zone is **not set for any** of the clips in that group
* FLASHING : this zone is set for ***some*****&#x20;but not&#x20;*****all*** of the clips in the group
* ON : this zone is set for ***all*** of the clips in the group

Press the zone button to activate and deactivate that zone in ***all*** the clips in the group.

The exact same concept applies for the X/Y flip buttons.