UKHeliBob:
It seems to me that one of the problems for you and those trying to help is that the current sketch is complicated to understand in its own right without trying to shoehorn reading the IR into it. There is a lot going on in the sketch and I for one cannot see the wood for the trees. For instance, the crossFade function is called with a parameter of color[3] but the color array is not defined in the sketch nor is there any attempt to use the value of color[3] in the function. Needless to say the sketch will not compile.I would suggest that you start with a much simpler sketch, get it working then add to it. How about a sketch to respond to button presses to turn on or off a single LED ? In my experience there is a world of difference between trying to understand and modify a program written by someone else and writing one yourself.
This script is more of a Frankenstein. Parts of it were inspired from other code. I am going to explore using a pin change interrupter to do the dirty work of the yellow button which is, for the time being, my all stop button. Because I have no formal or book training, I write code based on my thought pattern which is much like RAM on any computer, all over the place.
I will explore other options and start a new thread with simpler easier to understand code if I get stuck. Thanks!