Looking at SoundSwitch Alternatives? What CueSync Does

What this page is

You searched for a lighting tool for DJ sets. This page describes CueSync only: what it does for that job, what it needs, and when it is the wrong tool. It makes no claims about any other product, so when you weigh CueSync against something else, read that product's own documentation for its side.

Three questions that decide it

What Mac are you on? CueSync needs Apple Silicon and macOS 12 or later. It does not run on an Intel Mac, and there is no Windows build. If that rules it out, nothing below matters.

Is there a console or media server in the rig? CueSync triggers the systems you have programmed, such as a grandMA3 desk, Resolume or QLab. The desk keeps the looks and CueSync says when. Its own DMX output, Art-Net and sACN, reaches fixtures through a network node.

Where does the beat come from? Pioneer decks over PRO DJ LINK, your own audio files, or a beat from DJ software. Each gives CueSync something different.

Where the beat comes from

• Pioneer decks. CueSync joins your PRO DJ LINK network as another player and reads the position, BPM, phase and tempo master your CDJs already share, with no DJ software in the chain. Close rekordbox on the show machine first, because it claims the same network ports. Of the Pioneer units, only the CDJ-3000 has been through a hardware session, so test your own booth.
• Your own files. Local Audio plays them, and CueSync works out the beat grid, phrases, energy, key and loudness on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded.
• DJ software. OS2L carries a beat grid from VirtualDJ, or from Serato or rekordbox through an OS2L bridge. That path drives beat cues and pad quantise only, because there is no track analysis behind it.
• A tap. With no deck on the network, tap the tempo on Pro Decks and start the grid.

What fires, and when

• Cues that wait for the music. A cue can wait for a phrase change, an energy band, a fill or the DJ's hot cue press. Cues are checked in order, so the one you expect next goes at the top of the stack. On a Pioneer deck, phrase cues read the phrase map rekordbox wrote to the stick, which has not yet been checked on a CDJ-3000; on your own files they use CueSync's own analysis.
• Auto Pilot. It works out a fire plan when a track loads, shows every planned moment on the timeline before it happens, and records why each one fired. Take over with two quick GOs and it steps back. With your own files queued, Rehearse set plays the set's beats against the connected rig and sends nothing, so you can read the plan before doors.
• Cue Pads. The moments that are not on a timeline get a pad: one action or a sequence, fired from the screen, the keyboard or a MIDI controller.
• Venue profiles. A profile saves a room's outputs and the role each one plays, so the same show drives a big rig at one club and a modest one at the next.

One cue, the whole rig

One cue can hold a console command, a media-server command, a MIDI message and an audio clip, so a single press fires the whole moment.

CueSync ships 15 output protocols — grandMA2 (Telnet), grandMA3 (TCP and UDP OSC), Avolites Titan, ETC Eos, ChamSys MagicQ, Resolume, disguise, VIOSO, Pixera, TouchDesigner, Unreal Engine 5, QLab (TCP and UDP), MIDI Show Control, Pangolin Beyond and Custom OSC — of which grandMA3, QLab, Resolume and Unreal Engine 5 (in-engine, on our own project) have been run against the real program or console, and the rest are built to each maker's published interface and have not yet been run against that equipment.

Every edition connects to every output. The editions differ in workflow, never in connectivity.

What it needs

• A Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 12 or later.
• The DJ or Production edition for the decks, Local Audio and Auto Pilot.
• Something programmed to trigger: a console, a media server or show-control software.
• An account. Without a subscription you can run the demo show and tour the app in read-only mode. Building and saving your own shows, and connecting real outputs, need a subscription.

When CueSync is not the right fit

• You need it on Windows or on an Intel Mac. There is no Windows build, and CueSync does not run on an Intel Mac.
• You need deck data from Serato, Traktor or Engine DJ. CueSync has no native integration with any of them; OS2L carries a beat and nothing more.
• You want software to light fixtures directly, with no console in the rig. CueSync is built first to trigger a programmed console; its own DMX output is Art-Net and sACN, so fixtures connect through a network node.
• Your booth runs Pioneer players other than the CDJ-3000, and you cannot test them before the show.

If you are unsure which of these your rig is, the rig check tool starts from the hardware rather than a feature list. The short version of this page has the same facts, and the club DJ page walks a whole night.