CueSync for QLC+ Users: What It Does and What It Doesn't
Looking at QLC+ and CueSync? What CueSync does: cues driven by the music or by timecode, fired on your console and media servers, and its limits.
CueSync TeamStage Automation Engineers
What this page is
You searched for lighting software. This page describes CueSync only: what it does, what it needs, and when it is the wrong tool. It makes no claims about any other product.
What CueSync is, and what it is not
CueSync is show-control software for Apple Silicon Macs. It decides when: it reads the beat and structure of the music, or a show's timecode, and fires a cue at the moment the music or the clock gets there. The console decides what: the looks a lighting designer programmed stay on the desk, and CueSync fires them in the desk's own command language.
That makes CueSync a layer over a rig rather than a replacement for the desk. It has DMX output of its own, Art-Net and sACN, which reaches fixtures through a network node.
Where the timing comes from
- Your own files. Local Audio plays them, and CueSync works out the beat grid, phrases, energy, key and loudness on your Mac, with nothing uploaded.
- Pioneer decks. CueSync joins PRO DJ LINK as another player and reads the position, BPM, phase and tempo master your CDJs share. Of the Pioneer units, only the CDJ-3000 has been through a hardware session.
- Timecode. In Theatre and Production, CueSync chases MTC, LTC, TCNet, Art-Net timecode or CDJ position, acts on the highest-priority live source, and labels the moment it is coasting through a dropout.
- A button. An incoming MIDI note can fire the next cue in every edition; in Theatre and Production an OSC message can too.
What fires
- Cues that wait for the music. A cue can wait for a phrase change, an energy band, a fill or a hot cue press on a deck, and fire when the track gets there.
- Auto Pilot. On a DJ set it works out a fire plan when each track loads, shows every planned moment before it happens, and steps back when you take over.
- A timeline for a scripted show. In Theatre and Production, the Show Editor lays your audio out as a running order of Parts with a lane for each department, and Run Mode calls the show from one screen.
- Cue Pads. The moments that are not on a timeline get a pad under your hand.
One cue can hold a console command, a media-server command, a MIDI message and an audio clip.
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.
Working alongside other software
CueSync does not have to be the only thing on the network. Custom OSC sends the OSC messages you define to anything that listens to OSC, MIDI goes out through the system MIDI devices you pick (over a cable or network MIDI), and incoming MIDI or OSC can fire CueSync's cues. CueSync has no scripting of its own: what it reaches is its integrations, plus Custom OSC and MIDI for the rest.
What it needs
- A Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 12 or later.
- Something programmed to trigger: a console, a media server or show-control software.
- The edition that matches the job: DJ for decks and music-driven cues, Theatre for a scripted show, Production for both.
- 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 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.
- You need software whose source you can read and change. CueSync is a commercial application, and its source is not published.
The short version of this page has the same facts, and choosing an edition covers which workflow each edition includes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not in the sense of a desk you program fixtures on. CueSync triggers the system that holds the looks, whether a console, a media server or show-control software, in that system's own protocol. Its own Art-Net and sACN output reaches fixtures through a network node.
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