How CueSync Works

What it's for — CueSync listens for something (a beat, a timecode frame, a MIDI note, your GO), decides a cue is due, and sends commands to the gear that runs the show. This page shows the whole path on one screen, defines the words the manual uses, says what is saved where, and ends with a checklist of every screen, menu, setting, trigger, action and protocol in the app, each linked to the page that explains it.

The bar above is the Production edition. Tabs carry live badges: counts (Cues, CuePads) and readouts such as connected over total on Network. The chip at the far left is the Working context chip, which narrows the bar to All, DJ or Theatre screens. It exists only on Production.

The path from input to gear

 INPUTS  (what CueSync listens to)
   Pioneer decks     beat, phrase, energy, key, hot cues  (PRO DJ LINK)
   Local audio, the internal beat clock, Ableton Link
   Timecode          MTC, LTC, TCNet, Art-Net, a CDJ, or a clock CueSync generates
   MIDI notes and CC, incoming OSC, received DMX (Art-Net, sACN)
   You               GO, keyboard, Cue Pads, Stream Deck, a Companion Deputy tablet
         |
         v
 TRIGGERS  (18 kinds)  decide WHEN a cue is due
         |
         v
 CUES      a trigger plus a list of actions
   Cue stack (DJ cues)        Show Editor cues (Theatre, on a timeline)
   Cue Pads (buttons)         Palette Looks (named states a cue or pad fires)
         ^
         |   AUTOMATION that also fires things
         |     AutoPilot        (DJ, Production)       a plan built from your track
         |     Show Control     (Theatre, Production)  timecode, GO, follow chains
         v
 ACTIONS   (28 you can add)   and   INTENTS  (9 kinds)   decide WHAT is sent
         |   an intent is resolved, at fire time, for the outputs that are
         |   connected and the active venue profile
         v
 OUTPUTS   Network -> Outputs: one connection per device  (15 integrations)
         |
         v
 GEAR      consoles, media servers, lasers, DMX nodes, QLab, Unreal ...

 PANIC LAYER   Blackout, Freeze, Manual Override, Resume All. Above all of it.
 GUARDS        licence, one live machine, DRY / REHEARSE+, Pre-Show Check, held outputs

Three things sit outside the picture:

• The pixel wall is CueSync's own RGB engine. A Pixel Wall action or a Pixels Look drives it. It has its own private output and is not in the Outputs list. See Pixel Wall.
• Companion devices (crew board, DJ live view, system monitor) show you the show; on the crew board a device can also call cue lights and leave notes, which wait for you to apply them. The only page that can fire anything is Deputy, and only the pads you publish to it. Nothing served to any of them can move your show clock, load a track or edit the show. See Show Companion.
• Studio is a cloud workspace where a show is designed before it reaches the show machine. It is not part of the desktop app. See Studio.

The words the manual uses

The glossary has the rest: Glossary.

What is saved where

What travels when you move a show to another laptop, and what does not:

• A bare .cuesync brings cues, pads, Looks, the outputs list and the venue id. It does not bring venue profiles, audio files, MIDI device choices, shortcuts or console logins. It also remembers which computer saved it: opened on another computer, its network outputs are held until you press Connect.
• File ▸ Sync, Import & Export ▸ Export Tour Pack… writes a .cuesynctour file: the show plus your saved venue profiles.
• Export Show Bundle… writes a .cuesyncbundle zip: the show plus the audio files it references, with paths rewritten so the audio opens beside the show.

Three ways to run

Every edition connects to every protocol. The editions differ in which workflows are open.

Settings, Diagnostics (when switched on) and the pad, Palette and cue-stack tools are in every edition. A screen your edition lacks is hidden from the navigation bar, and a gate overlay says which edition opens it.

Running both halves at once (Production). A Theatre show that is playing against timecode owns the console. While it plays, Auto Pilot stands down and the cue stack's Beat, Track Position and Scene Chain triggers hold back, so two engines never drive one desk. When the show stops they resume. A Cue Pad or a manual GO still fires while the show plays.

The safety layers

These are layers inside the software. None of them is a hardware interlock, and CueSync is not a safety system or a firing system: see Safety and Responsibility for what stays with you and what the rig does when something fails.

⚠ Blackout sends each protocol's own verb, and two have none. ETC Eos and ChamSys MagicQ have no blackout command CueSync can send, so a panic names them in a sticky red banner as not confirmed. TouchDesigner gets a /cuesync/panic pulse that only does something if you wired it. Releasing a Blackout restores a grandMA3's Grand Master to 100, Resolume's composition opacity and lifts Unreal's fade to black, and nothing else. Everything else is yours to re-fire.

The capability map

Counts below are current for this release. Where they differ from a number on another page, the note under the table says why.

Screens

17 screens (16 plus Settings). Two are not tabs in the navigation bar: Performance is a full-screen mode, and Local Audio is reached from the View menu.

Diagnostics is off until you turn on Settings → Advanced → Show the Diagnostics screen. It takes effect the next time CueSync starts.

Pop-out windows. Window ▸ lists eight surfaces you can open in their own window: Home, CuePads, Pro Decks, Timecode, Palette, Show Editor, Diagnostics (when on) and Stage Display, the projection-friendly deck waveform for a house screen. An edition sees only the ones it can open. See Multi-Monitor.

The menu bar

Seven menus. On macOS, About, Settings and Quit are in the system application menu.

Quick Add offers the most common outputs. ETC Eos, ChamSys MagicQ, Pangolin Beyond, VIOSO, Pixera and MIDI Show Control are added from Add Output….

Settings

23 sections. A section your edition lacks shows a lock and sends you to Account & License.

Actions (28 you can add)

Add Action offers 28 types in four categories. A 29th, GrandMA3 Look (legacy), still loads and fires in older shows but is not offered when you add an action. Both numbers are right: Action Reference says 28 and What Each Action Can Send says 29. The field-by-field detail is in the Action Reference; each protocol has its own page.

Every action except Generic OSC, Audio File, Cue Reference, Pixel Wall and Wait can be pinned to one output. Every one of those except Custom OSC can also be set to broadcast to every output of its protocol.

Triggers (18)

The Cue Editor groups them as Music-Reactive and Scripted / Manual. A cue whose trigger your edition lacks shows a gate indicator and says why it cannot fire.

Full firing rules: Trigger Reference.

Protocols (20)

The table lists every output type. A protocol that speaks over two transports has a row for each (grandMA2, grandMA3, QLab), which is why other pages say 15 integrations. Every edition includes every protocol.

Run against the real program or software: grandMA3 (a physical console, and onPC), Resolume (a live Arena), QLab and Unreal Engine 5 (in the engine). Every other row is built to the manufacturer's published interface and has not been run on hardware.

Companion surfaces and tools

Use cases

1. Find out why a cue did nothing. Walk the path from the top.

1. Trigger. Open Cues (Cmd+2). The next cue is tagged NEXT. A cue that is not next is not being evaluated by a sequential trigger. Press the play icon on the cue's row to test-fire it, which ignores the trigger. If it fires now, the trigger was the problem.
2. Action. Open the cue and read each action's Sends: line where the editor shows one. It names the one thing that action sends.
3. Output. Open Network (Cmd+9). Every output you use should read connected. A UDP output that reads green has not proved anything arrived; open the desk's own command history.
4. Holds. Open Transport ▸ Panic. If the first row reads Release Blackout, a blackout is latched. Unfreeze Outputs and Release Manual Override mean the same for those two. Look at the DRY toggle in the Cues toolbar: it reads DRY RUN when on and sends nothing.
5. Licence. Read the licence badge in the bar. Read-Only fires nothing. You should end on one line that failed: the trigger, the action, the output, a hold or the licence.

2. Move a show to a spare laptop.

1. On the primary, choose File ▸ Sync, Import & Export ▸ Export Tour Pack… and save the file. Choose Export Show Bundle… as well if the show plays audio files.
2. On the spare, choose Import Tour Pack… and pick the file. CueSync installs the venue profiles the spare does not already have (your edition's venue limit can block some), writes the show beside the pack file and opens it. For a bundle, choose Import Show Bundle…, then choose a folder to unpack it into. CueSync opens the unpacked show. A show from a pack or bundle always opens with its network outputs held: a notice lists them, each with the address it would dial. A venue installed from a pack is not switched on for you; the show offers Use venue.
3. Open Settings → Venues and activate the venue (or press Use venue on the notice). Open Network and re-enter any console logins. They never travel in a show file.
4. Quit CueSync on the primary, then press Connect on the held-outputs notice, or choose Output ▸ Activate All Outputs, on the spare. Press Connect only if the addresses it lists are the rig's. Only one machine per licence drives the rig. You should see every output connect on the spare. Until the primary quits, the spare is in Standby and refuses output to the rig.

3. Rehearse without sending anything.

1. On the Cues screen, click DRY in the cue stack toolbar. It changes to DRY RUN with a warning icon.
2. Press Space to GO through the stack. Cues advance and the rows update.
3. For a Theatre show, open Run Mode and stop or pause the show. Press R until the transport reads DRY. Press Play.
4. Confirm on the desk or server that nothing arrived. Switch back before doors: R again, or click DRY RUN off. You should see cues fire on screen while every console and media server stays quiet. REHEARSE+ is different: it sends to the same outputs as SHOW.

Tips & gotchas

• One word, several meanings. Palette is the name of a screen. On Eos, Avolites and MagicQ a palette is a colour or position preset, and CueSync does not send or edit those. Scene is a row of pads or the middle of Act.Scene.Cue, never a Look. A console look number ("Set Console Look #3") is not a Look from the Palette. Pre-Show Check and Flight Check are the same dialog.
• The order of a stack matters. Sequential triggers evaluate only the next cue. A stalled cue blocks the ones below it. See Cues.
• Intent mappings are per intent type. A venue profile's mapping for "strobe burst" applies to every strobe-burst intent in the show, and a mapping guarded by a capability the venue lacks fires nothing. See Intents and Actions.
• Generate Show fixes its actions when you commit. It resolves its intents against the rig connected at that moment. Move to another venue and generate again.
• Scene Chain counts bars from beat events. It needs a beat source, and it is held while a Theatre show is playing.
• A protocol with no blackout verb is reported, not skipped. Read the red banner after any panic and black those desks out by hand.

What has been verified

Protocol status follows the Protocol Reference: four integrations have been run against the real program or hardware, the rest are built to the manufacturer's published interface and have not, and Art-Net and sACN are experimental. Do a dry run on your own rig before you rely on any of them.

Related

• Installation — editions, activation, one live machine per licence
• The Interface — the shell, the navigation bar, the Command Palette
• Intents and Actions — actions, intents, Looks and how a venue maps them
• Cues, Pads or Scenes? — choosing between the three
• Action Reference, Trigger Reference, Protocol Reference
• Glossary