Preparing the Show Machine
CueSync's beat-aligned timing assumes it gets the CPU when it asks for it. On a machine that is busy doing something else, the operating system can hold any application — CueSync included — off the processor for tens of milliseconds at a time. That is longer than CueSync takes to decide a cue, and it is the one source of late cues that no amount of work inside the app can fix.
This page is the setup that protects it. Fifteen minutes before a show beats any setting in the interface.
Why this matters more than it sounds
CueSync's own decision path is fast, with a wide margin, and the Show Editor's timeline draws in a fraction of a frame. The usual cause of a late cue is not CueSync: it is the machine pausing every process to service something else.
So the picture to hold is:
| Effect on cue timing | |
|---|---|
| What CueSync does per beat | Light work, designed to stay that way |
| What you do in the interface | None — nothing you do in the interface delays a cue |
| What else the machine is doing | The dominant risk, by a wide margin |
Nothing below is exotic. It is the same discipline you would apply to an audio workstation.
Before the show
Give CueSync the machine
- Quit everything you are not using. Browsers are the worst offender — a single tab running video or a busy web app can keep several cores warm for the whole show.
- Pause file sync. Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive and Google Drive all scan and upload in bursts. Quit them, don't just close the window.
- Pause backups. macOS Time Machine kicks off on its own schedule, and a backup that starts mid-set is a long, heavy disk and CPU load.
- Disable antivirus real-time scanning for your show folder, or exclude it. Real-time scanning is a common cause of unexplained stutter.
- Let indexing finish, or turn it off. macOS Spotlight indexes new files aggressively — copying a track library an hour before doors means indexing during your show.
Keep it awake and at full speed
- macOS — set Energy Saver / Battery so the display and machine never sleep on power. CueSync already prevents system sleep while a show is running, but a machine that has throttled down for battery does not clock back up instantly.
- A machine that waits between shows needs one more switch. CueSync only holds the computer awake while a show is running. A venue machine that sits idle between scheduled shows follows the operating system's sleep settings, and a sleeping computer stops every input and output. Turn on Settings ▸ Look & Feel ▸ General ▸ Keep this computer awake while CueSync is open (it keeps the display on too), or set the OS never to sleep on power.
- After a reboot CueSync reopens the last show, and says so if it cannot. With Reopen last project on startup on, it opens the most recent show. A show on a network share or external drive that mounts late is waited for, up to a minute. If it still is not there, CueSync starts with an empty show and shows a notice that stays on screen until you dismiss it — nothing will run until a show is opened. CueSync never starts playback by itself.
- A show saved on another computer reopens with its network outputs held. A show this computer saved reopens connected, as always. A show that came from elsewhere — a copy, a USB stick, a shared folder — opens with every output that reaches a network address off, behind a notice with a Connect button. If the show has no unsaved changes when you press Connect, that answer is remembered on this computer for that exact file, so a restart or an unattended start reopens it connected. A newer copy of the file asks again, and a bundle or tour pack you import always asks. So a venue machine that restarts into a show nobody has connected on it will sit dark behind the notice: open the show once at the machine and press Connect when you set up, not at doors.
- Stay on mains power. On battery, a Mac trades clock speed for runtime.
- Turn on Do Not Disturb / Focus. A notification banner is a compositor event, and a full-screen update prompt is worse. CueSync has its own Do Not Disturb (View menu) that holds routine notices back; a question that needs your answer, such as a console at a new address or a show from another computer, waits and appears when it ends — so answer those before you switch it on.
Stop the machine from changing under you
- Disable automatic OS updates for the run of the show, and reboot before doors rather than discovering a pending update at the worst moment.
- Reboot before the show. It is the cheapest way to clear whatever accumulated since the last one.
- Don't change the audio device mid-show if you are using local audio playback.
- Install CueSync updates between shows. Install now is refused while a show is playing, and asks first when only a timecode output, the pixel wall or the beat clock is up. See Installation.
Network
- Prefer wired. See Devices and Network Outputs for the show-network layout.
- Keep the show network off the internet where you can. Broadcast chatter and background updates share the same interface as your Pro DJ Link and lighting traffic.
- Turn off Wi-Fi if you are wired, so the machine cannot quietly switch routes.
Hardware
The minimum requirements are what the app needs to run. For a machine that will drive a show, aim higher:
| For running shows | |
|---|---|
| RAM | 8 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended for multi-output rigs. CueSync can use a couple of gigabytes, and the deck waveform cache alone can hold a few hundred megabytes on a large multi-deck rig. With less memory the operating system competes with you, and memory pressure surfaces as interface lag. |
| Storage | SSD. Track analysis and show loading are both disk-bound. |
| CPU | Any modern multi-core machine is fine. Core count matters less than the cores being free — see above. |
| Display | A second screen is optional; see Multi-Monitor. |
Verifying it worked
Rehearse under show conditions. The only test that means anything is running the real show, on the real machine, with everything that will be running on the night already running. A machine that is clean in that rehearsal is a machine you can trust; a machine tested while idle tells you nothing about the night.
Check the notification history afterwards — View menu → Notification History
(Cmd+Shift+H). CueSync watches its own timing and records a
"Beat pipeline degraded — trigger timing may jitter" entry when it starts falling behind. This is
recorded quietly rather than shown on screen, so it will not interrupt you mid-show — which also
means you have to go and look. Do that after every rehearsal. If the entry is there, the machine
was stalling the app, and this page is the fix list.
If you have switched on Settings → Advanced → Show the Diagnostics screen, the Diagnostics screen shows the same information live, with typical and worst-case figures. If you have not, the notification history above covers the same ground.
Related
- Installation — install, activate, first launch
- Diagnostics — live latency and health
- Troubleshooting — when something is already wrong
- Technical Specifications — platforms, network ports and formats
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