Technical Specifications
The numbers behind CueSync — for production managers, network techs, and anyone speccing a show around it.
Platforms
| macOS | CueSync ships as a native Apple Silicon (arm64) build and requires macOS 12 Monterey or later; an Intel Mac cannot run it, because Rosetta translates x86_64 to arm64 and never the reverse. Distributed as a Developer ID signed and notarized DMG. |
| Windows | No Windows build exists. packageMsi has to run on a Windows host and has never been executed, so no .msi has ever been produced or published. cuesync.live/download always reflects what is actually downloadable. |
| Runtime | Self-contained — CueSync bundles its own runtime; no Java or other installation required. |
Real-time performance budgets
The timing guarantees CueSync is built and tested against:
| Path | Budget |
|---|---|
| Beat to trigger decision | < 5 ms |
| OSC message send | < 2 ms |
| UI frame time during beat animations | < 16 ms (60 fps) |
| Reconnection backoff | starts at 1 s, caps at 30 s |
Beat information arrives roughly 25 times per second from each connected player, and cue decisions are made on a dedicated real-time path — nothing you do in the interface can delay a cue.
What can delay a cue is the machine. Those budgets are how long CueSync takes; they are not a promise about how long the operating system will make it wait. In practice processBeatEvent measures about 17 µs against that 5 ms budget — 0.3 % of the time it is allowed, 258x headroom — and emit-side latency is 3.96 µs at p50 and 120 µs at p99, so the margin is large — but on a machine that is busy with a backup, a file sync, an antivirus scan or a browser, the OS can hold every process off the CPU for tens of milliseconds, which is several times the entire budget. That is the dominant real-world risk to cue timing, and it is the one thing the app cannot engineer around. See Preparing the Show Machine.
Network requirements
Plan your show network (and firewall rules) around these:
| Traffic | Direction | Transport / ports |
|---|---|---|
| Pioneer PRO DJ LINK | in/out | UDP 50000–50002 (CueSync joins as a virtual CDJ). Don't run rekordbox on the same machine during a show — it claims these ports exclusively. |
| OSC input (triggers, GMA3 bridge) | in | UDP, default port 9001 (Settings → Advanced). Binds loopback-only by default; enable "listen on all interfaces" deliberately. |
| Output protocols | out | Per protocol — see the Protocol Reference port table (OSC/UDP, TCP, Telnet, HTTP). |
| Device discovery | in/out | Multicast (mDNS) plus per-protocol subnet probes. |
| License & updates | out | HTTPS to cuesync.live (certificate-pinned). Activation works offline after the first check-in; shows never depend on internet connectivity. |
Best practice: keep show control (consoles, media servers) and audience/guest Wi-Fi on separate networks. CueSync lets you pick the network interface per subsystem (Pioneer, outputs, Show Companion) so the traffic stays where you put it.
Timecode
| Input sources | CDJ position, MIDI Time Code (quarter-frame and full-frame SysEx), LTC (decoded from an audio input), TCNet — with priority-based source selection and per-source offsets. |
| Output | MTC, LTC, Art-Net timecode, TCNet. |
| Frame rates | 23.976 · 24 · 25 · 29.97 drop-frame · 29.97 non-drop · 30 · 48 · 50 · 59.94 drop-frame · 60 fps. The first five plus 30 are quick-chips on the transport bar; the four HD rates are in Settings → Timecode. |
| Loss handling | Freewheel — the internal generator carries the show through signal dropouts, clearly badged in Run Mode. |
Audio
| Local playback formats | WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A/AAC, FLAC, OGG. |
| Analysis | Beat grid, phrase structure, energy curve, key, integrated LUFS + loudness range — all computed on-device. |
| Loudness matching | Optional (Production edition): attenuate-only toward a −23…−9 LUFS target — it never boosts, so it can never clip. |
| Optional ML analysis | Vocal detection via a ~2 MB on-device model, downloaded once and integrity-verified. Audio never leaves the machine. |
Editions
All editions include all 15 output integrations and the same connection-reliability layer. Editions gate workflows:
| Workflow | DJ | Theatre | Production |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer PRO DJ LINK, Track Prep, Auto Pilot, DJ analysis | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Show Editor, Run Mode, timecode engine, MTC output, Show Companion | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cues, Cue Pads, Looks & Scenes, MIDI, venue profiles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Loudness automation (matching + Loudness Transition trigger) | — | — | ✓ |
| Venue profile slots | 3 | 25 | unlimited |
The per-trigger edition matrix is in the Trigger Reference.
Show files & data safety
- Show files always open — CueSync migrates show files saved by any earlier release automatically, writing a backup first.
- Atomic saves — a save either completes fully or leaves the previous file untouched.
- Automatic dated backups plus a periodic recovery snapshot restored via the Recovery dialog after an unclean exit.
- Telemetry and error tracking are off by default and opt-in (Settings → Advanced).
Related
- Protocol Reference — transports and default ports per output
- Timecode — configuring sources and output
- Diagnostics — the connection event log and diagnostic bundle export
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