Using CuePads
2 min readDesktop App
CuePads give you a grid of instant-trigger buttons, each holding an action — fire by click, key, or MIDI. Learn banks, fire modes, and warning badges.
What CuePads Are
CuePads (Create group, shortcut 3) give you a grid of instant-trigger buttons, each holding an action — fire a cue, fire a Look, or send a protocol action directly. Use them to fire on demand during a live show — by clicking, pressing keyboard keys, or sending MIDI from a controller. Available in all editions.
The Screen
- Bank rail (left edge) — a scrollable list of banks. Each bank is an independent grid of pads; click one to switch to it. Right-click any bank for the management menu (rename, duplicate, resize, lock, set color, delete).
- Pad grid (main area) — the matrix of pads for the selected bank. Each pad shows its own name and color (and, on larger pads, the protocol it sends to), and lights up when it fires.
- Bank selector (bottom) — numbered tabs for quickly switching banks.
Pads can show warning badges:
- Circuit-breaker badge — the underlying output connection has tripped; the cue won't send until the connection recovers.
- Stale-cue badge — the pad's cue was deleted; reassign or remove the pad.
Common Tasks
- Trigger a pad — Click it, or use the keyboard (row 1 =
1–8, row 2 =Q–I, row 3 =A–K), or send a MIDI Note On from a controller — the pad fires on note-on and releases on note-off. - Set a pad's fire mode — Right-click → Mode:
- Activate — fires once on press, no hold behavior (the default).
- Toggle — first press fires, second press releases (use for held states like a strobe).
- Flash — active while held; releases as soon as you let go.
- Phrase Latch — holds until the next phrase boundary in the playing track, then hands back to AutoPilot.
- Repeat — re-fires the pad's action on an interval while held; stops on release.
- Set what a pad does — Right-click the pad → Edit and pick the kind on the Action tab: Fire Cue, Look, a protocol chip, Go Next, Blackout All and more. Or, from the Cues screen, use Assign to Pad on a cue and choose the slot.
- Manage banks — Right-click a bank to add, rename, duplicate, resize, lock, or color-code it. Locked banks can't be edited accidentally mid-show.
Tips & Gotchas
- Circuit-breaker badges mean the connection is down. Output to that device is suspended until it recovers automatically — see Output suspended: circuit breaker.
- Stale-cue badges appear when a referenced cue is deleted. Right-click the pad to reassign or clear it.
- Keyboard coverage is limited to a 4×8 area. Pads beyond 4 rows × 8 columns can't be triggered from the keyboard; a hint banner appears when coverage is incomplete. Use MIDI for larger grids.
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