Engineered for the live show
A live show is unforgiving — a dropped cue, a frozen console, a stranded fixture. CueSync is built to keep moving when something fails, and to tell you when it does. Here are the operator-facing behaviours behind every show, described honestly.
When something fails, at a glance
- A console drops mid-show
- CueSync reconnects on its own, isolates a failing output so the rest of the rig keeps running, and says so on the health panel. A cue that could not land is reported — never held back and replayed late.
- The venue internet drops
- Your show keeps running. Cue evaluation, timecode and every output run on your machine and your show network (a Crowd cloud origin is the exception: it needs the internet). A paid licence runs fully offline for 7 days between checks (30 days on a lifetime licence).
- The show Mac dies
- Your second registered machine is the backup: it takes over output within about two minutes, or immediately if you hand off from the primary.
- You want the room back
- Override by hand at any moment: Cue Pads and Looks fire on top of automation, and the blackout and release controls black the rig out and bring it back.
Automatic Connection Recovery
Every protocol output recovers from network blips without operator intervention. If your console hiccups mid-show, CueSync keeps trying — and resumes the moment it can.
- Reconnection is automatic and gentle on a struggling device.
- Each connection recovers on its own — one flaky lighting console doesn't pause your video output.
- Reconnect status is visible in the operator UI; you always know which integration is live and which is recovering.
- A cue that could not be delivered is reported, never replayed late, so a console coming back online is not hit by a flood of stale commands.
Failing Outputs Pause Safely
When a connection fails repeatedly, CueSync stops sending to that output until it recovers. No silent retry storm, no operator confusion about whether commands are landing.
- A failing output is paused quickly, so it can't hold up the rest of the rig.
- CueSync checks the connection again automatically and resumes once it answers; you can also reset it by hand at any time.
- The output's state, and when CueSync will check it again, show in the UI so you can plan around it.
- Manual override is one click — for the moments when you're certain the rig is back.
No Silent Failures
Every failure CueSync can detect surfaces to the operator as a visible notification, so a command should not quietly disappear — if CueSync could not send something, you will know.
- Send failures show up as visible notifications, not just background logs.
- Multi-device broadcasts report per-device success or failure individually.
- Cue errors are tagged with the cue and target so you can fix the right thing.
- Connection drops are announced; they don't only show up as a status indicator turning gray.
Beat-Aligned Timing
CueSync fires your cues on the beat of the music, with low-latency control designed for live production, so lighting, video and effects land where the music does.
- Timing is monitored live while the show runs, not estimated.
- End-to-end latency to your fixtures depends on your protocol chain and venue network; CueSync's portion of that chain is the bounded part.
Smooth Hardware Feedback
LED feedback on a MIDI grid controller stays smooth and flicker-free when cues toggle rapidly, with nothing for you to tune.
- Feedback keeps up with fast cue changes without flooding the controller.
- The pads always settle on the latest state of your show.
Held-Trigger Safety Timeouts
Modes that stay active while you hold a pad — flash, latch — recover gracefully when the window loses focus mid-press. A held cue never strands a fixture stuck "on" because you Cmd-Tabbed to another app.
- If the OS swallows a pad's release event, CueSync notices and releases it for you.
- The matching deactivate action fires so downstream fixtures return to their resting state.
- You get a notification when a release was lost — you can see what happened, not guess.
- A normal release is unaffected, so the safety net never interferes with normal play.
Venue Profile Resilience
Venue profiles recognise your rig when you return, even if the network addresses have changed. A show file never fails to load just because the network shifted.
- Recognition survives address changes between visits, such as a different DHCP lease.
- Once you activate a profile, CueSync stops suggesting others for that session, so you aren't re-prompted mid-show.
- If a show file references a venue profile that isn't on this machine, the load continues with a warning — never a hard failure 30 seconds before doors.
Pre-Show Review
Theatre and Production editions ship a pre-show review that walks the show before the curtain — per-track readiness with ready / tested / drafted counts and a headline ready percentage, so you know exactly what still needs attention.
- Connection health checks every configured output before the show starts.
- Cue references are validated — orphaned references to deleted looks or moved cues are surfaced as warnings.
- Misconfigured Show Control identity filters become operator-visible warnings rather than silent drops at runtime.
- The Companion monitor keeps connection health and timecode on one page, on any iPad at FOH, during rehearsal and the show itself.
What CueSync has run against
The equipment the software has driven, with the date of each run. A record of what was tested, not a customer list.
- Pioneer CDJ-3000Driven over PRO DJ LINK with a rekordbox USB mounted: the app followed the deck as tempo master.
- grandMA3Session Sync run against a physical console, and on grandMA3 onPC.
- Resolume ArenaDriven against a live Arena.
- QLab 5Run into QLab over OSC.
- Unreal Engine 5Driven inside the engine with the CueSync plugin.
Every other integration is built to its manufacturer’s published interface; your first rehearsal on your own rig is where it is confirmed, and every edition includes all of them.