Getting started

What this does: takes a fresh install of Helm Cues to a track playing against a grandMA3 with cues firing. Twenty minutes if the desk is already on the network.

Before you start

Need	Detail
Mac	macOS, Apple Silicon or Intel. Windows build not yet available.
Build	The newest Helm Cues from Downloads or your beta email. First launch: right-click → Open.
Licence	A HELM-CUES-… key, or a Helm Cloud sign-in that carries one. Without it: local projects, 3 tracks each. See Accounts and licences.
Desk	grandMA3 onPC or console on the same LAN, with the HelmTrackNav plugin. Not needed until step 5.
Audio	One audio file: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, M4A, OGG or AAC.

The setup panel

On first launch a panel sits bottom-right: Set up Helm Cues, with a count such as 1 / 4. It never blocks the app.

Row	Done when
Licence	Full or seat access, or you pick Stay in free mode
First project	Any project is open
grandMA3 check	The MA3 check passes, or you pick No desk on this rig
Live	You dismiss the Live intro with Got it

• Click a row to open it. Each open row has its actions and a link to this guide.
• – folds the panel to its header. × closes it.
• Help → Show Onboarding Again clears every mark and brings it back.
• A Mac that already has projects skips the panel.

Licence

The row shows a pill: FREE, BETA, FULL, SEAT, OFFLINE or DEVICE LIMIT, with one line under it.

1. Enter key. Settings opens on Licence. Paste the key into Licence key → Activate.

2. Or Sign in to Helm Cloud. A licence on your account arrives with the sign-in. See Cloud sync.

3. Or Stay in free mode. “Free mode opens local shows with up to 3 tracks. Nothing is deleted when you add a key later.”

1. Project (2 min)

1. File → New Project… (⌘N), or New project on the setup panel.

2. Fill Project Name.

3. Pick the Frame Rate the desk will chase: 24 fps (Film), 25 fps (PAL), 29.97 DF (NTSC Broadcast), 29.97 NDF (NTSC) or 30 fps. “Match the desk’s timecode pool. 25 in Europe, 30 or 29.97 DF in the US.”

4. Create Project. Build opens, empty.

Cues saves every change and keeps hourly backups. See Projects and shows.

2. Import audio (3 min)

1. File → New Track… (⌘T).

2. Name the track and choose its audio file under Master media.

3. Timecode Offset: the hour the desk sees when this song starts. Usual: one hour per track, 01:00:00:00 for track 1.

4. Create Track.

5. Click the track’s row under Sequences. Build opens.

6. Press Space to play. Space again pauses.

Leave the file where it is. If it moves, Live can’t play it until you find it again with Locate… in the Media Library.

Several songs at once: Project page → Import multiple…

3. Beat grid (3 min)

A grid lets cues land on the beat and gives the desk operator a bar count.

1. Tools on Build’s transport row → Beat grid → Detect from audio.

2. Scrub to a downbeat. Grid off? Right-click the timeline → Tempo change here… and type the BPM. Or Pin bar here on a bar you are sure of.

3. Tools → Measure, drag across four beats, read the BPM. Or press ⇧R.

4. Tools → Snap: Beat, ½ beat or ¼ beat. Press ⌥S until snap reads Beat. With no grid, cues snap to frames. See Beat grid and tempo.

4. Cues (5 min)

A cue is a time plus a desk command. Cues live in stacks. One stack becomes one sequence on the desk. The active stack takes every new cue and marker.

1. Park the playhead on the first hit. Press C. Add Cue opens: Cue Name, Time at the playhead, Department. Add Cue.

2. Play on. Press M on each moment you want marked. Markers drop into the active stack at the playhead. Name them later.

3. Drag a cue on the waveform to move it. ← → nudge the selection 1 frame; ⇧ makes it 10. Select several and every action applies to all of them.

4. Click a cue. In the side panel set Command: Use Stack Default, Go, Goto, Top, On, Off, Kill or Flash.

5. For a hit that should strobe for half a second: Flash with Hold (s) 0.5.

6. A run of cues on the grid: Tools → Beat Builder. It stays open while you work.

See Build.

5. grandMA3 sync (5 min)

1. In Cues: View → Sessions… (⇧⌘D) → Host this show.

2. On the desk: the HelmTrackNav tile → Setup Desk the first time, then Connect… → pick the session.

3. In Cues, under Requests: press Allow. With Desks need approval before they pull off, the desk joins at once and shows in Devices.

4. In the Desk section: Push now. The desk builds a timecode show: one sequence per stack, one event per cue. From then on, every cue you add, move or delete reaches the desk.

5. On the desk, move one Helm event by a few frames. The cue moves in Cues.

6. Check the link: setup panel → Run MA3 check, or Help → Check MA3 Connection… It checks Session, Allowed, Plugin and Round trip. Pass reads Ready. 1 desk answered both ways. The check changes nothing on the desk or in the show.

Full detail: grandMA3 setup.

6. Live (2 min)

1. Settings → Audio Devices. If the desk chases LTC: tick Enable LTC Output, pick the Output Device and the Generated LTC channel. For MTC: Settings → MIDI Devices → Enable MTC Output → MTC Output Device. See Timecode.

2. Show page (⌘3) → + New show → Add all n → Set active. Live runs the active show, in that order.

3. Live page (⌘4). The first time, Four things before the show explains ARM, GO, PANIC and LINK LOST. Got it.

4. Read the header. TC ON means Live drives timecode. The output pill lists each output and its state, e.g. LTC on. No timecode output means the desk gets nothing: click it for Settings → Timecode.

5. Arm: ▶ GO LIVE (Classic look) or Arm (Flat look), or Live → Arm / Disarm. Until it is armed, Live does nothing on the desk. It arms only when every file the show uses is on this Mac and checked. With no output reaching a desk it asks first: No timecode output is on. The desk will not follow. Arm anyway?

6. Space is GO. The track plays, timecode runs, the desk follows, cues fire. It never pauses. . stops.

7. Watch the desk’s timecode pool: the counter reads your offset plus elapsed.

8. Something fires that should not: ⇧Esc is Panic. It stops the transport, disarms Live, silences timecode and turns the show’s desk sequences off.

You have a show. Next:

• Live: the page in full.
• Media and lanes: video and images under the audio.
• Sessions: a second machine or an iPad following the show.
• Keyboard shortcuts.
• What works offline before you leave the office.

When it goes wrong

• The setup panel is gone. Help → Show Onboarding Again.
• “You’re using Helm Cues unlicensed — local shows only, capped at 3 tracks per project.” Activate on the banner, or sign in to Helm Cloud.
• The desk shows no timecode. LTC output ships off. Settings → Audio Devices → Enable LTC Output, right device, right channel. Then match the desk’s frame rate to the project’s. Troubleshooting.
• Timecode runs, no cues fire on the desk. Push now, then check the sequence is assigned to the timecode show on the desk and the track’s offset matches the events’ hour.
• The desk is not in Requests or Devices. Host this show in Cues first, then Connect… on the desk. Still missing: run Help → Check MA3 Connection… and fix the first red step.
• Live says No active show. Show page → Set active.
• Space does nothing on Live. Arm first. GO needs an armed player.
• Live will not arm: Live blocked: …. A media file is missing or still downloading. See Media and lanes.