Live

What this does: Live runs the active show. It plays the loaded track, drives timecode to the desk and shows which cue fired and which comes next.

• Open it: View → Live (⌘4), or Live in the page rail.
• The active show is the running order picked on the Show page. See Projects and shows.
• Monitor (⌘5) is the read-only twin of this page. See Monitor and video outputs.

The two looks

Live has the same controls in both looks. They sit in different places. Switch with View → Appearance → Classic Look / Flat Look.

Control	Classic	Flat
Arm	▶ GO LIVE / END LIVE, header left	Arm / Armed chip, top bar right
PANIC	Header, beside GO LIVE	Top bar, after the transport buttons
Timecode output pill	Header, after PANIC	Top bar, right
MA3 chip	Header, after the timecode output pill	Top bar, after the timecode output pill
Run Timecode	TC ON / TC OFF, header right	LTC out chip under Outputs, foot of the setlist
Auto-play	Auto-play ON / OFF, header right	Auto-play chip under the setlist
Desk control	Desk ON / Desk OFF, header right	MA3 · desk on / off chip under Outputs
Monitor / Video output windows	Monitor and Video output buttons, header right	Monitor and Video under Outputs
Transport	Centre: previous, back 5 s, play / pause, stop, forward 5 s, next	Top bar: previous, stop, play / pause, next
Marker scope	Scope chip after the transport. Scope · <stack> in the header.	Scope chip after the transport buttons
Scrub	Slider under Now / Next	Track strip along the foot. Click to seek.
Master level	MASTER fader, centre	Master fader under Outputs
Next track	Up Next card, top of the left rail	Setlist only

The Flat look adds a Show clock, Now, Next and In block in the top bar, a cue-row size control (− / +, 100–200 %), and a Source chip.

Load a track

Live always has something cued.

• On entering Live: Cues loads the track already loaded, else the first unplayed track, else the first in the setlist. It never plays on its own.
• Click a setlist row: loads that track, parked at its start.
• Click a row while a track plays: the music carries on. The row is queued to play next. It is highlighted, and Up Next names it.
• Double-click a row: loads it and plays.
• Drag a row: reorders the setlist. The order saves to the show.
• Right-click a row: Load, Load and play, Move up, Move down, Mark played / Mark unplayed.
• Flat only: Load track… loads any track in the project without adding it to the setlist. While a track plays, it queues it next. + Track opens the Show page.

Arm Live

Arming commits this Mac to the show. It does not start playback or timecode. The transport does.

1. Press ▶ GO LIVE (Classic) or Arm (Flat). Or Live → Arm / Disarm.

2. If nothing will reach a desk, Cues asks first. Confirm to arm anyway: a rehearsal room may have no desk.

   Prompt	Means
   No timecode output is on. The desk will not follow. Arm anyway?	No LTC, MTC, Art-Net or MIDI Clock output is turned on with a device.
   Run Timecode is off for this show: Live does not drive the timecode outputs. The desk will not follow. Arm anyway?	Outputs are on, but this show’s Run Timecode is off.

3. The button turns solid: END LIVE or Armed.

4. Press it again to disarm. Playback carries on either way.

What arming changes

• Media must be local. An arm is undone at once while any file the show uses is missing or still being checked. The toast starts Live blocked:. See Media and lanes.
• Desk show commands run. GO on a desk cue that calls Cues (Desk GO drives Cues, or the plugin’s Cues command…), and start, go to, pause, resume and stop from your own desk macros, act only while armed. See Desk transport.
• Cue rows stop seeking. A click on a cue row does nothing while armed, so a stray click cannot jump the show.
• Media cannot be deleted. The Media Library refuses: Disarm Live before deleting media.
• The LIVE banner shows on every other page: LIVE — <track> · playing or · paused, with the time. Click it to return to Live.
• Panic disarms. See Panic.

Run Timecode and the output pill

Each show has a Run Timecode switch. It decides whether the Live player drives LTC, MTC, Art-Net timecode and MIDI Clock. It starts off for every new show.

1. Turn the outputs on in Settings first. See Timecode.

2. Turn Run Timecode on: TC ON (Classic) or the LTC out chip under Outputs (Flat).

3. Read the pill. Click it to open Settings → Timecode.

Pill reads	Means
LTC on · MTC held	Each output turned on in Settings, and its state now
No timecode output	Nothing is turned on. Amber.
LTC · MTC · Live not driving	Outputs are on, Run Timecode is off. Amber.
… error or … no device	An output failed, or is on with no device or address. Amber.

States: on, held, off, error, no device. MIDI Clock reads as Clock.

• Outputs start on play, not on arm. They stop on pause by the show’s When stopped setting.
• Flat’s MTC out chip reads MTC out · <port> or off. It shows state only.

GO and the transport

Space is GO. GO plays the loaded track. It never pauses and never restarts a running track.

Key or control	Does
Space	GO. Plays the cued track. Does nothing while a track plays.
Play / Pause button	The only way to pause from the page. Mouse only.
. (full stop)	Stop. Parks at the track top.
← / →	Back / forward 5 s
⇧← / ⇧→	Previous / next track
Live → Go · Stop · Next Track · Previous Track	The same as the keys
⇧Esc	Panic, from any page

• Keys work only on the Live page, with no dialog open and no text field focused.
• ⇧← and ⇧→ while a track plays cut to that track and play it. ⇧→ takes the queued track first.
• Up Next (Classic) names the track that plays next: the queued row, else the next in the setlist. Click the card to load and play that track. While a track plays, the card does nothing.

End of a track

1. The track ends. Its setlist row gets a tick.

2. Cues loads the queued track, else the next in the setlist, and parks it at the start.

3. Auto-play OFF (default): it waits for GO. Auto-play ON: it plays at once.

Reset show (N played) (Classic), Reset · N (Flat) or Live → Reset Played clears the ticks. Opening another show clears them too.

Marker scope

The scope sets which stack Next cue and Previous cue step through: every stack, or one. Use it to walk the track marker by marker, or only through Kick.

On Live, next and previous cue are the Stream Deck’s Cue keys. See Stream Deck.

1. Click the Scope chip beside the transport. It reads Scope · All stacks or Scope · <stack>.

2. Pick All stacks, or a stack. Each stack shows its colour.

3. The chip takes the stack’s colour. Classic also shows Scope · <stack> in the header.

• It belongs to the track Live plays. Each track keeps its own scope, on this Mac. It is never sent to a desk or another Mac.
• Hidden stacks never count. They are not in the list, and Next cue never stops on their cues.
• Hide or delete the scoped stack: the scope goes back to All stacks, and stays there.
• Solo another stack: the scope reads All stacks until the solo ends.
• Other ways in: View → Marker Scope (All Stacks, each stack, Next Scope), the Stream Deck’s Marker scope key, and the same chip on Build. On Build they set the selected track’s scope.

Now and Next

The Now and Next cards read every visible cue stack, whatever the palettes filter.

• Now: the last cue at or before the playhead. Its number, name and stack.
• Next: the next cue, with a count-in. end after the last cue.
• Count-in display: the Time · Beats · Both switch in the header.

Setting	Count-in reads
Time	Time left, mm:ss.ff
Beats	`bar
Both	Both readouts

The switch is one setting for Live, the Monitor page and the Sequence Monitor’s cue-list panes. A pane can pick its own. See Beat grid and tempo.

Cues on the same frame

Cues within one frame of each other fire as one group.

• The headline is the Structure stack’s cue, or a stack named Main. Else the first stack in the track’s order.
• The others sit under it on Live’s cards: how many, then one stack-coloured chip each: +2 · LX 12 · VID 3. Past three chips, the rest read +2 more.
• Hover the chip line to list every cue in the group.
• The count-in runs to the group’s time.
• In the palettes the group is one block: the headline cue first, the others under it with no gap. LIVE’s others are grey under the LIVE row; NEXT’s group is grey; later groups are a lighter grey. Only the first row shows the count or the Live / Next badge.
• The Monitor page lists the others on its Now and Next cards, one line each. See Monitor and video outputs.

Cue palettes

The right rail holds one or more palettes. Each is a cue list filtered to its own stacks or departments: one for LX, one for video, one for SFX.

Each row shows the cue’s time, name, in mm:ss.ff for cues still to come, and its stack. Flat adds the cue number and Live / Next badges. A bar under each header fills toward that palette’s next cue.

Add and filter a palette

1. Click + Palette at the end of the rail. Or Live → Add Cue Palette, or right-click empty page space → Add cue palette.

2. The filter opens: Filter "".

3. Type a Name.

4. Sequences: Include the stacks to show, by name. Show all clears the pick. A name stays picked across tracks.

5. Departments: Hide or Solo each department. Solo wins over Hide.

6. Press Done. Reset clears every filter.

Manage palettes

Action	How
Rename	Double-click the palette name. Enter keeps, Esc drops.
Filter	The funnel button. A dot marks an active filter.
Duplicate	Right-click the header → Duplicate palette
Resize	Drag the splitter between columns. Double-click it to reset both. Right-click → Reset width.
Remove	× on the header, or right-click → Remove. The last palette stays.

• Palettes save on this Mac, not in the show. They survive track changes and restarts.
• Live and the Monitor page share one palette layout. The page changed last wins at the next launch.

Click a cue

• Disarmed: click a row to seek there. Right-click → Seek to cue, Go from here (seek and play) or Copy cue time.
• Armed: clicks and seeks are off. Copy cue time still works.

On the Monitor page each list starts at LIVE, with NEXT under it. See Monitor and video outputs.

Desk transport

A grandMA3 joined to the session can drive Live. Two things gate it: the Desk control switch on this page, and the arm.

Desk command	Needs
GO on a desk cue that calls Cues	Desk control on and Live armed. Plays from that cue, or lines up on it. Set by Desk GO drives Cues, or one cue at a time with the plugin’s Cues command….
HELM play … HELM next	Desk control on, and Live, Monitor or any page but Build on screen. On Build they drive Build’s player.
Start, go to, pause, resume, stop from your own desk macro	Desk control on and Live armed. Start and go to seek to the named cue; go to stays parked.
A track load from your own desk macro	Desk control on, and Settings → Helm Sessions → Desk → Follow the desk’s track load on. Never loads over a playing track.

• Desk control is Desk ON / Desk OFF (Classic) or MA3 · desk on / off (Flat). It is on by default and saved on this Mac.
• The playhead macros follow the page on screen, like the Stream Deck. HELM prev and HELM next load the previous or next track here. GO on a desk cue that calls Cues always moves Live, whatever page is on screen.
• A start or go to that names a track loads it, even with Follow the desk’s track load off. The command names the track, so Live takes it.
• Your own desk macros: the commands are in Desk OSC commands.
• The last desk command shows in the header: Desk: start 'Intro' 01:00:00:00. A refusal reads red and also toasts, e.g. Desk refused start 'Intro' — Live is not armed.
• Panic does not change Desk control.
• The MA3 chip says whether a desk is in the session and what it needs: MA3 · joined, not joined, auto-sync off or Import needed (N tracks). Click it for Settings → Helm Sessions. See The desk chip.

Desk setup: grandMA3 setup.

Desk GO drives Cues

For a show with no timecode: the desk runs the cues, and Cues runs along for reference. A GO on a desk cue moves Live to the matching cue.

Setting	GO on a desk cue
Off	Leaves Cues alone. The default.
Play from the cue	Live loads the track, jumps to that cue and plays.
Line up on the cue	Live loads the track, jumps to that cue and stays parked.

• Set it per track: Track details → Lighting Control → Desk GO drives Cues. Desk GO stacks: Main stack only (the default) or Every stack.
• New tracks start with Settings → Desk import → Desk GO drives Cues.
• Main is the stack on the track’s Starting Sequence #: the one named Main, else the first visible stack.
• Cues writes it into the desk cues’ Command, after a fader level Cues set there. A Command you typed on another desk cue stays.
• The desk gets it with Import. Switching it marks the track Import needed: run Import Track… on the desk.
• Not on every desk cue. A desk cue the stack fires more than once (a Fixed stack, a repeat) gets none: one GO cannot say where the song is. Nor do Flash, On, Off, Kill or Top cues.
• Needs the Helm plugin 0.16.2 on the desk, Live armed and Desk control on.
• One cue by hand: the plugin’s Cues command… writes the same call into a desk cue you name, after that cue’s own Command. See Cues command….

Run a show with no timecode:

1. On each song’s track: Lighting Control → Desk GO drives Cues → Play from the cue.

2. Push to the desk, or Import Tracks on the desk.

3. Arm Live. Check Desk ON.

4. On the desk, load the song’s Main stack.

5. On a clear beat cue, press GO. Cues loads the song and plays from that cue.

6. Carry on pressing GO. Live jumps to each cue as you go, so it never drifts far.

Timecode shows: leave it Off

With Cues sending timecode, its own timecode fires these desk cues too, and each one calls back. Cues ignores a call within 0.5 s of where Live already plays. A desk cue that fires later than that, or one fired by hand, still moves Live.

Lane audio and video in Live

• Lane audio plays in Live. Extra audio lanes and the sound of video lanes play under their own mute, solo and level, and under the Master fader. Never on an LTC leg.
• Live plays the loaded track’s lanes as saved, not whatever Build has open.
• No picture on the Live page. Open the Sequence Monitor or the Video Output window. They follow Live’s playhead while Live or Monitor is on screen.
• The window buttons open full screen on the display saved in Settings → Video Outputs, else as a window. The ⌄ beside each picks another display, or Open as window.

See Media and lanes and Monitor and video outputs.

Following another Cues

A Cues joined to another Cues’ session follows the host. It plays no audio. What it may do depends on its role.

Role	On this Mac
Monitor	Monitor page only. No transport. A control press says Monitor role: the host runs the transport.
Operator	GO, play / pause, stop, ←/→ 5 s, ⇧←/⇧→ tracks, scrubbing, cue-row seeks, setlist click to cue, Panic. All sent to the host.
Editor	As operator, plus editing. See Sessions.
Owner	As editor, plus Arm.

• The host keeps its rules. GO with nothing cued is ignored and the host says so. A setlist pick while a track plays is queued to play next.
• Arm is the owner’s. Others see Arming Live is the owner's. Ask the host.
• Scrubbing and cue-row seeks move the host.
• LINK LOST: LINK LOST — the host is not reachable. The playhead is frozen. It rejoins on its own. Link restored. when it does.
• A standby can take the show over. See Sessions.

The first-time intro

The first time you open Live, disarmed, a card shows four points: ARM, GO · SPACE, PANIC and LINK LOST.

• Got it or Esc closes it for good.
• Space does nothing while it is up.
• Arming hides it at once. It never sits over a running show.
• Help → Show Onboarding Again brings it back.

Live menu

Item	Works on
Go	Live
Stop	Live
Panic (⇧Esc)	Every page. Never greyed out.
Next Track · Previous Track	Live
Arm / Disarm	Live. Asks the same arm prompts.
Add Cue Palette	Live and Monitor
Reset Played	Live

When it goes wrong

• “Live blocked: N media files not local…” — a file the show uses is missing from this Mac, or is not the same file. Open the Media Library, then Download or Locate… each file.
• Arm undoes itself — the media check. Wait for Verifying media to clear, or fix the missing files.
• Desk does not follow — the pill is amber. Turn an output on in Settings → Timecode, then TC ON / LTC out for this show.
• Space does nothing — a track is already playing, a dialog or the intro card is up, or a text field has focus. Click empty page space, then press Space.
• Space started the wrong track — GO plays the loaded track. Check the highlighted setlist row, not the Up Next card.
• A clicked row did not load — a track was playing, so the row is queued to play next. Stop first, or double-click the row to cut to it.
• Desk refused start … Live is not armed — arm Live, then press GO or fire the macro again.
• Desk refused … desk control is off in Live — turn Desk ON.
• A track load from the desk does nothing — Follow the desk’s track load is off, or a track is playing.
• “Desk asked for '' cue 3 — arm Live first” — a desk cue’s GO came in with Live disarmed. Arm Live, then press GO on the desk again.
• “Desk asked for … — turn desk control on in Live first” — turn Desk ON, then press GO again.
• GO on the desk does nothing in Cues — the desk runs a plugin older than 0.16.2, the track’s switch is Off, or that desk cue fires more than once in its stack. Update the plugin, then Import Tracks on the desk.
• “no stack on sequence 101” — the desk holds sequence numbers Cues no longer uses. Push to the desk, or Import Tracks.
• Live jumps back on its own while timecode runs — Desk GO drives Cues is on in a timecode show. Turn it Off for that track.
• Clicking a cue row does nothing — Live is armed. Disarm to scrub by cue, or use the scrubber.
• The Stream Deck’s Next cue skips cues — a stack is scoped. Set the Scope chip to All stacks.
• Palettes empty: “No sequence on this track has this palette’s names.” — the palette filters by stack names this track does not use. Open the filter and pick again, or Show all.
• Peer: nothing happens on GO — this Mac is a monitor, or the link is down. The toast says which.