Media and lanes

What this does: everything that is not a cue. Where the files live, the rule that keeps Live local, the Media Library, and the media lanes that put audio, video and images on a track’s timeline.

Where files live

Files you drop or import are copied into Cues’ media folder. The same file twice is kept once.
Files you pick from elsewhere (~/Music, a USB stick) stay where they are. Leave them there. If one moves, Live can’t play it until you find it again. See Missing files.
Deleted media goes to the Trash for 30 days.

The local-only rule

A show plays from this Mac only. Live won’t open, and won’t arm, until every file the project uses is on this Mac and checked. Nothing plays from the cloud.

“Uses” means track audio, timeline clips, attachments, and the slate, logo and watermark. A library file nothing uses never blocks.

The toast reads Live blocked: and one of:

Reason	Means
`Media is still being verified — wait for the check to finish`	Cues is checking the files. Wait.
`Media is still downloading (3/7) — wait for it to finish`	Missing files are coming from the cloud. Wait.
`1 media file not local — download or locate it before going live`	A file is missing, or is not the same file.
`Media could not be verified (…) — Live stays blocked until it is`	The check itself failed. Live stays blocked.

When the cloud has a missing file, the toast carries Download.
The pill reads N media files not local — Live is blocked, with Download or Locate in Media Library.
An arm while blocked is undone at once.
A show already armed is never locked out. The check runs when you open Live and when you arm.
A session peer is not blocked. Its media comes from the host. See Sessions.
The Monitor page is not blocked.

Opening a project

Open the project. Cues checks every file it uses.
A missing file found in Helm’s media folders is relinked without asking.
A missing file the cloud has is downloaded. The pill reads Downloading media 2/5 · <name> · 120 / 480 MB.
The pill reads Verifying media 2/5 · <name> while it checks. When every file passes, Live opens.

A failed download toasts N media downloads failed with Retry.
Signed out of Helm Cloud: the pill offers Locate in Media Library. Download says Sign in to Helm Cloud to download this project's media.

A file changed on disk

Export a new mix over the old file and Cues uses the new one, with a warning: 1 media file changed on disk since last check — using the new version.

Missing files: Locate…

Open the Media Library: View → Media Library… (⇧⌘L).
Read the banner: N media files not local. Each row names the file, why (missing, downloaded copy is damaged or could not be read, plus · cloud has it) and where it is used.
Click Locate… on the row. It is also in the file’s detail pane and on its right-click menu.
Pick the file in the Locate "<name>" dialog.
If it is not the file the show used, Cues asks: This file is different from the one the show used. Use it anyway? Cancel keeps it missing.
Every show that used it is relinked: Linked "<name>" to <file>.

Download in the banner fetches every missing file the cloud has.

The Media Library

Every file the project knows: audio, video and images, with where each is used.

Open it: View → Media Library… (⇧⌘L), or a media card on the Project page.
⤢ fills the window. Remembered on this Mac. × or Esc closes.
The header pill says the project’s cloud state: Synced · v3, Linked, not synced, Local only, Cloud offline or Not signed in.

Find and select

Folders down the left: All, Unfiled, then yours. + New folder adds one. Double-click a folder to rename it. × deletes it; its files go to Unfiled.
Filter with ALL, AUDIO, VIDEO or IMAGE. Each shows its count.
Select: click one, ⌘-click to add, ⇧-click for a range, ⌘A for everything shown. Esc clears.
With several selected: move them to a folder (Move), Push to cloud, Delete, or Clear selection.

Each file

A row shows the name, size, length, and used in N places or unused. The badge says where the file is.

Badge	Means
NOT LOCAL	Not on this Mac, or not the same file. Live is blocked. Shown first.
SYNCED	On this Mac and in the cloud
CLOUD ONLY	In the cloud, not on this Mac
UPLOADING	Upload in progress
UPLOAD FAILED	The upload gave up. Retry sends it again.
ON THIS MAC	Kept on this Mac on purpose. Never uploaded.
LOCAL ONLY	On this Mac, not uploaded yet

The detail pane shows a preview, Info (size, length, type, storage, folder, path), Used in (as track audio, on timelines), Notes and Comments.

What you can do to a file

Action	Where	Does
Rename…	Right-click	Changes the name shown. The file on disk keeps its name.
Move to	Right-click, or the Folder field	Files it in a folder. The cloud mirrors the folders.
Replace… / Replace with…	Detail pane, right-click	Swaps the file for another (a new mix). Every track and clip that used it follows. Cues, offsets, alignment, crop and level stay.
Locate…	Banner, detail pane, right-click	Points a missing file at a file on disk
Copy path · Reveal in Finder	Right-click
Push to cloud	Detail pane, right-click	Uploads now. Needs a linked project.
Keep on this Mac (don’t upload)	Right-click	Never uploads this file. Allow upload undoes it.
Delete…	Detail pane, right-click	See Delete and the Trash

Right-click a folder for Import media here…, Rename folder…, New folder inside… and Delete folder. Right-click empty space for New folder…, Import media… and Paste file path.

Uploads, the 1 GB prompt, pauses and the daily limit: see Cloud sync.

Import

Three ways in. All land in the same library.

Way in	Takes
Media Library → + Import Media, or drop files on the library	Audio: wav, aiff, flac, mp3, m4a, ogg, aac. Video: mp4, mov, webm, m4v. Images: png, jpg, gif, webp, svg.
File → New Track… (⌘T) → Master media	The track’s master: audio or video
Project page → Import multiple…	A folder of songs, one track each. Takes mkv too.

The same file twice is one entry: already in the library — one copy kept.
Anything else is skipped: skipped — not audio, video or image.
A linked project uploads new files in the background. See Cloud sync.

Delete and the Trash

Delete never deletes at once.

Files in Helm’s media folders go to the Trash for 30 days.
Files you keep elsewhere stay on disk. Only the reference goes.
The cloud copy is untouched.
Disarm Live first. Cues refuses while armed: Disarm Live before deleting media.
Delete unused (library header) moves every file this project does not use to the Trash.
A file a show backup still uses: Delete, Delete now and Empty Trash say so first. Restore that backup after the file is gone and the file is missing.

Restore from the Trash

Media Library → Trash · N · in the header.
Each row shows its size, when it was deleted, the days left, and which shows used it.
Restore puts the file back where it was and relinks every show that used it. If another file now sits there, it comes back under a new name beside it.
Delete now removes one file for good. Empty Trash removes them all. Both ask first and say it cannot be undone.
Back to library returns.

A trashed file is deleted for good after 30 days.

Reclaim space

Finds files in Helm’s media folders that no project on this Mac uses.

Media Library → Reclaim space · . It scans when the library opens. Rescan runs it again.
Tick files, then Move selected to Trash. Or Move all to Trash.
Confirm. The files go to the Trash for 30 days.

In use means any project on disk, its earlier saves and its hourly backups.
Never listed: files outside Helm’s media folders, and files already in the Trash.

Lanes

Each track has a Master and any number of media lanes: video, image and audio. They play on the track’s timeline, with its zoom and playhead.

The Master is the track’s own file. It is the waveform strip in Build’s Timeline view, with M · S and the track level in its gutter.
Media lanes live in the Media lanes (audio · video · images) panel at the foot of the Build page. Open it with the tool strip’s Media lanes button, or click its header. Drag its top edge for height; double-click to reset.

Add a lane

Open the Media lanes panel.
Click + Lane ▾ → Video lane, Image lane or Audio lane.
Pick its first file. Or drop files under the lanes.

Lane rules

The lane order is the layer order. The top row draws on top in the Monitor and the Video Output. The Master is the bed and never moves.
Reorder: drag a lane header up or down, ⌥↑ / ⌥↓, or right-click → Move up / Move down.
Lane names matter. Monitor panes and the Video Output follow a lane by its name, on every track.
Each name is used once per track. A clash gets 2. Master is reserved.
New lanes take the first free Video, Video 2, Image, Audio.

Rename a lane

Double-click the lane name. Or select the header and press Enter, or right-click → Rename….
Type the new name.
If other tracks have a lane with the same name, a button shows All N. On, the rename reaches every track, and Monitor panes and the Video Output follow it. Click it for Here: this track only.
Enter keeps. Esc drops.

A track that already has a lane with the new name keeps the old one, and a toast names it. One undo step.

Lane header

Control	Does
M	Mute the lane’s sound. Image lanes have none.
V	Show or hide the lane’s picture on the outputs. Video and image lanes.
S	Solo. Sound: cuts every other sound lane, the Master included. Picture: cuts the other lanes of its kind.
L	Lock. Clips cannot move, trim, split or go.
Fit button (Flat)	Fit, scale, position and rotation on the outputs
Level knob (Flat)	Audio: 100 % = unity, 400 % = +12 dB. Picture: opacity. Double-click for 100 %.

Click the header to select the lane. ← / → then shift all its clips a frame; ⇧ for 10.
Drag the lane’s bottom edge for height. Double-click to reset.

Right-click a lane or its header:

Add media here… (at the clicked time) · Rename…
Move up · Move down
Mute · Solo · Level… or Opacity… · Show video · Video fit…
Shift media by frames… · Shift media by seconds…
Lock · Reset height
Delete lane (with its clips). ⌘Z brings it back.

Clips

What a clip shows

Audio: its waveform, scaled by the clip’s gain.
Video: a filmstrip.
Image: the picture once at the head.
Disabled: hatched at 40 %. Plays nowhere.
Muted or hidden lane: the row dims to 40 %.
Locked lane: clips do not take a grab.
∞ marks a linked clip.

Select and move

Select: click; ⌘-click toggles; ⇧-click ranges along the lane; drag on empty lane for a marquee; ⌘A for every clip (never the Master).
A plain click on empty lane seeks there.
Drag a clip to move it. Selected clips move together.
Drag an edge to trim the head or tail.
Drag a top corner to fade in or out.
Hold ⇧ while dragging a clip to ignore snap. Cue markers and tempo flags always snap.

Clip tools

Keys act on clips while the Media lanes panel is open and the lanes took the last click. Build → Clips and the clip’s right-click menu run the same tools. Every tool is one undo step.

Tool	Key or gesture	Does
Split	S, ⌘K	Cuts the clip at the playhead
Split every lane	⇧S	Cuts every unlocked lane at the playhead
Trim head / tail to playhead	Q / W	The selected clips start / end at the playhead
Nudge	← →	1 frame. ⇧ 10 frames. ⌘ one beat (Grid lock on).
Copy	⌥-drag	Drops a copy
Slip	⌥⌘-drag	The media moves under the clip; start and length stay
Slide	⌥⇧-drag	The clip moves; touching neighbours give and take length
Link / Unlink	⌘L	Linked clips move, trim, slip, split, nudge, delete and select together. A split pair stays linked.
Enable / Disable	⇧⌘E	A disabled clip is skipped by the Monitor, the Video Output and the sound
Delete	⌫	Removes the selected clips, never a cue
Ripple delete	⇧⌫	Removes and closes the gap
Ripple	Ripple: Off · Lane · All in the panel header	On, a move, trim or delete carries every later clip on the lane, or on every lane. The Master and cues never ripple; locked lanes stay.

The clip menu adds Move to lane, Move by frames… / seconds…, Move to… (timecode), Length in frames… / seconds…, Align start / end to Master, Align start to timeline, Stretch to full length, Gain… or Opacity…, Clear fades, Hold last frame, Loop and Transform: lane default.

The clip inspector

Select a clip and the right-hand panel shows it.

Field	Sets
Name · Media · Lane	What it is and where
Start · End · Length	Show timecode or seconds
Src in · Src out	Where in the media it starts and ends. Src in slips.
Fade in · Fade out	Seconds
Gain (audio, dB) · Opacity (pictures, %)	On top of the lane’s level
Enabled	Plays or not
Hold last (video)	The last frame stays up until the lane’s next clip
Loop (video)	The source window plays again and again for the clip’s length
Fit · Scale · Off X · Off Y · Rotate (pictures)	The clip’s own transform, over the lane’s: Fit, Fill, Stretch, Native
Link	Shows the link. Unlink breaks it.

Type a value and press Enter, or drag a field’s label: 1 px = 1 frame, ⇧ for a tenth.

Drag and drop

Drop files from Finder or from the Media Library onto the lanes.

On a lane of the file’s kind: clips go end to end from the drop point.
Under the lanes, or on a lane of another kind or a locked lane: each kind gets a new lane.
From Finder: the file is copied into the library first.
No length readable: an image gets 5 s; anything else 30 s. Trim it to length.

The Master crop

Drag the grips at the head and tail of the Master strip to crop it. The track starts and ends at the crop, in Build and in Live.
⌘-drag the strip to align the audio, the same as Audio → Align.
Clear the crop: right-click the Master’s label in the gutter → Clear crop. The same menu has Mute and Solo.
Align start / end to Master on a clip, and dashed lines in the lanes, mark the Master’s ends. Clip edges snap to them.

Snap

Snap: Off · Frame · Beat. The tool strip’s Snap button, ⌥S, or Build → Cycle Snap (Off · Frame · Beat).
Beat uses the beat grid with Grid lock on, else the frame.
The step is in Build’s Tools menu → Beat grid → Snap: Beat, ½ beat or ¼ beat.
Clip edges also snap to cue markers, other clips, the Master’s ends and the playhead.

Full rules: Beat grid and tempo.

Level and Normalize

Build → Audio menu → Level row, or Track Details → Level.
Press Normalize. Cues sets the track to −18 dBFS RMS. If that would clip, it stops short and the readout says held at the peak.
The fader is a trim around that level: 0–200 %, 100 % = the Normalize result. Reset returns it to 100 %.

The Master’s gutter level on the Timeline is the same value.

Lane audio and routing

Every lane but the Master plays its sound: audio lanes and the sound of video lanes, in Build and in Live.
It plays under its lane’s mute, solo and level, the clip’s gain and fades, and the master fader.
It follows the track’s Music out, never an LTC leg.
A held last frame is silent. A disabled clip is silent.
There is no per-lane device.

Settings → Audio Devices and the track’s Routing set where sound goes:

Setting	Does
Music out	Both, Left, Right or Muted
File LTC out	Off, Left, Right or Both: where a file’s own LTC leg plays. Off keeps it out of the PA.
Use LTC as track offset · Use LTC frame rate	Take the offset and rate from the file’s LTC

Each follows Settings → Track audio defaults, then Settings → Project → Audio, then the track (Follow Settings in Track Details).

“Live blocked: N media files not local…” — a file is missing or not the same file. Media Library → read the banner → Download or Locate….
“Live blocked: Media is still being verified” — Cues is checking the files. Wait for the pill.
Downloads keep failing — signed out, offline, or the cloud lost the file. Sign in, get online, or Locate… a copy.
“downloaded copy is damaged” — the download is not the file the show used. Cues never plays it. Upload the right file from the Mac that has it, or Locate… a good copy.
“N media files changed on disk since last check” — a file was exported over the old one. Cues uses the new one. Put the old file back if that was not on purpose.
“This file is different from the one the show used. Use it anyway?” — another mix or a re-export. Cancel unless you mean to swap it.
Deleted the wrong file — Media Library → Trash → Restore, within 30 days.
“Disarm Live before deleting media” — disarm, then delete.
Music on the wrong interface — playback follows the macOS default output. Change it in System Settings → Sound.
A video clip is a tinted box — the file is not on this Mac yet, or its frames are still being drawn. It plays once the file is local.
A drop made a new lane — the file’s kind does not match the lane, or the lane is locked. Drag the clip across, or unlock first.
Clip keys do nothing — the Media lanes panel is closed, or the last click was not in the lanes. Click a clip, then press the key.
Audio from one lane is missing in Live — the lane is muted or soloed out, or the clip is disabled. Live plays the loaded track’s lanes as saved.
Solo on a video lane cut the music — solo is one group across every sound lane, the Master included. Release it, or solo the Master too.
A rename did not reach every track — that track already has a lane with the new name; the toast names it. Rename one of the two there.
A Monitor pane went to the project logo after a rename — the rename was Here only. Rename again with All N, or set the pane’s source again.
45 GB nobody uses — Media Library → Reclaim space.
Normalize made it quieter — it aims at −18 dBFS RMS. Use the trim fader for show level.