Stream Deck

What this does: the Helm Cues plugin puts Cues on an Elgato Stream Deck: transport, tracks, cues, pages, editing keys and live readouts. Keys work on every model. Dials and the touch strip work on Stream Deck +.

Install

The plugin is not on Downloads yet. Until it is, build it from source: see Develop.

1. Install the Elgato Stream Deck app, 6.5 or later.

2. Double-click the .streamDeckPlugin file.

3. Launch Cues. The plugin finds it on its own. Nothing to configure.

4. Drag keys from the Helm Cues group onto the deck.

How it connects

• This Mac only. A deck drives the Cues on the Mac it is plugged into. Nothing else on the network can reach it.
• Cues restarts? The plugin reconnects on its own.

Details: Technical reference

What a press drives

• Build on screen: the Track Builder’s own player. Desk control does not apply.
• Any other page: the Live player, only while Desk control is on: Desk ON on the Live page. The deck’s Live arm key is that same switch. It is not GO LIVE.
• Page, level, monitor and Open keys work on every page.
• Panic: no Panic key yet. Use ⇧Esc, or hold PANIC on the Live page. See Panic.

Keys

Key	Options	Does
Transport	Play / pause, Play, Pause, Stop, Back, Forward. Back / fwd step: 5 s.	Drives the player
Track	Next track, Previous track	Steps tracks. Shows the track it goes to.
Cue	Next cue, Previous cue	Jumps to the next or previous cue in the marker scope: every visible stack, or one. Hidden stacks never count.
Marker scope	Press: Cycle, All stacks, or one stack of the current track	Sets which stack the Cue keys step through. See Marker scope.
Page	Project, Build, Show, Live, Monitor, Cycle pages, Sheet / Timeline	Opens that page, cycles pages, or flips Sheet ⇄ Timeline
Live arm	—	Desk control on or off. Reads Live control · ARMED, flashing orange, or SAFE. Does nothing on Build.
Status	Timecode, Current track, Next track, Live level	Readout only
Stack	Mark at playhead, New stack	Build only. Mark drops a marker in the active stack, like M.
Select	Current marker, All markers in stack, Deselect all	Build only
Shift	Selected marker(s), Track audio (align), Selected media lane. Later or Earlier. Amount. Frames or Seconds.	Build only. Moves them.
Video monitor	—	Opens or closes the video monitor window
Open	Media Library, Settings, Sessions	Opens it in Cues. Press again to close it. Lit cream while it is open.

Every key has Show label. Transport and Cue keys default to icon only.

Marker scope

Pick which stack Next cue and Previous cue step through. All stacks, or one stack, such as Kick.

Press	Does
Short press, Press set to Cycle	All → each stack of the current track, in list order → All
Short press, Press set to a stack	That stack
Short press, Press set to All stacks	All stacks
Long press (half a second)	All stacks, whatever Press says

• The key shows the scope: ALL, or the stack’s name on its colour.
• Which track: on Build, the selected track. On every other page, the track Live plays.
• Each track keeps its own scope. Cues remembers it on this Mac.
• Hidden stacks never count. Hide or delete the scoped stack and the scope goes back to All. Solo another stack and it reads All until the solo ends.
• Press lists the current track’s visible stacks. A stack picked there that is not on the track on screen reads NOT ON TRACK.
• The same scope is the Scope control on Live and Build and View → Marker Scope in Cues. See Live.

Workspaces

Cues 0.2.18 answers two workspace actions from the deck. The plugin’s key for them comes in a later plugin build. See Workspaces.

Action	Does
Recall workspace, by name	Puts every Cues window back as that workspace saved it. Opens closed windows, moves open ones, never closes one. The name is matched in any case. No workspace by that name: Cues says so and nothing moves.
Save workspace, by name	Saves the windows as they are now under that name. A workspace with that name is replaced without asking: the key carries the name.

• Every page. Workspaces do not depend on the page or Desk control.
• The deck sees the list: every saved workspace’s name, and the one recalled or saved last.
• A toast in Cues confirms each one: Workspace "FOH" recalled.

Dials (Stream Deck +)

Dial	Turn	Push
Status	Nothing	Opens or closes Helm Sessions, on the Session readout only
Jog	1 frame or 1 second per tick. Hold for ×10.	Frames ⇄ seconds
Track step	Previous or next track	Play / pause
Live level	Master level, 2 % per tick. Hold for 0.5 %.	Mute
Page	Previous or next page	Sheet / Timeline
Shift	Build only. 1 unit per tick. Hold for ×10.	Frames ⇄ seconds

• Status dial readouts: Timecode, Bars & beats, Track name, or Session. Pick one in its settings.
• Session shows the session name and how many desks and devices are connected.

Key colours

Colour	Family	Lit when
Cyan	Playback, timecode, monitor	Playing, monitor open
Green	Pages, tracks, cues, marker scope	That page is open. Marker scope: one stack is scoped (in that stack’s colour).
Amber	Mark, select, shift	Markers selected, something to shift
Grey	Media, Settings, Sessions	Cream while that window is open
Orange	Live show	The armed Live arm key flashes. An orange pip on keys that act on the armed Live player. The Live page key.

• Idle keys show their family as a thin strip along the bottom.
• Greyed keys can’t act right now.

Develop

The source is products/cues/plugin-streamdeck/. Its README has every command.

1. Install the packages.

npm install

2. Build.

npm run build

3. Link it into Stream Deck. The first time, quit and reopen the Stream Deck app once.

npm run link

4. Or make the installable file. It lands in dist/.

npm run pack

When it goes wrong

• Every key is grey. Cues is not running. Launch Cues; the plugin reconnects within a few seconds.
• Keys work on Build, not on other pages. Desk control is off. Press the Live arm key, or Desk OFF on the Live page.
• Live arm does nothing. Build is on screen. It reads not on Build. Open another page.
• Stack, Select or Shift keys are grey. Build only, or nothing is selected to act on.
• Next cue skips cues. A stack is scoped. Long-press the Marker scope key for All, or check the Scope control on Live.
• Marker scope reads UPDATE CUES. Cues is older than 0.2.18. Update Cues.
• A second machine’s deck does nothing. By design. A deck drives the Cues on the Mac it is plugged into.
• No Panic key. Not in the plugin yet. Use ⇧Esc.