What's new

What this does: lists what changed in each Helm Cues build, newest first. The rest of these docs describe the app as it is now. Version notes live here only.

Which build am I on? Helm Cues → About Helm Cues. Settings → Updates shows the channel and the release notes for a waiting update. See Updates.

0.2.19

Released 28 October 2026, the first release since 0.2.2; it carries the 0.2.3 to 0.2.18 builds below. The grandMA3 changes need plugin 0.16.16 on the desk.

grandMA3

Notes keep their line breaks on the desk. Press Enter in a cue’s notes and the desk cue’s Note shows the same lines, on Import and live. Needs plugin 0.16.16; an older plugin shows a ⏎ mark where each line breaks.
A new stack goes live. Add a stack and its cues while a desk follows the session: the desk gets the sequence on the track’s page, its cues and a timecode track for it in the track’s Helm group, as you work. Before, the track read Import needed until the next Import. The stack’s appearance still comes with Import. Needs plugin 0.16.16.
Plugin 0.16.16. Notes with line breaks; a timecode track for a sequence the group has none for. Not yet tested on a desk.

0.2.18

Built 28 October 2026; shipped as part of 0.2.19.

Timecode

Timecode waits for the music. Play sends the start time at once; running timecode starts with the sound. Before, MTC started on Play, ran about 0.3 s ahead and jumped back about 8 frames some 0.8 s in, on 271 of 282 plays in the field log. That jump is what a MIF4 flags. See How timecode follows the music.
No repeated or skipped frames. MTC, LTC and Art-Net count frames instead of rounding the playhead, which could repeat or skip a frame near the middle of one.
A seek while playing stops timecode, sends the new time and restarts with the music.
App stalls up to 3 s no longer drop timecode. A save, a session starting or a desk link could hold the app over 1 s and stop MTC. Positions that waited are no longer read as the transport falling behind.
Nothing below 00:00:00:00. Music before a track’s zero plays with no timecode; it starts on 00:00:00:00. Before, MTC sent 00:00:00:00 frozen until zero. See The preroll and offset rule.
MTC on time. Quarter frames left about 2 ms late on average; the MTC thread now runs at the Mac’s top priority. A late wake starts on the next frame instead of sending a burst.
A frame rate change while playing sends a full frame.
LTC runs at the real frame rate on every interface. 29.97 ran as 30.0, and 30 fps at 44.1 kHz ran 2 % fast. 25 fps LTC carries the flag the MIF4 reads as 25.
50, 59.94 and 60 fps projects: LTC and MTC refuse to start with a message. They used to send frames a reader cannot decode.
The chain check. A 5-minute bench test per rate for MTC through a MIF4 to the desk. See Check the chain.

Live

Marker scope. Pick which stack Next / Previous cue steps through: every stack, or one, such as Kick. The Scope chip sits beside the transport; Classic also shows Scope · Kick in the header, in the stack’s colour. Each track keeps its own scope on this Mac. Hidden stacks never count; hiding or deleting the scoped stack sets All. Also View → Marker Scope and the Stream Deck. See Marker scope.
A setlist click while playing queues the track. The music never stops. The queued track plays next: at the end of the track, on Next (⇧→) or from Up Next. Double-click still loads and plays at once.
Up Next plays the track it names.
Palettes keep cues on the same frame together. LIVE and NEXT mark the whole group, not only its last cue. The others no longer look fired or drop off the top on the Monitor page.
Dialogs stop Live’s keys. With any dialog open, Space, ← → and . do nothing. ⇧Esc still runs Panic.
The desk’s HELM play … HELM next follow the page on screen, as the Stream Deck does: Build’s player on Build, Live’s on Live, Monitor and every other page. A GO on a desk cue that calls Cues still moves Live. A track picked on the desk while one plays is queued. See Desk transport.
A following Mac can scrub the host. Live’s scrubber and cue rows on a follower move the host’s playhead.
One chase. Build’s Chase and the header Follow are one switch with one source. It moves Build’s player on Build and Live’s everywhere else.
The no-track screen and the Source chip name the real source: MTC in, Art-Net in or the DJ deck.

Monitor page and Sequence Monitor

Notes pane in the Sequence Monitor. Pick Notes as any pane’s source. It lists the track’s cues that have notes, in time order: stack colour, desk cue number, name and the notes in full. The current note is marked LIVE and stays at the top; the next is marked NEXT with its count-in. Notes on the same frame are one block. A note edited in Build shows as it saves. See The Notes pane.
The Notes pane’s text fits the pane. Few notes: bigger. Many: normal size, and the rest scrolls. The number, name and LIVE / NEXT share one line. A double-click on the pane or the board no longer paints a word red.
The cue list starts at LIVE. NEXT is under it, then the cues to come. Fired cues leave the list. Before the first cue, NEXT is the top row. Scroll down to look ahead: the list goes back to LIVE on the next cue, or 5 s after you stop.
Now and Next show everything. Number, full name, count-in and bar|beat are never cut off. A long name wraps to two lines and gets smaller. On a narrow pane the count-in takes its own line.
Both is two lines: the time, then the bar|beat under it. No line starts with a ·.
Now and Next list the cues on the same frame. One line each under the headline: stack colour, number, name, stack. Three, then +2 more. The cards keep one size all track.
Live’s cards and Build’s Next readout count them on one line: +2 · LX 12 · VID 3.
Cues on the same frame are one block in the cue list and the palettes. LIVE’s block: the LIVE row, then the others in grey. NEXT’s block: grey. Later groups: a lighter grey. Only the first row shows LIVE or the countdown.
The Sequence Monitor shows each cue’s own number, as the Monitor page does. Before, it counted every cue of the track in one run.

Build

Marker scope on Build. The Scope chip beside Static · Window · Follow sets which stack Build → Previous Marker · Next Marker, the Stream Deck and the MA2 plugin’s next / prev step through. The Stream Deck and the MA2 plugin now skip hidden stacks, as the menu did. See Marker scope.
Meters: 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 and any other. Set the meter from the start in Tools → Beat grid → Meter, and change it on any tempo change: the Tempo change dialog, the Tempo lane flag, its right-click Meter ▸ or Tools’ tempo list. A meter change starts a bar on its tempo change; bar numbers carry on. The bar counter, bar lines, click, Snap, measure, Duplicate…, count-ins and the Beat Builder count in the meter. In x/8 the BPM counts eighths. See Meter.
Reaper time signatures import as meter changes. Before, they were listed and the bars stayed 4/4.
Static, Window and Follow set the view on every click. Static shows the whole track. Window and Follow zoom in on the playhead (about 30 s from the whole view), then page or scroll as it plays. Zooming in while it plays no longer stops them, nor does scrolling up and down through the Timeline lanes or a light trackpad touch. A sideways scroll pauses them for 4 s. They also follow a playhead driven by timecode, not only by Play.
Timeline waveform: only the active stack’s cue lines run through it, so the wave stays readable. Scrolling on it moves along the track again.
A desk cue typed with several cues selected goes to all of them, as typed. Before, it numbered them in sequence from it. Renumber desk cues… still numbers in order.
Cue blocks on the Timeline lanes. A cue with a delay, fade, duration or Flash hold draws a block in its lane: delay, fade in, body, fade out. A Flash runs from Flash to Flash Off. Video and Cameras cues are full-height blocks with their name, live until the next cue. See Cue blocks.
Drag a Flash block’s end to set its hold. It snaps like a marker. One undo step.
Fader levels. A cue can send its stack’s playback fader to a level over a fade time: Fader (%) and Fader fade (s) in the side panel, for one cue or a selection. The Timeline draws the fader line across the lane. See Fader levels.
One key press, one action. ⌘Z undoes one step in the cue list. Esc in the cue list clears the selection without leaving the stack.
Dialogs take Esc as soon as they open; no click needed.
↑ ↓ in the cue list start from the cue you clicked and skip rows hidden by Find.
The Beat Builder greys out locked stacks.
Beat Builder patterns of 1 to 16 bars. Paint steps on a grid, one row per bar, or start from a preset: 4 on the floor, 1 & 3, 2 & 4, offbeats, bar, every N. The pattern repeats from the start for some bars, until a time, until the next cue in a stack, or to the end of the track. It takes the meter of the bar it starts in. It replaces Every and Positions in the bar. See Beat Builder.
Beat groups. Every Beat Builder run is a group: a bracket over its lane on the Timeline and a row in the panel. Click to select its cues. Edit lays its cues again as you change the pattern, start, length, step size, desk cues or names: one undo step per change. Follow tempo (on by default) moves it with every tempo change. Moving or renaming a cue by hand takes it out. Groups stay in Cues; the desk gets plain cues. See Beat groups.
The Beat Builder leaves a step alone where the stack already has a cue.
The desk’s playhead macros drive Build’s player while Build is on screen. Before, they played Live behind it. See The desk’s playhead macros.
Tracks in track number order, not project order. Build’s track picker and Pick a track to build, Live’s Load track…, the Show page’s pool, Import Show’s track choices and the Devices allowed-stacks list: 1, 2, 10, then tracks with no number. Build’s previous / next track, from the desk or the Stream Deck, steps in that order. The Project page sorts by Track number unless you picked another sort. A show’s running order stays as you set it. See Sequences.

grandMA3

Nothing on the desk’s command line until you act. The desk prints every command it runs, and the heartbeat, Cues’ pokes and the plugin’s own check kept landing there while you programmed. All gone: no heartbeat, no polling, from Cues or from the desk. The desk shows Helm lines only when you press, Import, or edit in Cues. Needs plugin 0.16.12. See The command line.
The desk no longer polls Cues. If Cues quits, the desk finds out at its next Import or press. HELM CONNECT shows what the last exchange said: an Import that gets no answer reads · NO LINK, with the reason on the command line. · OFFLINE is gone. See Link state.
A desk stays Joined in Cues from its hello until it disconnects, three sends to it fail in a row, or Cues restarts. Devices and the MA3 chip say when Cues last heard from it: last heard 14:03:22. After a Cues restart each desk rejoins at its next press or Import.
Desk cues land named, cue moves reach the desk, no extra cues. grandMA3 keeps cue numbers in thousandths: cue 1 is 1000 inside the desk. Plugins 0.16.6 and 0.16.7 compared that with Cues’ 1, so every cue looked missing. Cues stayed Cue 1, live moves missed with no event of cue …, and an Import added extra cues. Plugin 0.16.8 reads cue numbers as the sequence sheet shows them and creates a missing cue only with Store. Needs plugin 0.16.8. See Desk cue numbers on the desk.
Cues lists desk cues it never sent. After every Import the desk report names them: desk has extra cue 69 "Cue 69", a toast naming the sequence, and the track reads Import needed. Cues deletes none; delete yours by hand with Delete Sequence "02 - Main" Cue 69. See Extra cues.
Track select sets the BPM, not a fader level. TRACK_SETUP sent Master 3.1 At 128: a fader level, in percent, so anything over 100 BPM put the speed master at full. With plugin 0.16.11, TRACK_SETUP line 2 is always the plain command Master 3.1 At BPM $CURRENT_TRACK_BPM: every track select sets the track’s BPM, with no switch. Run Setup Desk once after the update. See The BPM line.
No more BPM lines out of nowhere on the desk’s command line. Cues sent the backup offset, auto-sync and the current track again with every hello, about every 40 s per desk. Now each goes when the desk joins and when it changes. A later hello gets no answer, except from Connect and Setup Desk.
Go+ stays Go+ for the whole Import. Once the desk takes a form of an event’s command, every later event gets the same form, with no second search.
The desk’s speed master takes the track’s beat grid BPM on track select. Before, it took the DJ analyser’s number, which could differ from the track.
Live BPM to the desk. Settings → Desk import → Live BPM to the desk, off by default. On: when a playing track reaches a tempo change on its beat grid, each joined desk gets one line, Master 3.1 At BPM 128.0. Live’s player, and Build’s while Build is on screen. Nothing on track select, seek, play or stop, and nothing to a desk with auto-sync paused. BPM master sets the master, 3.1 by default. See Live BPM to the desk.
Every desk cue lands named, or Cues says so. On the desk some cue 1s arrived without their name, and nothing said so. Cues now sends each desk cue as one line. The plugin finds the cue or creates it, names it, sets its fade and delay, and checks the name. A cue that did not land is in Cues’ log, and its track reads Import needed. A cue the desk has is never stored over. Needs plugin 0.16.8 (0.16.6 misread the cue numbers, above). See Cues as objects.
Events keep the cue’s command. Import turned Go cues into Goto events. Plugin 0.16.6 sets each event’s cue first, then its command, and checks every form the desk may show. Goto only when the desk takes none; the desk says so once per Import, with what it read. Not yet tested on a desk.
The desk reports what it holds. After every Import, and on Plugin "Helm 0.16.6" "diag", the desk sends Cues each sequence’s cue numbers and names, one event’s settings per track, and how each command landed. Cues logs it and compares the names: a difference marks the track Import needed on that desk, with desk cue 1 is "", Cues has "SET UP". See Desk report.
Live edits need plugin 0.16.8. A desk on an older plugin gets none; the MA3 chip reads MA3 · plugin 0.16.6 needed.
Cue moves reach the desk. With plugin 0.16.4 every live time move missed (no event of cue 3 near 34.188 s) and marked the track Import needed. Plugin 0.16.5 finds the event by the cue it fires: the only event of that cue moves, wherever the desk has it; for a repeat, the nearest. A miss now says what that timecode track holds. Needs plugin 0.16.5. Not yet tested on a desk.
Cues command… replaces Show Control. The HELM SHOW macros and the plugin’s Show Control menu are gone: the playhead macros already drive the players. Cues command… on the desk (and the HELM CUES CMD macro) picks a track, a cue of its Main stack and Play from here or Line up here, and puts the call on any cue you name, after that cue’s own Command. Create Macros → Control or Setup Desk deletes the old macros. Not yet tested on a desk. See Cues command….
Control macros in a new order: HELM CONNECT, HELM AUTOSYNC, HELM TRACK, HELM CUES CMD, TRACK_SETUP, TRACK_RESET, from 491. Create Macros → Control relabels an existing block.
The desk is found by name, never by number. Every command Cues sends names the sequence (Sequence "01 - Main"), page and timecode (the track name). A pool number is only where a missing one is created; move sequences, pages and timecodes in their pools and everything keeps working: live edits, Import, Panic, Desk GO. Import uses what has the name, relabels what has an old name, and never stores over another object. Names must be unique: Lighting Control, Desk import’s Checks and the desk’s import check warn when two tracks or stacks share one. Needs plugin 0.16.4. See Names, not numbers.
The live link is one short line per change, by name. Move, drag, nudge, Shift cues…, Move selection to…, a beat group laid again or an undo: the events move. Rename a cue: the desk cue is renamed. A fade or delay: set on the desk cue. Add a cue: stored in its place, named, its event added. Delete a cue: its event goes, and its desk cue when nothing else fires it. Renumber: the desk cue is copied to its new number with its looks, its events follow, the old number goes. A new command: the event is replaced. Fader levels, Desk GO, colours and renamed stacks or tracks go with Import on the desk. Cues never pushes to a desk on its own. See What syncs live, what needs Import.
New cues land between numbered cues. Add a cue between desk cues 3 and 4 and it is 3.5; between 3 and 3.5, 3.2. Moving or deleting cues renumbers nothing. Only Renumber desk cues… does. See New cues between numbered cues.
Import needed. A change only Import carries, or a desk that could not follow an edit, marks the track on that desk. A miss marks it at once and every miss is logged. The MA3 chip reads MA3 · Import needed (2 tracks) and names them. One toast per track the first time.
A desk that was away gets the cue times when it joins. Edits made with no session hosted, the desk out of the session or its auto-sync off wait in Cues. On its join, or when its auto-sync comes back on, the desk gets the same short lines a live edit sends. Nothing is pushed or rebuilt. Cues closed meanwhile: the tracks read Import needed. See When the desk was away.
The MA3 chip on Build’s transport bar and Live’s header: MA3 · joined, not joined, auto-sync off, plugin 0.16.8 needed, Import needed (N tracks). The tooltip lists what waits for the desk. Click it for Settings → Helm Sessions.
The desk answers every edit (plugin 0.16.2). A miss marks the track Import needed on that desk, with one toast; nothing is resent. The last 20 answers are in the desk’s Status tooltip in Devices. onPC on the Cues Mac sends none.
A group drag moves on the desk while you drag, not only one cue. The drop lands every event from where the drag left it, so it no longer misses.
Every live send is in the log, one line per send per desk: MA3 live → 10.0.0.20 "Intro": 1 line(s) — "01 - Main" cue 3 12.000→14.500. An edit a desk did not get says so.
Desk import preferences. Settings → Desk import: Starting sequence (the first track’s Main), Offset to the next track, Backup offset, Starting playback, Starting page and Starting timecode pool. Tracks take them in track-number order. Apply to all tracks… shows every track and stack, old → new, and saves the numbers. They are where the desk creates what it does not hold by name yet; nothing is sent. Undo in one step. New tracks follow it while numbering is on. A track renumbered by hand is marked custom and keeps its numbers; Back to scheme… returns it. See Desk import.
Main-first desk order. The stack named Main is the first playback (201, fader 1). The other visible stacks follow in list order, hidden ones after. Reorder or rename one to Main and the next Import moves the playbacks; the sequences stay where they are. No Main: the first visible stack leads.
Push handshake with real progress. Cues sends the show in chunks and the desk answers each one. The progress bar moves chunk by chunk. An Import fails only when Cues stops mid-push, never on a clock. Big shows no longer lose sequences or names on the way.
Backup before every pull. Before an Import the desk copies each sequence of the tracks involved to its number + Backup offset (1000 by default, 0 = off), named with the sync version.
Fader levels reach the desk as the desk cue’s Command, on Import. Cues only writes the Command of cues that have a fader level, and clears only the ones it wrote. Not yet tested on a desk. See grandMA3 setup.
New tracks get their own desk numbers: the next free block of 100 sequences (101, 201, 301 …) and the next timecode pool. Two new tracks no longer overwrite each other. Existing tracks keep theirs.
Lighting Control warns about clashes: two tracks or stacks with one desk name, sequences that overlap another track’s (only matters when the desk creates them), a shared timecode pool, or the desk’s backups landing on a track’s sequences.
Stack colours stay per stack. Importing a track no longer recolours other tracks’ stacks.
The plugin only repairs its own OSC rows. Your other OSC rows are left alone.
Plugin prompts use the current Cues labels. Get the plugin dated 20 October 2026 or later.
Dead controls gone. Lighting Control loses the sync switch and Executor End; its fields are always editable. The stack editor loses Page.Executor. Cues never used them.
Desk GO drives Cues. For shows with no timecode: GO on a desk cue moves Live to that cue, to play from it or line up on it. Per track in Lighting Control, Main stack or every stack; new tracks take the default in Settings → Desk import. Cues writes the call into the desk cues’ Command on Import and clears only what it wrote. A desk mark can name a desk cue (05 - Main:3), and a go-to parks Live on it. Needs plugin 0.16.4. Leave it Off in timecode shows. See Desk GO drives Cues.
A push Cues starts takes seconds, not minutes. Push now and Desk import’s Apply no longer wait 1.5 s for each part. A whole show of 3000 commands takes under 30 s, down from about two minutes.
No session, no tracks on the desk. Setup Desk with Cues away built Track Nav from the last session’s track list, kept in the showfile. Now Setup Desk and Create Macros → Track Nav build it only from what Cues sent in this session. Without that they build Playhead and Control and say: Not connected to a Cues session — press HELM CONNECT, then Import, to build the track macros. See Session memory.
Disconnect forgets the session. On the desk, and when you stop hosting or remove or deny the desk in Cues: the session, its track list, Cues’ track and the current-track variables go. Track Nav macros stay, grey until the next Import. HELM TRACK reads · NO SESSION. Cues sends the desk one line, on that action only.
The offline file only when you ask. Tile → Build from offline file… on onPC with no Cues. Setup Desk and Create Macros no longer read it. See Offline file.
Cue notes reach the desk. Import puts each cue’s notes on its desk cue’s Note; a notes edit in Cues sends one line for that cue, a cleared note clears it. The desk report compares notes too. See What syncs live.
Desk track lists in track number order. HELM TRACK, Cues command…, Import Track… and the Track Nav block. The next Import or Create Macros → Track Nav lays an older block out in order; a nav macro you moved out of the block stays. Needs plugin 0.16.14. See Track order.
Import one track without importing them all. On the desk, Import Track…, HELM TRACK and Create Macros → Track Nav with nothing imported yet used to point at Import Tracks, which imports the whole show. Now they ask Cues for the track list alone, then carry on. Nothing is re-stored on the desk for the list. See Session memory.
Stack appearances by name. Name appearances Helm Stack 1, Helm Stack 2, … on the desk and Import assigns them to each track’s stacks in order, Main first, without recolouring them. See Stack appearances.
Plugin 0.16.15. The list pull and stack appearances by name. Not yet tested on a desk.
Plugin 0.16.14. Track order in every track list and the Track Nav block. Not yet tested on a desk.
Plugin 0.16.13. Session memory, the offline file behind its own menu item, cue notes. Older plugins ignore the notes. Not yet tested on a desk.
Plugin 0.16.12. No timer, no watchdog, no periodic hello. A press on a joined desk sends one hello and does not wait; control macros are relabelled only when their state changed; appearances are written by Setup Desk and Create Macros. On 0.16.11 or older this Cues leaves HELM CONNECT reading · OFFLINE: update the plugin. Not yet tested on a desk.
Plugin 0.16.11. TRACK_SETUP’s BPM line is the plain command and always there. The plugin’s BPM setting is gone; rebuild_setup puts the line back where it is missing. Not yet tested on a desk.
Plugin 0.16.5. Events found by the cue they fire, misses that list the track, Cues command…, the HELM SHOW macros gone, the new Control order.
Plugin 0.16.4. Sequences, pages and timecodes by name: HelmEnsure creates only what is missing, HelmAssign puts a sequence on the page found by name, every Helm*Event names its sequence and answers with the sequence and timecode names, Desk GO calls name the track and sequence, the backup and the import check go by name. Plugin 0.16.3: the desk answers every push from Cues, not only one it asked for, and prints its progress on the command line: Helm: receiving from Cues — part 12 of 75.
Plugin 0.16.1. Real progress on Import, the backup before every pull and before a move, every pushed stack coloured as soon as its sequence exists, and a check after each Import that lists missing sequences and names.

Import, export and media

Helm CSV round-trips: stack, sector, delay and labels come back as they were. Locked stacks take no rows.
MA2, MA3 and paper exports write the command each cue fires, its stack’s default included.
Import warnings and a failed save keep the dialog open.
Deleting media a show backup uses warns you first.

Sessions and cloud

Helm DJ and Helm Clock can ask to join a host with its passcode off. See Helm DJ: Helm Session.
A standby TAKE keeps the join policy of the host it takes over.
Storage full shows the figures: X of Y used.
The daily upload limit counts in decimal GB. A limit saved before now reads 10.7 GB; type 10 again.
Free mode holds 3 tracks per project. New Track, Batch Import, Duplicate and Import Show stop at 3.

Workspaces

Save where every window sits, recall it in one go. Window → Workspaces → Save Workspace… names the layout: the main window, the Sequence Monitor and the Video Output, each with its display, place, size and full screen. The main window adds its page, Build’s Sheet or Timeline and open panel, and the sizes Cues remembers (waveform, media lanes, palettes, the Monitor rail). Nothing from the show; saved on this Mac. See Workspaces.
Recall from Window → Workspaces, Recall Last, Settings → General or the Stream Deck. It opens closed windows and moves open ones; it never closes a window. A display that is not connected sends its windows to the main display, and a toast says so.
Manage Workspaces… recalls, updates from the windows as they are, renames and deletes. Settings → General → Recall on launch picks one for Cues to recall as it opens.

Settings

Project settings are in Settings. The side panel is gone: the Project group sits under this Mac’s tabs, with Project, People, Branding, Cloud and Desk import as tabs of their own. View → Project Settings…, ⌘, and the Project page’s Settings open it on Project, from any page. See Project settings.
Settings, Media Library and Sessions open once, and a second press closes them. The Settings and Media buttons, ⌘, · ⇧⌘L · ⇧⌘D and their menu items, and the Stream Deck’s Open keys. Before, a second press could open a second Settings over the first, or did nothing. Sessions from another Settings page goes to Sessions.

Stream Deck

Marker scope key. Short press cycles All → each stack → All, or goes to the stack picked in its Press setting. Long press: All stacks. It shows ALL or the stack’s name on its colour. Needs this build; older Cues read UPDATE CUES. See Marker scope.
Next cue and Previous cue keep to the marker scope and skip hidden stacks.
Open keys toggle. Media, Settings and Sessions: press again to close. The key is lit cream while its window is open.
Workspace actions. Cues takes recall and save a workspace by name from the deck, and tells the deck the saved names. The plugin’s key comes in a later plugin build. See Workspaces.

0.2.17

Rename several cues at once. With more than one cue selected, Name and Notes in the side panel and Rename n cues… on the right-click menu set every selected cue in one undo step. Locked stacks are skipped. The field shows the shared name or Mixed. See Build.
# numbers a rename in time order. Hit # gives Hit 1, Hit 2, Hit 3 across the selection. ## pads to two digits. Notes take no numbering.
Multi-cue renames reach the desk. Renaming a selection sends the new labels to every joined desk. A single-cue rename still reaches the desk on the next Import Tracks on the desk.
Real file names everywhere. The Media Library, track details, Trash, Reclaim space, Locate…, clip names, the Project Manager’s cloud lists and .helmpkg exports show the file’s real name. Since 0.2.13 most showed a long code instead.
Cloud names repaired. The next push puts the real names back on files in the cloud. A name someone typed is never replaced.
Helm Sessions page rebuilt. One column, five sections: Session, Sessions on the network, Devices, Requests, Desk. Every control kept. See Sessions.
Devices ask to join. Join policy is Ask, Open or Members only. Under Ask a device asks; you Allow or Deny. Under Open it joins at once.
A passcode that is on is required. Turn it on or off under Ask and Open. On: a device enters the code first, then asks (Ask) or joins (Open). Off: a device asks with no code. A device you allowed rejoins without the code.
Join requests on every page. While hosting, a waiting device raises one toast, <device> wants to join, with Allow and Deny, on whatever page is up. Deny tells the device no; it does not retry.
Device labels. Every device shows its label with the real device under it, e.g. iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) · Helm Monitor 0.1.0. Set this Mac’s label under Session → This device.
Allowed devices stay allowed. A device you allowed rejoins without asking until you Remove approval in the Devices ⋯ menu.

0.2.16

Cloud uploads: the upload storm fix

What happened. Earlier builds could send the same file several times at once and retry failures with no limit. On 18 October 2026 one show sent about 466 GB.

What changed.

Each file uploads once.
Failed uploads stop. After 5 failures the file shows Upload failed — Retry. Only you restart it.
Uploads pause together. When the cloud asks Cues to slow down, the network keeps failing or the daily limit is hit, every upload pauses. The upload pill says why and when they resume.
Daily limit, 10 GB by default.
Ask before big uploads. A batch over 1 GB asks first: Now, Later or Not on this network. Right-click a file → Keep on this Mac (don’t upload) and it never goes.
Settings → Helm Cloud → Uploads sets each project’s mode (Automatic, Ask for batches over 1 GB, Off) and this Mac’s daily limit, and shows how much went up today, this week and this session.
Resume after a relaunch picks up where the upload stopped.
Logs and support bundles leave out upload links.

Do this: update, then open Settings → Helm Cloud → Uploads. On a metered line keep Ask for batches over 1 GB or pick Off, and keep the daily limit on. See Cloud sync.

Build

Every action on a selection applies to all of it: drag, nudge, Move to…, delete, move to stack, command, fade, delay, hold, desk numbering.
Drag one selected marker and the whole selection moves, spacing kept. ⌘← / ⌘→ move it one beat.
Duplicate… takes Copies, Every (bars, beats, seconds, frames, timecode), Start (after the selection, at the playhead, or a typed time) and To stack.
Stack lock. A padlock per stack row blocks moves, edits and new markers on that stack.
Tempo lane above the waveform: BPM flags you type, drag and delete. A tempo change can also make that spot beat 1. See Beat grid and tempo.
Beat Builder opens from Tools on the transport row and stays open while you work.
Fixed: Hide, Solo or Department after moving a cue could write the old time back on the next nudge or save.

0.2.15

Active stack. One stack per track takes every new marker and edit: M, + Mark, Add Cue, Stream Deck. Other stacks’ markers stay locked until you activate them.
Find Cues on the cue sheet: name, number or comment. ⌘F focuses, Enter / ⇧Enter jump, Esc clears. #12 searches numbers only.
Follow playhead: Static, Window or Follow. Transport bar, View → Follow Playhead, or F.
Duplicate… (⌘D) repeats the selected cues n times every N bars, beats, seconds or frames. One undo step.
Stack rows are one fixed line. Nothing moves on hover.
Sequence Monitor sources: your lanes, then All lanes (program output), then clock, cue list, waveform, BPM, logo, blank. See Monitor and video outputs.
Simultaneous cues. Live’s Now and Next cards show every cue on the same frame as stack-coloured chips.
Fixed: Save in Monitor & Video Output Settings wrote the old layout back.

0.2.14

Clip waveforms and filmstrips. Audio clips draw a waveform at any zoom. Video clips show a filmstrip, images a still.
Clip inspector in the right panel: name, media, lane, start, end, length, source in and out, gain, fades, opacity, transform, hold and loop.
Clip tools: split, trim to playhead, slip, slide, copy, nudge, link, enable and disable, ripple delete. Every one is in Build → Clips and the clip menu. Each is one undo step. See Media and lanes.
Drop media from Finder or the Media Library onto a lane.
Lane roles and unique names. A rename can apply to every sequence that shares the lane name.
Update channels. Settings → Updates shows stable or beta, the release notes for the waiting build, and What’s new once after an update.
Reinstall previous version goes one build back. Shows and settings stay as they are.

0.2.13

Panic. ⇧Esc on any page, Live → Panic, or hold the red button on Live for 600 ms. Stops both transports, disarms Live, silences every timecode output, stops lane media and turns the show’s desk sequences off. See Panic.
Diagnostics. A daily log file, crash reports with a banner on the next launch, Help → Diagnostics and Save Support Bundle… See Diagnostics and support.
Timecode tab. When stopped: Mute or Hold last frame per show. Freewheel on timecode in. Art-Net timecode out and in. MIDI Clock out from the beat grid. See Timecode.
Media is local only. Live won’t arm until every file is on this Mac and checked. Opening a show downloads what is missing. Nothing streams from the cloud. Delete goes to a 30-day Trash. Reclaim space lists what nothing uses.
Backups and show packages. An hourly snapshot while you edit, Restore from Backup…, Restore Deleted Show… and .helmpkg export and import. See Backups and show packages.
Sessions. Operator peers drive the host. Editors edit from a peer. Media over the LAN. Standby with a two-press TAKE. MA3 desks in the roster. A Helm DJ deck as a chase source.
Import Show (grandMA3 / Reaper)… with a preview. See Import from grandMA3 and Reaper.
Cloud sync per track. A conflict names one track: Keep mine or Keep theirs. If the cloud refuses access, the link stays and auto-push stops. Storage full says so once.
First-run setup panel: licence, first project, MA3 check, Live. Help → Check MA3 Connection… and Show Onboarding Again.
Cleanup. Controls that did nothing are gone. ⌘S saves. Cycle Snap on ⌥S. The Monitor window no longer fires Live’s keys.

Earlier

0.2.12. Pairing changed: builds up to 0.2.11 cannot pair. The Devices table in Sessions. Media lanes back in their own panel at the foot of Build. Image clips take any length.
0.2.11. Settings fills the window beside the left rail. Hosting is one card with the join policy and the join code.
0.2.10. Media lanes in the Timeline view with one ruler, zoom and playhead. Join policy: Ask, Open, Members only. Snap: Off · Frame · Beat. Big uploads resume. Lane reorder as layers. Monitor panes split into four. Mono files reach both legs. Normalize aims at −18 dBFS RMS. Toasts: one line, no repeats.
0.2.9. Beat grid with tempo and bar markers. Flash with Hold (s) on grandMA3. Sessions, first cut: a second Cues follows the host. Licence from the cloud, 7 days offline. Stream Deck key colours and icons.
0.2.0 to 0.2.8. The rebuild cycle. 0.2.2 added grandMA3 plugin 0.15 support: Setup Desk, desk approval, per-desk auto-sync, and the cue’s command on each timecode event.