Global Audio Ducking
Lower active playback together from the keyboard, then restore the existing cue levels.
ENIGMA B / macOS / TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION
StageCue Documentation
A focused macOS workspace for theatre sound operators, live performances, cultural events, and complex audio playback.
01 / Show-control toolkit
Keep the show moving
A closer look at the controls StageCue provides for preparing and running a live audio show.
MOVE output routing
Change a playing cue's physical output route without starting the source again.
Concurrent cues
Run independent Audio Cues together, each with its own waveform, position, and controls.
Fades, groups & loops
Shape transitions, start audio groups together, and repeat a defined playback region.
Operator soundboard
Trigger assigned effects from pads or F1–F12 while the show continues.
OSC lighting integration
Synchronize lighting cues to audio moments with OSC triggers inside Audio Cues.
02 / Global Audio Ducking
One key, every active cue
Press Return or keypad Enter to toggle operator-controlled ducking during playback. StageCue smoothly ramps a separate duck gain on active audio instances; the saved and live cue gain stays intact. A cue started while ducking is active inherits the current duck state.
In a theatre
A performer begins speaking while background music is playing. Press Enter to smoothly lower the active music cues. Press Enter again to restore their previous levels.
Operator-adjustable response
- Attenuation: 0 to −30 dB (default −15 dB).
- Fade Down Time: 0.1 to 5.0 seconds (default 0.2 seconds).
- Fade Up Time: 0.1 to 5.0 seconds (default 0.3 seconds).
- The toggle is independent of Cue List order and does not replace an individual Fade or Crossfade.
FADE IN
DUCKED
Illustrative gain change. The operator sets the amount and fade times; StageCue does not detect speech or duck automatically.
03 / Multichannel MOVE
Make sound travel through your theatre
MOVE changes the physical output routing of an Audio Cue that is already playing. The same source continues from its current playback position; MOVE is not a command to switch to another song and does not render 3D or object-based spatial audio.
Front speakersMiddle speakersRear speakers
Two routing modes
Stereo Pairs
Move a stereo source between distinct physical output pairs. A mono source can be sent to both members of a pair.
Single Outputs
Move between individual physical outputs. A stereo source is folded to mono at the FROM pair; a Left Only or Right Only source moves its active channel.
Timing, curves and limits
- Build a continuous sequence of up to 128 steps, each with its own duration, hold time, and Linear, Smooth, or Equal Power curve.
- The selected device must expose every physical channel in the route. The cue must currently be routed to the first FROM destination, and the destination must not already carry that cue.
- A new movement cannot start for the same cue until its current sequence finishes. A single-step legacy MOVE can be reversed while it is running.
- Selected Outputs fades and MOVE cannot change the same cue's routing at the same time.
Example route
Start music on the front speakers, move it toward the middle of the auditorium, and finish on the rear speakers—all while the same track continues playing.
04 / Playback & automation
Independent cues, deliberate transitions
Each GO can start another cue alongside existing playback. Active instances have independent position, waveform, level, pause, and stop controls. The focused cue receives the large waveform; other active cues remain visible in the monitor.
Example: Play background ambience while separately triggering footsteps, thunder, and music.
FADE IN
Set on an Audio Cue and applied when that cue starts. Editing the setting does not start playback.
FADE CUE
An action that fades the active instances of its selected Audio Cue targets. It can stop them after the fade, or leave them playing at silence. A zero-duration fade stops immediately.
CROSSFADE CUE
Select outgoing Audio Cue targets and one incoming Audio Cue. StageCue prepares the incoming audio first, then starts the incoming fade and outgoing fade with their separately configured durations and curves. The incoming main-list cue is skipped by automatic GO advancement but remains manually selectable.
AUTO
When enabled on an Audio Cue, AUTO starts the next main-list Audio Cue after the previous Audio Cue finishes naturally, or after the preceding Fade Cue completes. The next cue must be the armed NEXT GO cue and also be an Audio Cue with AUTO enabled.
LOOP
Choose Off, Infinite, or Fixed repeats for the cue's IN/OUT playback region. Fixed repeat count means additional passes after the first. An optional short boundary crossfade is available.
GROUP CUE
A Group Cue starts its Audio Cue children together after all children prepare. Groups are flat: nested groups and non-audio children are not supported.
05 / Theatre cue list
Fast, keyboard-driven show control
Prepare the running order in Edit mode, then use the armed NEXT GO position and live controls in Show mode.
- Import audio, create Audio Cues, and arrange the main Cue List. Drag to reorder cues in Edit mode.
- Select a cue row to arm it as NEXT GO. Selecting a different cue changes NEXT GO unless Lock GO Position is enabled. GO advances only after successful execution and does not wrap at the end.
- Use GO to start the armed Audio Cue or Group. A cue can start alongside audio that is already playing.
- Stop one active instance with its Stop control. STOP ALL fades all active instances to silence using the configured duration, then stops them; Escape invokes STOP ALL.
- To make a group, Shift-click top-level Audio Cues to toggle them in the grouping selection, then choose Add Group when at least two are selected. Their original order is retained and they become children of the new group at the first selected position.
Shift-click is a grouping selection, not range selection. Command-click is not a separate multi-selection mode. Group editing uses the Add Audio Cue menu, which can import audio or move an eligible existing top-level Audio Cue into the group; child order is changed with the up/down controls.
Keyboard reference
SpaceGO — start the armed NEXT GO cue.
ReturnToggle Global Audio Ducking; keypad Enter also works.
EscapeSTOP ALL / Fade All.
F1–F12Trigger a Soundboard pad assigned to that key.
⌘ CCopy the selected cue configuration.
⌘ VPaste the copied cue.
⌘ DDuplicate the selected cue.
⌘ Z / ⇧⌘ ZUndo / Redo project edits in Edit mode.
⌘ S / ⇧⌘ SSave / Save As.
⌘ O / ⌘ N / ⌘ IOpen / New / Import Audio.
Live shortcuts are handled only in the StageCue show window when no dialog, menu, text editor, focused control, or pointer interaction should own the key. Text fields keep their normal editing shortcuts. macOS keyboard settings may require Fn for F1–F12 or reserve those keys for system actions.
06 / Hotkey Soundboard
Sound effects at a keystroke
Assign an audio file to a pad, then trigger it by clicking the pad or pressing its assigned F1–F12 key. New pads receive the first unused function key; a pad can also be mouse-only.
Example
Trigger a doorbell, phone ring, or thunder effect without stopping the current music cue.
Restart
Start a fresh instance, then fade out earlier instances of the same pad.
Overlap
Allow separate instances of the pad to play together.
Toggle
Start if idle; otherwise fade out its active instances.
Ignore
Do nothing while one of its instances is active.
07 / OSC lighting & remote control
Synchronize sound and light
StageCue supports two separate OSC workflows: timed lighting and show-control triggers sent from Audio Cues to compatible external systems, and remote-control messages received from StageQ Remote 5.
OSC / LIGHTING CONSOLES
OSC lighting integration
Add OSC triggers directly to an Audio Cue to coordinate lighting changes with precise moments in music, sound effects, or other playback. StageCue can send commands to compatible lighting consoles, including ETC Eos, MA Lighting grandMA3, and ChamSys MagicQ.
A cue on stage
A musical sequence begins in StageCue. At a marked point in the Audio Cue, StageCue sends an OSC message to the lighting console. The console runs its own configured lighting cue and timing, then controls its connected lighting system.
AUDIO CUE Music playback
OSC Trigger 1Lighting Cue A
OSC Trigger 2Lighting Cue B
Conceptual timeline: each marker follows the source audio file time and sends its configured OSC message when playback crosses it.
Build triggers in the Audio Cue Editor
- Open an Audio Cue in Edit Cue and find its OSC Triggers panel below the playback waveform.
- Choose Add OSC Trigger. A marker is placed on the waveform at the active IN point; drag it or edit its exact MM:SS.mmm trigger time and add a label.
- Choose a configured OSC destination, then select a device family and preset action—or choose Custom OSC to enter the address and argument yourself.
- Save the Audio Cue and enable the OSC Triggers master control before playback. Each marker can also be enabled or disabled individually.
Timing during playback
- A trigger fires once when forward playback crosses its time, provided OSC Triggers are enabled, the marker is enabled, and its destination and message are valid. A marker at the active IN point can fire as the cue starts.
- Marker times follow the original audio file. Markers inside the active IN/OUT region can fire; markers outside it remain saved but are skipped during that playback.
- Each new loop pass makes eligible markers available to fire again. A forward seek skips markers between the old and new position. A backward seek re-arms markers after the new position; they fire if playback crosses them again.
- Paused playback does not fire markers. Stopping playback releases held controls created by ETC Eos Submaster Bump or MagicQ Playback Flash presets by sending their matching OFF value.
OSC / PRESET LIBRARY
Console profiles and preset actions
The editor generates these messages from the selected profile and its fields. Presets create editable OSC messages: confirm the address, arguments, destination port, and console-side OSC setup for your show.
ETC Eos
- Eos — Fire Cue: cue list and cue number; sends /eos/cue/<list>/<cue>/fire with no argument.
- Eos — Go Cue List: cue list; sends /eos/cues/<list>/fire with no argument.
- Eos — Fire Macro: macro number; sends /eos/macro/<macro>/fire with no argument.
- Eos — Submaster Full and Eos — Submaster Home: submaster number; sends /eos/sub/<sub>/full or /eos/sub/<sub>/home.
- Eos — Submaster Bump ON and Eos — Submaster Bump OFF: sends /eos/sub/<sub>/fire with Float32 1.0 or 0.0. The ON preset is held until playback stops or ends, when StageCue sends the matching OFF value.
- An optional OSC User changes the address prefix to /eos/user/<id>/… for these Eos commands.
MA Lighting grandMA3
- grandMA3 — Executor GO: executor number; sends the OSC string "Go+ Exec <number>" to /cmd (or the configured prefix ending in /cmd).
- grandMA3 — Sequence GO: sequence number; sends the OSC string "Go+ Sequence <number>" to /cmd (or the configured prefix ending in /cmd).
- The console requires OSC Input and Receive Command enabled in its In/Out configuration.
ChamSys MagicQ
- MagicQ — Playback GO and MagicQ — Playback Release: built-in playback number 1–10; sends /pb/<number>/go or /pb/<number>/release with no argument.
- MagicQ — Playback Flash ON and MagicQ — Playback Flash OFF: sends /pb/<number>/flash with Int32 1 or 0. FLASH ON is released when playback stops or ends.
- MagicQ — Playback Fader Level: playback number 1–10 and a 0–100% slider; sends Float32 0.000–1.000 to /pb/<number>.
- ChamSys MagicQ OSC requires unlocked PC hardware or a physical console with OSC enabled.
Custom OSC Message
- Choose Custom OSC to enter an OSC address and a None, Int32, Float32, or String argument directly. This provides custom message fields; it does not add another console profile or guarantee that a target device supports the message.
OSC Destinations are configured separately in StageCue Settings with a name, host or IP address, UDP port (1–65535), and enabled state. Each trigger selects one configured destination. Compatibility depends on the console model, firmware, network, OSC configuration, and the commands it accepts; the console remains responsible for executing its lighting cues, timing, and DMX output.
OSC / REMOTE CONTROL
StageQ Remote 5 → StageCue
StageQ Remote is a separate remote-control workflow. On a reachable local network, it can send GO, STOP ALL, reset-to-first-cue, and live-volume commands to StageCue, and query cue and playback status. StageCue's default OSC control port is UDP 53000 and reply port UDP 53001. The current StageQ Remote uses fixed ports, so keep StageCue on the defaults for compatibility.
StageQ Remote 5 send → UDP 53000→StageCue OSC listener · UDP 53000↩StageQ Remote 5 reply listener · UDP 53001
08 / Audio, devices & shows
Prepare the system and the show file
Audio, devices & shows
- StageCue targets macOS 14 or later and uses macOS Core Audio output devices.
- Choose the output device in StageCue. A configured route must fit the channel count exposed by the selected device; a multi-output interface is needed for separate physical speaker destinations.
- Audio sources are mono or stereo. Cue routing supports Stereo, Left Only, and Right Only channel modes. Check the device and cue routes with Check Show before a performance.
- No specific audio-interface model is presented here as certified or universally compatible. Device availability, channel count, sample rate, and macOS behavior vary.
.stagecue
- A .stagecue show is a package containing project.json and, when media is bundled, an Audio folder.
- Saving with media copied into the project collects the audio files used by top-level cues, group children, and soundboard pads. Saving with external media keeps file references and macOS security-scoped bookmarks instead.
- An external file may be unavailable after moving a show or changing permissions. StageCue marks missing media and provides relink workflows; verify each file and playback region after relinking.
- Keep the .stagecue package intact when moving or backing up a bundled show. Portability depends on the audio being inside the package or the external media remaining accessible.
Before rehearsal or performance
- Choose the intended audio output device.
- Open Check Show and review any missing-media, routing, or output warnings.
- Test the actual cue transitions and speaker destinations on the system used for the show.
StageCue / Interface
StageCue in action
A closer look at cue playback, waveform monitoring, and show controls.
