Show Cue System (formerly Sound Cue System)

Show Cue System is a professional software application designed to be used mainly in live theaters in order to help you assemble all audio, video and image cues in a specific order.

The GUI may seem a bit overwhelming at a first glance but this is only because the tool comes with plenty of features to experiment with.

It reads a list of cues and sub-cues from a user-defined SCS cue file and reveals detailed information about cue, page, description, cue type, state, activation, file type, length and device. Plus, you can start, resume or stop all cues.

Show Cue System lets you work with different types of cues, such as audio (set start and end points, loop points, volume and pan, fade-in and fade-out times, and output device selection), video/image (set start and end points, loop points, volume and pan, fade-in and fade-out times, and output device selection, as well as apply cross-fades between images), and playlist (play a list of audio files either consecutively or randomly).

Plus, you can work with level change cues (change the volume and/or pan of an earlier cue over a specified period of time) or other ones related to SFR (stop, fade out and stop or loop release an earlier cue or multiple cues), note (add markers or reminders at selected points in your cue list), memo (display information about non-cue activity), ‘Go To’ (jump to a new position within a currently playing cue), 'Set Position' (set up loops of cues), and control send (Send MIDI, RS232 or Telnet messages to other devices).

Last but not least, you may enable MTC (MIDI Time Code) for sending MTC messages, and enable live input cues (accept live input from mics and instruments), and 'Run External Program' cues (start an external program such as PowerPoint).

Show Cue System features a built-in cue editor that allows you to play a list of tracks in a specific order or randomly, apply cross-fading and various transitions, stop or fade out the entire playlist, as well as set the desired volume, pan, length, and speaker selection for each cue.

You can use hot keys to play them at any time, dynamically adjust cue levels, send MIDI control messages, and play video files via a video projector or separate monitor (you can use up to four projectors).

Compared to the main interface, the SCS editor is not quite intuitive, so you may need some extra time to get used to working with the editing parameters.

Creating a new cue list can be done by providing general information about the name of the production, cue label increment, default fade-in and out time for new audio file cues, and default loop cross-fade time for new audio file cue loops.

You are allowed to set up audio output devices, control send devices, enable cue control from external equipment, work with time profiles for time-based cues, and alter run time settings (e.g. run mode, visual warning, maximum audio level, master fader level).

In order to complete the process, you need to add cues, be they audio files (e.g. WAV, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG) or videos (e.g. AVI, WMF, ASF, MP4), insert SFR cues, and import cues from a CSV file. Undo/redo your actions is a feature included in the package.

Power users may jump to the configuration panel from where they can alter the display mode, cue list columns, audio and video driver settings, and shortcuts.

To sum it up, Show Cue System comes with an impressive suite of features in order to help you tweak sound effects and track playback for live music production automation. However, the GUI is not quite intuitive, so this tool is specifically geared toward professional users.