[Sidus Link Pro] Recording and Managing Cues

Cues are the heart of Sidus Link Pro's programming workflow. This article covers everything you need to know about recording, playing back, editing, and organizing cues on the 10 Cue Masters at the bottom of every project view.

What is a Cue?

A Cue is a saved snapshot of every parameter on every fixture in your selection at the moment you record it. That includes intensity, CCT, G/M tint, hue, saturation, color, and any active effect. Once recorded, a Cue can be named, color-tagged, given a fade time, assigned a Button Action, and fired or unloaded with one tap.

What is a Cue Master?

The bottom strip of the screen holds 10 Cue Masters, numbered M1 through M10. Each Master is a slot that can hold a single Cue or a Cue Sequence (a stack of cues that play in order). The Cue Master strip cannot be hidden, but its display mode can be switched between M Slider, M Status, and M Actions. See Using Masters for a deeper look at the Master strip.

Why record a look into a Cue?

Once your scene is dialed in, recording the look into a Cue lets you recall it in one tap later. The single most common use case on film and commercial sets: record a Cue at the start of every take, name it after the take number, and recall it later if you need to match continuity or reshoot.

For longer sessions, save a Cue at every meaningful look change (every half hour, every scene reset, every notable color or intensity shift). Cues are cheap to make and free to ignore. The cost of not recording one is having to rebuild a look you already had.

How to record a Cue into a blank Cue Master

Set up the look you want by selecting fixtures and adjusting intensity, color, and any active effect.
Tap an empty Cue Master slot at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the green REC button in the right bar.
The Create New Cue window opens. Set the name, Button Action, Fade Time, and color tag, then tap OK.
The selected Cue Master now holds the new Cue, ready to fire.
Tap the red Clear button in the right bar to clear the Stage. This step is critical, see the warning below.

Stage priority overrides cues. Any fixture that is selected and on the Stage outranks any Cue trying to control that fixture. If you record a Cue but leave the fixtures selected on Stage, pressing GO will appear to do nothing because the Stage values are still winning. Always tap Clear on the right bar after recording a Cue.

How to play back a Cue or unload a currently playing Cue

To fire a Cue: make sure M Actions is toggled on (lower-left of the screen), then tap the green GO button on the Cue Master holding the Cue. The Cue's fixtures take the stage with the Cue's stored values.

To unload a playing Cue: long-press the Cue Master's GO button (or its Cue Stack Name), then tap Unload. The fixtures return to whatever state was beneath the Cue (the Stage, the next Cue down, or off).

You can also fire a Cue with the Sidus Link Pro V2.4 keyboard shortcut Cmd+1 through Cmd+0 (corresponding to Master 1 through Master 10). See Keyboard Shortcuts.

How to edit a Cue after saving

There are two ways to edit a saved Cue.

Edit the cue's metadata (name, color tag, button action, fade time, wait time): with M Status toggled on, long-press the Cue's row in the Cue Master, then tap Edit Cue. The Edit Cue window opens with the current settings.

Edit the cue's fixture values (change what the lights do): double-tap the Cue's row in the Cues & Timing window (under M Status) to enter Backstage editing. You can adjust fixtures off-air, see the changes only in the visualizer or off-stage preview, then save the modified Cue back. Live output stays on whatever is currently running.

In V2.4 and later, you can also press Cmd+E to open Edit Active Cue for the currently selected Master without long-pressing.

Button Actions: Hold, Bump, Latch, and Wait Time

The Button Action sets what happens when the operator taps the Cue's GO button.

Hold (default): tap to fire the Cue. The Cue stays loaded and active until you tap Next (to advance to the next Cue in the sequence) or long-press and Unload. Use this for normal scene cues.
Bump: press and hold to fire the Cue. The moment you release, the Cue clears. Use this for one-shot moments like a strobe flash, a momentary blackout, or a sting.
Latch: tap once to fire, tap again to clear. The button toggles. Use this for state changes like House Lights On / Off or Practical Cluster On / Off.
Wait Time: the Cue fires when tapped and auto-clears after a specified number of seconds. Use this for timed events like an intro sting, an applause cue, or anything that should run for a fixed duration.

Fade Time

Fade Time is how long it takes the fixtures to transition from their current state into the Cue. A fade time of 0 snaps instantly. A fade time of 5 seconds gives a smooth 5-second crossfade. Fade Time applies on entry; the Cue's exit behavior is governed by End of Action (see below).

Color tags

Each Cue can be tagged with a color. Color tags are purely organizational. The color appears on the Cue Master's status display so the operator can read the rig at a glance: blue for talent cues, green for crew cues, red for hero shots, and so on. Choose your own convention. Color tags do not affect output in any way.

Why record multiple Cues into a Cue Sequence?

A Cue Sequence (sometimes called a Cue Stack) is multiple Cues loaded into a single Cue Master, played in order with one GO button per advance. Use a Cue Sequence when a single scene has multiple beats that fire on different counts. Examples:

A music video where the lighting shifts with the chorus, verse, and bridge. One Master, three Cues, advance with each musical cue.
A wedding ceremony with processional, vows, recessional. One Master, three Cues, fired with the officiant.
A theatrical scene with lights up, monologue, lights down. One Master, three Cues, fired on cue lines.

For deeper cue stack workflows, see Cue Stacks.

How to record a Cue into an already-occupied Cue Master

Set up your new look, tap the occupied Cue Master, then tap REC. The Create New Cue window appears with three options at the top:

Create a New Cue at the end of the current Master. The new Cue is appended to the existing Cue Sequence. Previous Cues stay where they are; the new Cue becomes the last one to play. Use this to extend a sequence.
Override the current cue. The new Cue replaces the currently active Cue on this Master. Older Cues earlier in the sequence are untouched. Use this when you want to revise the current beat without rebuilding.
Merge Cue. The new Cue's fixture values are merged into the currently active Cue. Anything not changed in your new selection stays as it was; anything you changed updates. Use this to make incremental adjustments to a Cue you've already roughly built (add a hair light, tweak a key intensity) without losing the work.

How to pull cue state onto the Stage

If you want to use a Cue's look as the starting point for a new Cue, you need to pull the Cue's fixtures onto the Stage. In the Fixture List, tap All; this selects every fixture that is currently affected by any playing Cue. Those fixtures land on the Stage with their current values, and you can adjust from there. Record a new Cue when the look is ready.

You can also pull just one Cue's fixtures by selecting only that Cue Master and tapping All, leaving other playing Cues alone.

M Slider, M Status, and M Actions

The three toggle buttons in the lower-left of the screen switch what each Cue Master shows. One of the three must always be on; you cannot hide all of them.

M Slider: shows a vertical intensity slider plus the Cue Stack Name for each Master. Use this when you need to ride levels on multiple Cues at once. Long-press a Cue Stack Name and tap Unload to clear the Cue from that Master.
M Status: shows the Cues & Timing table, the current cue's status, and the Cue Stack Name. This is the programmer's view, where you can double-tap into Backstage editing or long-press for rename, duplicate, delete, and color-tag controls.
M Actions: shows the GO and Next action buttons per Master, color-coded by Cue. This is the operator's view, where you fire cues during the show.

Most programmers switch between M Status while building (full table, easy editing) and M Actions when running the show (big buttons, fewer accidental long-presses). The new Action Panel in V2.4 takes the M Actions view further, turning the 10 Masters into a full-screen surface with passcode lock for clean handoff.

End of Action: Loop, Hold Last Cue, Bounce, Connect to Master, Unload

By default a Cue Sequence loops back to the first Cue after the last one ends. To change this, open the Edit Cue Sequence window, navigate to the Cue Stack, and long-press the Loop indicator at the end. The End of Action menu opens with five choices:

Loop: when the last Cue finishes, the sequence wraps back to the first Cue and plays again. Use for repeating chases or ambient sequences that should never stop.
Hold Last Cue: when the last Cue finishes, its output is held indefinitely until you unload or override. Use when the final look of the sequence is the resting state for the rest of the show.
Bounce: at the end of the sequence, playback reverses and plays back through the cues in reverse order, then forwards, repeating. Use for back-and-forth effects like waving lights or a ping-pong color shift.
Connect to Master: at the end of the sequence, fire a different Cue Master automatically. Use for chaining sequences (Scene A's last Cue triggers Scene B's first).
Unload: at the end of the sequence, the Cue Master clears entirely. The lights return to whatever is beneath. Use for one-shot sequences like an intro sting or a finale.

HTP vs LTP priority

Each Cue Stack has an HTP / LTP toggle in the Edit Cue Sequence window. This sets how the Cue interacts with other Cues running at the same time on different Masters.

HTP (Highest Takes Precedence): when two or more Cues control the same fixture, the higher intensity value wins. Use HTP for additive workflows (washes, backgrounds, atmospheric fills) where you want layered Cues to compound rather than override.
LTP (Latest Takes Precedence): when two or more Cues control the same fixture, the most recently fired Cue wins. Use LTP for theatrical sequencing where each new Cue should replace the previous look entirely (scene changes, hero looks, blackouts before a beat).

Most programmers default to LTP for narrative cueing and switch to HTP for environmental Cues that should add to whatever is already happening.

Multi-Select on the Cue Masters

The Multi-Select toggle in the right bar lets you select more than one Cue Master at a time so you can fire or unload several Cues with one tap.

Fire multiple Cues at once: enable Multi-Select, highlight the Cue Masters you want, then tap any one of their GO buttons. All highlighted Cues fire together.
Unload multiple Cues at once: enable Multi-Select, highlight the playing Cue Masters, long-press any Next button, and tap Unload. All highlighted Cues clear.

This is powerful for layered shows where a single creative beat involves multiple Cues firing on the same count (key light shift plus background color change plus practical effect). For beginners, keep this toggle off until you have the single-Cue workflow down; it's easy to fire unintended Cues if multiple Masters stay highlighted by accident.