Lighting designers and show programmers working on live events, concerts, theater, and TV broadcast. They pre-plan lighting cues against a song or video reference, then drive a lighting console — typically by sending LTC timecode that the console chases.
Pre-planning cues today happens in a mix of spreadsheets, paper notes, and DAWs. None of these tools are purpose-built for the workflow:
- Spreadsheets can't play media or scrub.
- DAWs play media but treat markers as second-class — no color, no notes, awkward export.
- Console software doesn't help with creative pre-planning before the venue is wired up.
CuePoints validates that a single-purpose cue planning tool is wanted by this audience.
A focused, document-based macOS app that does one thing well:
Open a media file → see/hear it → drop named, color-coded cues at the right moments → save → hand off.
We deliberately match CuePoints' core surface for v1 because:
- The workflow is well-validated by the reference product.
- Rebuilding it teaches us the domain (timecode, console handoff, lighting team conventions).
- It keeps decisions cheap — when in doubt, defer to the reference.
A distinctive feature comes after the core works. Candidates we may revisit:
- AI-assisted cueing — auto-suggest cues from audio transients, beat detection, scene changes, silence boundaries.
- Collaboration — multi-user real-time cue list editing.
- Tighter console integration — direct OSC/MIDI to common consoles (grandMA, ETC EOS, Hog).
We are explicitly not committing to any of these yet. See roadmap.md.
- Replacing a DAW. We are not a multi-track editor.
- Replacing a lighting console. We don't render lighting; we only plan timing.
- Mobile or web for v1. Mac native only.