From download to first GO
CueForge is a big application, but the first show is small. This is the short path: get it open, get sound out of it, get a cue list running.
The written walkthrough
Twenty minutes, start to finish, with nothing plugged in but a pair of headphones. Everything here works in a free demo session.
- 1 Install it and start a demo Open CueForge and choose a demo session. There is no account and no card, and every feature is live. Sessions run 30 minutes at a time — start another whenever one ends.
- 2 Set up your audio outputs first Audio Devices (⇧⌘D) is where you pick your interface, give it a name that means something in your rig, and set its buffer size. Then Audio Outputs (⇧⌘P) is where you create the outputs your show sends to — “Mains L/R”, “Foldback”, “Booth” — and patch each one onto hardware channels. Doing this before you build cues saves redoing routing later.
- 3 Build a cue list Drag audio, video or image files straight into the list — each one becomes a cue. Use the + button to add cues that aren’t files: fades, stops, groups, lighting, MIDI. Select a cue and the inspector underneath shows everything about it.
- 4 Route each cue With a cue selected, the Routing tab shows one strip per output. Switch on the outputs it should feed and set the level. A cue with no output routed is flagged with a warning in the list, so nothing goes out silently by accident.
- 5 Give the cues timing Every cue has a trigger: GO waits for you, Follow fires when the cue before it finishes, Time fires after a delay, Immediate fires with the cue above. Add fade in and fade out times, and a pre- or post-wait if you need air around a cue.
- 6 Run it Space is GO. The transport bar shows what is running, what is next, and what is selected. Escape fades everything out and stops — set the fade length in Show Settings. When you are performing, Show Mode (⌘L) locks editing so a stray click can’t change the show.
- 7 Save the show A CueForge show is a bundle: the cue list and your media travel together, so the file you hand to the next operator is complete. Save early — autosave will offer to recover your work if anything goes wrong.
- 8 Add the rest when you need it Video outputs and projector correction, a lighting patch, timecode, a Stream Deck, the web remote, a backup machine. None of it is required to run a show, and all of it is in the same application when the show grows.
When you get stuck
Three places to look, in the order that usually works.
Read the How To
Every topic, from cue types to projector alignment. The same text is inside the app under Help ▸ CueForge2 User Manual, searchable and available offline mid-show.
The Status window
Tools ▸ Status (⇧⌘L) lists every broken cue in the show — missing media, targets that don’t resolve, cues with no output routed — and logs every trigger the app receives.
The forum
Other people running shows, and us. Faster than email for anything that isn’t about your account or a payment.
Start with the How To. Account, licence or billing questions go to support.