cueDesk operator reference#

The cueDesk is the dedicated hardware operator desk for the cueSystem. Six channel groups down the desk, three master buttons across the bottom, one status indicator top-right. No screen, no menus — every state is a colour, every action is a press.

This page is the complete reference card. Print it out and stick it in the booth.

Layout#

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                            ● status    │
│                                                        │
│    1        2        3        4        5        6      │
│  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐        │
│  │ ●R │  │ ●R │  │ ●R │  │ ●R │  │ ●R │  │ ●R │  reds  │
│  │ ●G │  │ ●G │  │ ●G │  │ ●G │  │ ●G │  │ ●G │  greens│
│  │ [STBY]  [STBY]  [STBY]  [STBY]  [STBY]  [STBY]      │
│  │ [GO]    [GO]    [GO]    [GO]    [GO]    [GO]        │
│  │ [CLR]   [CLR]   [CLR]   [CLR]   [CLR]   [CLR]       │
│  └────┘  ...                                           │
│                                                        │
│   [ ALL STAND BY ]   [ ALL GO ]   [ ALL CLEAR ]        │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each channel group has two LEDs (red, green) and three buttons (Stand By, Go, Clear). The buttons are arranged top-to-bottom in the order you'll press them mid-show.

LED colour code#

LEDs are the operator's primary feedback channel. Every state combines red/green and a behaviour (off / solid / slow-flash / fast-flash).

The desk doesn't have an amber LED on the channel groups — amber lives only on the status indicator (top-right) and means "infrastructure problem", not "show problem".

Button behaviour#

Per-channel buttons#

Master buttons#

The three master buttons across the bottom apply to all six channels at once:

Status indicator (top-right)#

The status indicator is a single multicolour LED that reflects the desk's connection to the cueServer.

Fault states — what to do mid-show#

The desk is designed to fail visibly. If anything's wrong, the indicator and channel LEDs will tell you.

"All channels are slow-flashing red+green"#

The desk has lost contact with the cueServer. Two possibilities:

1. The cueServer rebooted or lost power. Re-check power. Once it's back up the desk re-pairs within ~5 seconds and channel state resumes.
2. A network blip. If the cueServer is still up but the desk can't reach it (e.g. the switch port flapped), the desk will keep retrying. As soon as the link recovers, channels resume from the last known state — they don't reset.

While the desk is in lost-link state, button presses are ignored (otherwise an op might call Go on a channel that's actually mid-flight on the cueServer). The browser UI keeps working in lost-link state for other clients that can reach the cueServer.

"The desk is unresponsive but the status LED is green"#

Either:

• A passcode is set on the cueServer and the desk hasn't been authorised. Visit the cueServer's Settings → Devices page and check whether the desk has a tick next to its name. If not, click Trust this desk.
• The cueServer thinks the desk is connected but is processing a long-running task (e.g. a firmware update on a paired node). Wait 30 seconds; if it's still unresponsive, power-cycle the desk.

"Channels are firing on the wrong button"#

This is almost always a channel-remap mismatch. From the cueServer's Settings → Channels page, check that the visible channel order matches what the operator expects. Hardware channel 1 of the desk always maps to the first visible channel — there's no per-button override. If the SM has hidden channel 1 and renamed channel 2 to "Flys", then hardware button 1 will fire Flys.

The fix is either to un-hide the channel or to mentally remap. We deliberately don't allow per-button labels on the hardware — it'd be a maintenance nightmare for the SM when the show changes.

Multi-channel Go (advanced)#

You can fire multiple channels in lock-step:

1. Put every relevant channel into Stand By (All Stand By, or individual buttons).
2. Each station acknowledges, moving their channel to Ready.
3. Press All Go — every channel currently in Ready fires simultaneously, within ~30 ms of each other across the LAN.

If one of the stations was slow to acknowledge, their channel won't have moved to Ready in time and All Go will skip it. The other channels fire; the laggard goes back to Held (green slow-flash) — telling the SM "you fired the rest but I wasn't ready". The held channel can still be cleared or fired manually after the fact.

Physical care#

• The chassis is steel; the buttons are mechanical with a rated lifetime of ~10 million presses each. They will outlive any production schedule you put through them.
• Don't power the desk through anything other than the supplied USB-C path. The PoE add-on is a roadmap item; passive PoE injectors will damage the input stage.
• Storage temperature: -20 °C to +60 °C; operating temperature 0 °C to +40 °C. A booth that's cold enough to see your breath is fine; a sun-baked outdoor stage is not.

Quick-reference card#

What to read next#

• cueSystem quick start — first-time setup.
• cueSystem network setup — for the network-tuning side of the lost-link state.