WIRECUE shows your lyrics in time with incoming SMPTE timecode. Each line is cued to an exact timecode, so the right words appear at the right moment — automatically, hands-free, locked to the show.
WIRECUE runs as a desktop app on macOS and Windows. It opens straight into a 14-day free trial — no key required — so you can use every feature right away. Enter a serial any time to unlock it permanently.
Pick a song → confirm timecode is moving → press Run → send the output to your audience screen. Everything else in this manual is detail around those four steps.
When you're ready to buy, enter your serial on the activation screen in the form
WIRE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX and click Activate. A serial unlocks up to two
devices. The full activation details are in the Licence section at the end.
The window has three columns under a top bar.
| Area | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Top bar | The large SMPTE timecode readout, the next-cue preview, the source switch (Internal / Live LTC), transport (play, return-to-start), and the mode tabs. |
| Left column | Your set list and the song list within it, plus project controls (open, save, import, new). |
| Centre column | The current song's lyrics with a cue time beside each line. This is where you program and edit. |
| Right column | The output preview and all its settings (display mode, scrolling, font, size, mirror), the timing & offset controls, frame rate, and the LTC audio input. |
| Status bar | Current mode, song, cue count, and active offset along the bottom. |
WIRECUE positions lyrics by SMPTE timecode (HH:MM:SS:FF — hours, minutes, seconds, frames).
There are two ways to feed it time.
A built-in timecode generator for rehearsal and programming. Press play to run it, drag the scrub slider to jump anywhere, and press return-to-start to jump to just before the current song's first cue. No hardware needed.
In a real show, timecode arrives as LTC (Linear Timecode) — an audio signal on one channel of an audio interface. Switch the source to Live LTC, choose your interface and the channel the timecode is on, then click Listen to SMPTE. The input meter shows signal level and the lock indicator confirms WIRECUE is reading clean timecode.
Set the frame rate to match your source: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 (drop-frame), or 30. Or choose Auto-detect and WIRECUE measures the rate from the incoming LTC, reading the drop-frame flag to distinguish 29.97 from 30.
23.976 and 24 can't be told apart from the timecode alone — both deliver about 24 frames per second with no drop-frame flag. If your source is 23.976, set it manually rather than relying on Auto.
The mode tabs at the top right switch what the centre column is for.
| Mode | Use it to… |
|---|---|
| Edit | Change lyrics, type exact cue times by hand, rename the song, and insert or remove lines. Click any lyric line to edit its words; click any cue time to type a precise timecode. |
| Program | Stamp cues live while timecode plays — select a line and press a key to capture its entry time. This is how you teach WIRECUE when each line should appear. |
| Run | Show time. The lyric list follows the timecode and the active line is tracked. On the internal clock, switching to Run starts playback automatically. |
A cue is the timecode at which a line should become active. There are two ways to set them.
In Edit mode every cue time is editable. Click the amber timecode beside a line and type a precise value (Enter to commit, Esc to cancel, clear it to remove the cue). This is ideal for fine-tuning a stamped cue to the exact frame, or building a song from a known cue sheet without playing anything.
If a lyric is missing — a line you didn't type, or one a transcription skipped — you don't have to start over. In Edit mode, hover any line to reveal a + (insert a blank line below) and a × (delete the line). There's also a + Line button in the song toolbar, which inserts below the selected line, or at the end if nothing is selected. Type the words into the new line and cue it like any other.
Inserting or deleting a line automatically re-numbers every cue after it, so existing cue timing is never knocked out of alignment. Deleting a line that has a cue removes just that cue.
Most operators rough-in cues live in Program, then nudge a few by hand in Edit. The two methods produce identical cues — a stamped cue and a typed cue are the same thing.
Cues are stored as absolute timecodes. If the show's start time changes, you don't have to re-stamp every line — you shift the whole song with an offset.
Type the timecode you want the song's first cue to land on, and click Set. WIRECUE works out the difference and shifts every cue by that amount.
Type a signed offset applied to all cues, or nudge by −1f / +1f (one frame) and
−1s / +1s (one second) for quick alignment against a moving source. Reset returns
the offset to zero.
This is the feature that sets WIRECUE apart from rigid cue software: point a fully-programmed song at any incoming timecode, live, without touching a single line's stored cue.
The right column previews exactly what your audience screen shows. Two buttons send it out: Fullscreen (fills your current screen) and 2nd Screen (opens a separate output window to drag onto a connected monitor or projector).
| Mode | Look |
|---|---|
| Highlight | The active line is large and bright in the centre; the previous and upcoming lines are smaller and dimmed around it. |
| Uniform + arrow | Every line is the same size and colour, with a fixed arrow at screen centre marking the current line as the text scrolls past. A clean, even look with no emphasis. |
| Smooth | The text creeps continuously between cues, synced to the timecode, arriving on the next line exactly as its cue fires. |
| Glide | The text stays still between cues and slides to the next line when its cue fires. |
Set the output font and size independently of the editing view. In Highlight mode, Lines shown controls how many upcoming lines are visible. Mirror flips the output horizontally for use with teleprompter beam-splitter glass.
A set list is an ordered collection of songs. The dropdown at the top of the left column switches between set lists; the list below shows the songs in the chosen one, each with a badge showing how many cues it has. Click a song to load it.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| New song | + Song at the top of the set list. |
| Edit lyrics | Select the song, click Edit lyrics (or the Edit tab), and click any line. |
| Insert a line | In Edit mode, hover a line for + / ×, or use + Line in the toolbar. |
| Rename | In Edit mode, click the song title at the top of the centre column. |
| Clear cues | Clear cues removes all cue times from the current song (lyrics stay). |
| Delete | Delete removes the song from the project and every set list. You're offered the chance to export it first. |
A project (.wirecue file) holds all your songs, cues, set lists and settings.
Use Save project and Open project in the left column.
Select a song and click Export song. You choose:
.wirecue. Re-importable into any project with cues intact..txt. Good for sharing words, but cues are not included.Import song(s)… accepts both formats and adds them to your current set list (it never
replaces your project). A .txt comes in as a song with no cues; a single-song
.wirecue comes in with its cues and timing preserved. You can select several files at once.
Use Open project for a full project file (it replaces what's loaded). Use Import song(s) to merge individual songs in. If you try to open a single-song export as a project, WIRECUE will point you to Import instead, so you can't wipe your work by mistake.
Everything above works on the internal clock too. Before the show, run a song on Internal, scrub through it, and watch the output to confirm cues and timing look right — no LTC hardware required.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Play / pause the internal clock |
| ↑ / ↓ | Move the selected line |
| 1 / 2 / 3 | Program stamp current line at slow / medium / fast scroll speed (and advance) |
| ⌫ | Program clear the selected line's cue |
| Enter | Edit commit a typed cue time |
| Esc | Edit cancel a cue edit |
| Symptom | Check |
|---|---|
| No timecode / lock won't go green | Confirm the source is set to Live LTC, the correct interface and channel are selected, and the input meter shows signal. LTC must be on the channel you chose, at a healthy level. |
| Lyrics appear at the wrong time | Check the frame rate matches the source. Then use Song start / offset to align the song to the incoming timecode. |
| Frame rate reads oddly on Auto | Set the rate manually — particularly for 23.976, which Auto cannot distinguish from 24. |
| Output window is blank | Make sure a song is selected and timecode is at or after its first cue. Re-open the 2nd Screen window if needed. |
| Opening a file did nothing useful | A single song must come in via Import song(s), not Open project. Open project is for full .wirecue projects. |
| Trial ended / app asks for a serial | The free trial has lapsed. Enter your serial (or your owner code) on the activation screen. See the next section. |
WIRECUE is a yearly subscription ($59 / year). A serial activates up to two devices. Three ways get you in:
| Method | What it does |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days of full use from first launch, no key needed. When it lapses, a serial is required. |
| Serial | A key in the form WIRE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX from your welcome email. Enter it once to unlock permanently. |
| Owner code | A developer/owner override for your own machines. (If you administer your own licensing, you'll know your code.) |
WIRECUE-AI adds automatic AI lyric transcription from audio, a visual waveform cue editor, and audio playback that drives the prompter — for when you want cues built for you instead of stamped by hand. It's a separate subscription at $199 / year. Use the Upgrade to WIRECUE-AI link on the activation screen or in the app's top bar.
WIRECUE User Manual · Version 1.1. Features described reflect the shipping app; wording in menus may be refined between releases.