Troubleshooting

What the preflight's findings mean and how to fix them, and the failures it cannot see.

Start with the preflight

File ▸ Preflight… checks every song of the setlist before the show and lists what it found. It runs by itself when a show opens and when the setlist, a song or the audio device changes; Check Again runs it by hand.

A finding is red (a problem: fix it before the show), orange (a warning) or grey (a note, listed and not judged). Most have a Fix button that goes where it is fixed: the file in Finder, a Settings page, the song. Below, each finding by what it says.

The show and its screens

This beta stops starting soon, or has expired

A beta stops starting 60 days after it was built; the preflight counts the days (grey while there are many, orange in the last two weeks, red once it has expired). Your files are never touched. Check for Updates… (the Fix button) installs the current build, or take it from the download page.

A Screen has no Apple TV showing it

The show has a Screen — the stage's big display, driven by an Apple TV — and no Apple TV has picked it. Grey until something has joined the rig, then orange. On the TV, open BarBeatCue Display, press Menu and pick the Screen (network setup). A Screen that is shown says so in grey: "is on Living Room".

Files and songs

The song is not there

The setlist names a song folder or file that has moved or been deleted. Show in Finder opens the place it should be. Put the folder back, or remove the song from the setlist and add it again. If the show travelled to another Mac, use File ▸ Collect Show… on the first Mac next time: it copies everything the show uses into the show folder.

The shared song's folder is gone

The song lives outside this show (it is shared with another show) and its folder cannot be found, even by the bookmark the show keeps. Locate… finds it; or remove the song from the setlist.

Changed since this show played it

A song shared with another show was edited there (or outside the app) after this show last played it. It is not an error — check the song before the show.

Its song file cannot be read

The song's file is damaged or was written by a newer BarBeatCue than this one. Show in Finder, then restore it: the show folder's Backups holds the last versions of every song file and the show file (File ▸ Revert To ▸ Backup… lists them).

A folder with no song file and no audio

The folder named in the setlist holds neither a song file nor audio files, so there is nothing to open. Check that it is the right folder.

An audio file is not there

A stem the song uses is missing from its folder (the finding lists the names). Put the file back under the same name, or replace the track. Show in Finder opens the folder.

An audio file cannot be read

The file exists but cannot be decoded: a partial copy, a cloud file that has not finished downloading (iCloud: choose Keep Downloaded on the show folder before a gig), or an unsupported format. Copy it again from the source.

The score is not there

A song's score (PDF or MusicXML) is missing from the song's score/ folder. Put it back, or remove the score in the Scores list.

A player's marks may have moved

A player drew on a PDF part with the Apple Pencil, and the PDF has been exported again since. The marks are kept, but their places may be off. Check them in the Scores list's marks before the show; erase the ones that moved.

Outputs and routing

The output device is not connected

The show's Mac setting names an audio interface that is not plugged in. The system's default output plays until it is (the built-in speakers on a laptop). Plug the interface in and wait for the finding to clear, or choose another in Settings › Audio (Fix). The device is this Mac's setting, not the show's.

Routed past this device's outputs

A track, group or effect return is sent to an output the device does not have — a four-output interface asked for outputs 5–6. It plays on 1–2 instead. Choose a real output in the Mixer's Output menu (an orange dot marks it), or switch to the interface the show was made for.

The click goes past the device's outputs

The click is routed to an output pair this device does not have, so it plays on 1–2 — the front of house. This is the one routing mistake the audience hears: fix it in Show Settings › Audio › Click output.

The spoken guide goes past the device's outputs

The same for the spoken guide: it would play on 1–2. Show Settings › Audio › Guide output.

Stems at another rate than the device

Grey, informative: the song's stems are at one sample rate and the device runs at another. They are converted once at load; the converter's group delay shifts them against the click by a fraction of a millisecond. For exactness, Settings › Audio › Switch device to ….

Plug-ins are off (safe start)

The app was started without plug-ins (after a crash, it offers this). Every insert plays dry until you load them from the Mixer's header.

A plug-in is not installed, or did not load

The effect named is not on this Mac, or failed to start; the track plays dry (without it). Install the plug-in, or bypass or remove it. A bypassed one is listed in grey. Audio Unit plug-ins run inside the app, so one that crashes takes the app with it; after such a crash the app offers to start without plug-ins.

Songs not prepared for their tempo and pitch

A song with a changed tempo or key plays as recorded until its stems are rendered. Prepare Show… (the Fix button) does it for the whole show; do it ahead of the show, not at the gig. Without it, an unprepared song plays at once through the live stretcher and the renders take over at the next stop.

MIDI

The MIDI sync destination is not on this Mac

The show was saved with a MIDI port this Mac does not have. MTC and MIDI Clock go only to the app's own virtual source until you choose another in Show Settings › Timecode & Sync › Sends (Fix). Grey if no song sends them.

The MIDI actions output is not on this Mac

The same for the port of the MIDI actions (Actions out). Their program changes and notes are not sent until you choose a port that exists.

MIDI actions go with a sync destination that is not on this Mac

Actions follow the sync's port, and that port is missing: they reach the virtual source only. Choose the ports in Show Settings › Timecode & Sync.

A MIDI action goes to a port that is not on this Mac

One action marker names its own port ("on PORT") and this Mac does not have it; that action is not sent. Plug the device in, or change the marker's port.

The MTC source is not on this Mac

A song follows MTC from a port that is missing, so no MTC is followed. Choose the source in Show Settings › Timecode & Sync › MTC from.

Timecode

Songs share timecode

Under Each song's own (or Unique starts with songs closer than the spacing), several songs run on the same code. A desk cued by timecode cannot tell them apart, and an incoming code cannot find the song. Choose Unique starts or Continuous in Show Settings › Timecode & Sync, or give the songs different origins.

Its timecode runs into the next song's

Under Unique starts, the song (with the next song's count-in) is longer than the spacing between starts. Use a longer spacing, or Continuous.

The show's timecode passes midnight

The code wraps to 00:00:00:00 at the named song. Start earlier, or shorten the spacing.

Songs set to another rate than the show's

Informative (a warning when following a DAW): under Unique starts or Continuous the show's rate wins; the songs listed have a different rate of their own, which is ignored.

LTC is set for an output the device does not have

The song sends LTC on an output beyond the device's last: the code lands on the last output, where other audio plays. Pick an output the device has, in Song Settings › Timecode & Sync › LTC channel.

LTC is followed on an input the device does not have

The song follows LTC on a channel the device lacks, so no timecode is followed. Pick an input the device has: LTC input.

BlackHole 2ch is not installed

The DAW preset needs it: the DAW's code arrives through BlackHole. Install BlackHole 2ch, then run DAW on this Mac… (Show Settings › Timecode & Sync › Preset) again (how).

The output device is not "BarBeatCue Rig"

The DAW preset plays through an aggregate device. The code only reaches the app on that device's BlackHole inputs. Run the preset again, or choose the device in Settings › Audio.

The rig device holds another interface

"BarBeatCue Rig" was made for an interface that is not the one plugged in now (or without BlackHole). Run DAW on this Mac… (Show Settings › Timecode & Sync › Preset) again: it remakes the device of the interface in use and BlackHole 2ch.

Crossfades, Match tempo and Match key

The crossfade's part is not in this song

A crossfade set to the length of a named part cannot find that part in the song. The song goes on into the next with a cut. Choose another part, or a length in bars.

The crossfade takes all of this song

It is longer than the song it leaves: it would start with the song's first bar. Shorten it.

The crossfade is longer than half of the next song

The next song's own end would come while this one still fades. Shorten the crossfade.

Plays at another tempo to match the one before

Informative: Match tempo is on and the song plays at the tempo of the one leaving. An orange version says it is beyond the comfortable range of change and may sound stretched. If the song ends before it is back at its own tempo, the finding says so — fewer bars in Back to Song Tempo.

Match key, but a song has no key

Match key moves the next song by the difference of the two keys, and one of them has no key set. Set the key in the Song inspector.

Moves a big way to match a key

More than four semitones: the stretch may be heard. Choose a nearer key or turn Match key off for that pair.

What the preflight cannot see

No iPads or Apple TVs are found

1. Same network? The Mac and the screen must be on one WiFi network, with no client isolation and no login page (network setup).
2. Local network permission. On the iPad or Apple TV, in the device's own settings under Privacy & Security, Local Network: BarBeatCue Satellite (or Display) must be on. On the Mac, in System Settings under Privacy & Security, Local Network.
3. Rig link on? Settings › Network shows "Listening on UDP 9000" when it is. If it says Failed, choose another port there.
4. A different rig name? The screen lists rigs by name; two Macs need two names (Show Settings › Band › Rig name).
5. Quit and reopen the screen's app. It looks again for the rig when it starts.

A screen that connected but shows nobody's chart picked no player: in the Band list, Assign it.

A score or chart arrives late on the iPad

Scores and charts travel in small pieces over WiFi when a song loads, and a poor signal loses pieces; the screen asks again. A crowded WiFi makes it slow, and a router of your own fixes most of it. Leave the iPads on the network during soundcheck so each already has the songs: the iPad keeps what it received.

Chords from a PDF part are missing

Song ▸ Lanes ▸ Chords ▸ From Score… (the Chords list's + menu has the same From Score) writes the chord symbols a PDF part prints over its staff, Dorico's jazz chord fonts (Petaluma Script and the other SMuFL text faces) included. A score with several staves (a rhythm-section score) is read over every staff: when chords stand over more than one, the menu asks which staff, by the name printed at the system's left, before Master or Secondary, and the same chord over two staves counts once. A score with no chord symbols is not listed. Window ▸ Diagnostics (⇧⌘D) names, under Scores, the font the chords were set in, the staves they were read over and any run it could not read as a chord. An alternative chord printed in brackets over the chord played is left out on purpose.

A screen is a little behind (an Apple TV especially)

A TV set adds picture processing of its own, about 150 ms in the measured case. Switch the TV to its game (low-latency) picture mode. A screen that has none can be drawn ahead: the Screen's Lead (in the Band list's form, or on the Apple TV: long press ▸ Lead) draws it that many milliseconds early.

The menus are empty after an update

After an update installed itself, the menu bar sometimes comes up with no titles until the app is relaunched. Quit and open BarBeatCue again. The app rebuilds the bar by itself when it notices; if you see it, tell us (contact) with the Diagnostics log.

A beta will not start

A beta stops starting 60 days after it was built, so the testers always have a recent one. Your setlists and songs are never touched: BarBeatCue ▸ Check for Updates… in the window it opens, or the download page, brings the next build.

Silence

1. Is the right device chosen? Settings › Audio › Output device. If it is not connected, the system's default plays.
2. Is it routed to a real output? In the Mixer, look for orange dots on the Output menus; the master volume of the pair you are listening to.
3. A wrong sample rate? The device's own control panel can lock it to a rate; the Audio page shows what it runs at.
4. Mute and solo in the Mixer, and the track's own level.
5. Are plug-ins off? After a crash the app can start without them (a preflight warning).

The score page does not turn, or the iPad stopped following

The screen is in Manual mode (the band's live position shows in the top band): press Follow to follow again.

The shaded bar is in the wrong place on a PDF part

BarBeatCue reads the bars off the page, and some pages fool it: a barline it missed, one it took for a bar that is not, a multi-bar rest whose count it could not read. Show the part in the Score pane and switch on View ▸ Bottom Pane ▸ Correct Bars: every barline gets a tick and every bar its number. Click a number to type it (the bars after it follow), double-click inside a bar to type how many bars it stands for, drag down across the staff to draw a missed barline, click a tick and press Delete to remove a false one. The corrections are saved in the song, and the iPads follow at once. The Scores list says Corrected by hand on the part, with a dot when a printed bar number still disagrees.

The shaded bar is off on a MusicXML part

A MusicXML part's measures are the file's own; what can be off is where they fall on the song — a pickup, a repeat the song plays twice, a file that starts somewhere else. Show the part in the Score pane and switch on View ▸ Bottom Pane ▸ Correct Bars: over every measure, the song bar it starts on ("17", or "17.3" when it starts on a later beat), grey where the file numbers it otherwise. Click a label and type where the measure belongs — the measures after it follow — and select a label you set and press Delete to let it follow again. The Scores list's dot says where the file's own numbers disagree; Start there moves the whole part.

Learn picks up the wrong thing

See MIDI setup: a controller that streams is passed over; check the devices under Settings › MIDI › Control from.

Still stuck

Help ▸ Send Feedback… opens a mail to support with your versions and the Diagnostics log attached, or use the contact page.