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How To

USB Presenter Clickers

A presenter clicker (a "slide advancer") works with CueStudio 2 with no setup at all. Plug its USB receiver in: the clicker appears to the Mac as an ordinary keyboard, so there is no driver to install, nothing to pair, and nothing to configure in CueStudio 2. This is separate from Tools ▸ USB Remotes…, which is only for Stream Deck hardware.

#What a clicker actually sends

Clickers send keystrokes, and they come in two families:

  • Page keys: Next sends Page Down, Back sends Page Up. Most presenter remotes work this way (for example the Logitech R800).
  • Arrow keys: Next sends Right Arrow, Back sends Left Arrow. Some newer remotes work this way (for example the Logitech Spotlight). A few remotes have a switch to choose between the two.

This matters, because the two families behave differently in the normal console. If you are not sure which one you have, press each button in the normal console and see which ones fire cues.

#In the normal console (cue list mode)

  • Page Down: GO. Exactly the same as pressing the spacebar: it fires the armed cue and moves the playhead on. Cues layer, so a GO does not stop what is already playing, and follow / auto-continue chains run as you authored them.
  • Page Up: Stop. Stops everything currently playing. This is a hard stop, not a fade (the fade-out PANIC is Escape, on the keyboard).
  • Left / Right Arrow: nothing. The arrows are deliberately left to the operator on the console.
  • Up / Down Arrow: move the selection up and down the cue list without firing anything, so a remote with a scroll wheel can pick a cue for the operator.
  • Some remotes also drive Pause: a Pause/Play button that sends the media key, or the "[" key, toggles pause and resume on whatever is playing.

Because the arrows are not transport here, an arrow-only clicker will not fire cues in the normal console. Either switch the remote to page-key mode if it has that option, or run the show from Presenter View.

The console also only listens while the main CueStudio 2 window is the front window. If you click into another window, a file dialog, or any text field, the clicker's keystrokes go there instead: press Escape to leave a text field and get transport control back.

#In Presenter View (⌃⌘P)

Presenter View is built around the clicker, and it uses a simpler, linear transport:

  • Next: Page Down, Right Arrow, or the spacebar. Both clicker families work here.
  • Back: Page Up or Left Arrow.

Each press stops whatever is currently running and plays the next (or previous) cue, so exactly one cue is on at a time. There is no separate arm-then-GO step, and follow / auto-continue chains are not used to advance: the presenter's button is the only thing that moves the show forward. Cues that are disabled, or that have no routed output, are skipped automatically, and at the start or end of the list the button simply does nothing.

Presenter View also listens no matter which CueStudio 2 window is in front, so the clicker keeps working when the full-screen presenter output on the speaker's screen is the focused window. Editing, hotkeys and PANIC are not available in this mode.

#Choosing the mode

  • Use the normal console when an operator is driving a built show: cues layer, follow chains run, and the remote is a spare GO / Stop in someone else's hand.
  • Use Presenter View when the speaker holds the clicker and each press should replace the last slide or clip: a talk, a keynote, or a walk-in playlist of stills.

#The other buttons on the clicker

Laser, blank-screen and volume buttons are not transport controls. The blank-screen button usually sends "b" or "." and the volume buttons drive the Mac's system volume, not CueStudio 2's master. In the normal console a bare letter key can fire a cue that has that letter as its keyboard trigger, so avoid using letters your clicker sends (commonly "b" and ".") as cue hotkeys, or the blank-screen button will fire cues.

#Troubleshooting

  • Nothing happens on any button: in the normal console, check that the main window is in front and that you are not in a text field. In Presenter View, check the cue list is not empty and the cues are not disabled or unrouted.
  • Only some buttons work: the remote is probably sending arrows while you are in the normal console. Switch the remote to page-key mode, or use Presenter View.
  • Holding a button does not repeat, that is deliberate, so a stuck or held button cannot machine-gun GO.
  • Anything unexpected: get in touch — there is a support diagnostic that logs every key a remote sends, press by press, and it can be switched on for a session.