Tip! Don’t like reading? Here’s a video that shows pretty much this whole page in 30 seconds.

Need more words after all? Cool. Read on.

On startup, HeadsUp greets you with an empty project window. Nothing is more scary than a blank canvas, so let’s get some cues loaded.

Import

HeadsUp supports CSV files made in Reaper and CuePoints. To load a CSV file, drag it on to the Cuelists tab. Go on, drag multiple at the same time. HeasdsUp will go through all the files in turn and create a Cuelist for each. Each Cuelist represents a show or track or some scripted event you want to monitor and it contains all the cues you’ve created in Reaper or CuePoints.

There you go. Much better.

If you have an audio file that goes with the CSV, you can add it by dropping it in the top area of the selected Cuelist. This will let you see its waveform as the show is playing back.

Offsets

You probably don’t want all your Cuelists to fire at the same time, so let’s set offsets for each show. Using the Action dropdown at the top of the Cuelists tab, you can set the whole list in easy increments.

Alternatively, you can set specific offsets for each Cuelist individually by double clicking the offset field.

FPS

Now is a good time to double check that you’ve imported this Cuelist with the right FPS. HeadsUp defaults to 30, so if that’s not the correct FPS for your Cuelists, you can change it for all imported lists at the same time via the dropdown.

Tip! If you’re always using the same FPS setting, go ahead and change that bad boy in the Defaults tab.

Audio

Let’s set up your audio device for receiving LTC, that lovely screeching sound also known as SMPTE. In the Audio tab, simply select your audio driver, desired input and channel. Keep an eye on LTC time in the top of the main Show window to see if the selected input is picking up the right time.

Don’t worry about setting the right FPS setting for LTC input. HeadsUp automatically detects the right FPS for you, based on the incoming signal.

Run the show!

Yay, your project is good to go. Save it using a good name by double clicking and renaming it in the File field in the top.

Now close the Project window using the big X in the top right and focus on the Show window. Fire some LTC into the audio device and watch how HeadsUp automatically selects the right Cuelist, patiently scrubs through the waveform and beautifully counts down each cue as it hits, perfectly in time to the incoming LTC signal.

That’s it! Congrats, you’re now an experienced show caller, ready to call the big pyro shots at Ultra. Or you know, you could read on to learn about the fun stuff like Webclients and Categories.