Coming soon
A macOS app that puts Bitfocus Companion buttons and QLab cues on any phone. On the venue network, or over the internet when there is no network to share.
It runs on two Macs that watch each other, so one dying does not take the show with it.
Built for theatre, live events and broadcast, where a failure is not a bad user experience. It is a mistake in front of an audience.
A standby watches the main, and one address follows whichever is driving. It checks the main is genuinely working: server, QLab, Companion. Not just that a port answers.
Handing over is always a person’s call. From outside, a dropped network and a dead machine look identical.
If the main’s Companion dies, the main stops counting as healthy, so the standby is not left waiting while every button quietly fails.
Both Companions need the same layout. ButtonHub presses a position, page, row and column, never a name.
A deck on USB dies with its machine. On an Elgato network dock, ButtonHub holds it from whichever Mac is driving and lets go when that machine stops.
Companion’s own pictures, painted on the deck. Docks are found on the network or entered by address.
The cue you are on, the one coming next, and the whole list underneath. Big enough to read from behind a keyboard, about a third of a second behind QLab.
It follows the playhead and the selection, so it stays on the cue being worked on.
A chat between the people running the show, on phones and on the operators’ screens. Preset phrases for the calls that repeat, and full-screen colour flashes for the ones nobody can miss.
Sound, comms and a runner on the floor each get a PIN-locked link with only their own buttons on it. Nobody sees the show file, Companion or QLab.
Nothing else needed on the venue network. Where there is none to share, the same links come in over our own relay.
Want to know when it ships?
£40
One purchase
Everything here, on the venue network.
One purchase covers two Macs, so a main and a standby cost the same as one. If a machine dies, free its activation and the replacement takes it.
Buy ButtonHubPrice includes VAT
£5
Per month
For shows with no shared network.
The same links, over our relay. Optional, and off until you turn it on.
SubscribePrice includes VAT
An ordinary macOS app beside Companion and QLab. macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel.
Companion over HTTP, QLab over OSC. Companion itself is never exposed to the phones.
Any browser on the venue network. No app, no accounts, and every link is PIN locked.
The same links come in over our relay, so a phone on mobile data reaches the same page.
Five modes, drawn the same way they appear in the app.
One Mac. The phones talk to it, nothing paired and nothing mirrored. The right mode for most gigs.
Two Macs, paired. Playheads, presses and settings follow the main. The backup fires nothing at all until somebody promotes it.
Show sync, and presses aimed at Companion fire on the other machine’s Companion too.
One Mac, nothing paired, firing straight into other machines’ QLab and Companion.
This Mac flashes MD messages and joins the talkback chat. Nothing to set up and nothing fired.