MIDI & keyboard control

Fire cues, switch banks and drive the deck from a MIDI controller — plus a computer keyboard you can reshape to fit your show.

Audio · Updated 2026-11-04

CueCart plays from your hands or your gear. Beyond clicking pads, you can fire cues, switch banks and run the DJ Deck from a MIDI controller — a pad controller, a MIDI keyboard, a control surface, anything that sends MIDI — and reshape the computer keyboard into whatever layout suits the show. Every route does the same thing under the hood, so a click, a key and a MIDI note fire a cue identically — you're free to mix them however you like.

Connect a controller

Plug in your controller, then open Settings → MIDI. CueCart lists the MIDI inputs it can see; tick the ones you want it to listen to. You can run several at once — a pad controller for cues and a small surface for the deck, say.

Down in the footer, a small MIDI activity light pulses whenever a note or control message arrives. It's the quickest way to confirm CueCart is hearing your gear before you start mapping anything — if it doesn't blink when you press a pad, check the input is ticked and your controller is on the right port.

Fire a cue from a MIDI note

Every cue pad can listen for its own MIDI note. Open the Cue Settings → Triggers, click Learn under MIDI note, and play the note you want. CueCart binds it and shows the note on the pad face, so you can read your whole mapping at a glance.

Global, not bank-bound. A cue's MIDI note fires it from any bank, whatever page you're looking at — unlike a cue's keyboard label, which only fires on the bank you're currently viewing. That makes MIDI notes ideal for the handful of cues you must be able to hit instantly all night.
Channel-aware. Set a MIDI channel for the note, or leave it on any channel (omni) so it fires however your controller happens to be configured.
Conflict aware. If the note you learn is already used by another cue or a bank, CueCart warns you — a gentle heads-up, not a block, so you stay in control.

To remove a binding, click Clear.

Switch banks by key or MIDI

Banks are your show's pages, and each one carries its own triggers so you can change page without reaching for the mouse. Open Bank Settings → Triggers.

Select key. Each bank has a keyboard focus key — press it and that bank comes to the front, ready for its pads to trigger. By default F1–F12 map to banks 1–12. Click Learn and press any key to override that default; the learned key then replaces the positional F-key for that bank. CueCart warns you if the key already does something else (a pad key, or another bank).

Select via MIDI. Learn a MIDI note that jumps straight to a bank, with the same channel options as cue notes. A bound bank note always focuses the bank first, so you can flip pages from a controller mid-show.

Next / Previous bank. Step through your banks in order with a MIDI control or a key — handy when you have more banks than dedicated buttons. These, plus a direct Select bank 1–8, are available as bindings in Settings → MIDI.

Reshape the computer keyboard

The computer keyboard isn't fixed — tune it to your hands in Settings → Keyboard.

Off or Positional. Choose how the pad grid responds to typing:

Off — disables positional grid mapping. A cue's assigned hotkey label still triggers it; clicks and MIDI also remain available. Off does not make all cue-related typing inert.
Positional — the keys lay out across the pad grid and fire the pads of the focused bank. Switch banks (by F-key, learned key or MIDI) and the same physical keys play the new page.

Pick a layout. A live preview shows exactly which key sits on which pad:

QWERTY, AZERTY and Dvorak match common physical keyboards — pick the one that matches yours so the on-screen labels read true.
Custom lets you build the grid key by key: click a cell in the preview, then press the key you want there. Right-click a cell to clear it (Backspace or Delete work too). Use this to carve out a hand-shaped cluster for the cues you fire most.

Configure new keyboard layouts globally in Settings → Keyboard. The old per-Set Custom-layout pinning editor is no longer offered; existing stored pins remain compatible.

Use Set Settings → Triggers → Set Trigger to learn a key chord and/or MIDI note that loads that Set. This is a show-selection trigger, separate from the pad-grid layout.

Global command shortcuts

The command table in Settings → Keyboard provides shortcuts for app and DJ commands, with Deck A, Deck B and Active Deck targets where supported. This is separate from the positional pad layout above.

Use Export shortcuts... to save a .cuecart-keys.json file and Import shortcuts... to preview one. Review the changes and conflicts before choosing Apply. Refresh updates the preview; Cancel leaves the current shortcuts unchanged. These files contain global command shortcuts, not Set/Bank/Cue Pad triggers or positional pad layouts.

Drive Deck A and Deck B from MIDI

Open Settings → MIDI → Bindings to assign commands. The table provides paired Deck A and Deck B controls, plus Active Deck targets and selection actions where supported. Transport, tempo, mixer levels, EQ/filter, Hot Cues, loops, playlists and effects are grouped by function.

Alongside the decks, you can bind Master and headphone levels, Cue Pad controls and Bank actions. Use the table's filters to find the function you need, then learn its note or CC input. Available controls depend on the selected action.

Save and reuse MIDI action presets

Under Settings → MIDI → Bindings, use Export preset... to save a .cuecart-midi.json file, or Import preset... to open a preview. Review the changes and conflicts before Apply; Refresh and Cancel are available.

Presets contain global Note/CC action bindings for any enabled MIDI input. They do not include per-cue/per-bank note assignments, device endpoints or LED feedback permissions.

Preview a VirtualDJ controller profile

Open Settings → MIDI → Import Device Profiles, choose Browse for a profile..., and select a VirtualDJ mapper .xml file. Review which rules CueCart supports; source scripts are displayed as text.

Supported rules can run in a temporary, limited-controls demonstration with a qualified, enabled APC mini mk2 input. The On-screen APC mini mk2 option is a simulation, not a connected controller. Stop or close the preview to end the demonstration and restore your bindings. Full profile activation is unavailable.

How "Learn" works everywhere

Mapping is the same wherever you do it. Click Learn, and the control shows Listening…; press a pad or key, or nudge a fader, and CueCart captures it. Click Clear to unbind. Where a binding clashes with something else, you'll see a non-blocking warning so you can decide whether it matters — nothing is forced, and nothing changes until you act.

What you can bind

The function groups in Settings → MIDI → Bindings include:

App and mixer — Master, headphones, Cue Pad levels and shared mix controls.
Cue Pads and Banks — global actions, alongside the per-cue and per-bank notes configured in Cue Settings and Bank Settings.
Deck A / Deck B / Active Deck — transport, tempo, EQ/filter, performance controls, playlists and effects where the action supports that target.

Where to next

Triggering & going live — firing cues by click, key or MIDI in the show.
The Cue Settings — bind a MIDI note (and a key) to a single cue.
Banks — organise your show across pages you can switch by MIDI or key.
The DJ Deck — the streaming player you can run from the same controller.