QRT – From QLab workspace to operational dashboards

[Alexandre Buresi]

Hi everyone,

After several months of development, I’m pleased to introduce QRT, now available on the Mac App Store.

At first glance, QRT may look like another QLab display.

It isn’t.

QLab is an outstanding show control system. It gives the operator everything needed to run the show.

QRT solves a different problem.

It transforms your QLab workspace into operational dashboards designed for the rest of the production team.

Instead of simply mirroring the workspace, QRT interprets the running show and builds dedicated views for each department.

For example:

• Sound sees the cues that matter to sound.
• Lighting sees the cues that matter to lighting.
• Video sees the cues that matter to video.
• Stage Management gets a dedicated operational dashboard built around stage calls and Memo cues.
• Left and Right Stage can even receive different stage-call views.

Unlike a simple cue list, QRT understands QLab group behaviours such as Timeline, Playlist, Start First, Start First & Enter, Auto-Continue and Auto-Follow, and converts them into information that is immediately usable during a live performance.

Each dashboard can be opened independently from any computer, tablet or phone using nothing more than a web browser on the local network.

Every department can therefore have its own view, while sharing the same live context of the show.

QRT is 100% read-only.

It never sends GO, Stop, Pause or Edit commands to QLab.

It simply distributes the right information, to the right people, at the right time.

If your current workflow already provides that, then QRT probably isn’t for you.

If not, I’d genuinely appreciate your feedback.

7-day free trial

Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/qrt/id6794321254?mt=12

Thank you,

Alexandre Buresi

[Paul]

see my previous comments on your deleted post, which are still valid.

I don't know how many technical rehearsals you've been involved with but in my experience, during rehearsals in the theatre, different departments will need and have their own programming requirements. In professional productions QLab is widely used for sound sometimes for video (not lighting). They don't need view only info, they want to be able to quickly edit and restart cues - something which QLab is excellent at. Once the show is in production, in small shows there is usually only one operator. If the show is called by DSM quite often they will operate QLab directly and call lighting, flys, auto etc from the book -- they won't be concerned with anything other than cue numbers. On musicals, the sound department generally cue their own cues without reference from stage management (who will just give standbys at beginning of act).  So I'm not sure what problem you are trying to solve with this app. If people do want a list of cues / remaining times there are already free options that do that (Cue View and others).

[Philip Perkins]

It’s a cool app, that I’m not sure how I’d use….(so far)…

phil p

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[Øystein Sonstad Sonstad]

I don´t directly disagree with your comment, Paul, because I am not into large shows with several people involved.

However, I will voice my enthusiasm for this app, because I think it will fit my needs perfectly. I run shows singlehandedly (with a pedal) from the seat of my cello stool, with lightning, video and sound and all, and I am always very confused by what Qlab gives me of information about cues. Now with this app I will have the info I need to be able to concentrate on my playing and not worrying if the cues are running at the right time.

Thank you Alexandre!

Øystein

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[Alexandre Buresi]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I genuinely appreciate both the criticism and the positive feedback.

I also want to explain why I deleted my original post.

After reading the first replies, I realised that I hadn’t described QRT correctly. My original post made it sound like it was mainly another cue list and remaining-time display. That isn’t what QRT was designed to be.

Paul, I understand your point, and I agree that many productions already have workflows that work well for them.

However, my experience has been different.

On many productions, QLab isn’t only used by the sound department. It often becomes the central timeline of the show. Even when lighting, video or automation are driven by their own systems, QLab frequently contains the cues that synchronize those departments, as well as Memo cues, stage calls and other operational information.

That’s exactly where QRT fits.

QRT isn’t trying to replace QLab Collaboration, QLab Remote or Cue View.

It transforms the QLab workspace into operational dashboards designed for the different departments involved in the show.

Each department sees the information that is relevant to its work, without having to read or understand the entire workspace.

For stage management, for example, the Stage profile doesn’t simply display Memo cues. It reorganises them into a dedicated stage-calling view designed to help anticipate upcoming stage calls. Other departments receive their own filtered operational views while sharing the same live context of the show.

So QRT isn’t intended to replace existing workflows.

It’s intended to improve communication and anticipation whenever QLab is being used as the operational timeline of a production.

Øystein’s comment also illustrates something important: not every production works the same way. Different productions have different needs, and QRT certainly won’t be useful for everyone. But if it helps some teams communicate more effectively during a show, then it has achieved exactly what it was designed to do.

Finally, thank you all for challenging the concept. Your comments made me realise that I needed to explain the purpose of QRT much better than I did in my first post.

[Alexandre Buresi]

update available https://apps.apple.com/app/qrt/id6794321254

[Adam Straus]

I may be speaking only for myself here, but I think part of the response may be due to the proliferation of vibe-coded apps that are churned out over a weekend and then relentlessly marketed in what are supposed to be community spaces, not commercial ones. 

I have not looked at the app so I cannot say if this is true or not in this case, but at least judging by the fact that your posts seem to be written by an LLM, I suspect it is. 

Regardless, if there are those that find it useful, I hope you continue to support it!

- Adam

On Aug 19, 2026, at 6:45 PM, Alexandre Buresi <ameno...@gmail.com> wrote:

update available https://apps.apple.com/app/qrt/id6794321254

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qlab/0cabd9ad-3acb-403e-be0c-caf6269e4fc5n%40googlegroups.com.

[Alexandre Buresi]

Hi Adam,

Thank you for your thoughtful comment.

I completely understand your point, and honestly I share some of that concern. Community spaces shouldn’t become places where low-effort AI-generated projects are constantly promoted.

You’re right about one thing: I used AI to help me write my post. English isn’t my native language, so I wanted to make sure I could communicate clearly with an international community.

However, QRT itself is not an AI-generated weekend project.

It’s the result of many months of development, testing and refinement around a very specific problem I’ve encountered as a live sound engineer working with QLab.

The discussion here has actually been very valuable because it made me realise that my original post described QRT poorly. It sounded like “another cue viewer”, whereas the application is really about transforming a QLab workspace into operational dashboards adapted to different departments.

Whether that solves a useful problem is ultimately for users to decide, and that’s exactly why I wanted feedback from experienced QLab users.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment, and for keeping an open mind.