From the edit to the declaration, without retyping a thing.

Installation

• macOS 10.15 Catalina or later, Intel and Apple Silicon Macs: a single CueSheet_Manager_1_0_0.dmgfile, 182 MB.
• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit: the CueSheet_Manager-1_0_0-win-x64.exeinstaller, 81 MB.

No other software is needed. Allow about 180 MB of disk space and a screen of at least 1280 × 800.

The application is not signed by Apple or Microsoft: a warning is shown on first launch. The illustrated steps are in the Installation section of this page.

Uninstall

• Mac : quit the application, then drag it from Applications to the Bin.
• Windows : Settings › Apps › CueSheet Manager › Uninstall.

Your projects and databases are not deleted. There is no Linux version.

Getting started

1. Create a project (N): title, production type, production company, country, frame rate. If you are aiming for the SACEM statement, open the detailed sheet and the Declarant block.
2. Fill in the episode : number, title, director, total duration, video link, programme start. For a series, add episodes with Alt+E.
3. Import your edit (O or drag and drop), then confirm the “Check the import” window.
4. Clean up : “Clean titles” (Alt+N), “Remove parentheses” (Alt+P), “Unify names” (Alt+U).
5. Link to the database (L), confirm the approximate matches, then complete the splits until they turn green.
6. Validate for the library (Alt+B) the complete tracks, to find them again in your next projects.
7. Check the project (Alt+V) with the profile you want, and fix the errors.
8. Export : choose the layout, the format and the episodes. For a SACEM or ASCAP/BMI statement, the “Sign the statement” window is optional.

Saving is automatic. An eleven-step tutorial is available in Options › Tutorial.

Projects and episodes

A project corresponds to one production. Thirty-seven types are offered, grouped into Film, Television, Web and streaming, Advertising and brand, Interactive, Other. It contains one or more episodes, shown as tabs. Each episode has its number, title, director, total duration, first broadcast date, programme start and its own video link.

Detailed sheet and declarant

A collapsible panel under the project fields holds the version (initial, revised, final), alternative title, production year, type of exploitation, original language, place of first exploitation, season number, ISAN and EIDR. For an ASCAP/BMI cue sheet, AKA titles, classification and “Cue Sheet Prepared By” are added.

The declarant (name, capacity, company, contact) is remembered and offered in every new project. Fields required by a template carry a red star.

Organise

• Reorder episodes : ◀ ▶ arrows, or drag and drop a tab. This also works from the sidebar, even for a project that isn’t open.
• Duplicate an episode with the ⧉ button.
• Project templates : start from a model project instead of retyping everything.
• Merge two projects : an episode with the same number is completed, the others are added.
• Episode status : draft, checked or sent, shown by a dot on the tab.

← and → move to the previous or next episode. The sidebar is hidden with B.

Cue table

Cells can be edited directly. The ✎ button opens the full sheet: authors, performer, society, ISWC, ISRC, SACEM work code, audio link, licence, neighbouring rights and notes.

• Add a cue : the button or Shift+N adds an empty line, cursor in the title.
• Suggestions : as you type a title, works from the library appear. Choosing one fills in composers, publishers and percentages for this cue.
• Multiple selection : tick several cues to apply an action to all of them.
• Copy, cut, paste between episodes. After a paste, the episode is re-sorted by TC In.
• Undo and redo : Z and Shift+Z, up to 100 steps on the open project.
• Filters : by text, status, use, origin, comments, missing composer or missing title.
• Columns : the “Columns” menu chooses which to display. The choice is remembered in each project.
• Bulk fill : on a selection, “Fill…” sets the neighbouring rights society, the track link or the status. Only empty cells are filled, unless you ask to replace.
• Global search : K searches all projects, their episodes and cues, comments included, as well as the library and rights holders.
• Status and comments : each cue can be marked draft, checked or sent, and annotated. Neither is exported.
• Audio player : link an audio file from your disk to a cue, then listen to it with ▶ from the table. If the file is moved, the player tells you.
• Edit mode : E leaves only the cues on screen. Esc to leave it.
• In a cue’s sheet, the ← → arrows move to the previous or next cue, saving as they go.

Use codes

Theorigin has four values: original, pre-existing, music library, public domain. In the lists, stay on a choice to show a tooltip with an explanation and an example.

Timecodes

Project frame rate

It is set in the project sheet: 23.976 · 24 · 25 · 29.97 NDF · 29.97 DF (drop-frame) · 30 frames per second. If you change it when the project already contains timecodes, the software offers to convert them keeping the real position, or to leave them as they are.

Programme start

Each episode has its own programme start, for example 01:00:00:00. You choose to display timecodes as absolute or relative to this start. Exports follow the chosen mode.

Entry

• Type only the digits: the colons are inserted for you. 00260000 becomes 00:26:00:00.
• A partial entry is completed with zeros when you leave the cell.
• Each timecode stays editable by sub-field: hours, minutes, seconds, frames.

Automatic duration

The duration is TC Out minus TC In, drop-frame included, as long as you don’t type it by hand. A manual duration is kept, and marked ⚠ if it differs from the calculation by more than half a second. The ⟳ button recalculates it.

Timecodes tool

Above the table, the Timecodes button opens:

• a converter between frames, timecode and seconds;
• a bulk offset of plus or minus N frames, seconds or a timecode, on the episode or the selection. It is cancelled entirely if a cue would end up before 00:00:00:00 ;
• the switch between absolute and relative display.

Sorting by TC In is run with “Sort by TC” or Shift+T. A cue without a TC In is placed first.

Import

“Import” (O) or a drag and drop onto the window accepts one or more files. The format is recognised from the content.

Edit formats

AAF, XML, FCPXML, ALE and Resolve marker imports were developed on test files, not yet on exports from every editing software. Review the result in the “Check the import” window. The OMF format is not supported.

Frame rate

The proposed frame rate is the project’s. In a CMX3600 EDL, the FCM: DROP FRAME line switches to drop-frame. For Pro Tools, the timecode format declared in the file is used.

Episode detection

The episode number is looked for in the file, track, clip or reel name, for example “EP1” or “Episode 2”. A clip named “Artist - Title” is split: what comes before the first dash becomes the composer.

“Check the import” window

It appears before anything is added. Cancel, ✕ or Esc import nothing.

• Tracks (if several tracks are detected): number of cues per track, choice of splitting into episodes or not, episode number editable for each track.
• Short cues (if any): cues under one second, with a “Keep” box for each.
• Duplicates (if any): same title at the same TC In, to within one frame, in the same episode.

Cue sheets and statements

Excel and CSV files exported by the software can be imported back. An official SACEM statement filled in by hand is read in full: header, declarant, cues, rights holders and codes. Exported PDFs cannot be read back.

Music library licences

A .csv or .pdf licence file provides title, composer, licence number, type, territory, term and library. The PDF must contain a text table, not a scan.

Databases

The rights holder database (Name, Type, IPI, Society, Member no., ISNI, Aliases, Notes) and the works library (Title, Composer(s), Author(s), Publisher(s), Performer, Society, ISWC, ISRC, Split) can be imported from Excel or CSV, without duplicates. Export your database first to get the column template.

Title and name cleanup

The tools act on the episode or on the whole project, depending on the scope selector. Shift + click applies to the whole project. Each operation produces a report, with a link to every modified cue and an “Undo this operation” button.

Clean titles (Alt+N)

• Removes trailing numbers stuck on: Title.01, Title_02.
• Removes technical suffixes: v2, ver, rev, alt, mix, bounce, print, dub, ref, tmp, temp.
• Leaves “Gymnopédie No.1” and “Opus 23” alone. “Variation 1” and “Part 2” are protected.

Remove parentheses (Alt+P)

Deletes what is between parentheses, except mentions of part, variation or title sequence.

Unify names (Alt+U)

Groups names that differ only by case, accents, word order or a comma. Two people with different IPIs are never grouped. You can create the chosen names in the database along the way.

Composer in the title

On import, “Composer - Title” is split. If a person’s name stays in the Title column, the software offers to move it to Composer.

Known limitation: a title containing a comma, such as “Les heures creuses, version longue”, may be wrongly cut. Fix it in the table.

Linking to the database

“Link to database” (L) acts on the selected cues, otherwise on the whole episode.

• Exact match : same title, ignoring accents, case and punctuation, and compatible artists. The cue is linked without asking, with the work’s codes and split.
• Rights holders : names are matched with the database, aliases included, whatever the word order. If there are several candidates, nothing is linked.
• Approximate match : very similar title or extra artists. A “Matches to confirm” window lists the suggestions with their reason. You tick the ones to link.
• Cues with the same title : incomplete cues are completed from the most complete cue in the project. If they contradict each other, nothing is changed.

Changing a work’s shares from a cue updates its other occurrences in the project.

Splits

Each cue’s % button opens the share table: name, role, share, IPI, society and territory. It is green when the total is 100%, orange otherwise. Presets, such as 50/50, fill in the shares in one click.

Territory per share

The territory column is optional. When empty, the share applies worldwide. You can enter a country, for example “France”, or exclude one with “-Germany”. The check then verifies 100% territory by territory.

A work’s splits can also be edited from the library, with the “% Splits…” button.

Works and rights holders

Nothing enters the library without you

Import, cleanup, linking and automatic saving add no work. A work enters the library in two ways:

• from a cue’s sheet or its shares window, by ticking the save-to-library option;
• with “Validate for the library”, which lists the tracks of the selection or episode, shows “New work” or “Update” and what is missing. Only complete tracks are ticked by default.

A validated cue stays in sync with its work. Replacing its title detaches it.

Rights holders

Each record holds name, type, IPI, collecting society, member number, ISNI, aliases and notes, and lists the person’s works. About sixty collecting societies are offered with their country, from SACEM to ASCAP.

Maintaining the database

• Merge duplicates : same IPI, same ISNI, same name or first and last name swapped. You validate the list, then works and all projects are updated.
• Clean the library : lists duplicates and empty records, with one box per deletion.
• Back up and restore the database to a file. A restore first writes a safety copy.
• Multiple selection : one box per line, Shift + click for a range.
• Check links : on request, tests the web links of the cues and shows those that no longer respond. Nothing is downloaded or modified.

Which code identifies what

• IPI : a person or a publisher.
• ISWC : a work.
• ISRC : a recording.

Licences and neighbouring rights

Licence of a piece of music

A cue’s sheet contains a Licence section, opened by default as soon as the origin is not “original”: type (synchronisation, blanket, music library), licence number, library, publisher or label, territory, term and notes. The check flags pre-existing or library music without a licence.

Neighbouring rights

Performer, phonogram producer, neighbouring rights society (SCPP, SPPF, SPRE, ADAMI, SPEDIDAM…) and ISRC are entered in the cue’s or work’s sheet. They follow the work from one project to the next and feed the “Neighbouring rights” export.

SACEM statement

Two fields are used for the statement: the SACEM work code and the link to the audio file, expected for original music.

Online search

A cue’s search button (Shift+F) or a rights holder’s sheet queries MusicBrainz, an open music database. It suggests title, ISWC, ISRC, creators, IPI and ISNI. Searching by artist alone is possible.

Applying a result fills in these fields and prepares the split lines. Percentages remain to be entered.

This feature needs an Internet connection. Coverage is uneven: better for well-known works than for original film music. The service limits the rate to about one request per second. SACEM’s repertoire cannot be searched from the software.

Check the project

The “Check the project” button opens the list of errors and warnings, by episode and by cue. The same check runs before every export.

• Check profile : SACEM, ASCAP/BMI, Neighbouring rights, Basic, Full or General. Required fields change with the profile.
• “Fix” lets you enter the missing value without leaving the list.
• “Go to” opens the episode and flashes the relevant cue or field.
• Recheck after fixing, and export the list as CSV.

What is checked

• Empty title, original music without a rights holder.
• Composer and author shares, or publisher shares, different from 100%.
• Invalid ISWC or ISRC, missing collecting society, missing IPI.
• TC Out before TC In, timecode that doesn’t exist at the frame rate, overlapping cues, cue outside the programme.
• Duration entered different from TC Out minus TC In, total of durations greater than the episode’s duration.
• Duplicates: same title at the same TC In.
• Required fields of the template: for SACEM, for example, country, director, production year, declarant and audio link for original music.
• Missing licence for pre-existing or library music.
• Placeholder titles: TEMP, TBD, ambiance, SFX, room tone.

On export

If errors remain, a window offers “Fix first” or “Export anyway”. Plain warnings do not block the export, and only alerts specific to the chosen layout and episodes count.

The rules are based on the collecting societies’ reference documents. They do not replace those societies’ own checks.

Exports

Five layouts, each as PDF, Excel or CSV: Basic, SACEM/SDRM, ASCAP/BMI, Full and Neighbouring rights. Each export button has a ▾ menu to choose the format. The same commands exist in the File › Export menu. A window lets you export only some episodes.

SACEM / SDRM statement

The Excel file is the template published by SACEM, “Relevé des œuvres musicales du film ou de l’épisode de série”, filled in identically: one sheet per episode, one block per cue, extended if there are more than three rights holders. Columns: No., title, original music, TC In, TC Out, duration, ISWC, SACEM work code, name, IPI, capacity, share, society, performer, use, audio link. The statement ends with the total durations and the declarant’s signature block.

The PDF has the same data in the software’s own layout. If a filing requires the exact look of the form, use the Excel file.

• Only the “original” origin is exported as “Yes” in the Original music column.
• Production types are mapped to the template’s five values, and roles to its six capacities.
• Durations are in hours, minutes and seconds, without frames.

The other layouts

• ASCAP / BMI : “Music Cue Sheet” in English, with AKA titles, classification, “Prepared By” and signature block.
• Full : all columns, one line per rights holder, licences and neighbouring rights included. The PDF is printed in column slices.
• Neighbouring rights : performer, phonogram producer, society, ISRC and label, in a generic layout.
• Basic : composer, title, timecodes, duration, publisher.

Formats

• Export several… : tick the combinations you want, choose a folder. Files are named Title_Type.ext.
• PDF : A4 landscape, numbered pages, repeated table headers. Always on a light background, even in dark theme.
• Excel : one sheet per episode.
• CSV : semicolon separator, UTF-8 encoding readable by Excel.

Exports are not translated: they stay in the language of their template.

Signature and stamp

In Options › Signature and stamp, draw your signature with the mouse, finger or stylus, or import an image, and add a stamp. At every SACEM or ASCAP/BMI export as PDF or Excel, the “Sign the statement” window offers “Done at…, on…” and the signature and stamp boxes. “Export without filling in” remains possible.

This is an image of a signature, not a qualified electronic signature. It is kept separately, never in your projects.

CWR 2.1 export

From the Works tab, “CWR…” writes a .V21 file for the whole library or only for music library works. You enter the sender’s IPI and type. The file is verified after writing.

The CWR format follows the public documentation available. Compare a file with CISAC’s official specification and your society’s requirements before any real sending.

Keyboard shortcuts

For the first four tools, adding Shift applies the action to the whole project. All shortcuts can be changed in Options › Shortcuts: click the combination, then type the new one. Conflicts and combinations reserved by the system are flagged, and ↺ restores the original value.

Data and backup

• macOS : ~/Library/Application Support/CueSheet Manager/
• Windows : %APPDATA%\CueSheet Manager\

Saving and versions

Every change is saved about one second later. The Versions window keeps dated copies: at most one every ten minutes, only if the content changed, fifty per project. A restore also keeps the state you are leaving. Deleting a project does not delete its versions. A history also lists the operations carried out, with the number of cues before and after.

Back up

The Works and Rights holders tabs offer “Back up the database…” and “Restore…”. For a full backup, copy the data folder with the application closed, or place it in a file sync service. The software has no online backup.

Settings and updates

Theme

Options › Appearance, or the View › Theme menu: light, dark or automatic, which follows your system setting. Exports always stay on a light background. Animations are turned off in the same place.

Language

Options › Language switches the interface and menus between French and English. Exports stay in the language of their template.

Updates

The software does not update itself and checks nothing at startup. Help › Check for updates… compares your version with the latest published and opens the download page if there is a new one. You then install the new file over the old one: your data is kept.

Help and tutorial

Options › Tutorial restarts the guided tour. Leave the pointer on a button for half a second to show its explanation and shortcut.

Error report

Errors are noted in logs on your disk. Nothing is sent. Help › Save an error report… writes a text file to attach to a support request. It contains technical messages, never the content of your projects. Personal folder paths and email addresses are masked.

Known limitations

• Unsigned application: macOS or Windows warning on first launch, and no automatic update.
• Installation checked on a recent Mac and on Windows. Intel Macs and older versions of macOS have not yet been checked on real machines.
• No direct filing: you send the files to the collecting societies yourself.
• Independent software: the files produced have been neither validated nor approved by SACEM, ASCAP, BMI or CISAC.
• SACEM’s audiovisual technical sheet and production declaration form are not produced.
• The SACEM statement PDF has the software’s own layout. The Excel file is the one in the template’s format.
• The Neighbouring rights export is a generic layout, not an official form.
• The CWR 2.1 file is to be compared with CISAC’s official specification before any sending.
• AAF, XML, FCPXML, ALE and Resolve marker imports developed on test files. OMF import not supported.
• The signature applied is an image, not a qualified electronic signature.
• Exported PDFs cannot be imported back.
• Online search relies on MusicBrainz, whose coverage is uneven. It never fills in percentages.
• Undo and redo apply to the open project, not to the library or the rights holder database.
• The Splits window aims for 100% across all lines, whereas the check expects 100% for creators and 100% for publishers.
• One user at a time, no built-in sync.