OQL

OQL is a free and open-source show-control application inspired by QLab, built with C++20 and Qt6. It is designed for live theatre, concerts, and events — letting you build and fire cue lists with precision timing, audio/video playback, and flexible automation.

This project is open to external contributions. Whether you're a developer, sound designer, or live-events professional, your input is welcome.

---

Features

• Audio cues — playback via QMediaPlayer; per-cue volume, loop count, fade in/out curves, trim start/end, channel routing (stereo / L / R), waveform editor with per-slice loop/rate control
• Video cues — fullscreen output on a dedicated window; loop support
• Text cues — fullscreen text overlay on a dedicated output window
• Waveform view — zoomable waveform with visual trim handles, fade envelope, and per-point volume automation; configurable detail level (1000–16000 buckets)
• Recording cues — capture microphone input to a WAV file; first GO starts recording, second GO stops and links the result to a new Audio cue automatically
• Microphone cues — live audio passthrough from any input device to output; VU meter, input level and RecordCue source selector
• Fade cues — smooth volume interpolation on any audio/video cue; optional auto-stop at end of fade
• Built-in audio effects — 10 cross-platform effects with no external dependencies: Gain, Delay, Reverb (Freeverb), EQ 3-band, Compressor, Limiter, Chorus, Tremolo, Phaser, Stereo Widener; configurable per-cue in a floating chain editor
• Plugin effects (VST2 / LV2) — third-party plugin support; VST2 native GUI editor on Linux/Windows; custom search paths configurable in Settings
• Stop / Pause / Play / Speed / Effect / Reset Effect cues — full transport and DSP control over any running cue
• Script cues — JavaScript automation via QJSEngine; inline editor with syntax highlighting
• Group cues — collapsible organisational containers; collapse to a single row
• Label cues — visual-only markers for annotating your cue list
• Pre-wait / post-wait / auto-continue / auto-follow — flexible timing chains
• Show Mode — dedicated performance mode that hides editing UI; configurable keyboard shortcut
• Web remote — built-in HTTP server with a touch-friendly web interface (GO, STOP, HOME, active cue display)
• Multi-language UI — Italian, English, Spanish, French; switching is live (no restart needed)
• Configurable shortcuts — all add-cue shortcuts (Ctrl+1–5 etc.) and transport shortcuts are user-assignable in Settings
• Undo / redo — full snapshot-based undo stack
• Recent files — quick access to recent workspaces
• Project settings — show-level defaults for fades, cue numbering, row height, font, and column layout

---

Screenshots

Coming soon.

---

Building

Requirements

• CMake ≥ 3.20
• Qt 6.4+ (Core, Widgets, Multimedia, MultimediaWidgets, Svg, Network, Qml, LinguistTools)
• A C++20-capable compiler (GCC 11+, Clang 14+, MSVC 2022+)
• lilv (LV2 plugin host)
• suil (LV2 UI loader, Linux only)

Linux

git clone https://github.com/teonactl/oql.git
cd oql
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)
./build/oql

macOS

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(sysctl -n hw.logicalcpu)
open build/oql.app

Windows

Install Qt6 via the Qt online installer, then:

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="C:/Qt/6.x.x/msvc2022_64"
cmake --build build --config Release

---

Project Structure

src/
├── engine/          # Core logic — no UI dependencies
│   ├── Cue.h/cpp          Base cue class
│   ├── AudioCue           QMediaPlayer-based audio playback + slice system
│   ├── VideoCue           Video playback with QVideoWidget
│   ├── TextCue            Text output cue
│   ├── ControlCues        Stop, Fade, Pause, Speed, Play, Effect, ResetEffect
│   ├── MicCue             Live microphone passthrough with VU meter
│   ├── RecordCue          Microphone → WAV recording → AudioCue link
│   ├── ScriptCue          QJSEngine JavaScript automation
│   ├── GroupCue           Collapsible cue container
│   ├── LabelCue           Visual-only label
│   ├── CueList            Flat cue list with playhead and autofollow
│   ├── Workspace          File I/O (.oql JSON format)
│   └── AppSettings        Per-user settings via QSettings
└── ui/              # Qt Widgets UI
    ├── MainWindow         Main application window + toolbar + Show Mode
    ├── CueListView        Custom table view with drag-and-drop
    ├── CueListModel       QAbstractTableModel with visible-row mapping
    ├── InspectorPanel     Per-cue property editor
    ├── WaveformView       Waveform rendering and editing (configurable resolution)
    ├── ActiveCuesPanel    Live view of currently playing cues
    ├── CueInfoBar         Bottom status bar
    ├── VideoOutputWindow  Dedicated fullscreen video output
    ├── TextOutputWindow   Dedicated fullscreen text output
    ├── WebServer          Built-in HTTP server for web remote
    ├── ScriptEditorDialog JavaScript editor for Script cues
    └── SettingsDialog     Project and app settings (shortcuts, language, waveform)
translations/
    oql_en.ts / oql_es.ts / oql_fr.ts   Qt Linguist translation files
resources/
    webui.html             Touch-friendly web remote interface

---

Workspace Format

Workspaces are saved as .oql files (JSON). The format is intentionally simple and human-readable — you can inspect and edit them with any text editor.

---

Roadmap

• MIDI / OSC trigger support
• Multi-output audio routing
• Network sync between multiple instances
• macOS / Windows packaging (beta builds available)
• Built-in cross-platform audio effects (Gain, Delay, Reverb, EQ, Compressor, Limiter, Chorus, Tremolo, Phaser, Stereo Widener)
• Video effects (planned — requires QVideoSink frame-interception refactor)
• Dark theme polish and HiDPI improvements
• Inspector combo for assigning cues to groups
• Inline editing in the cue list

---

Contributing

OQL is actively looking for contributors. All skill levels and backgrounds are welcome.

Ways to contribute

• Bug reports — open an issue with steps to reproduce
• Feature requests — describe the use case in an issue before writing code
• Code — fork the repo, work on a branch, open a pull request
• Testing — try it on your platform and report what breaks
• Documentation — improve this README or write a wiki page
• Design — UI/UX feedback and mockups are very valuable

Code style

• C++20, Qt6 idioms
• No raw owning pointers — use std::unique_ptr or Qt parent-child ownership
• Engine code (src/engine/) must stay UI-free
• Keep commits focused; one logical change per commit

Getting started

# Fork on GitHub, then:
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/oql.git
cd oql
cmake -B build && cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

Open an issue or start a discussion if you want to talk through an idea before diving in.

---

License

OQL is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

---

Acknowledgements

Inspired by QLab by Figure 53 — the gold standard for show control. OQL is an independent project with no affiliation to Figure 53.