Live shows
Synchronized handheld screens for live performance
Identical iPads or phones, carried by performers or set in a grid, playing as one timecode-locked display over Wi-Fi. I run it. The production or a rental house supplies the devices.
Credits
Where it has run
These shows ran on the rig's first software, built for Control Freak between 2011 and 2018, working alongside my dad. Control Freak was later acquired by 4Wall and no longer exists. In 2026 I rebuilt the software from scratch.
How it works
Nothing on the wire at cue time
A Mac at front of house is the clock master and the single source of show state. Each device carries the entire show and works out what to draw from the synced clock and a small state blob that is repeated, not requested. A lost packet changes nothing.
- Every device holds the whole show and draws from a synced clock, so no message has to arrive for a cue to land.
- Clock sync runs over ordinary Wi-Fi. Measured across an iPad and an iPhone on one access point: 0 to 1 frame apart after a 20 minute run.
- If the hub drops, the devices keep playing on their own disciplined clocks. A hub outage is not a show stop.
- A Mac runs a virtual wall of N devices, so a show can be rehearsed before a single tablet is in the room.
In development, as of 2026-08-23
- Chases LTC timecode from the show clock, with MTC to follow.
- Named layouts and looks with bezel compensation, switched from the hub or the timeline.
- A hub dashboard showing battery, charging, content, and sync state for every device.
- Show control over OSC and HTTP, so Companion or a console can fire cues.
What a production provides
What I need from you
- The device count and model. The rig wants identical devices; a rental house can supply them, or the production can.
- A closed Wi-Fi network for the devices, or I bring an access point.
- A timecode feed from playback, or a cue list if the show is called by hand.
- The content master at the final resolution, with enough lead time to cut it per device.
- Rehearsal time with the real devices and the real network.
Contact
Book a show
Rates on request. Based in Sacramento, California. Travels worldwide.