How DJs Get Pre-Programmed Laser Looks Without Programming From Scratch

Quick answer

Load ready-made cues into Pangolin software and trigger them from a MIDI controller. You need Pangolin hardware first (an FB3, a laser with an FB4 built in, or an external FB4), then a CuePack or a full workspace in QuickShow or Beyond, laid out so your fast and slow looks sit in the same spots every night. That gives you control of color, shape and energy, which sound-active mode can't.

What do you need before ready-made cues will run?

You need Pangolin hardware between the computer and the laser: an FB3, a laser with an FB4 built in, or an external FB4. That hardware is what lets QuickShow or Beyond output, and neither program drives a laser without it.

The FB3 is a USB box that plugs into any laser with an ILDA input and comes with QuickShow. An FB4 is a card inside the laser that talks to the computer over Ethernet. Both run both programs, so hardware you buy for QuickShow also runs Beyond later.

My take: if you're buying a laser anyway, get one with the FB4 built in. It costs marginally more than a laser plus an FB3, Ethernet is easier than ILDA cables, and most rentals and venues ask for FB4. Unity Lasers, the projector brand, makes the Unity Raw 3 FB4 for $2,174 with QuickShow included. If you already own an ILDA laser, the Pangolin FB3 with QuickShow is $590.

One catch: QuickShow and the FB3 are Windows only. They don't run on Apple silicon Macs, not even in a virtual machine.

Why not just run the laser in sound-active mode?

Sound-active mode can't give you control over color, energy or the shape of the laser. Cues can.

Sound-active is simple and it just works when you need something up fast. But the moment you want to pick the color, match the energy of the track and choose the shape, you start loading and editing cues. With technology this expensive and special, you should want that control.

A Unity Raw 3 runs sound-active or DMX out of the box until you add a controller, so plenty of DJs start there. Once the controller is in, designed looks are a download away, and digital orders deliver right after checkout.

Are the stock cues enough, or should you buy CuePacks or a workspace?

The stock cues in QuickShow and Beyond are enough to run a show. CuePacks and workspaces are for when you'd rather spend your time on the show than on building cues.

QuickShow ships with built-in cues, and the Get Started setup with the FB3 includes 92 ready-made cues. If you enjoy building every cue from scratch, you may not need anything else, and learning the software yourself is worth the time. The default workspace that comes with both QuickShow and Beyond gets old, and it's already overused live. Go ahead and try some Nice Lasers CuePacks to freshen it up.

CuePacks are editable. They don't ship with editing notes, but nothing is locked: change the color, the speed or the zones and make the cues your own. They come with zone-aware configurations so they work with your fixture layout, and I release new ones weekly.

Which ones are worth buying? Pick by the gap in your set, not by the count. If you play low-ceiling rooms, the Beam Field pack is built around tight, parallel beams that look controlled there. If you run Beyond and want one finished setup for live laser jockeying, the Nice Lasers Beyond Workspace is the one I designed for that, and Garrett's Workspace is another option in the Workspaces collection.

How should you lay out a workspace for a live set?

Put the same kind of look in the same spot on every page, so your hand finds it in the dark. Some people group pages by shape or energy; I fill pages with multi-use cues and keep fixed slots.

You can move, swap, copy and paste cues into your own pages. Some operators build descriptive pages: fans on one, beams on another, then cones, then fast stuff. I like several pages of mixed cues instead, with the first 4 cues for fast looks, the next 4 for slow looks and the rest of the page for whatever I need.

You need fewer cues than you think. For me, 32 to 64 is fine for an entire night. It takes time and experience to grow a workspace that suits you, and I've noticed I don't change mine enough, so try a new page or a new set of cues now and then to keep things fresh.

Know your grid. QuickShow has 80 pages with a fixed 8 x 8 grid, and you can't load or save single pages, so moving looks between shows means moving whole workspaces. Beyond Essentials has 128 pages with up to 255 cues a page.

How do you trigger the cues live?

Use a MIDI controller whenever you can. With brightness, color and cues under your fingers, the laser becomes something you perform, not just part of the show.

Keyboard and mouse work if that's all you have, and I understand. But a controller lets you keep your eyes on the show instead of the screen.

In QuickShow, MIDI is mapped for the Akai APC Mini only. Every level of Beyond takes custom MIDI maps.

My favorite controller is the Traktor Kontrol F1. Its 4 sliders and 16 cue buttons are easy to run with one hand. It's discontinued, but I still sell a ready-made Beyond MIDI map for the F1 for $50.

No controller yet? MoboLaser, Pangolin's free app, gives you the cue grid and live controls from your phone, without the laptop.

When you layer, watch the frame rate. On a 30,000 points per second projector like the Raw 3, run one or two cues at a time per projector, lower the point count when you layer, and spread layered looks across projectors.

If you're on QuickShow, start with the QuickShow Page or a few packs from the Cue Packs collection. If you're on Beyond, the Beyond Workspace plus the F1 map gets you a full live setup. Not sure which software fits? Read QuickShow vs Beyond. And if you want me to set it up with you on your own rig, book a 1-on-1 lesson or email me at anthony@nicelasers.com.