CueTube

An iPad-first web instrument that turns timestamped moments in YouTube videos into playable cue pads.

Status: PROTOTYPE
Verified build: React · Vite · Client-side persistence · Touch input · Keyboard input · YouTube playback

LEAF 02 · WHY I MADE THIS

Why I made this

Useful phrases, textures, and unexpected moments were easy to discover inside YouTube videos but awkward to turn into playable material. Darrel wanted a lighter bridge between watching and performing, designed first around his own iPad-centered music-making ritual.

CURRENT PROTOTYPE CAPTURE

CueTube's current empty state with YouTube URL loading, a quick-start guide, cue capture area, Performance Mode control, and the first bank of touch and keyboard pads. — FIG. A.01Current public CueTube interface captured September 2, 2026 with no third-party video loaded. The empty state shows the preparation surface and playable-pad structure without reproducing source media.

LEAF 03 · HOW IT WORKS

How it works

CueTube loads a YouTube video, captures moments as timestamped cues, presents those cues as pads, and lets them be triggered through touch or keyboard input. Editing, local persistence, cue-sheet import and export, and a dedicated Performance Mode keep the setup reusable without turning the project into a full sampler or media-management system.

01Discover a moment
02Capture its timestamp
03Prepare the cue
04Perform from pads

The useful / weird bit

The pad changes the timestamp's job. In a list, a timestamp helps someone return to a moment. On CueTube's playing surface, the same data becomes a performance object. The product stays close to the YouTube source while changing how selected moments can be used.

LEAF 04 · KEPT / CUT / CHANGED

Kept / cut / changed

DECISION 01

Design touch-first

Large pads and direct tablet interaction make the browser feel closer to a physical sampling surface. Keyboard triggering remains available, but the iPad-centered interaction establishes the product's character.

DECISION 02

Separate preparation from performance

Performance Mode separates playing from cue preparation and editing. The states remain connected, but each one protects a different kind of attention.

LEAF 05 · WHERE IT IS NOW

Where it is now

Verified current state

CueTube is a public working prototype. Video loading, timestamped cue capture, playable pads, touch and keyboard playback, cue editing, Performance Mode, local persistence, and cue-sheet import/export are verified. It still depends on YouTube and browser behavior; exact integration, storage format, latency handling, compatibility, and external use remain unverified. It is not presented as downloading, extracting, recording, or redistributing YouTube media.

What carried forward

Designing around one personal ritual gave the instrument a clearer identity: a small tool can sit between existing platforms and make familiar material newly playable.