Audio cues in BigClock mode

Turn on synthesized 1:00 / 0:15 / 0:00 chimes in BigClock — the speaker icon lives in the top-right, settings save per session.

~4 min read Producer / Show caller

BigClock mode includes optional audio cues — three short synthesized chimes that fire at 1:00 remaining, 0:15 remaining, and 0:00 (the moment the cue runs over). The cues are a quiet, distinctive way for the producer to keep an ear on the clock while their eyes are on the room or on the next change.

Unmute the video to hear the cues. The timer crosses from amber (0:17) to red (0:15) to fast-flashing red at −0:01 — with the 0:15 two-pulse cue and the 0:00 descending overage tone audible in context.

Turning the cues on

Start the session in Showtime and flip into BigClock mode.
Look at the top-right of the BigClock screen, just left of the time-of-day clock — you'll see a small speaker icon.
Click the speaker. A short confirmation tone fires immediately so you know audio is working, and the icon switches to its "on" state (gold).

That confirmation tone is intentional: most browsers won't play any sound until the page has received a user click, so the toggle doubles as the unlock gesture. If you don't hear the confirmation, check the tab isn't muted in the browser tab bar and that the system output volume isn't zero.

What the three cues sound like

1:00 remaining — a single short tone. "Heads up — wrap thought coming."
0:15 remaining — two quick pulses. "You're close. Land the plane."
0:00 (overtime) — three descending tones. "Time's up — you're in overage."

The cues are deliberately small in volume so they don't blast through a stage monitor at full level. Boost your system output if you're running the laptop's speakers in a noisy comms position.

How the cue timing works

Cues fire when the countdown crosses the threshold — going from 1:01 to 1:00, for example. That means:

If you turn cues on mid-row when the clock is already at 0:30, the 1:00 cue won't replay for that row — it's already passed. Cues will fire normally on the next row.
If you pause the timer, cue detection is frozen along with the clock. Resume and the cues pick up where the timer left off.
If you restart a row (sending it back to 0:00), the cue counter resets too — you'll hear 1:00 and 0:15 again on the second run.
Cues only fire while the row is running. The armed state (after Start is pressed but before the first row begins counting) is silent.

The setting is per-session, per-window

Your audio-cues preference is saved per session in this browser's local storage. That means:

Refresh the BigClock window mid-show and your audio toggle survives — you don't have to click it again.
Each session remembers its own setting. Turning cues on for one session doesn't change the default for the next event.
Other people watching the same Showtime on their own laptops are not affected — audio is a local browser thing, not a shared session state.

Use cases

Solo producer at FOH — eyes on the room, ears on the clock. Cues let you feel where you are in a cue without staring at the countdown.
Stage caller running on comms — fold the BigClock onto a stage monitor with audio routed to the caller's headset, and the cues become an automatic "30… 15… you're hot" stack.
Hybrid sessions — when a remote presenter is on Zoom and you can't see their face, the audio cues give you a useful internal signal to know when to start nudging them.

Turning the cues off

Click the speaker icon again. It switches back to muted (dim) and no more chimes fire until you click it on again. Closing or refreshing the window also stops audio, but your preference is remembered the next time you open Showtime for the same session.

When you won't see the toggle

The speaker only appears in BigClock mode. Regular Showtime (the full cue list) doesn't have audio cues — the assumption is that if you're staring at the full cue list, your eyes are already doing the work. Flip into BigClock mode any time mid-show to get the speaker toggle.