LivePlay vs Sound Show

LivePlay is a free desktop audio playback app for live shows, designed for live sound operators managing cues. Playlists and cart buttons support cue groups, fades, loops, crossfades, and next-cue actions. Cues can route to channels on one or more audio interfaces. Mixing and monitoring tools include audio buses, EQ, gate, compressor, auxiliary sends, output meters, loudness targets, and a master limiter. Playback control works through mouse, touch, keyboard, MIDI, HTTP, and WebSocket. Media can be added by drag-and-drop or YouTube audio import, with waveform display and LTC timecode output. A desktop controller can connect to a local or remote audio server over a network. LivePlay runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and is released under AGPL-3.0-only. The Free plan costs nothing with all features and no licence fees, subscriptions, or paywalls. Remote control uses plain HTTP and WebSocket; installers are unsigned and macOS builds are not notarized.

Sound Show is a soundboard and multimedia player for managing audio cues in live performances. Tracks can be layered or crossfaded, with separate volume and playback controls. It can project video, images, text and webcam feeds on a second display. Sequences can include delays, automatic starts, simultaneous playback or waits for input; playlists support autoplay, shuffle, looping, saving and loading. Supported sound formats listed include MP3, WAV, FLAC, MP2, WMA, OGG and AIFF. The free edition allows up to 10 tabs and 40 sounds per tab, with limited visual customization, some locked modules and up to two audio outputs. Pro costs €45, paid once and adds unlimited tabs and sounds, custom grids, skins and icons, integrations, and up to eight outputs. The Android remote can control the desktop software when both devices share a Wi-Fi network. Requirements include Windows 10 21H1 or newer, macOS 11 Big Sur or newer, Linux x86_64 and Android 6.0 or newer.