Ripple cut (remove a chunk and slide the rest left, like cut time in Ableton) for grandMA2 timecode shows — straight in the exported XML, byte-for-byte safe, with zero dependencies.

python3 ma2_tc_cut.py SHOW.xml SHOW_cut.xml --cut-in 06:31:14:21 --cut-out 06:31:26:07

When a section gets cut out of a song (say, an extra chorus pass), the timecode show has to collapse with it: delete the cues that fall inside the removed window, and pull everything after it left by the length of the cut. Doing that by hand in the timecode editor is slow and error-prone. This tool does the ripple across every subtrack at once and writes the file back so grandMA2 re-imports it without complaints.

<Event time="..."> stores a frame number, not milliseconds. The unit is 1 / frame_format. At frame_format="30 FPS" a 30-second cut is 900 frames, not 30000. The fps is read from the file automatically — on a 25fps show the tool picks up 25 with no changes.

Nothing to install. Python 3, standard library only. Copy ma2_tc_cut.py and you're done. Deliberately no lxml, so it runs on a show laptop / MA onPC machine where pip and a compiler usually aren't available.

Prefer a UI over the command line? There's a PySide6 desktop app:

• Timeline of every cue across subtracks, with a BPM bar grid and a waveform of the song under it (drag-and-drop, or click, to load the .xml and the audio).
• Cut by timecode or by bars (from bar N, remove M bars), with a live preview of exactly which cues get deleted/shifted and a whole-bars warning.
• Play / scrub the audio with a moving playhead, and a sample-accurate metronome mixed into the stream (instant on/off, no drift).
• CUT! → verify → UNCUT / SAVE FILE: apply the cut to the working file, check it on the timeline, undo if wrong, then write a byte-exact XML.

It's a layer on top of the same core; the CLI below stays dependency-free for show laptops.

Download a prebuilt build for macOS or Windows from the Releases page.

The builds are unsigned and un-notarized (no paid Apple/Microsoft developer certificate), so the OS quarantines them on download. This is expected — here's how to get past it.

macOS — if you get "MA2 Timecode Cut" is damaged and can't be opened or …can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer, the app isn't actually broken; it's just quarantined. Do one of:

• Right-click the app → Open, then Open in the dialog (needed only once), or

• strip the quarantine flag in Terminal, then open it normally:

  xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/MA2 Timecode Cut.app"
  

  Point the path at wherever the app lives (e.g. ~/Downloads/"MA2 Timecode Cut.app"). Use this if right-click → Open doesn't appear. Or

• open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Windows — on the blue SmartScreen prompt click More info → Run anyway. (Or right-click the .exe → Properties → tick Unblock → OK before launching.)

Run from source (no quarantine, always works):

pip install -r requirements-gui.txt
python gui.py

Build it yourself (PyInstaller can't cross-compile — build macOS on a Mac, Windows on Windows; CI does both via .github/workflows/build.yml):

pip install -r requirements-gui.txt
pyinstaller --noconfirm MA2TimecodeCut.spec   # -> dist/

The app icon ships pre-built in assets/ (.icns for macOS, .ico for Windows). To regenerate it after editing the source, run python assets/build_icon.py (needs Pillow, already in requirements-gui.txt).

The CLI below stays dependency-free for show laptops; the GUI is just a layer on top of the same core.

The tool operates on the XML that grandMA2 exports from a Timecode pool object.

Command line (one line, unambiguous):

Export Timecode 14 "tc_show"

• 14 — the number of the Timecode pool object to export.
• "tc_show" — output filename, without extension (MA appends .xml).

grandMA2 writes the file into the gma2/importexport folder on the currently selected drive (internal, USB, or the onPC data folder). Copy tc_show.xml from there to the machine where you run this tool — USB stick, network share, or directly from the onPC folder.

GUI alternative: in the Timecode pool you can also export via the object's edit/menu, but the command line above is a single unambiguous line.

python3 ma2_tc_cut.py <infile.xml> <outfile.xml> --cut-in <TC> (--cut-out <TC> | --dur <seconds>)

• --cut-in HH:MM:SS:FF — start of the cut, absolute timecode (as stored in the file).
• --cut-out HH:MM:SS:FF — end of the cut. Frame-accurate, no rounding — preferred.
• --dur <seconds> — length of the cut in seconds (rounded to frames). Defaults to 30.

The cut window is the half-open interval [cut_in; cut_out): an event exactly on cut_out is kept and shifted; one exactly on cut_in is removed.

Example output:

fps=30  cut 06:31:14:21 .. 06:31:26:07  (346 frames / 11.533s)
deleted events in window: 9   shifted left: 46
  DEL 06:31:16:05  Tambora CH In 6
  ...

The original is never touched — a new file is written.

The tool moves light, not audio. The cut lands "on the beat" only if:

1. The cut mirrors the audio edit. Cut the light with the same [cut_in; cut_out) window as the track. If the audio wasn't cut (or was cut at a different point / by a different length), light and music drift apart.
2. The length is a whole number of bars/beats, not round seconds. A musical splice always lands on the bar grid. "14.000 s" is almost never a whole number of bars — e.g. at ~84 BPM that's 19.5 beats, half a beat off, and everything after the cut is off the beat. Think in bars. (4 bars at 84 BPM ≈ 346 frames ≈ 11.5 s.)
3. Put the in-point on a downbeat. cut_in must land on a real beat, not on a "round" second between hits.

Hint: moments where several subtracks fire at the same time are almost always downbeats. The spacing between them lets you estimate the bar grid and pick clean cut edges.

Import syntax puts the filename first (that's the "NAME"), destination after; the .xml extension is not written (MA adds it):

Import "SHOW_cut" At Timecode 40

Import Timecode 40 "..." gives Error #12: EXPECTED NAME — the argument order is the reverse of Export. Import into an empty slot, keep the original as a backup, and check the length.

Only the index/time attributes on <Event> lines change, and whole <Event>…</Event> blocks are removed. Untouched: BOM, XML declaration, <?xml-stylesheet?>, namespace and xsi:schemaLocation, the command/pressed/step attributes, cue names, indentation (tabs), line endings (LF/CRLF), and the absence of a trailing newline. index is renumbered 0-based within each subtrack; step is left alone.

python3 selftest.py

Runs a cut on examples/demo_tc.xml (synthetic, no real show data) and checks: ripple correctness, renumbering, monotonicity, BOM preservation, --cut-out ≡ --dur equivalence, and that only <Event> lines changed.

• Moves timecode events only. Cue fade times and the audio are on you.
• Doesn't "stitch" light across the seam: whatever lands in the window is deleted (that's what cutting is).
• Built for the grandMA2 export structure (<Timecode>/<Track>/<SubTrack>/<Event>), one <Cue> per event. grandMA3 uses a different format.

MIT — see LICENSE.