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Downstage Virtual Deck support

A Stream Deck on your screen. It joins Bitfocus Companion as a surface, and Companion stays in charge of what's on the keys.

Download for Mac About the app All app support
Set up Virtual Deck

Set it up.

Before you start

  • A Mac with Apple Silicon
  • Bitfocus Companion 4.0 or later, on this Mac or on your network

Steps

  1. Download Virtual Deck, open the disk image, and drag it to Applications.
  2. Open it and press Open when macOS checks with you. The app is signed and notarized by Apple.
  3. Allow Local Network access if macOS asks. The app can't see your network otherwise.
  4. Type your Companion's address in the header. On the same Mac, that's 127.0.0.1. If a Downstage One is on the network, the app finds it by itself, and a typed address always wins.
  5. A green dot means it joined. Press Surfaces to open Companion's Surfaces page, where the deck is listed like a hardware deck.
  6. Choose its page there. The keys follow.

Use it.

  • Press keys: click a key and Companion runs it like a hardware press. Whatever Companion draws on a key shows here too.
  • Change the model: pick a Mini, Neo, 15 key, XL, +, + XL or custom grid. It stays the same surface on the same page.
  • Use dials: on the + models, drag or scroll a dial to turn it and click it to press. You can touch the strip too.
  • Change pages: use the arrows beside the page number, or right-click the deck and choose Next Page or Previous Page.
  • Add decks: + Deck adds another, with its own surface in Companion.
  • Arrange decks: drag a deck's frame to move it and its corner to resize it. Decks snap to the window's center and edges and to each other. Arrange puts every deck back in place.
  • Lock the layout: the lock keeps decks where they are. The keys still work.
  • Save a show: a show remembers its decks and where they sit. It doesn't save the connection.
  • Small windows: the controls move to a tray over the decks. Swipe it down to open and up to close. It closes by itself after 10 seconds, or when you touch a deck.

Questions.

Companion isn't answering.
Check that Companion is running and that the address is right. Virtual Deck joins over Companion's Satellite port, 16623, so a firewall between the two machines has to allow it. Check that the Mac has Local Network access under System Settings > Privacy & Security.
The deck joined, but the keys show the wrong page.
Press Surfaces and choose the deck's page in Companion.
The page arrows do nothing.
Companion needs the surface's Allow page arrows setting turned on. The app turns it on by itself when an arrow has no effect. If it can't, tick that box under Surfaces in Companion.
After an update, my decks came up as new surfaces.
That happens once when updating from before version 2026.11.1.2. Choose their pages again under Surfaces, and remove the old entries.
How do I update?
The app tells you when there's an update, and nothing installs until you press Update.